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Comment by wmeredith | Hacker News Reader

I am totally on the same page with you in most cases. Having said that, I've got doubts about the sincerity of people arguing against renewable power for environmental reasons. It's hard to take it seriously.

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You can take bird deaths seriously without reducing build-out of renewables. The blades are painted all over, regardless. It doesn't cost appreciably more to put a stripe on.

Perhaps not, but if the stripe makes them more visible to the people living nearby, then they may not want the turbines there at all.

There are lots of things visible from my house that I don't want to look at. Power lines, poles, buildings, cars and roads come to mind. I believe if you own a thousand acres you get to look at what you want, otherwise it's not up to you?

Right, I mean there's some reasonable limits, but especially in the US we've normalized the idea that incumbent homeowners have broad sovereignty to veto nearly anything that happens within sight/driving distance of their homes.

There are lots of people who wish they had veto power, or who insist they have or should have veto power. None of those is the same thing as having veto power.

It really doesn't matter whether if it's "up to them" or not. If enough people object, then it ain't happening. No matter how beneficial the project is otherwise.

That's just the reality of the world we live in.

It’s just a tactic those people use to force rational actors to become irrational. We should just ignore those who would throw the baby out with the bath water, when it comes to environmental “concerns” like this.

It reminds me deeply of the various people who will use 'it doesn't have enough affordable housing' to argue against any housing development in general.

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