In January 1912 a three-man party of explorers from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition set out from their base at commonwealth Bat, Adélie Land, to chart a huge section of the largely unknown continent. A year later two team members were died, and the expedition leader, Douglas Mawson, had barely survived both an epic lone journey across the Antarctic wastes and an appalling, mysterious illness that was to baffle medical science
for the next 50 years.
Scientists at The Nature Conservancy in Montana have completed the first analysis of where wind generation facilities can be located with minimal risk to the state's wildlife and the environment.
Wind provides great promise for a clean and renewable source of energy, but each year wind generation facilities kill tens of thousands of birds and important pollinators such as bats. . And yet, wind energy development has moved forward with very little science-based analysis that might help prevent this kind of environmental harm. The impacts of wind generation are greater than just the immediate airspace. Most turbines take up 40-100 acres of land, so large-scale wind farms can span thousands of acres. Each facility also requires roads and transmission corridors.