When Wind Turbines Spoil The View

The other day I was watching a programme about the effect that wind turbines were having on people living in the country. There was a woman on it who could see a number of turbines on the hills behind her house.

She was obviously unhappy about them. One of her comments particularly struck me: "All I wanted was for things to stay the same".

I can sympathise with her. People move to the country for peace and quiet, a change of pace, long walks in the countryside, and beautiful scenary. And here they are dumping a bunch of turbines on her favourite view. Even a town-dweller like me can see how sad that is.

You could say it was the modern world rearing it's ugly head in the old world but it's a lot more than that. This is more than a new housing estate being built next door, cuts to local bus services, or outsiders buying up half the village as weekend cottages, to name just a few of the many pressures on country life.

In a way it's actually about trying to help preserve the countryside (along with the rest of the planet) as best we can in the face of the growing threat of climate change. Make no mistake about it, when that starts to bite, the countryside will be changed beyond all recognition.

That might be scant consolation to people like that poor woman but, to quote from a film called the Leopard "if we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change".