Tuesday 7 February 2012

The answer, my friend, is...?? (Part 1)

A double question mark. The jury is well and truly out as regards this conundrum.

Yes, dear reader, the time has come. Last year's odonatological admin is filed, this month's Little Linford Wood post is written, the displacement activity diary has been ripped up and the rug pulled out from under the slippers of prevarication.

It's the big one. The post I've been putting off for longer than I've been on Blogger. The topic that polarises opinion faster then a speeding rotor. A potato that's hotter than a flaming generator gearbox. The... oh, for God's sake, it's the wind turbine debate.

I will say straight away that this issue has not affected me directly... yet. However, as a nature-loving, green energy kind of guy, I have a foot in both camps. And when the fence is high, that's not a great place to be. I want my energy to be sustainable, but not if it means sliced White-tailed Sea Eagle. I have close relatives and good friends with incredibly firm opinions on this topic, so my metaphorical fence is surrounded by a very personal minefield.

As a measure of how seriously I'm treating these posts, I have to shamefully admit that I've even stooped so low as to "do research". I know, I know, how could I? Pun-tificating from the outer edges of ignorance is my usual style, but for this article, I discovered that just about everybody has an opinion and a vested interest when it comes to wind farms. Unbiased fact and rational reporting are in extremely short supply and are so endangered that they should be on the IUCN's Red List.

So I will attempt to navigate the muddied waters of NIMBYism, sail perilously across the Sea of Greed and drop anchor in the Bay of Fanatical Voices. Which would have been a great analogy if I had intended to talk about offshore, rather than land-based, wind generation. Arse!

Why commit my thoughts to cyberspace now? Dunno really, it's not of my choosing, it's rather like the opposite of serendipity. Several factors have come together at this time which almost make it impossible not to write: there are a number of prospective wind farms planned to the north of Milton Keynes, one of which is adjacent to Little Linford Wood; the Government's Energy and Climate Change Secretary has just resigned and his replacement has to hit the ground running; and New Scientist magazine recently published an article concerning the future effects of sustainable energy generation.

My goal here will be to float gently through the arguments, like the dandelion seed head of reason, and avoid being trampled into the ground in the race to claim the countryside for anyone's cause. Why do I feel like I've just told the world that I'm going to come up with a solution for interstellar travel?

Next on I&T: NIMBYs - they just want to be loved.

12 comments:

laligalover said...

Don't complicate the issue bro', farms are for animals and wind is for drying clothes 'up North'.

lyrical lady said...

hmmm...to tilt, or not to tilt?

Imperfect and Tense said...

You don't do light under a bushel, do you? And there was me trying to build up a bit of literary tension about close family. Sigh :o)

Imperfect and Tense said...

Wasting your afternoons playing pinball, eh? My mum warned me about girls like you!

holdingmoments said...

I don't like them.

A very restrained reply from me.

Tales of a Bank Vole said...

Is something bothering you?

Imperfect and Tense said...

It's appreciated, Keith. There's time yet!

Imperfect and Tense said...

Normally! But on this occasion, no. However this is probably a poisoned chalice of a topic, so time will tell.

Capt. Sundial said...

If you are a dandelion seed watch out for those turbine blades could give you a head ache!!!!!!!!

Imperfect and Tense said...

I already have a headache, thanks :o(

Katie (Nature ID) said...

It is indeed an emotive subject. When I was searching for information, I, too, found it very difficult to find "unbiased fact and rational reporting."

Imperfect and Tense said...

I'll admit that I've made the occasional mountain out of a molehill, but this lot take the biscuit. Two extremes and nothing in between.