Wind and Wicks

The Government has taken further dynamic action on climate change, rejecting a plan to build wind turbines on a ridge near the eastern boundary of the Lake District national park. An inspector concluded that "the need to protect the landscape outweighed the benefits of securing a source of renewable energy". Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister, said: "Tackling global warming is critical but we must also nurture the immediate environment and wildlife", as with the plans to expand Heathrow Airport. Supporters of wind power said they "feared the balance would now tip towards nuclear energy" of which Britain, with its soon-to-be-upgraded Trident toy collection, is perforce a peaceful generator. But Wicks was adamant: "On this occasion ... the impact [of the wind turbines] on landscape and recreation would outweigh the benefits in terms of reducing carbon emissions". The director of Friends of the Lake District professed his organisation "delighted". The district's friends had feared, you see, that the "requirement for renewable energy" would outweigh questions of "the damage caused to the site and Cumbria in general". Translated, this means that they feared that considerations of keeping the planet habitable would outweigh those of whether the view might stay the same; and when the problem is framed in those terms, no one should be surprised at the New Labour solution. The landscape may soon be parched; it may be made radioactive; it may, one day, be picked barren by refugees from power-starved cities where nothing remains to eat except each other's children; but at least there won't be any windmills to frighten away the tourist trade.