whatyareckon

Norway’s Supreme Court has stripped two wind farms of their operating licenses for wrecking the lives of Sami reindeer herders.

Life in the frozen North was never meant to be easy – sub-zero temperatures and stark isolation are tough enough, but Sami reindeer herders have drawn the line at the adverse effect the visual and auditory cacophony these things generate has on their livestock.

Giant 260m turbines with 60m blades generate shadow flicker and pulsing, thumping low-frequency noise – a well-known source of disturbance for grazing (and other) animals; reindeer apparently no exception.

For centuries, the nomadic Sami have herded their reindeer across northern Europe’s frozen tundra, ranging across the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula. And have done so untouched by industry and urbanization. Until now.

Over the last decade or so, hundreds of these things have been speared across their grazing rangelands.

Not afraid…