How do you feel about supporting all the cell phone towers being built along the A-T , so you can get a signal?
Greg
Don't cell phones and the white blazes
system
#2
Posted on Wed, Sep. 25, 2002: Tallahassee.com
Bird deaths spur cell tower debate
By Bill Kaczor
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PENSACOLA - Environmental groups want a moratorium on new communication towers within 100 miles of the Gulf Coast because millions of migratory birds, including endangered species, are being killed by flying into the structures.
The American Bird Conservancy, Friends of the Earth and the Forest Conservation Council formally asked the Federal Communications Commission for the moratorium Aug. 26, but the agency has yet to respond, representatives of the groups said Tuesday.
Since then, however, the FCC has issued permits for 155 new cellular telephone towers in the proposed moratorium area from the southern tip of Texas, across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to Tampa Bay, said John Talberth, conservation director for the Forest Conservation Council in Santa Fe, N.M.
Brian Dunkiel, a lawyer for the three organizations, said they may take the issue to court if the FCC fails to act.
“Communications towers kill birds and lots of them,” Talberth said. “The biggest problems happen at night and when there are low ceilings and stormy conditions.”
Birds, sometimes in flocks of up to 10,000, are attracted by aircraft warning lights, get confused and fly into the towers and their support wires.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates up to 40 million birds belonging to 230 species are killed in such collisions across the nation every year.
Tha Wookie
system
#3
www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-03-09-birds_x.htm
This is probably the best source of information from the Bedford Audubon Society: www.bedfordaudubon.org/conserv/celltowerfacts.pdf
I guarantee the popular media will continue to bury these stories unitil something replaces the cell phone that would save them more $$$ and time.
I’ve faced resistance on this site for mentioning this before. Lone Wolf called me a “PETA wackjob”. But I could care less, so fire away.
You shouldn’t just leave your cell phone at home. You should put it next to the TV, step back thirty feet, put a buckshot round in the chamber, and save yourself. You might want to wear goggles.
:lol
Tha Wookie
system
#5
In keeping with the theme of enjoying as near a wilderness experience as possibble I would like to see no more towers in the trail corridor. We do not need to use our cell phones that badly. Sometimes I bring my phone with me but its just so I can call my friends who are stuck doing something else, from the top of a mountain and rub it in a little. I think we could all do without that. Caring about wildlife doesn’t make you a PETA wack job.
Big B
system
#6
Oh, I have to comment. These conversations make me so sad. People who are concerned about the environment are immediately deemed “wackos” if they don’t eschew every single piece of modern life. If you don’t walk around naked eating leaves for breakfast, you’re a hypocrite. So why bother at all? Just fill up on meat, drive a really big car that gets 10 mpg, throw away as much garbage as you can, and heat your huge house that contains 4 people to 72 F in the winter. Anything less would be hypocritical.
Manasquan
system
#7
If any of you have been following the story of the developer trying to get permission to put an array of wind-mills off the coast of martha’s vineyard. The latest roadblock was a group of people complaining about the number of birds that would be killed by flying into them. I wish I had a link to the story, because I’ve never heard a wind farm referred to as “an environmental disaster” before I read this. I suppose coal fired, or nuclear power plants would be much more environmentally friendly!?!?
3D
system
#9
Ya might be surprised at the number of environmentally conservative hunters and anglers that are out there. It’s their gamelands and streams which are being clearcut, developed, polluted and buried, too.
Cap’n
system
#10
3D
You ought to be able to get all the info you desire. I won’t try and hide my feelings about environmentalist types, but they’ll holler just as loud as the rest, when the electricity is shut off
Hydromagnt
system
#11
Eglin AFB is on the Gulf Coast in Destin, FL. They’ve earned several awards for environmental stewardship and habitat protection on their ranges. The Jackson Guard protects all kinds of wildlife species there, and the Croc Hunter (goon that he is) did a 3-part special on the base’s wildlife.
So the base decides they need to build a tower on Santa Rosa Island to monitor the tests they conduct out in the Gulf. OUTRAGE!! You wouldn’t believe the uproar!
Here’s the thing - the whole reason an entire island is almost completely undeveloped is because the base owns it for those tests and doesn’t develop it. This raises real estate values on the mainland side of Santa Rosa sound because they get to see pristine beachline. So now the residents have to deal with almost-completely-undeveloped-near-pristine-beachline with a tower on it…instead of shoulder-to-shoulder 20+ story hotels and condos. The AFB is the reason their values are so high. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you…
Anyway, one of the arguments was wildlife protection. Aside from Eglin’s proven track record, here’s the thing. If the base can’t accomplish its mission because it can’t develop the areas it owns, it would be closed…and replaced by the tourist industry, which would develop it even more grotesquely.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could have the best of both worlds? Unfortunately, idealism has to be tempered with a bit of realism if we expect to accomplish anything.
On a larger (and more philosophical) scale, the reason we have the free time to think about things like environmentalism is because we’re developed to the point that we’re not worrying about where our next meal is coming from. The technology and development that we depend on every day for our comfortable existence (defined by safe drinking water, plentiful food and ready shelter rather than by luxury) is the same technology and development we decry when “pristine” land gets “developed.”
We could certainly be more responsible with our development, but a few relay towers is chump change in comparison with urban sprawl and irresponsible land management. ALL development isn’t bad - just irresponsible development.
Jeff
P.S. Thunder - a twist? Not so much - look at the freaks who burn SUVs, or damage industrial sites and military bases in the name of “environmentalism.” Granted, those are the more extreme actions, but it’s not unheard of. I read of an environmentalist who busted onto a flight line and was trying to bang a hole into an aircraft’s fuel tank with a hammer. WHACKO! Sparks and JP-8? Smooth like sandpaper, Enviro…
Jeff
system
#13
Jeff gets it; so do others. You have to find balance. The issues of today are becoming so divided; instead of finding a solution to benefit both parties we stand back and sling obsentities at each other while nobody benefits. No doubt that we can embrace progress while protecting the environment at the same time. But on that note, towers for cell phones on the AT does seem ridiculous. Need to read up on it more .
Snowdog
system
#14
i’m sorry if i offend anybody (wookie) but birds dying because of towers-- c’mon? folks, this is our world now (very, very unfortunate). Manasquan, there is a fine line between living “in” our world and living “beside” our world. please, use common sense---- live in your world. in essencse, you are a hypocrite.
greg- i actually think it is a good idea. for no more than one person becoming ill or lost, having a cell phone that works will save you. if you don’t like it, hike in the artic wildlife refuge in alasaka. btw, don’t go there by plane or truck or may “kill” the wildlife!
steelhead
system
#15
good for you steelhead and cap’n. you guys are both right- hunters rights and common sense.
whatever
system
#16
Read the Audubon link above and you’ll see compromise suggestions. Any time any issue comes up that sacrifices dollars and “progress”, and someone points out that it’s hurting anything but the economy, the name calling begins, and the typical extremist spin arises, combing for new names to sling, like “hypocryte”, or “enviromentalist types”, or statements like, “when the power goes out.”
They’ll do anything to avoid the issue, to deny the facts of what’s happening, to deny responsibility for their actions.
The fact is, everyone who cares about the environment isn’t the picture that they paint. Lots of people care about birds, and trees, and the Appalachian Trail that don’t fit into the stereotypes brought forth by minds unwilling to take people on a case-by-case basis.
The name “enviromentalist” is funny. I personally don’t belive we can be separated from nature. We are nature. The only thing that separates us is we have the ability to fool ourselves into otherwise. So when there’s unnessesary death to such incredible creatures, I don’t think anything’s wrong with getting it out in the open so that people can at east be informed about the consequences of their actions.
Tha Wookie
system
#17
Moderation and compromise are both admirable goals in many circumstances concerning environmental and wildlife protection. Nobody wants to see entire communities bereft of all jobs due to a certain species of snail in the wrong place at the wrong time.
However, without staunch environmental opposition to much of America’s “development,” we would not be able to enjoy the Grand Canyon, living bald eagles or California condors, or the longest continuously protected greenway in the country that we ALL seem to enjoy so thoroughly we’ll get on a website to scream and yell at each other over.
There are reasons that the Great Smokey Mountains and Shenandoah NP have once again made the top 10 list for the most polluted parks in the country. There are reasons why 400,000 acres of Appalachian mountains have been clearcut and bulldozed flat. Unfortunately, no amount of moderation and compromise are going to make these reasons disappear. . . because it’s been tried.
I condemn any nutjob that torches SUVs and ski lodges. They only give environmetalism a black eye. But I am pissed off enough to know that sometimes you have to take the gloves off.
Happy hiking and leave your phone at home!
Cap’n
system
#18
If you are in the woods and you are on the trail and you need help, who do you think will be the closest ones around to help you? other thru hikers. and they will help you. if you are going to die, they probably won’t be able to do anything anyway.
“Its a total whiteout! I’m near mt washington! It’s really rocky and there are some scrub height trees around, I’m near a spring! can you come help me?”
Phone Boner
system
#19
I think we should put a cell phone tower on that picture on the top of this webpage. And then add another one next year on that peak right next to it. Then we can put a whole cluster of em by then, what the heck ,right?
Greg
system
#20
These accusations and name-calling to Tha Wookie all seem strange to me. I go hiking to enjoy the trees, birds, wildlife, and natural beauty. That’s the whole point.
If you don’t care about that and don’t want to protect it, than go for long walks in the city instead, and don’t forgot your cellphone. You’re in the wrong forum, trolls.
Jeff T