[Biofuel] Help put a ban on nicotinoid pesticides
I signed the petition from Avaaz. I hope you will too. see info below. Joe Silently, billions of bees are dying off and our entire food chain is in danger. Bees don't just make honey, they are a giant, humble workforce, pollinating 90% of the plants we grow. Scientists increasingly blame one group of toxic pesticides for their rapid demise, and bee populations have soared in four European countries that have banned these p! roducts. But powerful chemical companies are lobbying hard to keep selling this poison. Our best chance to save bees now is to push the US and EU to join the ban -- their action is critical and will have a ripple effect on the rest of the world. We have no time to lose -- the debate is raging about what to do. This is not just about saving bumble bees, this is about our survival. Let's build a giant global buzz calling for the EU and US to outlaw these killer chemicals and save our bees and our food. Sign the emergency petition now and send it on to everyone and we'll deliver it to key decision makers: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/97.php?cl_tta_sign=f5178bbdb865c699796c0757009c00f7 Bees are vital to life on earth -- every year pollinating plants and crops with an estimated $40bn value, over one third of the food supply in many countries. With! out immediate action to save bees we could end up with no fruit, no vegetables, no nuts, no oils and no cotton. Recent years have seen a steep and disturbing global decline in bee populations -- some bee species are now extinct and others are at just 4% of their previous numbers. Scientists have been scrambling for answers. Some studies claim the decline may be due to a combination of factors including disease, habitat loss and toxic chemicals. But new leading independent research has produced strong evidence blaming neonicotinoid pesticides. France, Italy, Slovenia and even Germany, where the main manufacturer Bayer is based, have banned one of these bee killers. But, Bayer continues to export its poison across the world. This issue is now coming to the boil as major new studies have confirmed the scale of this problem. If we can get European and US decision-makers to take action, others will follow. It won't be easy. A leaked document shows that the US Environmental Protection Agency knew about the pesticide's dangers, but ignored them. The document says Bayer's highly toxic product is a major risk concern to non target insects [honey bees]. We need to make our voices heard to counter Bayer's very strong influence on policy makers and scientists in both the US and the EU where they fund the studies and sit on policy bodies. The real experts -- the beekeepers and farmers -- want these deadly pesticides prohibited until and unless we have solid, independent studies that show they are safe. Let's support them now. Sign the petition below, then forward this email: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/97.php?cl_tta_sign=f5178bbdb865c699796c0757009c00f7 We can no longer leave our delicate food chain in the hands of research run by the chemical companies and the regulators that are in their pockets. Banning this pesticide will move us closer to a world safe for ourselves and the other species we care about and depend on. With hope, Alex, Alice, Iain, David and all at Avaaz MORE INFORMATION Bee decline could be down to chemical cocktail interfering with brains http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/22/chemicals-bees-decline-major-study?INTCMP=SRCH Bee briefing http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=RXLEm9WXrHk%3Dtabid=439 http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=RXLEm9WXrHk%3Dtabid=439 $15 Billion Bee Murder Mystery Deepens http://www.businessinsider.com/colony-collapse-disorder-still-unsolved-lead-researcher-had-connections-to-bayer-2010-10 Nicotine Bees Population Restored With Neonicotinoids Ban http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/nicotine-bees-population-restored-with-neonicotinoids-ban.php EPA memo reveals concern that pesticide causes bee deaths http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=79910 Beekeepers want government to pull pesticide http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/beekeepers-want-government-to-pull-pesticide-1107701.html British Beekeepers' Association to stop endorsing bee-killing pesticides http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/16/beekeepers-end-pesticide-endorsement?INTCMP=SRCH Pesticide industry involvement in EU risk assessment puts survival of bees at stake http://www.corporateeurope.org/agribusiness/news/2010/11/16/pesticide-industry-future-bees -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20110107/e6143478/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http
Re: [Biofuel] Help put a ban on nicotinoid pesticides
and US decision-makers to take action, others will follow. It won't be easy. A leaked document shows that the US Environmental Protection Agency knew about the pesticide's dangers, but ignored them. The document says Bayer's highly toxic product is a major risk concern to non target insects [honey bees]. We need to make our voices heard to counter Bayer's very strong influence on policy makers and scientists in both the US and the EU where they fund the studies and sit on policy bodies. The real experts -- the beekeepers and farmers -- want these deadly pesticides prohibited until and unless we have solid, independent studies that show they are safe. Let's support them now. Sign the petition below, then forward this email: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/97.php?cl_tta_sign=f5178bbdb865c699796c0757009c00f7 We can no longer leave our delicate food chain in the hands of research run by the chemical companies and the regulators that are in their pockets. Banning this pesticide will move us closer to a world safe for ourselves and the other species we care about and depend on. With hope, Alex, Alice, Iain, David and all at Avaaz MORE INFORMATION Bee decline could be down to chemical cocktail interfering with brains http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/22/chemicals-bees-decline-major-study?INTCMP=SRCH Bee briefing http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=RXLEm9WXrHk%3Dtabid=439 http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=RXLEm9WXrHk%3Dtabid=439 $15 Billion Bee Murder Mystery Deepens http://www.businessinsider.com/colony-collapse-disorder-still-unsolved-lead-researcher-had-connections-to-bayer-2010-10 Nicotine Bees Population Restored With Neonicotinoids Ban http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/nicotine-bees-population-restored-with-neonicotinoids-ban.php EPA memo reveals concern that pesticide causes bee deaths http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=79910 Beekeepers want government to pull pesticide http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/beekeepers-want-government-to-pull-pesticide-1107701.html British Beekeepers' Association to stop endorsing bee-killing pesticides http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/16/beekeepers-end-pesticide-endorsement?INTCMP=SRCH Pesticide industry involvement in EU risk assessment puts survival of bees at stake http://www.corporateeurope.org/agribusiness/news/2010/11/16/pesticide-industry-future-bees -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20110107/e6143478/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Solar thermal industry set to boom
http://www.alternet.org/story/149389/vision%3A_2011_must_be_the_year_where_we_get_serious_about_wind_and_solar_power?page=entire 2011 Must Be the Year Where We Get Serious About Wind and Solar Power Even without federal policies to catapult the U.S. to the world's leader in renewable energy, solar and wind energy has the potential to significantly increase its capacity. January 3, 2011 What resources are used to power the electricity grid will certainly continue to be debated throughout 2011. And what actions will be taken in the 112th Congress on electric power generation is yet to be seen, but passing a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) or any form of carbon cap and trade bill seems highly unlikely. Even without the necessary federal policies to catapult the U.S. to the world's leader in renewable energy installations and manufacturing, solar and wind energy has the potential to significantly increase its capacity in 2011. The one-year renewal of the U.S. Treasury 1603 grant program, allowing investors to receive a 30 percent grant in lieu of a tax credit on renewable energy projects, and accelerated depreciation benefits passed in the lame duck session, will greatly benefit distributed generation and utility scale projects in 2011. The number of distributed generation or behind the meter on-site projects installed in 2011 will be directly related to incentives available in each state. For example, in Ohio, the failure to renew the Advanced Energy Fund, a grant program providing up to $200,000 for renewable energy projects, will greatly decrease investment in on-site projects unless developers and advocates are able to get another incentive passed in the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly and governor's office. However, states like Pennsylvania, whose grant incentives remain strong, will continue to reap the economic growth and job creation from investment in renewable energy projects. Investment in utility scale projects will also be impacted by state incentives typically focusing more on a state's tax structure than grant programs. With more than 29 states having passed an RES you would assume these states would keep the necessary incentives strong to ensure the RES goals are obtainable, but with new political leaders in many of these states it is hard to tell how hard they will work to base a significant percentage of their electricity usage on renewable energy generation. The value of renewable energy credits (RECs)--tradable, non-tangible energy commodities in the U.S. that represent proof that one megawatt-hour of electricity was generated from an eligible renewable energy resource--will also play a role in the amount of installed capacity in 2011. In states where grant incentives are drying up, RECs play an enormous role in making projects financially viable. In addition to the issues associated with the fluctuating market of RECs, many states might start seeing a flooding of the REC market as large megawatt projects are installed in their state. If these large projects are eligible for the respective states REC program, it could significantly decrease the amount of distributed generation projects since these projects would not be economically viable without the revenue generated by selling RECs. However, some states, like New Jersey, Massachusetts and Delaware, have passed policies to ensure this does not happen. Hopefully states like Ohio will follow the lead put forth by other states to encourage the installation of on-site renewable energy projects. Another potential delay to increased distributed generation wind capacity in 2011 is the lack of a streamlined process for environmental regulation and siting of projects. The impacts to Bald Eagles, Indiana Bats and other wildlife from single turbine projects is not well documented and therefore projects are delayed or withdrawn after being denied federal funding from agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development if they did not receive a green light from governmental agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Department of Natural Resources. The contradiction here, of course, is that reliance on renewable energy generation actually improves the health of wildlife by reducing mercury pollution in the air and water. There is no question that proper siting of renewable energy projects is critical to the success of this industry, but when viable projects are derailed due to a lack of well-defined regulations by agencies it reduces installed capacity. Monitoring what the U.S. decides to do in 2011 is only half the battle, especially when you contemplate that half of the 6 billion tons of coal burned globally each year is burned in China with many other countries like India significantly increasing their daily appetite for electricity. In addition, U.S. coal exports are on the rise. China is now importing higher-grade, low-sulfur
Re: [Biofuel] Help put a ban on nicotinoid pesticides
... Not to mention this: http://www.alternet.org/story/149440/%27aflockalypse%27%3A_here%27s_why_we_should_really_be_concerned_about_the_huge_bird_and_fish_die-off?page=entire AlterNet / By Tara Lohan 'Aflockalypse': Here's Why We Should Really Be Concerned About the Huge Bird and Fish Die-off The massive death toll of dead birds and sea life should draw attention to the countless other species on the brink of extinction. January 7, 2011 By now, we've all seen the news reports of the Aflockalypse. The New Year came in with a bang in Beebe, Arkansas when thousands of blackbirds fell from the sky. As news reports of the eerie incident spread, similar stories began surfacing all over the world: Massive fish kills by the thousands in Brazil, New Zealand, the Arkansas River and the Chesapeake; more bird deaths in Louisiana, Kentucky and Sweden; and tens of thousands of dead crabs (aptly named dead devil crabs) washing ashore in the U.K. 2011 seems to have gotten off to an ominous start, but so far no one credible has come up with a theory to link all these occurrences together. They appear to be mostly isolated catastrophes. Sadly, this kind of stuff happens a fair bit, and in our uber-connected world, it's getting easier and easier to share when they do. Although I do admit that some of the purported explanations thus far sound kind of far-fetched. The 100 or so dead jackdaws in Sweden were explained by a veterinarian to a local news outlet: Our main theory is that the birds were scared away because of the fireworks and landed on the road, but couldn't fly away from the stress and were hit by a car. One car? Really? I can't imagine being the driver who kills 100 birds simultaneously. But the other incidents, perhaps, have better explanations that are largely due to either weather (cold snap) or environmental factors (fireworks, lightening, disease). As for Britain's crabs -- well, it turns out that this is the third year in a row it has happened, which may or may not be comforting, depending on how you look at things. The only upside to these die-offs has been the rapt attention of readers, which is great; however, no offense to jackdaws and dead devil crabs, but there are a whole lot of other species on the brink that could use the publicity. For starters, the World Wide Fund for Nature (also known in the U.S. as the World Wildlife Fund) just released its top 10 list of endangered species: the tiger, polar bear, Pacific walrus, Magellanic penguin, leatherback turtle, Atlantic bluefin tuna, mountain gorilla, monarch butterfly, Javan rhino and the giant panda are the unlucky finalists. While one night of fireworks revelry may have offed a few thousands birds this year, the creatures on WWF's list are teetering on the edge of extinction thanks to decades, and in some cases centuries, of hard work by humans. Loss of habitat and poaching may claim our remaining 3,200 wild tigers, 720 mountain gorillas and 60 Javan rhinos. Polar bears, Pacific walruses and Magellanic penguins are losing out to climate change. We're doing in leatherback turtles, which have managed to survive on this earth for 100 million years, thanks to overfishing (they're often killed as bycatch), and their habitat is endangered by rising sea levels and temperatures. Bluefin look like they will be eaten into extinction in the form of sushi. Treehugger reported that, A single bluefin tuna just sold at auction for a new record price of 32.49 million yen in Tokyo. That's nearly $400,000 for a single fish, which means there is a pretty big monetary incentive for fishing them until they are wiped off the planet. Monarch butterflies and giant pandas can hang on only so long as we can protect their vital habitat. And these 10 are only the tip of the iceberg. A recent infographic on Mother Nature Network reveals that in the last 500 years, 900 species of plants and animals have gone extinct and 10,000 more are close to making that list. We've done the most damage, however, in the last 100 years. Biologically rich Ecuador has the most to lose, with 2,211 endangered species, but the U.S. is a close second (1,203 endangered species). Honeybees aren't officially designated as endangered, but the population of these essential pollinators is falling thanks to colony collapse disorder. A recent leaked EPA memo implicates the pesticide clothianidin as a contributor to honeybee die-offs, although sadly the EPA has yet to curb the chemical's use in the U.S. Bumblebees aren't faring much better, as a recent report concludes that four common species in the U.S. have declined by a startling 97 percent. According to the Center for Ecology and Hydrology in the UK, three of the 25 British species of bumblebee are already extinct and half of the remainder have shown serious declines, often up to 70 percent, since around the 1970s, writes Sami Grover for Treehugger. Without these pollinators,
Re: [Biofuel] As Oil Prices Rise, Beware Familiar Refrain of 'Drill Baby Drill'
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/2/dramatic-spike-in-gas-prices-forecasted/ Dramatic spike in gas prices forecast Demand for oil keeps increasing By Patrice Hill The Washington Times Sunday, January 2, 2011 Oil and gasoline prices have risen to their highest levels in two years, and analysts say prices could shoot up dramatically this year as the thirst for fuel grows in the U.S. and around the world. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/05/world-food-prices-danger-record-high-un World Food Prices Enter 'Danger Territory' to Reach Record High UN food price index rises for sixth month in a row to highest since records began in 1990 by Jill Treanor January 5, 2011 Soaring prices of sugar, grain and oilseed drove world food prices to a record in December, surpassing the levels of 2008 when the cost of food sparked riots around the world, and prompting warnings of prices being in danger territory. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,738253,00.html#ref=nlint 01/07/2011 Playing God on a Limited Budget The Challenge of Deciding Who to Feed By Uwe Buse The United Nations' World Food Program tries to stop the poorest of the poor from going hungry. But its budget has dwindled during the crisis as donor countries focus on their own economic problems. Aid workers face the unpleasant task of deciding who gets food -- and who doesn't. http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/01/04-9 January 4, 2011 CONTACT: Public Citizen http://www.citizen.org/ As Oil Prices Rise, Beware Familiar Refrain of 'Drill Baby Drill' Statement of Tyson Slocum, Director of Public Citizen's Energy Program WASHINGTON - January 4 - Gasoline prices are rising, averaging 41 cents higher a gallon than last year, so once again we are hearing the familiar refrain that this means we need to drill more. Not surprisingly, we are hearing this from incoming Republicans who will now be running the U.S. House of Representatives. They are eager to find any excuse to support the agenda of the oil industry, which is to have increased access to land for drilling purposes and to preserve lucrative tax breaks and subsidies. Beware. We cannot drill our way to low prices. And as we have seen with past price spikes, the industry's tax breaks serve only to pad their profits, not keep prices down. In the name of deficit reduction, Congress is about to consider cutting services that provide benefits to tens of millions of Americans. There is no excuse for even considering cuts to vital services to poor and working Americans while the oil industry continues to claim more than $5 billion a year in tax breaks. Market speculation almost assuredly has played a role in rising gas prices. We haven't yet reregulated these markets, and we need to. Despite the BP disaster, Congress still hasn't passed a spill bill that would require offshore drilling to be safer for the environment, protect workers or ensure that oil companies - not the American taxpayer - are financially responsible for oil spills. Lawmakers should be focusing on that instead of throwing more bones to the industry. As prices rise, lawmakers also should consider a windfall profits tax. The money should be used to pay for clean energy, energy efficiency and mass transit. If we invested adequately in such alternative energy sources, we wouldn't have to hear that familiar refrain when oil prices go up. ### Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] The climate movement is in desperate need of renewal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2011/jan/05/climate-movement-renewal-ratcliffe The climate movement is in desperate need of renewal If a jury that received extensive education on climate change could not vindicate the Ratcliffe activists, then who will? Bradley Day guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 January 2011 In the final weeks of 2010, 20 individuals - including myself - went on trial after being accused of conspiring to shut down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power station. Today we received our sentences. The jury were presented with a wealth of evidence, not seeking to disprove the charge, but to justify it. Despite hearing terrifying evidence from some of world's leading climate change experts; learning of the millions of pounds spent in their local area as a result of extreme weather conditions; listening to gut-wrenching testimonies from flood victims across the globe; and observing senior politicians explain our crippling democratic deficit, the jury went on to deliver a unanimous guilty verdict. Since the verdict, many messages of support have appeared on the trial's campaign Facebook page. While these were uplifting, I felt a little unease at comments proclaiming the jury as appalling, shameful, shortsighted. The jury received a more extensive education on climate change than most people get in a lifetime. That they could not vindicate our actions is nothing to get self-righteous about; it is deeply disturbing. If the jury, after everything they had heard, couldn't bring themselves to sympathise with our actions, who will? I first became engaged in climate change in 2005. At the time I was filled with optimism. People appeared to be waking up to the issue in the nick of time. Like hundreds of others, we launched a community action group in our town. When we hosted a public meeting it was standing room only. A few months on we saw a Tory leader proclaiming the virtues of cycling and micro-power generation. Direct action groups such as the Camp for Climate Action saw their numbers swell from tens to hundreds, to thousands. Yet at the start of 2009 a depressing reality emerged. Climate change may have become ingrained in public discourse, but what had been achieved? My local group had campaigned tirelessly to reopen the town train station, promoting greener transport, only to be repeatedly told by our MP there was nothing he could do. The government had continued to advocate new coal over renewables. The impending Copenhagen climate conference was already set to result in utter failure. The financial crises saw a mass withdrawal from the issue on the part of politicians and the media. And if things couldn't get any worse, climate scepticism was re-emerging. It was in this context that a group of us started plotting to prevent 150,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from being released by shutting down Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station. Two years later, climate change already appears to be an issue of the past. Our bike-loving prime minister chose to travel to the World Cup bid rather than participate in the UN climate conference in Cancún. Climate change gets a fraction of the attention it enjoyed not so long ago. So what happened to the climate movement? What happened to the community groups, the marches, the Climate Camps? They are all still there, battling on. My local group still fights for that train station, Climate Camps still pull in thousands of participants every summer, and the marches continue. But we never reached the critical mass required to combat the fatigue the issue now faces. Despite those packed village halls, streets, and fields of climate campaigners, there are huge swaths of society that were never engaged at all. Will the next 12 months see climate change, the issue, continue to slide into obscurity as climate change, the reality, kills at an ever escalating rate? If we are to reverse the current trend we need to do more than lobby our MPs. We need to do more than shut down coal-fired power stations. In 2011 we need to begin a comprehensive grassroots engagement project. This is no small task. Three weeks in front of the world's leading climate experts didn't do it for 12 people from Nottingham. This scheme requires long-term commitment. Getting out and talking about these challenging issues is draining and comes with little glory. But those of us terrified by the prospect of climate change cannot afford to ignore those who don't feel the same way. This is not an exercise in handing out graphs and charts, but it requires us to stare hard into our communities and start joining up the dots. It's the same energy companies that cling to coal who force pensioners into deadly fuel poverty. It's the same government who fails to invest in green jobs, that cuts the UK flood defence budget. There are many avenues for making the links and connections, should we commit the effort. The jury in Nottingham
Re: [Biofuel] Help put a ban on nicotinoid pesticides
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0106-morgan_bird_kills.html End of Days bird kill just a fraction of real death toll By Morgan Erickson-Davis, mongabay.com January 07, 2011 The sudden en-masse deaths of thousands of birds in the Southern U.S. on the night of New Year's Eve have created a frenzy of media attention, but in reality hardly compare to the massive number that die each year because of human activity. Shortly after midnight on January 1st, thousands of red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas. Some were outright dead, others mortally wounded, all were found to have suffered severe injury through blunt-force trauma. While there has been speculation around a number of hypotheses including a climate change-driven weather phenomenon and even a fluctuation in the earth's magnetism, as usual the most obvious solution is the most likely: fireworks set off by people celebrating the holiday flushed the birds into the air where, unable to see, they collided with houses, trees, and each other. However, these deaths represent just a fraction of the true impact humans have on birdlife. There are many human-related causes of bird mortality including buildings, outdoor cats, pesticides, communication towers, automobiles, wind farms, and lead poisoning from spent ammunition and lost fishing tackle. said American Bird Conservancy Vice President, Mike Parr. But because most of the deaths from those sources often occur in ones or twos, they often go unnoticed or unreported. In total, says Parr, studies have estimated that up to one billion birds may be killed annually due to collisions with buildings. Another billion fall prey to domestic cats. Up to 50 million birds are killed each year after hitting communications towers, and pesticide poisoning has been linked to the deaths of up to 15 million birds each year. In addition to all these hazards, the increasing presence of wind turbines is a threat to many birds, especially when they're built in the path of migration routes. When you look at the totality of human-caused threats to birds, it has got to give cause for serious concern about our cumulative effects on their populations, Parr said. Strides have been taken in the development, implementation, and promotion of bird-safe technology. For instance, the prohibition or restriction of many pesticides most toxic to birds, such as carbofuran, fenthion, and ethyl parathion, has reduced bird mortality by as much as 75 percent. Bird-safe glass is also being developed for use in tall buildings. Bird-safe building glass is no longer a pie-in-the-sky dream. said Parr. Its reality is on the horizon - we are close. The manufacturers are working with the scientists; they're working with us. And local communities are getting into the act as well, with more and more cities - such as San Francisco - looking at policies that implement bird-friendly construction, New wind technology is in the works for a turbine which would pose much less risk to birds than the design implemented in wind farms today. Called an airborne wind turbine, the idea is to do away with the tower of a traditional wind turbine and instead use a helium-filled blimp which would enable the device to be raised much higher than is currently possible in order to capture the increased wind energy of higher altitudes. Because its height, the device could emit a bird-deterring sound too loud for use in lower turbines. However, while airborne wind turbines are on the horizon, today's turbines are killing hundreds of thousands of birds every year. The Department of the Interior is currently considering imposing operational guidelines on wind farms which would lessen their risk to birds. Parr believes those guidelines should be mandatory. Voluntary guidelines don't work. he said. We wouldn't expect people to abide by voluntary drinking and driving limits. We can't expect the wind industry to follow voluntary environmental guidelines either. ... Not to mention this: http://www.alternet.org/story/149440/%27aflockalypse%27%3A_here%27s_why_we_should_really_be_concerned_about_the_huge_bird_and_fish_die-off?page=entire AlterNet / By Tara Lohan 'Aflockalypse': Here's Why We Should Really Be Concerned About the Huge Bird and Fish Die-off The massive death toll of dead birds and sea life should draw attention to the countless other species on the brink of extinction. January 7, 2011 By now, we've all seen the news reports of the Aflockalypse. The New Year came in with a bang in Beebe, Arkansas when thousands of blackbirds fell from the sky. As news reports of the eerie incident spread, similar stories began surfacing all over the world: Massive fish kills by the thousands in Brazil, New Zealand, the Arkansas River and the Chesapeake; more bird deaths in Louisiana, Kentucky and Sweden; and tens of thousands of dead crabs (aptly named dead devil crabs) washing ashore in the U.K. 2011 seems
