SFR Bats and health-Everything impacts everything (NY Times)

Sorta fishing-related
goinoregon said:
i am sure u are correct rob
but, a bat can sense a mosquito, and find it in the dark
and they can avoid my hand swinging in the dark at them
but they cant avoid windmill blades ?
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Unfortunately Rob is correct but there are measures being taken to cut the number of fatalities. We have come a long way in lowering the number of bird deaths by painting one of the turbine wings black, cultivating the the immediate/nearby ground, and halting production during migrations.

In 2008, the U.S. wind industry collaborated with nationwide conservation organizations such as the National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation to establish the American Wind and Wildlife Institute, which addresses wind and wildlife concerns. The organization has published "issue briefs on protecting bats", for instance—with suggestions to implement curtailment (the intentional halting of turbine blades) when wind speeds are low in order to reduce bat fatalities by 50 percent.

Like the success we have had reducing bird deaths it will take some time to improve that 50 percent number.

In the end, it’s climate change that causes the most significant threat to wildlife. According to the United Nations, climate change may contribute to the extinction of 20–30 percent of all species by 2030. Renewable wind energy can play a major role in displacing sources of energy that contribute to high carbon emissions, and its advantages have been proven to outweigh its impact on birds and bats.

“Saying wind power can only be green if there are no impacts is like saying medicine can only be effective if it has no side effects,” says John Anderson, director of siting policy for the American Wind Energy Association. “At some point, we need to put the benefits and risks into context.”
 
Rob Allen said:
No bats left in Klickitat county near the wind farms.
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Yes, bird and bat deaths from wind is hard to take. But, the Wind industry has a higher standard than "Cat Owners" and some other contributors. New technology, painting turbine wings, echo chamber tech. for the bats, base cultivation, and the list goes on come from a Green Wind Industry with higher standards than others. Bird fatalities have been dramatically cut while bat fatalities have been cut in half.

A Greater Perspective

If we’re looking at the bigger picture, wind power’s impact on bird populations is relatively small when compared with other human-related sources of avian mortality. Numerous studies demonstrate that far more bird deaths are caused by collisions with buildings (676 million), vehicles (214 million), and power lines (32 million) in the United States. (It should be taken into consideration, though, that birds killed by wind turbines have historically been of higher conservation value than the robins and sparrows killed by non-wind-related sources.)


Cats actually top the list when it comes to annual bird deaths in the United States. (Image courtesy of National Audubon Society.)



Cats actually top the list when it comes to annual bird deaths in the United States. (Image courtesy of National Audubon Society.)​
 
Flymph said:
Yes, bird and bat deaths from wind is hard to take. But, the Wind industry has a higher standard than "Cat Owners" and some other contributors. New technology, painting turbine wings, echo chamber tech. for the bats, base cultivation, and the list goes on come from a Green Wind Industry with higher standards than others. Bird fatalities have been dramatically cut while bat fatalities have been cut in half.

A Greater Perspective

If we’re looking at the bigger picture, wind power’s impact on bird populations is relatively small when compared with other human-related sources of avian mortality. Numerous studies demonstrate that far more bird deaths are caused by collisions with buildings (676 million), vehicles (214 million), and power lines (32 million) in the United States. (It should be taken into consideration, though, that birds killed by wind turbines have historically been of higher conservation value than the robins and sparrows killed by non-wind-related sources.)


Cats actually top the list when it comes to annual bird deaths in the United States. (Image courtesy of National Audubon Society.)



Cats actually top the list when it comes to annual bird deaths in the United States. (Image courtesy of National Audubon Society.)​
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I see.. I'm gonna go catch as many wild steelhead as I can after all native nets kill way more than me..
 
goinoregon said:
i am sure u are correct rob
but, a bat can sense a mosquito, and find it in the dark
and they can avoid my hand swinging in the dark at them
but they cant avoid windmill blades ?
Click to expand...
All I did was notice that there were no bats flying around the river or around my house in the evenings. Not few bats.. none. I thought it was weird so I looked into it and found wind turbines kill almost a million bats per year. Klickitat county and adjacent Wasco counties have thousands of wind turbines.
 
Looks like we have one of those arguments where both sides have at least some merit. That makes it a good, healthy one.

I must say I was surprised to learn so many bats get killed by wind projects. Like others, when I think about bats, I'm always amazed at how, despite being essentially blind, they manage to navigate in and out of tight spaces (caves), avoid obstacles while flying, and locate and catch flying prey. Seems odd that the turbines could be so lethal to them, but it seems they are.

Either way, it looks like they're working on minimizing the impacts, and despite the immediately alarming number of bat mortalities, wind farms are still small potatoes compared to buildings, cars, and CATS. What are we going to do about all these CATS?

Incidentally, we keep our cat indoors; I can tell he'd be an absolute terror if allowed outside.
 
Bats eat bugs, fish eat bugs
Less bats, more bugs
More bugs, more food for fish
More food makes bigger fish

Wind turbines make fish bigger

It's simple...don't try and make it complicated.
 
Shad said:
Looks like we have one of those arguments where both sides have at least some merit. That makes it a good, healthy one.

I must say I was surprised to learn so many bats get killed by wind projects. Like others, when I think about bats, I'm always amazed at how, despite being essentially blind, they manage to navigate in and out of tight spaces (caves), avoid obstacles while flying, and locate and catch flying prey. Seems odd that the turbines could be so lethal to them, but it seems they are.

Either way, it looks like they're working on minimizing the impacts, and despite the immediately alarming number of bat mortalities, wind farms are still small potatoes compared to buildings, cars, and CATS. What are we going to do about all these CATS?

Incidentally, we keep our cat indoors; I can tell he'd be an absolute terror if allowed outside.
Click to expand...
Haven't had an outside cat for decades...coyotes make a quick meal of them. Not that I mind coyotes just doin' what coyotes have to do to prosper....and we enjoy seeing them from our back deck trotting around hunting rodents.
 
Hannibal Elechtor...seen him by a shark, had some batteries near his boat, but no wind, no wind, so he had to use batteries to kill the shark, but the boat had no gas, because we don't use gas anymore, very sad, we can't have gas anymore, he couldn't get away, no wind, no batteries.. shark liver is very good, a lot of people don't know that, its very good, Hannibal Elechtor, one of the great Americans, batteries, wind, he should have had some gas, maybe eat a minimart shark liver burrito, wind isn't there, so the batteries were dead, that's why Hannibal Elechtor needed wind, very sad.
 
I'd rather have wind turbines killing bats and birds than coal mines killing humans.
 
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