Just some thoughts with spring migration and our respective vehicles firing up. Many Minnesota birders and more all the time drive all over heck to see our beloved birds. This includes individual trips, festivals and organized trips. I am sorry but it seems a contradiction of sorts that we nature lovers burn much fossil fuel in pursuit of seeing these creatures, many of them threatened as we all know. All this for our recreation.
Many people document their travels on the MOU or MNBird listserves. "I drove out to the Felton Prairie or up to the North Shore or over to Lac Qui Parle". Hello!!! These are not short drives for most involved and, I am sure, not made in vehicles packed with people or in fuel efficient autos (since almost all vehicles on the road are mediocre at best in terms of MPG). Now, isn't the proliferation of Birding Festivals and field trips (MOU, Audubon, private entrepreneurs) just promoting energy consumption in order to see all the birds at the expense of the environment we all supposedly care about so much? I am no saint either but there is a disconnect that is becoming more apparent as the climate heats up and our energy habits come under more scrutiny. So, what if there really were the tons of birders that surveys contend are out there? What if more and more people drove to attend festivals to see all the wonderful birds out there? After all don't we want more and more people involved in this great hobby? I think the argument is that more birders means more potential conservationists which is supposed to translate into more support for the environment. Another argument is that by encouraging birding tourism and witnessing the $$ it brings in more communities and the state might see the value of preserving/acquiring more habitat. Possibly and hopefully true but I haven't seen any data supporting this assumption. My position is that we need to do more tangible concrete things to help out our avian friends. We need to take responsibility for our hobby and get real about our contribution to climate change and our commitment to helping the environment here and in non-breeding areas. So instead of just ranting, here is one thing I think could be done for starters. This just an idea and admittedly not a perfect one at that. I think that all these Birding Festivals and field trips should voluntarily and enthusiastically pay a carbon tax in order to try and "do right" by the birds and environment. This at least would sort of "pay back" for the consumption of resources being used during the events and getting people to and from events. Secondarily this would show us taking responsibility for the fact that all the traveling in pursuit of this HOBBY has a negative effect on the environment. Heck, rock musicians are doing carbon payback for Pete's sake. Birders are at least as cool as rock stars right? Actually I am embarrassed that we didn't initiate something like this before the rock stars did. We should be the leaders on this sort of thing and not the followers! Another thing I think could be done is for trips and festivals to add a tax or "impact fee", thereby contributing some $$ to the Nature Conservancy, or to conservation efforts in Central/South America. The ideas here are endless I am sure. Once again, I just think there is a disconnect between all this birding (traveling, driving in pursuit of seeing/listing birds), birdings contribution to climate change and pollution in general, and our expressed commitment to helping our feathered friends. I think it would show great leadership if the MOU and Audubon took the bull by the horns on this. Thank you for your time. Now back to planning all the great birding excursions I (hope) to take this spring. Good Birding, Steve Morrison Mpls __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
