I think we are all hypocritical at times, simply because we can only focus ourselves in one single direction at a time. Our mind is somewhat like our eyesight in that it focuses on one scene at a time. Often the phenomenon of our limited attention, limits our awareness of affected things.

It was only a few years ago that the country was in a great hullabaloo about the endangered Snail Darter. I don’t know what a snail darter is, and consequently I don’t know how important it is to life on the planet. I think it is some kind of small swamp dweller that the tree huggers were afraid was going to become extinct, because of the tendency of some to drain swamps to gain more tillable land.

A lot of laws were passed to save what were called wetlands, even very small ones. I may be off a bit on some of these facts. This was a few years ago, but for the purposes here, it’s not important. The essence was that we should not carelessly threaten the existence of any creature, no matter how insignificant, just to please our rush to fame and fortune. How can anyone with an appreciation for the multitude of creation, not be in sympathy with such an appeal.

I worked for 36 years for a radio and television company. Our television station has a 1,000-foot tower in the country, from which it broadcasts its television programs. You’ve doubtless seen these towers. They are built as an open frame with a broadcasting antenna mounted at the top, and several layers of guy wires that help to keep them stable and erect.

Every so often the Audubon Society would visit our tower, and walk the ground beneath it. It seems that birds of various descriptions would inadvertently run into the tower or the guy wires, and fall to the ground dead from their collision. The Audubon Society could get a pretty good idea of the types of birds and general populations in the area by the ratio of how many they found of the various species from their collision with the tower. Apparently these birds don’t expect to meet an obstruction after they get above the trees, and the scarce frame of the tower or guy wires are easily overlooked if you are not looking for them.

The goal of my article is not to decry how many birds we kill with our stationary TV towers. That’s pitiful enough, and more than most of us realize, but I’m after bigger game. How many more, by the thousands, that we are killing with our electric wind-generating towers which are equipped with rotating blades, and are covering large areas of the landscapes, which bewilder our birds even further.

Birds may see a clear path before them, but as they pass the tower a huge blade descends upon them from above, or below, like a guillotine and it’s all over. I remember reading an article about how many hundreds of golden eagles and bald eagles are killed every year in California by wind turbines. I don’t recall the number so I will only say it is astounding. I wonder what has happened to all those tree-huggers who were raising hell about the poor little snail darter. Have they lost their passion? Maybe someone told them that the eagles and other birds were eating the snail darter so they are happy to see them in trouble.

I think the general bird population is more important than a snail dater. In our headlong rush to build more and more generating wind turbine fields across the country with no concern for the damage we are doing to some of our most treasured wildlife, are we biting off more than we can chew?

Will we inevitably regret our reaping the results of our mad rush to generation with an eye only on what we can profit in the short run? I hope not. May God bless America.

Richard Westlund is a Collins resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com