Bird Preservation Time

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Bird Preservation Time - Let us get this out of the way first thing - I am not an "Eco Nut." The fact is, I like the idea and the practice of taking care of natural things - trees, bushes, flowers, hills, valleys, rivers, lakes, crittters and birdies, to name just several of the things I prefer that people take care of and preserve. But I don't want to go overboard with my preferences for natural stuff versus big city mess - pollution, smog, poison fumes, acid rain, lead in the drinking water, and things like those. There are some things about the rampant and unthinking application of "eco nonsense" that catch my eyes and my thoughts, however, I then ask, is this perhaps carrying things too far? Do we really need to do "this?" Way back in time (I am now 85 years old) my father showed to me a certificate of corporate stock - shares in a company that had its origin back in the time just prior to the "Great Depression" here in the United States of America. That was a time long before the "eco nuts" of the world really began to cut loose upon us. The name of the company was "Stoddard Wave Power Corporation." On its stock certificate was a picture of what looked to be some mattresses afloat alongside of a pier by the ocean, tethered to the pier by ropes or chains that looped up and over atop poles. The ropes (or chains) continued down to electrical turbines such that every time a mattress was raised and lowered by the ocean waves, the turbine generated electricity. There were no dead fish or dead seagull birds in the water, either. Pretty slick system, right? As I think of that "wave power" generation idea today, I can see that it could maybe be a darling of an idea for the "eco nuts" of our modern world to grab up and, with it, to run around and yell and smile and really push it as a potential winner of an "eco" idea. But I don't hear any shouting about "wave power," do I? No, I do not hear yelling and cheering about it. Instead I hear anti-eco-nut, James Delingpole's remarks about the rampant "bird slicing" that goes on within those forests of "eco-friendly" wind turbines. (Or perhaps various commentary over the bird roasting going on in the huge solar electric generation facilities that have sprung up in efforts to save nature by concentrating sun rays on tall target gadgetry and on the thousands of birds unlucky enough to fly into those scorching hot concentrated sunbeams.) Progress. Nature may tell you that there is nothing quite like eco-friendly progress - but, kindly knock off the nonsense part of that, OK? Image - Electrical generating wind turbine - Pixabay