I wonder if there is some sort of investment that I can take on in order to help sway the vote? The idea being that if people start purchasing renewable stocks, it can help influence the power, politicians, and politics. I have a renewable index fund. Anyone know if this might help? Does anybody have any other similar strategy?

Wind power is not good for the environment. Shame on Mother Jones for not doing your homework. The tax dollars spent on wind mills would be better used on solar power and providing solar roofs in the sun drenched areas of the USA. Wind power is as useless as enthanol in trying to get us off the habit of oil. It kills the flying wild life and is visual blight on the "wind corridors".

Here in NJ, we can select our electric provider. We've chosen on that provides a significant percentage of the electric from renewal resources. It is slightly more money but I believe it makes a big impact.
They are in many states. Check out http://www.greenmountainenergy.com

Here we go with the dead birds and blight again. The new generation turbines that harvest wind these days are much safer for birds (they turn much slower than any migrating birds fly) and are much more elegant than the earlier models.

Check www.coopamerica.org for sustainable investing tips, they're an awesome resource, also for finding green businesses.

Todd- H.R. 969 is about renewable energy not just wind.

Yes, wind power is not perfect for birds, though windfarms can be managed during bird migration seasons to minimize the impact on our friends in the air. Keep in mind, global warming & the tipping points it will trigger if CO2 emissions continue unchecked will be far, far worse for more birds, all other wildlife, and us.

FYI, H.R. 969 is supported by the National Audubon Society.

http://audubonaction.org/campaign/renewable_house

A number of years ago, I traveled to Germany for a family visit. I was amazed at all the windfarms there, how attractive they were and never once heard anyone complain about birds dying. People will always manufacturing excuses when trying to denigrate something they personally don't like. And another thing, windfarms are not noisy. I know. I've been there.

I was walking along one of the few remaining accessible green corridors in rural Long Island, NY, which happens to be the linear park along high power transmission lines, and a "light went off". The Wind-turbines could be placed and strung along that corridor with any additional impact on land use. There is quite a bit of space there and noise should not be an issue (cars and motorcycles probably drown that out anywhere on Long Island). One would just have to build the turbine towers a bit higher to avoid the transmission lines.
Re: bird kill
The rotation from a distance look deceptively slow, the tips are moving at over 200 km/h.
I have seen what Germany has done in a short amount of time and it is impressive. Don't know of any reports on bird kill statistics related to wind mills.

todd,

You're right about the birds, bats too, actually. However, birds and bats fly into any tall structure at night. They mostly fly blind, believing themselves above the treeline.

This is highly unfortunate. However, keep in mind that the number of birds and bats flying into the towers is far lower than the number of birds and bats that will die due to climate change.

Wind and solar are both necessary. Tidal is also very useful as it is far more predictable as a power source. However, to get the predictability from wind and solar, it is good to have both. When it's not sunny, it's usually windy. When it's not windy, it's usually sunny. This gives much greater, though still imperfect, predictability to these as power sources.

Realitybytes,

My best investment advice should probably be don't invest as I do. That said, check out PBW and form your own opinion. They are an exchange traded fund, so have no load on either end an can be traded for the same fees as stocks.

You may also want to consider NALFX, which has a longer history and greater diversity in purpose. However, they are heavily front-loaded, so will take quite a good return to overcome your initial loss (purchase fee).

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=PBW
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NALFX

I do not personally believe such investment will influence policy. It may however influence corporate decisions. It may also just be a good investment as awareness of climate change increases even in the god-infested United States of America.