An article recently published in Bloomberg took a vicious swipe at the great Indian bustard, a protected species in India.
The article passes off the bustard’s habitats as ‘wastelands’ that we would all be foolish to not exploit for solar or wind power.
In a recent judgement, the Supreme Court said power lines in the great Indian bustard’s habitat are to be moved underground, so that bustards aren’t caught and decapitated mid-flight – a major cause of death.
The bird has traded short-distance vision to be able to see well over longer distances because it needs to survive in the brightly lit semi-arid grasslands, scan it for predators, with little shade for succour.
But if we’re going to erect panels and turbines and string them together in ways that pose serious threats to the survival of a species of birds, and trigger cascading changes in its ecosystem, the purpose of ‘green energy’ will become profiteering, not sustainability.