Save a bird - Kill a windmill
The environmentalists have just shot holes in their feet
By - Chris Crowder
January 15, 2007
According to a news article on Yahoo, a group of
environmentalists filed a lawsuit against the Altamont
Pass windmill farm in California. The windmill farm
operates about 4800 wind turbines to generate
electricity. The environmentalists claim that
these horrible windmills are solely responsible for
between 1700 and 4700 bird deaths each year. A
very close guestimation, I suppose. They also claim
that some of the victims were "federally protected
species," and that the "county" had failed to
properly protect these birds. I have no idea what
the county has to do with federal protection?
On Thursday, January 11th, 2007, an agreement was
reached and the case was settled. It was a 4-1
landslide. A real victory for the birds!
Within 3 years, the owners of the windmills must
reduce the unknown number of raptors
(Birds of Prey) deaths each year by half. All
other birds still fall under the first
come first chop rule, I suppose. They also agreed
to remove "particularly deadly turbines" and
develop a plan for long-term bird safety.
They even plan to perform scientific tests to
see if painted windmill blades have a scarecrow effect.
(Some politician's relative must have needed a job).
Apparently, you can't even make clean environmentally
friendly power anymore without being sued by an
environmentalist. I could not believe my eyes. I
had to check my calendar to be sure it wasn't April 1st.
I was sure the next headline to read, "George Bush sends
Air Force to California to blow up the evil windmill
weapons of mass destruction! Millions of stray cats
prepare to retaliate! America is at War! Again..."
Doesn't a group of environmentalists attacking a
windmill farm seem a tad backwards? Kind of like
robbing your own house. I must admit it ruffled my
feathers. There are so many legitimate environmental
issues we face today that affect us all. Why did these
mentalists... Err... Environmentalists decide to declare
war on a windmill farm?
I have no idea what triggered the war on windmills.
I can only speculate. I suspect that it was a simple
matter of the wrong person being at the right place at
the wrong time. I see a shadowy figure standing at the
base of a gigantic windmill looking up in admiration
of the massive beast, the prop whirling happily along.
The figure is thinking about how this simple machine can
convert mother nature's breath into electrical energy
without creating any sort of waste whatsoever. No
smoke, no pesky radioactive materials to store forever,
just clean renewable energy. A feeling of pride fills
the figure's head. Pride in knowing that there are people
in this country (of all places) that cared enough to build
these windmills. That moment was shattered when out of the
blue came a chop, followed by a croak, ending in a plop as
dead bird parts splattered on the ground. The feeling of
pride turned to rage as the true dark side of the windmill
revealed itself to the shadowy figure. The windmill had
just murdered a friendly little buzzard in cold blood! A
bird of prey nonetheless! "Someone is going to pay for
this!" the figure exclaimed. "There will be no more bird
blood shed by these savage windmills!" And so began the
fierce war on the windmills.
Author's Note: Anyone wanting to see what dead bird parts
look like can purchase their own set at the drive through
of any Kentucky Fried Chicken. They come in a nifty
collectable bucket that can double as a hat. The bird
parts can be reassembled to form a fried headless dead bird.
It's not that I don't have compassion for the birds. I do.
But let's be realistic. Shit Happens! It's a fact of life.
It's true for us humans living in our dream worlds and
also in the reality of surviving in the wild. Anyone who has
never in their life made a negative impact on another
living creature either directly or indirectly has never
been to this planet.
Why do I fail to see the logic behind the environmentalist
attack? How many thousands of birds get sucked into jet
engines each year? Got to be far more than are killed by
windmills. There is no doubt a good number of our
feathered friends get pulverized by automobiles, crash
into glass windows breaking their pride and their necks,
a few have even caught the flu and died. I'd be willing to
bet that some of these innocent victims were
"federally protected species." The feds clearly are not
doing their job! They should have a man on duty for every
bird in flight. Don't they understand that accidental bird
deaths are unacceptable and should be banned forever?
But, only as long as it still remains OK to kill them
intentionally.
While pondering the dead bird dilemma I realized something.
Dead birds are politically incorrect unless they are on a
serving plate. Need I point out that a chicken is also
a bird? Sure, chickens are raised to die.
But, weren't we all? A dead bird is just that. A dead
bird. I understand the concern to protect those bird species
that are endangered. I'm all for that. But, disarming the
windmills is not going save the birds. Even if we all
packed up and left this planet, endangered birds may still
become extinct. Without human intervention, I suspect that
chickens would probably be the first to go.
I'm saddened by the fact that it is not popular to attack
the real environmental issues that we face today. Instead,
people/groups take jabs at things that really don't affect
many people (or birds), perhaps because those small attacks
are achievable goals. The big issues will be hard to fix,
because a step backwards is generally viewed as a bad thing.
Another theory I have is that people don't see the bad things
that we are doing now are likely to cause serious problems in our
lifetime. In other words, the things we do now will be
somebody else's problem anyway. We're Americans, selfish we are.
Whatever the case, when environmentalists start attacking
environmentalists, something is definitely wrong.
To the birds: I am sorry for the damage that windmills do, but
I am more sorry for the damage us people have done.
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