So wildlife doesn't really matter to environmentalists

The tortoise and the sunIt's a showdown among environmentalists out West, where proposed solar-energy plants threaten the desert ecosystem.
By Katharine Mieszkowski
Jan. 22, 2009
As a desert tortoise living in the Mojave Desert, you'd spend much of your coldblooded life catering to the whims of your body temperature.
In the winter, you'd hibernate in one of your several burrows to stay warm. In the summer, you'd also lay low for months on end to keep cool -- a habit called estivation. In the spring and fall, you'd venture out to find a drink of water and wildflowers, such as desert dandelions, to munch on. Mornings, you'd be found sunbathing, basking to warm up, while in the heat of the afternoon you'd park it under a creosote bush to keep cool.
While you and your fore-tortoises would have lived this way for more than 10,000 years, there's some news that could make your so delicately regulated blood boil. You've just become an obstacle in the race to cut the United States' greenhouse gas emissions by bringing industrial-scale solar installations to the California desert. As a desert tortoise that lives in the Mojave Desert, you enjoy protection under the federal Endangered Species Act as a threatened species, as well as state protection, which puts your low-key, dandelion-eating lifestyle at odds with California's urgent need to go solar.
Although you may be the official California state reptile, you may also be a casualty of a new national priority, as President Obama is determined to boost renewable energy in a big way, fast.

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