TIME for a PUBLIC OPTION on plantmilks?? Let's not WAIT UNTIL we get sick. Let's get our plantmilks NOW.

TIME for a PUBLIC OPTION on plantmilks??
Let's not WAIT UNTIL we get sick.

Let's get our plantmilks NOW.

So MUCH competition in the plantmilk space is broadening opportunities for consumers to try an array of very different plantmilks (not all plantmilks are the same - in fact, NO plantmilks are the same as any other plantmilks; they ALL differ).

But if ACCESS to plantmilks is the issue, there are SOME locations - by zip code - where plantmilks are NOT immediately accessible to coffee drinkers, cereal eaters, and others who tipple at the extruded plants.

Arguably, all this competition in the plantmilk space may be great for consumers, but the price point BENEFITS of competition cannot be GREAT for the fiscal sustainability of all these risk-taking innovators.

Some plantmilk producers will WIN - and some may go out of business after they have done 'their yeoman's duty' to expand the market for plantmilks.

Is it not time for some public strategy for dispersing plantmilks among the ENTIRE human population - maybe granting plantmilk as a protected right - so that everyone can have some plantmilk when and where they need it, and so that the nation's farmers can know that there's a continuing demand for high quality organic non-GMO plants to supply this industrial demand for producing soymilk.

In nations outside the USA, a national healthcare plan can mandate universal coverage yet periodically open to competitive bidders for supplying the national 'right to healthcare'! A national right to plantmilks could be organized the same way without disemboweling competitors who want to continue producing. Those additional competitors would just not win the federal contract for supplying the public option, and the public option could be 95% powered by private industry efforts.

What MIGHT be DIFFERENT (and hopefully BETTER) would be ACCESS to nondairy plantmilks, nondairy cheeses, nondairy creamers, and (I think that this would be INESSENTIAL) nondairy desserts.

I'd wager that restaurants in THAT kind of economic regime would carry plantmilks as a rule because it's a right, not because they suddenly took pity on the paying consumer.

Those who declare 'SOY MILK IS A RIGHT' can build upon their public values.

Plantmilk availability COULD become or be declared ethically normative in such a society.

Today's Haymarket Haul - 06/10/2017

Today's Haymarket Haul - 06/10/2017

2 extra jumbo cantaloupes - $1.00

5 extra large Portabello mushrooms - $1.00

6 lbs Rosebud carrots - $1.00

9 Anjou pears - $1.00

9 Bosc pears - $1.00

9 yellow bananas - $1.00

14 yellow summer squash - $1.00

21 luscious limes - $1.00

Total cost:  $8.00 US

Total poundage: about 45 lbs of edible vegetables and fruits

More enjoyable, I saw and interacted with some of the vendors I really, really like!

STUDY SAYS 10 FRUITS AND VEGGIES A DAY LEADS TO A LONGER LIFE Five servings of fruits and veggies a day has long been the daily minimum we've been encouraged to aim for in order to maintain good health, but that scien... read more

The Nativity's Hope for All Creatures

The Nativity's Hope for All Creatures

What makes the festive season so special is that sense of hope and expectation leading up to Christmas Day. Hope is a powerful emotion and few sights are able to inspire more hope than that of a new life entering the world.
 

Perhaps that is why the nativity scene is so timeless in its ability to evoke anticipation, optimism and promise. It was in fact St. Francis of Assisi who was credited with creating the first nativity display in 1223, turning the Biblical narrative into a living, breathing, noisy, smelly tableau that brought a once elusive retelling into vivid experience for the eyes.

Visibly today, from children’s school plays to Christmas cards, Church posters to product advertisements, this scene of the infant Christ in a manger surrounded by highly inquisitive farmyard animals is a firm part of our traditional Christmas celebrations.

Christmas underscores the emotive power of the amazing animals with which we share our world. A nativity image, no matter how sentimentally portrayed, reminds us of the beauty and innocence of these endlessly mysterious and familiar beings who live complex lives beyond our control or comprehension.

The birth of Christ is a prime opportunity to remember that Christmas is not just about humanity. Rather the arrival of the infant Christ promises cosmic, restorative consequences for the whole of creation.

The hope of the nativity challenges us to look beyond the darker side of our use and abuse of animals to a manger scene which compels us to live out the love, mercy, and compassion of Christ in the here and now.

And don't forget to eat your fiber, which only comes from plants.

In a number of nations, vegetarians are a strange heterogeneous hodge-podge (olio or mixture) that reflects the 'chaotic' confluence of that nation's many subcultures and beliefs, and that the beliefs of one may be derived from her or his worldview, but no one can say that the beliefs of ALL are derived from one worldview.

Urgent Need to Green All Industrialization Globally

Contemplate what industrialization allows to come into the environment from the individuals who own and/or control the use of that industrialization:

Israel’s targets included a 25% reduction of its 2005 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – limiting residents to 7.7 tons of carbon dioxide per capita. The government’s plan also involved making renewable energy resources responsible for 17% of the country’s electricity usage by 2030, as well as reducing overall electricity consumption by the same percentage. The targets also included a 20% decrease in private vehicle usage.

My thinking is, don't blame the nations as much as the ecologically TRAGIC state of industrialization, which requires MUCH more greening globally.  Currently, industrialization is used for privately-controlled profits; whatever the rhetoric, private advantage is ADVANTAGED by currently ownership of industrialization.

If the public were not so negatively impacted by its use, such a condition MIGHT be tolerable; however, because the general public worldwide IS so negatively impacted by the use of industrializaed technologies in their currently 'un-greened' state, mere 'public buy-in' to their use (as in cellphone, computer, A/C, and vehicular use do NOT excuse the perpetuation of their unmitigated use without massively-funded and staffer programs to green those currently-tragic technologies and to migitage the harms that their widespread use cause to lots and lots of vulnerable persons, both human AND nonhuman.

Time is short.  I would be interested (ONLY) in USEFUL and HISTORICALLY CONSTRUCTIVE comments on how we can move forward with greening all industrialization for life on this planet Earth.

Vegetarianism and the Salvation Army

April 10th is considered Salvation Army "Founders' Day" - though sometimes July 1865 is considered the date of the founding of the Salvation Army.

"William Booth, born April 10, 1829, was a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General (1878-1912)."

• https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/618-analysis-of-the-salvation-army-an
• http://www.amazon.com/Catherine-Booth-Biography-Cofounder-Salvation/dp/080105706X *
• Vegetarian America: A History by Karen Iacobbo - page 133
• http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/sa3.html ** from Boston, LINCOLNSHIRE, in England
• http://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=943526 *** 
• "Founders of Salvation Army were vegetarian, and wrote about why they thought Christians should emulate Jesus in nonviolent diet" ****
• http://www.biographyonline.net/people/famous/vegetarians.html *****
• http://thesalvationarmynova.blogspot.com/2015/02/salvation-army-founders-advocated.html ******
• http://salvarmy.blogspot.com/ - Repeats what has already been posted (above) and may be the INTERMEDIATE source FOR the posting above
• http://www.all-creatures.org/cva/famousveg.htm (the CVA page) *******
• http://www.ivu.org/history/europe20a/william-booth.html (IVU page on religion and vegetarianism) ********
• http://www.salvationarmyexpectchange.org/2015/01/23/salvation-army-founders-advocated-vegetarian-lifestyle/  (web author Kathy Lovin FROM the SA seems "convicted" about vegetarian diet and THE LOGICAL AND MORAL GROUNDS Booth's advocacy of vegetarianism - by her apologizing for her not strictly adhering to it) *********
• http://salvationarmyusa.org/usn/history-of-the-salvation-army
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salvation_Army
• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/salvation-army-founded
• http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/history
• http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Great%20Men%20of%20God/general_william_booth.htm
• http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/sa1.html
• https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/issue/william-and-catherine-booth-salvation-army-founders/
• http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1863162,00.html
• http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Salvation+Army+Founder's+Day
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqISi0k-85I
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/salvationarmy_1.shtml
• https://archive.org/details/SchoolOfPrayer-FoundingOfTheSalvationArmy-WilliamBooth
• http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper158.html

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

*Catherine Booth Was A Humane Saint !

By Brien Comerford on April 12, 2006 (Brien Comerford was from Boston)

Format: Paperback

Until I read this wondrous book, I had no idea that Catherine Booth, the conservative Co-Founder of the Slavation Army, embraced women's rights, animal rights and vegetarianism. The author provides many documented instances when Catherine would intervene and stop people from being cruel to dogs, horses, donkeys and oxen. He also mentions the Booth's and their Children loving an array of pets. I always knew that Catherine Booth was a groundbreaking Christian and Humanitarian, but Roger Green surprisingly informed me about Catherine Booth being an animal-loving vegetarian. Too bad today's Christian leaders have failed to emulate her reverence for all God's creatures' creed !

** Catherine Booth, known as the Mother of the Salvation Army, was one of the most extraordinary women of the Victorian era. She had firm convictions on a broad range of issues, such as social work among the poor and destitute, abstinence from alcohol, the legal age of consent for girls, vegetarianism, and the humane treatment of animals. She also held that women must have full equality with men in Christian ministry.

*** "General Booth treated alcoholism with vegetarian diet.. and found that this treatment severed the meat-alcohol chemical marriage. His success spread the Salvation Army around the world. )

**** GENERAL BRAMWELL BOOTH OF THE SALVATION ARMY ON VEGETARIAN DIET:

These passages are taken from a pamphlet written by General Bramwell Booth, former director General of the Salvation Army, and a son of founder General William Booth.

"Here are some of my reasons for doing so (becoming vegetarian):

1. Because I have myself tried a vegetarian diet with the greatest benefit having been for more than 10 years at l time a strict vegetarian.

2. Because according to the Bible God originally intended the food for humans to be vegetarian. (here he quotes Genesis 1:29 "Behold I have given

you herb yielding seed. To you it shall be for food.")

3. Because a vegetarian diet is favourable to purity, to chastity,and to

perfect control of the appetites and passions which are often a source of great temptation, especially to the young. (http://www.notmilk.com)

4. Because a vegetarian diet is favourable to robust health and strength. With very few exceptions, and these only confirmed invalids, I believe the people would be stronger....

5. Because tens of thousands of our poor people (could save money)...http://www.ivu.org

6. Because a vegetarian diet of wheat, oatmeal and other grains, lentils, peas, beans, nuts and similr food is more than ten times as economical as a flesh diet. Meat contains half its weight in water which has to be paid for as though it were meat. A vegetarian diet, even if we allow cheese, butter and milk will only cost about a quarter as much as a mixed diet of flesh and vegetables.

7. Because a vegetarian diet would stop the enormous waste of all kinds of animal food.

8. Because a vegetarian diet is a great protection against our drinking

(this belief of General Booth has been upheld by modern biochemistry research about the relationship of meat and alcohol)....

9. Because a vegetarian diet is favorable to industry and hard work...

10. Because it is proved that life, health, and happiness are all favoroued by a vegetarian diet.**

11. I favour a vegetarian diet because the digestive organs of humans are not well adapted to the use of flesh....

12. Because it is very difficult.. especially in hot weather and warm

climates to keep flesh food sweet long enough to cool and eat it and

a great deal of meat is eaten after it has begun to decay...

13. Because a great deal of the flesh meat which is supplied for human food is already diseased, and because it is nearly impossible to be sure than any flesh is quite free from the germs of disease. Much

common meat, which is often that of old animals, is well known to be sold to the butchers because the animals are sick, or unhealthy. 

And the best meat is nearly always the flesh meat of young animals who are fattened and killed before the germs of many diseases have had time to develop so as to show themselves. So that many animals re killed, which though believed to be healthy, are really diseased.

This is especially the case with calves for veal, young bullocks for beef and with lambs and young pigs.

14. Because I believe that the great increase in consumption and cancer during the last hundred years has been caused by the great increase in the use of animal food, and that a strict vegetarian

diet would greatly help to ward off these most terrible and 'incurable' diseases.

15. Because I believe that a flesh diet brings on many very painful diseases, which though not perhaps immediately dangerous to life cause much suffering and loss. I mean such complaints as eczema, constipation, piles, worms, dysentery, severe heaches and the like. A vegetarian would do much to relieve if not cure them.

16 Because of the awful cruelty and terror to which tens of thousands (now billions)of animals killed for human food are subjected in

traveling long distance by ship and rail and road to the slaughterhouses of the world. God disapproves of all cruelty whether to man or beast.

17.Because of the terrible cruelties practised for killing animals in many slaughter houses. The whole busines of killing is cruel.. even when it is done with care, and we know that in the case of millions of creatures it is done with very little care. Ten thousand pigs are

killed for food every hour in Europe alone. (Now Oscar Mayer kills 1100 pigs an hour at their Madison Wisconsin plant.)

18. Because the occupation of slaughtering animals is brutalising to those who are required to do the work. "The highest sentiments of humane

men" says a certain writer, and I agree with him, "revolt at the cruelty, the degrading sights, the distressing cries, the perpetual

bloodshed, and all the attendant horrors which must surround the transit and slaughter of suffering creatures." *

19. Because a flesh diet is not necessary to hard work. A great part of the work of the world is done by animals which subsist on vegetable food..

namely, horses, mules, camels, oxen, etc.

I believe this matter is well worthy the serious consideration of Christian leaders. It has an important bearing not only on their own

health and happiness but upon their influence among the people, as men and women who are free from the bondage of that selfish gratification which so often afflicts the professed servants of Christ. Let us remember the Apostle's direction: 'Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' "

(published by the LVS 53 Marloes Rd. Kensington London UK W8)

(We copied from an old pamphlet.. to have the full text, write or webvisit the London Vegetarian Society)

*****

John Wesley (1703-1791) – Great preacher and founder of Methodism. Wesley advocated a plant based diet, for health reasons.

William Booth (1829 – 1912) – founder of Salvation Army. William Booth became a vegetarian and credited his diet with giving him the strength for a vigorous lifestyle and founding the Salvation Army.

******

Salvation Army Founders Advocated A Vegetarian Lifestyle

Tuesday, February 17, 2015  salvation army founders, vegetarian lifestyle  

January is the time of year when many of us take stock of our habits and resolve to do better. Topping the list – as mentioned in my previous post – are health and fitness habits.

If you’re looking for some inspiration to make healthy change this year, look no further than The Salvation Army’s founders William and Catherine Booth and their family.

William Booth was born in 1829 and with his wife Catherine founded what would become The Salvation Army in the late 1850s. The Booths came from the Methodist tradition and – like many from their denomination – followed the vegetarian practices of John Wesley even though doing so was difficult in Victorian England.

Catherine was partial to vegetarianism and is credited with encouraging her husband to adopt the lifestyle too.

In fact, William Booth responded to a news reporter inquiry in 1909 that he believed his vegetable-based diet was key to helping him maintain his rigorous travel and speaking schedule into his 80s.

The Booth’s children were also active in the ministry of The Salvation Army and carried on the family’s commitment to vegetarianism. Especially Bramwell Booth who succeeded his father as General of The Salvation Army.


Read the full article here.

*******
William and Catherine Booth.  Founders of the Salvation Army."It is a great delusion to suppose that flesh-meat of any kind is essential to health. Considerably more than three parts of the work in the world is done by men who never taste anything but vegetable, farinaceous food, and that of the simplest kind. There are more strength-producing properties in wholemeal flour, peas, beans, lentils, oatmeal, roots, and other vegetables of the same class, than there are beef or mutton, poultry or fish, or animal food of any description whatever."
(Orders and Regulations of the Officers of the Salvation Army)

********
Europe: early 20th Century
General William Booth (1829-1912)
Founder and first General of the Salvation Army.

From the Vegetarian Messenger (VSUK magazine):

May 1908:General Booth on Diet - The Daily News says :- "Before leaving Norwich to-day General Booth, during an interview with a press representative, was questioned as to his diet. The General said he could still enjoy a potato with a little butter and salt; but the human race had run wild with their eating. Instead of bringing their appetites down to their food they brought their food up to their appetites."

February 1909
General Booth. - one of the Dresden journalists had an interview with General Booth during his visit in the neighbourhood , and gave his report in the Dresden Auseiger . In answer the question how he managed to sustain so much hard work, and particularly so much public speaking at night, at his advanced age, the General replied :- "I owe it to my careful vegetarian diet."

March 1909
Self denial week in the Salvation Army - At the request of Colonel Moss, of the Salvation Army, the Secretary of the Vegetarian Society has supplied a quantity of directions of inexpensive cooked and uncooked diets, with a number of recipes. They are to be published in the Salvation Army journals.

*********

Expect ChangeSalvation Army Stories

open

January 23, 2015

SALVATION ARMY FOUNDERS ADVOCATED A VEGETARIAN LIFESTYLE

January is the time of year when many of us take stock of our habits and resolve to do better. Topping the list – as mentioned in my previous post – are health and fitness habits.

If you’re looking for some inspiration to make healthy change this year, look no further than The Salvation Army’s founders William and Catherine Booth and their family.

William Booth was born in 1829 and with his wife Catherine founded what would become The Salvation Army in the late 1850s. The Booths came from the Methodist tradition and – like many from their denomination – followed the vegetarian practices of John Wesley even though doing so was difficult in Victorian England.

Catherine was partial to vegetarianism and is credited with encouraging her husband to adopt the lifestyle too.

In fact, William Booth responded to a news reporter inquiry in 1909 that he believed his vegetable-based diet was key to helping him maintain his rigorous travel and speaking schedule into his 80s.

The Booth’s children were also active in the ministry of The Salvation Army and carried on the family’s commitment to vegetarianism. Especially Bramwell Booth, who succeeded his father as General of The Salvation Army.

In 1890 Bramwell was asked to explain his beliefs in the merits of vegetarianism.
Here’s a link to the full document, but I’ve excerpted some of his thoughts below.

:: Because a vegetable-based diet is more economical to a flesh-based diet and thus more affordable for people living in poverty.
:: Because the rise in diseases like cancer seems to coincide with the increase in the consumption of meat.
:: Because “God disapproves of all cruelty – whether to man or beast.”
:: Because a flesh-based diet is not necessary to hard work.

1 Corinthians 10:31 – “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

 

NOTE: "vegetable-based" diet is NOT "junk-food vegetarian" or "junk food vegan" and it's RESPECTFUL of the human body as God's "temple"!




Maynard

Eat Your Fiber

Eating your daily supply of fiber will keep the intestine and colon running healthy, helping to prevent colon cancer and various intestinal diseases.

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry - Blades run afowl of the MBTA

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry | Wind | Rewire | KCET

The SOLUTION - the ENGINEERING SOLUTION - is to SHIFT THE PLANE from rotating the blades in the VERTICAL plane to rotating the blades in the HORIZONTAL plane.

Let's THANK animal (bird) advocates for raising this issue, but let's insist that future design integrate this concern from the outset.

Lots of blade building has already gone ahead, production machinery has been purchased, and workers have been hired and put on the assembly lines.

I raised this concern nearly a decade ago - and suggested this solution about 3-4 years ago. 

Advocates didn't see that as an issue at that time (or some merely said, yes, the blades shouldn't hurt the birds).

So let's "do the math" and consider that, if the IDEA of the SOLUTIONS pre-existed my SEEING the SOLUTION and RAISING the SOLUTION 3-4 years ago, the "solutions" may have pre-existed actuality in the minds of engineering visionaries.  So when we REQUIRE investment in something that the planet and this species needs (birds would rather adjust to global warming and let the infrastructures of human "civilization" decline or erode at the coastal edges), we need, increasingly, to look at the full picture and to engineer ONLY solutions which do NOT solve OUR problems at the expense of other persons (other species of life).

News and analysis about energy in California with an eye toward renewables.

FB

TW

[=]

Calling bird law violations inevitable at wind facilities, a group wants tighter controls on permitting. | Photo:  Changhua Coast Conservation Action/Flickr/Creative Commons License

WIND

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry

by Chris Clarke 

February 24, 2015 2:45 PM

A national bird protection group is calling on the federal government to require wind energy operators to get permits to kill birds that are protected under one of the nation's oldest environmental laws.

The Washington, D.C.-based American Bird Conservancy, which projects more than 1.4 million annual bird deaths in coming years from wind turbines and their associated transmission lines, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this month to require owners of wind power facilities to apply for permits under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 before being allowed to build their projects.

USFWS has been asking wind companies to follow voluntary bird-protection guidelines when siting and designing their projects, but American Bird Conservancy claims in its petition that the voluntary approach has been roundly ineffective at protecting birds from wind turbines.

The petition, filed earlier this month with the U.S. Department of the Interior, is actually a follow-up to an earlier attempt by the group to compel USFWS to crack down on wind industry violations of the law. This month's petition was sent to provide new information on the scope of the threat wind turbines pose to birds.

As part of that update, the group summarized a December 2014 study, commissioned by the group and conducted by researchers at Mississippi State University, that indicates USFWS' voluntary compliance policy has failed to prevent wind turbines from being built in extremely sensitive bird areas:

Nearly 30,000 wind turbines have already been installed within areas identified as being of high importance to federally-protected birds in the United States, with more than 50,000 additional turbines planned for construction in similar areas. These include more than 18,000 in the migration corridor of the whooping crane -- one of the nation's rarest and most spectacular birds, 1,800 in greater sage-grouse breeding strongholds, and nearly 1,400 in locations deemed to be of the most critical importance to conserving the nation's birdlife. This clearly indicates that the voluntary guidelines are not working to protect our public trust resources, especially since proper siting is probably the best and most effective form of mitigation.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) makes it illegal to kill or harm any of the 800-odd species of bird specifically listed under the law without a permit. Penalties for a single offense -- injury to a single bird -- range up to $200,000 in fines and a year's imprisonment.

As Rewire reported two years ago, USFWS has been highly reluctant to enforce the law against operators of wind turbines.

"In effect, the MBTA is not being enforced, except perhaps under very special circumstances," said Michael Hutchins of the American Bird Conservancy's Bird Smart Wind Energy Campaign. "This reality is particularly significant for the wind industry because wind energy projects will inevitably take birds protected under the MBTA. In fact, because it is virtually impossible to operate a wind energy facility without killing or injuring at least some migratory birds, most operational wind energy projects are in ongoing violation of the MBTA, and are effectively breaking the law with impunity."

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry - Blades run afowl of the MBTA

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry | Wind | Rewire | KCET

The SOLUTION - the ENGINEERING SOLUTION - is to SHIFT THE PLANE from rotating the blades in the VERTICAL plane to rotating the blades in the HORIZONTAL plane.

Let's THANK animal (bird) advocates for raising this issue, but let's insist that future design integrate this concern from the outset.

Lots of blade building has already gone ahead, production machinery has been purchased, and workers have been hired and put on the assembly lines.

I raised this concern nearly a decade ago - and suggested this solution about 3-4 years ago. 

Advocates didn't see that as an issue at that time (or some merely said, yes, the blades shouldn't hurt the birds).

News and analysis about energy in California with an eye toward renewables.

FB

TW

[=]

Calling bird law violations inevitable at wind facilities, a group wants tighter controls on permitting. | Photo:  Changhua Coast Conservation Action/Flickr/Creative Commons License

WIND

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry

by Chris Clarke 

February 24, 2015 2:45 PM

A national bird protection group is calling on the federal government to require wind energy operators to get permits to kill birds that are protected under one of the nation's oldest environmental laws.

The Washington, D.C.-based American Bird Conservancy, which projects more than 1.4 million annual bird deaths in coming years from wind turbines and their associated transmission lines, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this month to require owners of wind power facilities to apply for permits under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 before being allowed to build their projects.

USFWS has been asking wind companies to follow voluntary bird-protection guidelines when siting and designing their projects, but American Bird Conservancy claims in its petition that the voluntary approach has been roundly ineffective at protecting birds from wind turbines.

The petition, filed earlier this month with the U.S. Department of the Interior, is actually a follow-up to an earlier attempt by the group to compel USFWS to crack down on wind industry violations of the law. This month's petition was sent to provide new information on the scope of the threat wind turbines pose to birds.

As part of that update, the group summarized a December 2014 study, commissioned by the group and conducted by researchers at Mississippi State University, that indicates USFWS' voluntary compliance policy has failed to prevent wind turbines from being built in extremely sensitive bird areas:

Nearly 30,000 wind turbines have already been installed within areas identified as being of high importance to federally-protected birds in the United States, with more than 50,000 additional turbines planned for construction in similar areas. These include more than 18,000 in the migration corridor of the whooping crane -- one of the nation's rarest and most spectacular birds, 1,800 in greater sage-grouse breeding strongholds, and nearly 1,400 in locations deemed to be of the most critical importance to conserving the nation's birdlife. This clearly indicates that the voluntary guidelines are not working to protect our public trust resources, especially since proper siting is probably the best and most effective form of mitigation.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) makes it illegal to kill or harm any of the 800-odd species of bird specifically listed under the law without a permit. Penalties for a single offense -- injury to a single bird -- range up to $200,000 in fines and a year's imprisonment.

As Rewire reported two years ago, USFWS has been highly reluctant to enforce the law against operators of wind turbines.

"In effect, the MBTA is not being enforced, except perhaps under very special circumstances," said Michael Hutchins of the American Bird Conservancy's Bird Smart Wind Energy Campaign. "This reality is particularly significant for the wind industry because wind energy projects will inevitably take birds protected under the MBTA. In fact, because it is virtually impossible to operate a wind energy facility without killing or injuring at least some migratory birds, most operational wind energy projects are in ongoing violation of the MBTA, and are effectively breaking the law with impunity."