Climate change a far bigger environmental danger (to birds and humans) than wind turbines | READER COMMENTARY

The greatest threat to birds today is climate change due to changes in habitat. Please stop with the “whataboutism” with wind turbines and bird deaths (”Wind turbines pose a danger to birds,” Jan. 5). We all know that wind turbines pose a threat to birds, and we are working on solutions to reduce this number via noise and visual aids.

Also, wind farm experiences in Europe, which are well documented, is that birds learn to go around the turbines and around the wind farms themselves completely. Furthermore, the coal industry is responsible for killing 24 times more birds than wind turbines. Estimated bird deaths from wind turbines are small when compared to other human-caused sources of avian mortality. For example, there are the 5 billion birds killed annually as a result of encounters with a variety of hazards, ranging from domestic cats to building glass. In fact, agriculture practices such as pesticides and mowing kill far more birds than wind turbines.

We are in a climate crisis. At stake isn’t just death of bird by wind turbines, it’s the future of human beings on this planet. The power sector is a leading source of cancer-causing air pollution and the nation’s second-largest source of carbon dioxide. If we do nothing to clean it up, we condemn ourselves to facing the worst consequences of climate change.

The last time carbon dioxide levels were this high, the sea level was 60 feet higher. It is a good thing that sea level rise lags carbon levels, otherwise the whole Eastern Shore of Maryland would be gone already. Just remember when people bring out his trope, the greatest threat to birds today is climate change due to changes in habitat.

— Dave Arndt, Baltimore

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