The answer is blowing in the wind

Neil Verlander

22 February 2012

I clearly remember the time I saw my first wind turbine.

Many years ago and fresh out of college, I was driving through mid-Wales on a summer break with my girlfriend - now wife - when we spotted it on the horizon some miles away.

Fascinated, we changed direction and eventually tracked it down to an old quarry just outside Machynlleth.

This, it turned out, was the home of the Centre for Alternative Technology - and our visit there that sunny afternoon was truly a life-changing experience.

We'd both been vaguely aware of the threats our planet faces, but the centre was packed full of practical ideas for how to rise to these challenges and gave a real sense of optimism for the future.

When we got home we joined our local Friends of the Earth group and, since, have both spent our working lives involved in environmental issues.

In recent weeks, wind power has been getting a lot of flak.

101 Tory MPs wrote to David Cameron urging him to "dramatically cut the subsidy" for onshore wind farms.

Multi-millionaire Donald Trump sent a letter to Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, raging against offshore wind farms and accusing him of being "hell-bent on destroying Scotland's coastline".

And Simon Jenkins, the National Trust chair, waded into the debate claiming the organisation was "deeply sceptical" about wind. Although thankfully the Trust responded by saying his views on wind were his own and didn't "necessarily chime" with theirs.

Most of this anti-wind sentiment seems to be driven by a conviction that wind turbines are a blot on the landscape that simply shouldn't be allowed.

But for me they are - and always have been - a potent symbol of hope and a welcome addition to our landscape.

I'm sure I'm not alone.