Andes, Cherry Valley, Meredith, Roxbury and Stamford are among local towns targeted for potential wind-turbine farms.

The proposals have thrown municipalities and residents into somewhat of a tizzy trying to sort out the impacts _ negative and positive _ of the construction and presence of wind turbines.

Assemblyman Pete Lopez, R-Schoharie, has planned for Tuesday a daylong tour of wind farms in central New York for community leaders and others interested in the energy issue.

Lopez said he planned the tour as part of an effort to ``promote clean and renewable energy sources.’’ Participants will be able to explore the pros and cons of wind farming. The tour is free, and lunch is provided.

Lopez is offering a good opportunity to learn about the impacts directly from communities that have wind farms.

And for anyone who can’t go Tuesday or considers a tour too organized and subject to propaganda, we encourage visiting other communities independently.

Talking with residents and others at the source is an excellent way to get clear answers to questions about appearance, noise levels, zoning and other legal measures, energy production and pollution and risks to birds.

We think it’s a good idea to visit areas where wind farms exist so that educated decisions can be made in our communities.

Live Earth not best use of energy

It sounded like a great idea: a series of concerts held around the globe to raise awareness about global warming.

Previous concerts such as Live Aid and Farm Aid have raised millions for charitable causes.

But this wasn’t strictly a benefit concert. No, the official Live Earth website makes little mention of where the ticket money will go. Instead, there’s plenty of language about how much awareness the concerts generated.

Awareness is great, but it’s also pretty easy to come by. Much was made of how these concerts were disseminated across numerous media platforms. So why expend the resources to put on multiple live concerts? Why not just have artists gather at one location and broadcast that event across the globe? Wouldn’t that have been more Earth-friendly?

Organizers went to great lengths to make the events green, using renewable resources wherever possible. But what about the thousands of people who burned up fossil fuels to get there? Sure, they were urged to use mass transit, but for many sites, this was easier said than done.

Maybe this is the most significant message of Live Earth _ that going green is a lot harder than it sounds.

For the sake of the planet, we hope the dulcet tones of Bon Jovi, John Mayer and others were enough to inspire the events’ 10 million-plus viewers to run out and replace all their light bulbs with compact fluorescents.

Who knows? Maybe that really will be enough to save the Earth.