Ka-Blooey!

          “Hey,” St. Bob says, “Birds are exploding in mid-air over California.”

          I roll my eyes.  “Are there kids with BB guns below them?”  Once again, I am sure there is a rational explanation.

          First I ask him where he’s reading this, and look over his shoulder at his cell phone.  This has got to be another anti-California article about acid rain or metaphysical retribution from jealous birds in the next life, who didn’t get to live by the ocean.

          But no—it’s a legitimate article in a legitimate newspaper, USA Today.  The headline reads, Why birds are igniting in midair over Calif.

          And it turns out that every two minutes, a bird is scorched to death by the light rays coming from BrightSource Energy plant, the largest solar thermal power plant in the world.

          This plant (built for $2.2 billion) has 300,000 mirrors the size of garage doors, and they all focus the sun’s power toward 40-story-tall “power towers.”  And it doesn’t take a genius to see what could happen in the path of those stunning beams—experts say as many as 28,000 birds will die within a year, drawn to bugs that are drawn to light. Thousands are already dead, and pilots flying in and out of L.A. and Las Vegas report being dazzled by the light as well.  Hard to believe?  Here’s the link. 

          Wait a second.  Aren’t solar plants supposed to be nature-friendly?  Isn’t that their entire appeal?  So what happens when the environmentally aware facilities turn on the environment?

          The article doesn’t say what’s currently being done to remedy this mass genocide (I’m guessing nothing), but something tells me there’ll be plenty of feral cats out there, holding butterfly nets and smacking their lips.

Have you visited my website, lately?  It will shed light on some great books you can buy and videos you can watch.  But I promise that light will not make you spontaneously ignite.