We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit.
Wind power, if not properly planned and sited, can harm birds and bats (although Danish studies of 10,000 bird kills revealed that almost all died in collisions with buildings, cars and wires; only 10 were killed by windmills). Alternative energy sources are absolutely necessary. Global warming will kill birds and bats, as well as other species, in much greater numbers than wind power.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Wind power can negatively impact wildlife if not managed properly, but it is still a vital alternative energy source in the fight against global warming.
David Suzuki emphasizes the importance of wind power as a necessary alternative energy source to combat global warming, despite its potential harm to birds and bats when not properly planned. He argues that the threat posed by global warming far exceeds any harm done by wind turbines, highlighting the need for sustainable energy solutions that protect biodiversity while addressing climate change.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about renewable energy, you might use this quote to highlight the challenges and benefits of wind power.
More from David Suzuki
All quotes βAs parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts we need to start getting out into nature with the young people in our lives. Families play a key role in getting kids outside.
One of the joys of being a grandparent is getting to see the world again through the eyes of a child.
The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.
Do you know how much land is under ice, rock and snow? Do you know why 90 percent of us live within 100 kilometres of the U.S. border? We have this idea we're a vast country. But the reality is that a lot of it, a huge amount, is uninhabitable.
We no longer see the world as a single entity. We've moved to cities and we think the economy is what gives us our life, that if the economy is strong we can afford garbage collection and sewage disposal and fresh food and water and electricity. We go through life thinking that money is the key to having whatever we want, without regard to what it does to the rest of the world.
Similar quotes
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
Having been the discoverer of many splendid things, he is said to have asked his friends and relations that, after his death, they should place on his tomb a cylinder enclosing a sphere, writing on it the proportion of the containing solid to that which is contained.
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.
I hope I have helped to raise the profile of science and to show that physics is not a mystery but can be understood by ordinary people.
Climate Change is a national security issue. We found that climate instability will lead to instability in geopolitics and impact American military operations around the world. People are saying they want to be perfectly convinced about climate science projections. But speaking as a soldier, we never have 100 percent certainty. If you wait until you have 100 percent certainty, something bad is going to happen on the battlefield.
The investigation of nature is an infinite pasture-ground where all may graze, and where the more bite, the longer the grass grows, the sweeter is its flavor, and the more it nourishes.