BirdingInSpain

It seems to be a debate that leaves no-one indifferent. Wind farms and the need for renewable energy in one corner and birding, sustainable tourism and conservation in the other.

The undeniable logic of renewable energy in times of increasing concern over global warming and oil wars is pounded into us. And most energetically (!) by interested parties who have the most to gain in the short term. Take off your masks and show us who you really are!

In the other corner are local residents concerned about the enormous visual impact of wind turbines (anyone been to Fuendetodos recently? The village widely signposted as Goya’s birthplace? Scenic, eh?), electricity pylons and lines, health aspects, and even the mortal effect they have on birds of prey. Rural tourism is going hand in hand with sustainability, and slowly gaining hard-won ground, here in Spain at least.

So should the inhabitants of Terra Alta, Montsià and Matarranya, with the great natural and scenic wealth of Els Ports, the serres of Pàndols and Cavalls, the wonderful via verda, the rivers Matarranya, Estrets, Algars (the cleanest in the Mediterranean basin)…should they let it all go and allow the hills to be plastered with wind turbines?  I don’t think so. And luckily, many of the local residents of those areas don’t think so either.

If wind turbines are necessary, let them first go up in the places where they will have the least impact: put them along the motorways, put them up next to industrial estates, on city outskirts, even at the top of those sierras which don’t have birds of prey and are not in the heart of what should be a protected landscape. That is the real logic of wind energy -  putting the turbines where they belong. And one day, when no such sites remain, then it will be time to sit down together and talk about the future.

Popularity: 42%

Maintaining a blog requires constancy and vanity: I’m obviously lacking in one of those, but I’m not sure which.

Ideas for the environment, and hence for birds. This month’s apparently “whacko” suggestion is spring-loaded cars.

Imagine it: go to a “petrol” station which has no petrol but rather exercise bikes of similar. There you can pedal for as long as you like on a static bike which in fact is winding up a very strong, resistant spring-loaded mechanism housed inside a rechangeable tube. You pay nothing for the exercise, and in fact get a credit for replacing your spent “tube” or cannister for a recharged one, depending on the amount of exercise you have done, or how much you want to pay.

I’m no engineer, so I expect such a system would have to be used in combination with petrol or similar, as a spring-petrol hybrid.

Want more? Got more?

Popularity: 34%

Another thing. They tell us that nature conservation is all very well, but that it doesn’t pay. Then make it pay!

Establish a taxing system to replace rates or poll taxes or even VAT that awards value to the quality of the environment where people live, produce or consume. Every municipality could have its own biodiversity ranking, depending on the quality of the surrounding environment, the gains or losses of habitats and species in recent years, the rarity/uniqueness of its fauna and flora (including birds of course). The basic premise is that those areas which do most for the environment pay less, and those area which rely on industry or other types of production without considering the protection of biodiversity pay more. After all they are getting rich by producing, unless they’re doing it in the wrong way.

The principle is simple enough, but of course it would take a lot of goodwill and imagination to put it into practice. Maybe it’s Utopia. Maybe it’s sustainability.

Popularity: 31%

It’s been bugging me for some time now, so I’ve decided to take the plunge…As from today this blog will have a new category called “Ideas for birds”.

And what exactly is “ideas for birds” I hear you ask? (I only hear that in my head as nobody ever makes any comment on this blog!). Well it’s basically a mish-mash of ideas that at one time or other have occured to me; ideas that would make things better for birds, the environment and most people if someone powerful and influential enough were to take them to heart. Failing that they will float around cyberspace until the Birding in Spain.com blog domain is stolen, lost or neglected, or until an internet virus blows us all back into harsh reality.

Could I give an example? Of course…

Every municipality with a minimum number of animal farms should have its own co-operative biogas plant. If the capital outlay is too much for the individual farmer then let them come together as they did for olives, almonds and other crops and form a co-operative. Biogas plants on this scale would produce electricity to meet part of the village’s electricity demands, fertilizer, heat for greenhouse production and would also do away with the problem of pig slurry disposal.

ANother one, also related to a question of scale:

Why are fields being swallowed up by acres of solar panels before plastering roofs with them in our villages, towns and cities?

Put wind turbines along motorways and not on the tops of the sierras. This would reduce raptor collision problems and visual impact.

More uncomfortable truths to follow…

Popularity: 35%