Is Wind Power Bad for the Human Spirit?

It's hard to imagine giving up on wind power as a key solution to slashing fossil fuel use and curbing climate change, despite some of the problematic environmental aspects that need solving -- particularly, in my view, the lethal impacts on bats.

Stop Global Warming reader Sue takes it even further. She's posted an impassioned argument against wind power on my public "comment wall," saying that the imposition of wind turbines on rural landscapes will lead to the "psychic impoverishment of humanity."

Here's an excerpt of Sue's message. Is she right that the downsides of wind energy are too severe, even in the face of global warming? Do wind power advocates underestimate the value of the rural "viewscape" to human well-being?

I am commenting on the wind turbine graphics for the "stop global warming" cause you advocate.  These turbines are not an environmentally-friendly solution to the problem of global warming.  Anyone who is connected to the earth and to his/her own body cannot see these as a good thing.  Do you live in an area where these are part of the landscape?  If you want to see literally dozens of them, drive down route 77 in Wyoming County in western New York State. The wind turbines litter the formerly-beautiful, dairy farm countryside. These structures dominate the landscape like strange creatures from War of the Worlds. The wind turbines, 400-feet high, pronged into the hills, sprouting out sharp blades, are more than an eyesore.  They are harmful to our sense of place, our physiology.  Our human nervous systems rely on the archetypes of natural forms.  Our rural areas need to retain those archetypes. The turbine farms are similar to putting a row of skyscraper buildings in rural areas.

Do you have a favorite place to get away and connect to the earth?  Is it in the mountains or by the beach?  Imagine your favorite getaway with gigantic wind turbines lurking over the landscape.  People leave cities to get away from the oppressive forms of high buildings. There will literally be no "get-a-way" if this fervent pace of wind turbine construction continues...[O]ur landscapes and the psychic renewal they provide are indefinably valuable and to put up these turbines is squandering gold for peanuts.  The turbines will not add much usable energy to the grid and they need a shadow capacity of conventional sources.  They are being built at a fervent pace not due to their economic viability but because the developers can cash in on subsidies...

Please oppose the transformation of rural landscapes into industrial landscapes.  Industrial wind turbines are another foolish scheme to continue the irresponsible use of electrical power.  The only solution to the global warming problem is reduced usage and the best way to bring that about is to do away with the biggest energy hog: air conditioning...I grew up in a rural area and I loved my nearby woods and hills.  If turbines had been near my home, I would have not had the same experience of a benevolent landscape.  Industrial wind is not a human-friendly technology.  It is a recipe for further psychic impoverishment of humanity.

Further reading:

• "Schumer celebrates wind power project in Wyoming County," The Buffalo News, July 2, 2008
• "Like it or not, wind power is changing the landscape in WNY," The Buffalo News, October 26, 2008
• "Wyoming County wind farm may be delayed," The Times-Tribune, February 13, 2009

Image: Wethersfield Wind Farm, Wyoming County, New York.  Via Contour Steel.