Twitchers No Longer Support sustainable Energy

yubabill1

After a rare bird flew into a Scottish wind turbine, while being watched by 200 enthusiasts, the bird watching community is re-thinking its stance on sustainable wind farming:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/horrified-birdwatchers-see-rare-white-throated-2003724

OpenYourEyes

The majority of bird-watchers and conservationists aren't against windfarms at all - they just want to see a bit of thought put into where they're located, rather than just throwing them down anywhere and everywhere and then realising a few years down the line that that was a stupid thing to do! And that viewpoint is shared by the vast majority of the public.

Very misleading thread title, and hardly relevant to a hunting forum?

yubabill1

I happen to have a passing interest in birds, since Gordon D'arcy's "Birds of Ireland" back in the '80's. Lost my copy and miss it.

However, I don't agree with this "sustainable" mullarkey; read "move over a bit" more like. I'm a fan of a stable global population, not making room for uncontrolled expansion.

OpenYourEyes

yubabill1 wrote: »

I happen to have a passing interest in birds, since Gordon D'arcy's "Birds of Ireland" back in the '80's. Lost my copy and miss it.

However, I don't agree with this "sustainable" mullarkey; read "move over a bit" more like. I'm a fan of a stable global population, not making room for uncontrolled expansion.

I'm not fully clear on what you mean by "move over a bit"? Obviously it'd be much more ideal if the human population wasn't expanding at the rate it is - but thats a huge issue to try and stop or even slow down, so in the mean time we have to try and increase sustainability. Renewable energy sources have other advantages apart from sustainability too i.e. with regards air pollution and climate change.


Still hardly relevant to a hunting forum, and still a dodgy thread title.

yubabill1

I think many hunters would be interested to follow this story, especially how it is treated in the media. As a hunter, I feel it is relevant.

We do not go around the place watching wildlife so that we can obliterate if from the surface of the planet, most of us appreciate Nature and many, like me, took an interest and delight in observing Nature before it became popular.

By "move over" I mean sharing space and resources - for example, here in Ireland we have seen a huge increase in housing and development, with attendant consequences for wildlife. a smaller human population would inevitably leave a smaller eco footprint- so my point is, there is another way to achieve a smaller footprint, other than increasing efficiency and making resources stretch further (I feel the media only ever see one side).

Dodgy title? Subjective, at best.

Cass

Moving to N&BW.

OpenYourEyes

yubabill1 wrote: »

I think many hunters would be interested to follow this story, especially how it is treated in the media. As a hunter, I feel it is relevant.

We do not go around the place watching wildlife so that we can obliterate if from the surface of the planet, most of us appreciate Nature and many, like me, took an interest and delight in observing Nature before it became popular.

By "move over" I mean sharing space and resources - for example, here in Ireland we have seen a huge increase in housing and development, with attendant consequences for wildlife. a smaller human population would inevitably leave a smaller eco footprint- so my point is, there is another way to achieve a smaller footprint, other than increasing efficiency and making resources stretch further (I feel the media only ever see one side).

Dodgy title? Subjective, at best.

Nature and birdwatching seems a much better fit considering the story doesnt involve any aspect of hunting or shooting!

There is another way - but realistically its not going to happen - and time is running out, so sustainability should be top priority! And even if the population stopped growing tomorrow and slowly began to reduce in number, sustainability by its very nature still makes sense! its more efficient and ensures resources are available in the long term! Even if the population was decreasing, it doesnt mean we should go back to unsustainable practices! The only alternative to sustainability is unsustainability - to be in favour of unsustainability is selfish at best, thats why the media don't look at that side.

And the title says twitchers no longer support sustainable energy. The article is about windfarms, not sustainable energy, So immediately the titled is flawed. Secondly, twitchers aren't even against windfarms - they just want them placed better - so the title is flawed yet again!

yubabill1

I see the mod does not agree with me.

If some fool had shot his bird I wonder how much publicity the story would have got.
Because some fool put a turbine in Scotland which is chopping up birds on an ongoing basis, there won't be a word, I bet.

OpenYourEyes

yubabill1 wrote: »

I see the mod does not agree with me.

If some fool had shot his bird I wonder how much publicity the story would have got.
Because some fool put a turbine in Scotland which is chopping up birds on an ongoing basis, there won't be a word, I bet.

Oh yeah, won't be a word! I bet no popular tabloid newspaper, like say the Mirror (i.e. the one you linked to in your first post) will say a word about it!

And lets not forget that if a fool had shot the bird he would have been making the conscious decision to shoot it - the turbine made no such decision. Although obviously I'm not defending the turbines. And unfortunately fools regularly shoot birds that are protected and the media say sweet F-A about it!

I could be wrong, but you seem to be looking for some kind of conflict out of this story, but are struggling very hard to find it?

yubabill1

Not sure I want to understand the first bit of your reply.

Turbines making decisions - bit of a stretched metaphor?

I am not going to defend fools who shoot protected birds.

actually, I was trying to spark an intellectual conversation, but I didn't get one.

OpenYourEyes

yubabill1 wrote: »

Not sure I want to understand the first bit of your reply.

Turbines making decisions - bit of a stretched metaphor?

I am not going to defend fools who shoot protected birds.

actually, I was trying to spark an intellectual conversation, but I didn't get one.

The point was that the turbine didn't make a decision - turbines can't make decisions -not a metaphor, they actually can't!

You need practice at sparking intellectual conversations so! Stop trying so hard. Make a statement, offer your opinion, and other people will do the same. Your posts have just been a series of somewhat bizarre statements/questions!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

yubabill1 wrote: »

I see the mod does not agree with me.

If some fool had shot his bird I wonder how much publicity the story would have got.
Because some fool put a turbine in Scotland which is chopping up birds on an ongoing basis, there won't be a word, I bet.

Don't get your point. There was publicity about this. You linked to some of it yourself. Equally there are reports when endangered birds are shot or poisoned. What exactly are you trying to say? What discussion do you want, as we are all here probably singing the one song?

The thread title is wrong. No birdwatchers are suddenly changing their stance on wind turbines after this. They have always taken the view that turbines need to be in areas with least impact on wildlife. Nothing new in that.

Birdnuts

yubabill1 wrote: »

I see the mod does not agree with me.

If some fool had shot his bird I wonder how much publicity the story would have got.
Because some fool put a turbine in Scotland which is chopping up birds on an ongoing basis, there won't be a word, I bet.

I think there is indeed increasing concern among Conservationists around the world about many aspects of so called "renewable" energies. If you follow the newsfeeds on the websites of the likes of WWF, Birdlife international etc. you see increasing concerns about the major environmental drawbacks of wind turbine expansion into sensitive bird migration corridors, dam building that destroys fisheries and riparian habitats, biofuel production leading to the destruction of rainforests etc.

What annoys me is that certain elements of the "Green" movement refuse to recognise these concerns or the fact that many investors in these areas are out for a quick buck and care little for wildlife or the people whose livelyhoods and homes are destroyed to make way for major dam projects etc. Another aspect is that many renewable energy sources are inherently unreliable and/or actually generate little or no savings in terms of CO2.

Capercaille

A rubbish newspaper with it's usual rubbish headlines. Sad to see this specific bird killed but at least the species is not threatened. As said by previous posters the main problem with wind turbines is their location in sensitive areas where they can cause serious damage.

If the Mirror is concerned about birds maybe they should run a story about the extinction of breeding Hen Harrier from England due to the criminal actions of grouse shooting estates.

yubabill1

Well, it looks like I've been blown out of the water by you guys.

Maybe some day I will understand how the world really works, like you.

Just have to finish my second chemistry patent first and the study to help reduce infection in neonates with a particular congenital heart defect.

TTFN

Yuba.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

yubabill1 wrote: »

Well, it looks like I've been blown out of the water by you guys.

Maybe some day I will understand how the world really works, like you.

Just have to finish my second chemistry patent first and the study to help reduce infection in neonates with a particular congenital heart defect.

TTFN

Yuba.

If it's connected with ductal-dependent lesions or patholic murmurs, I may be able to give you some guidance there.