How many animals would be killed every day, directly or indirectly, by the coal power plant that the solar plant in question is probably, one way or another, replacing?
Just on a slight side note: here in Ireland we have a fictional TV programme called Love/Hate which is about drug gangs. In one recent episode one of the characters shot a cat ... and there was national uproar about it, never mind the fact that people had been killed, maimed, injured, etc in previous episodes. The cat made an appearance on a chat show later as the producers tried to prove no harm came to it.
What it goes to show is that people go mad when animals are involved. The cuter, the more rage ensues. And, like road rage, it is disproportionate to the transgression. How many of the outraged masses had steak the night before?
What the article doesn't mention, though, is that Bob, the local wild tomcat, rather enjoyed eating that charred bird. So, actually, the solar farm did a good job of providing local wildlife with a healthy meal, cooked to perfection, thereby preventing ol' Bob from suffering salmonella.
No, I don't, Mike. The story has a certain piquant sadness to it as well as small amount of horror, but I don't forsee a great deal of public outrage about the death of one bird. Clearly, if there were large numbers of birds suffering this fate something would have to be done about it. Probably the most likely measure would be to try reduce the chances of birds coming into contact with the solar array.
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Not really, no. That's very likely because I am not a hypocrite.
Buildings, TV towers, antenna etc. having been killing birds of all species in the millions for decades and I do not remember any of the 'skeptics' here ever complain about that.
BTW, domestic cats are estimated to kill over 100 million birds per year (270 million in Canada). I sense there is greater urgency to get an online petition going to get rid of cats rather than the roughly 34 bird deaths per month reported in the article you link to.
A 2005 research on avian mortality in the US estimated that 550 million annually die from collisions with buildings, 130 million from power lines, 100 million by cats, 80 million by cars, 67 million by pesticides and 4.5 million by communication towers. Wind turbines and airplanes scored relatively low: 28.5 thousand and 25 thousand respectively.
I can just imagine a gaggle of 'skeptics' voluntarily destroying their homes, getting off the power grid, killing their cats, stop using their cars, stop using pesticides and stop watching TV just so they can save as many birds as possible from dying horrible deaths.
LMAO
Hummer owners aren't environmentalists. They are Hummer owners. If they drive off to a solar power company, that doesn't make them an environmentalist. Maybe they are just trying to learn what it means? Or maybe they don't care? Or maybe they are going there for reasons you have no clue over.
If I went to a concert with a set of bag pipes (horrible devices, should be banned from music entirely), would that make me a musician? Maybe I go there just to rub shoulders with musicians, wishing I could be one and wanting the feeling of it to rub off on me? Maybe I get off on showing my bag pipes to people who really hate them. Who knows?
You really should keep your own nose clean and stop worrying about sticking it into other peoples' business.
EDIT: Nice reply, linlyons. On point.
I don't think I believe this story. I use to live in California and my neighbor worked at a very similar site, or maybe this is the same one.
The only thing that gets hot is the tower. Even if a bird was flying very near it, it should be traveling too fast for the heat to burn it's feather off. And the bird would have to get very close to the tower.
This story sounds like some kind of environmental activism to me. I don't buy it.
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I suppose that wind farms haven't killed a single bird, but I could be way wrong
Nope. The politically correct never feel any shame in their actions.
Waiting them to say the birds were sent there to spy by evil conservatives and to sabotage the project.
https://www.google.com/search?q=oil+spil...
Maybe you want to get back to me on that.
Not to say that I like it, but it seems that there are victims no matter how we extract energy from our environment.
No, I haven't felt any outrage building.
"A small bird, barely the size of a human hand, had its wings reduced to a web of charred spines. No longer able to keep aloft, the bird was found on the ground after it had flown through the intense heat of a solar thermal project soon to go online in the California desert." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/10/bird-feathers-singed-solar-power/3491617/
I just saw a gaggle of environmentalists heading out in their Hummers to give that solar power company the big green finger.
Does anyone know of a petition online that we can sign to show our fury?
It only powers one house Put them in space .
The lack of complaints by Big Green and their acolytes speaks volumes.
