Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I've always felt it implied when this is discussed, but you are correct that it was not mentioned above. Wind turbines kill birds so wind farms are bad. But the alternative isn't that we just don't use less electricity. And Wind farms may kill more bald eagles than coal mines, but as a resident of an area where coal was king, I would disagree if anyone said they are less harmful overall.

There is a term for this type of comparison but it is escaping me right now.



> There is a term for this type of comparison but it is escaping me right now.

False Dichotomy?


> Wind turbines kill birds so wind farms are bad

I've read it more that "wind farms are not an unalloyed good", which counters something I do read.

In generaly, this example seems pretty weak. Trump might've exaggerated the number of this particular type of bird being killed, but by far more he massively underplayed the numbers of the total number of birds being killed by them. Seems as though people are reading a lot into this, when you could more easily read the opposite into it: Trump downplaying damage to non-bald eagles! Why!?


Yes, "wind farms are not an unalloyed good" seems like a great summary of the famously reasonable Donald Trump's take on Wind power, a subject he's kind of ambivalent about, but just wants a reasonable discussion of the facts with all context taken into account. And to immediately stop all offshore wind on day one of his potential next presidency.

> They say the noise causes cancer.

> If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations: Your house just went down 75% in value.

> The windmills are driving the whales crazy

> They shake, causing worms to come out of the soil. This is not a joke

> windmills are causing whales to die in numbers never seen before. No one does anything about that.

> If you love birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill, because it’s a very sad, sad sight. It’s like a cemetery. We put a little statue for the poor birds.

Threw in a little bonus Putin quote there, see if you can spot it.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: