Landscape:

  AWF support the belated move, as reported in the national press, that Scottish Ministers have finally ordered a review of wind farm guidelines following warnings from senior officials that the "unplanned proliferation" of the controversial power generators could damage Scotland’s landscape.

Wind farms? You may as well take a knife to a Constable

Here is a thought experiment. Imagine that it has been discovered that clean green energy can be provided by burning the great masterpieces of landscape art. Imagine that, to this end, the government has spent £1bn subsidising large companies to evacuate the vaults and hanging spaces of the UK's national galleries. Imagine that canvases by Constable, Ruskin, Turner (these burn especially well) and Stanley Spencer, and the sculptures of Hepworth and Goldsworthy are being lifted from walls and plinths, and tumbled into furnaces.

The consequent energy yield is not huge at present: perhaps 6% of the national annual need. But the government plans to extend its programme drastically over the next 15 years, burning ever greater numbers of masterpieces. What - this thought experiment asks - would be the reaction of the public and the liberal press to such an energy programme?

Robert Macfarlane
The Guardian Saturday February 26, 2005