Humanities-issues in Science and Societies Proposal - Assignment Example

Topic One: Wind farms are known to affect birds through collision, displacement, barrier effects and habitat loss (Drewitt and Langston, 2006). There is some debate about how serious the impact on fish might be (Wahlberg and Westerberg, 2005). Human beings complain about a certain impact on the beauty of natural landscapes, and there are suggestions that living near wind farms negatively causes an illness called “Wind Turbine Syndrome” (Pierpoint, 2009). Topic Two: Wind farms are using increasingly larger turbines, and though this may look more cost-effective than smaller turbines, there are significant operation and maintenance costs to consider (“Operation and Maintenance Costs,” n.d.).

Conclusion: This paper has shown that wind farms have been represented by proponents of green science and politics as an answer to mankind’s need for energy that does not depend on the burning of fossil fuels or the creation of risky nuclear power stations. The evidence shows that there is indeed a place for wind farms in energy planning. These facilities are, however, not as ecologically friendly as one might think, and the cost of building and managing them makes it unlikely that they will ever contribute more than a small proportion of human energy needs.