True altruism

[Penners]

Some people like wind farms, some don't. But this couple have certainly stuck to their principles.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Some people like wind farms, some don't. But this couple have certainly stuck to their principles.

Alright for them, I imagine they're well above sea level. :twisted:

 

[skier-hughes]

Quote from Couple
"Almost everybody is against the turbines - people really can't believe that they are going to do it"

Quote from article
"But the couple are facing the prospect of up to 26 turbines being erected within a few miles of them after other landowners decided to cash in"

 

[Nemesis]

In fact, as with other parts of Northumberland where giant wind 'farms' have been proposed in rural unspoilt areas, the local authority will probably pass this on to be decided at a Public Inquiry - thus costing us all a bomb.

The problem is not one wind farm - it's that many landowners are cashing in and there will be a cumulative effect.

 

[Penners]

Alright for them, I imagine they're well above sea level.

Are you referring to the giant farm proposed for a few miles off the Suffolk coast?

I think it will be rather beautiful. What's more, I shall still be able to run my toaster.

 

[MdB]

Quote from Couple
"Almost everybody is against the turbines - people really can't believe that they are going to do it"

I'd love to know what the actual figures are for people being for or against wind farms because most people I know are for them. Given the choice of a wind farm on my doorstep or a coal / gas / nuclear power station on my doorstep then I very much know which one I prefer. As I actually have one of the first wind farms within Cornwall within 1 mile of where I live I can happily state that they are not a problem at all and would love to see more.

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm not sure this is 'true altruism' at all.

Surely, if you believe that climate change brought on by CO2 emissions is one of the biggest threats the planet currently faces, then worrying about a bit of a view seems rather churlish. True NIMBY-ism more like.

 

[Nemesis]

Of course, many believe that windfarms are not the answer, being nowhere near as efficient as those making cash from them claim.


Quite a lot of debate going on in my region about them:


http://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/letters/viewarticle.aspx?id=494749


http://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=494861

 

[Penners]

I think that's a bit harsh. They have refused a big slice of money in order to protect the setting of an ancient tower and monoliths. I reckon that qualifies as altruism.

Wind farms and other sources of clean energy are going to be increasingly important, but they can't ride roughshod over everything. Heritage is equally as important. And the two can co-exist.

Edit: the above refers to Flyfisher's post, not Nemesis'

 

[Nemesis]

Thank you Penners - I had hoped that was the case!

 

[shelli]

You just wonder how long they'll stick it out with turbines all around them.

I get really cross that so much of our landscape is controlled by farmers who very often can be separated from their principles by the prospect of a big fat payout. - And hey who can blame them really - it's become almost impossible to make a decent living from farming - especially hill farming in the north.

If only they'd organise a decent tree planting subsidy programme for farmers they'd have plenty of fertile ground with shelter for their animals, a lovely big carbon sink into the bargain and our rivers wouldn't be all silted up with topsoil

I'd better not get started down that route as soap box in danger of collapse.

Yes well done to the lovely principled farmers - hoorah

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Alright for them, I imagine they're well above sea level.

Are you referring to the giant farm proposed for a few miles off the Suffolk coast?

I think it will be rather beautiful. What's more, I shall still be able to run my toaster.

No, I'm referring to the fact that because they like their view, I'll be underwater long before they are.

(And, not building large windfarms in some places will probably lead to huge numbers of the pointless little Cameron-windmills dotted all over everywhere, so that instead of there being some views "spoiled" by windfarms, every view will have a mini-turbine and some solar panels intruding into it.)

I write as someone who grew up with two coal-fired power stations, and three sets of pit-head gear, and a forest of glassworks chimneys in the view from his bedroom window, but who doesn't recall anyone lobbying about them "spoiling the view" (I think it's time Didcot or Drax were listed - those cooling towers give real point and focus to a dullish scene. And there's one with pink cooling towers at the mouth of Ironbridge Gorge which looks great)

Off topic - don't forget the new series of entertaining and opinionated Jonathan Meades on BBC2 tonight 7.00pm (and Gavin Stamp was pretty good last night on 5).

 

[Nemesis]

Oh - what was Professor S talking about? He's usually good for a spot of trenchant opinion...

I don't have 5...

 

[Flyfisher]

I think that's a bit harsh. They have refused a big slice of money in order to protect the setting of an ancient tower and monoliths. I reckon that qualifies as altruism.

Well, they've certainly stuck to their principles, which is admirable in these money-grabbing times, but isn't altruism supposed to benefit all others? It could well be that their actions in opposing a windfarm could actually do more harm than good.

Wind farms and other sources of clean energy are going to be increasingly important, but they can't ride roughshod over everything. Heritage is equally as important. And the two can co-exist.

I'd like to think that the two can coexist, but if they can't then it's hard to see how heritage can be considered as equally important as heading off global climate catastrophe (if you believe all that, of course).

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Oh - what was Professor S talking about? He's usually good for a spot of trenchant opinion...

I don't have 5...

Orient Express and the architectural sights along the way (as far as Vienna this week). Mostly, of course, he was talking about himself.

Later in the series we're promised a magnificent Stamp hissy fit - "What a DUMP! This is VILE! I've got to go to bloody Belgrade by BUS!"

 

[Nemesis]

Ooooh, what a BITCH you can be at times... but I know what you mean.

Oh wonderful... a Stamp hissy fit... pity I can't see it!

 

[Craig]

Talking of the NIMBY thing for power generation, when I were a lad, we could see 4 coal fired stations, and as many pits to feed them, from the roof of my friend's house. Quite impressive things really - we liked the steam rolling out of the cooling towers.

I have always found it funny that some of the London boroughs used to (maybe still do?) declare themselves Nuclear Free Zones. Couldnt see where anybody was going to build one in Central London...

Mind you - turned out that there was one in Greenwich but the council didnt know. Prize for anyone who can tell me where....

 

[alice]

Oh, I don't know.... although windfarms can be intrusive, and I wouldn't want them placed in historic sites like, say, Stonehenge, they do have a certain beauty to them. If the alternative is a nuclear or coal fired plant nearby, I'd vote for the windfarms any day.

We have to have electricity; modern society is not going to go back to the 1850's, and it has to come from somewhere.

My house in Lowestoft is within sight of the huge display wind turbine (named Gulliver) that now sits in the middle of town. When it was first put up, there were protests that it was a blot on the landscape, but now it's just another feature on the horizon and I don't think it looks bad at all. There's talk that a windfarm will soon be off our beach here, like the ones just a few miles north of town. I have no objection to those, either.

alice

 

[stickybeak]

.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Talking of the NIMBY thing for power generation, when I were a lad, we could see 4 coal fired stations, and as many pits to feed them.

well, we had it tough... we used to get up at three o'clock in t'morning, drink a cup of acid, work sixty-three hours a day at t'mill and pay t'mill owner for t'priviledge, and when we got home our parents would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.

I have always found it funny that some of the London boroughs used to (maybe still do?) declare themselves Nuclear Free Zones. Couldnt see where anybody was going to build one in Central London...

Mind you - turned out that there was one in Greenwich but the council didnt know. Prize for anyone who can tell me where....

Old Royal Naval Hospital. Prize please.