Last Friday was Global Wind Day, a worldwide event that occurs annually on June 15th. This day presents an opportunity for children and adults to celebrate wind energy by visiting wind farms, participating in wind events, and learning all they ever wanted to know about wind energy. As stated on the Global Wind Day website, “It is a day for discovering wind, its power and the possibilities it holds to change our world.”
The first Wind Day took place in Europe in 2007 and was organized by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), 18 countries and approximately 35,000 people participated in the event. The day went Global in 2009 and is currently coordinated by EWEA and the the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). This year more than 200 events took place in 40 countries.
In London, four wind energy companies took to the fields for the first global wind day “football” tournament, where they raised funds for the charity Renewable World. Renewable World helps provide affordable renewable energy to poor, remote, off-grid communities around the world.
From bicycle rides and school tours to visit wind farms in Austria and Ireland, to wind energy blog competitions in Canada, to a global ‘Wind in Mind’ photography competition, World Wind Day had something for everyone.
Fancy a day of kite flying? In New Jersey a local Sierra Club Chapter invited families down to the beach to fly kites in support of wind energy. Wind energy opponents, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), came out to the event, apparently to protest “Global Environmentalist, Indoctrinating Kids to Advance Their Radical ‘Green’ Agenda.” Of course it should be noted that AFP receives funding from oil and gas billionaires, the Koch Brothers, so it goes as no surprise that a clean, renewable energy option such as wind would be targeted by this group. The best part of this story though is that according to Heather Moyer of the Sierra Club, you could not hear the protesters that were shouting from the boardwalk due to “the powerful wind that was blowing all day.”
If you were not able to go out and show your support for wind energy on Global Wind Day, don’t worry it is not too late! While it is great to have a special day to celebrate wind energy and the opportunities that it presents for a clean energy future, we can all work to make each and every day, world wind day. You can start by signing this petition in support of offshore wind energy in the Southeast and be on the lookout for upcoming wind energy events hosted by SACE.