I remember reading somewhere (probably my high school textbook) that one of the reasons people don’t like wind power being built is they cause visual pollution.
In my opinion, I think it would be pretty cool to just look out my window and see a giant windmill there, the opposite of visual pollution.
“Visual pollution” is a bullshit term that rich people came up with to keep them from being built near their vacation resorts. It means “ugly”
Even if we agree that it causes visual pollution, I’d argue that visual pollution from fossil fuels is many multitudes worse. Case in point, major chinese and indian cities.
And light pollution is technically a part of visual pollution, and that is a big deal.
I was in New Delhi when the AQI was ~700, that is MUCH worse than visual pollution. My lungs started hurting within 20 minutes of being outside, and a huge amount of people on the domestic flight I was on (mostly local residents) had coughs.
We stayed at a private beach resort once and I never want to again. Sure it was nice for a bit having so much space to yourself, but I miss you guys. I missed the +90 year old couples holding hands, the kids hopped up on ice cream and youth and BEACH, the young families holding a newborn, the middle aged bikers, the weird guy driving a model T, teenagers being sullen and prodding jellyfish, dogs who look like they are in heaven, hipster bicycles, processed meat fried in sugar somehow, arcades that still take coins run by crooked carnies, the 12 guys who decided to dig a really deep hole, the weird religious ethnic immigrant group just chillin…
I missed humanity in all its loud happy glory. This is the way we are meant to have fun, together. Not alone on some beach chair while someone underpaid changes our towels.
Windmills look so much better than rural Indiana
Would suggest a driving trip on I65 just north of Lafayette Indiana…
It is a flat boring patch of rural farm land just like the rest of rural indiana, but they added hundreds of wind turbines to the fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. It is truly a marvel to look at…
In essence, i drive through rural indiana every so often… i can definitively confirm that the section with windmills is far more interesting looking than the rest.
Yeah I drove from central ohio to Chicago once. The thing that struck me most was how little renewables ohio had. The wind farms were exactly what rural America needed to look fine.
But yeah also I advise against driving through rural Indiana because you still have to be there to do it
Gray smoke is a worse type of visual pollution imo
Yeah and blurry vision is pretty shit.
Other power sources also cause visual pollution and I like windmills better than columns of smoke.
Windmills look pretty nice. I’ve only ever seen the “visual pollution” argument made by rich, entitled Karens and Fox News drones.
I think they’re pretty tbh. There’s a huge stretch of them in a field I drive through sometimes, and at night I like to just stop for a second and watch 95% of them all flash their light on top in sync across an impressive distance.
And sometimes there’s one or two flashing out of sync in a weird rhythm and I assume it’s like an error code which I think is pretty interesting
I love seeing them on the horizon. I genuinely get excited to see them.
Its fossil fuel lobby propaganda.
I think they’re quite attractive
It causes visual pollution like a politician telling the truth too much.
It’s a load of bullshit
I’d rather wind generators than the thousands of billboards
Better than normal pollution though or visual pollution from smoke and smog. It’s a tradeoff and a good one in my mind.
You get used to them, and in a way look very cool because of their use and what they represent. Although I wouldn’t like to see them in a natural reserve.
I have another neat use for them. Since I can see some out of my window and use this sight to check wind direction and plan my bike route to have tail wind on the end of the route!
Wait, do they rotate to face the wind or something? If so, that’s awesome and I never noticed
The strobe effect is a thing but it really doesn’t impact a lot of people since you know windmills are usually not by apartment buildings. Being very kind to that point of view seeing things that are new can put you out of sorts.
Personally I think they look cool, that doesn’t mean I can’t see other POVs. Still, people will adapt when they get more common and frankly I am not into NIMBY anyway.
Yeah you obviously shouldn’t build them even close to buildings for many reasons
They turn at 20 rpm, so a blade every second, hardly a strobe effect.
People didn’t seem to mind fugly coal plants but now that weve got a clean energy source usually built in the middle of nowhere they suddenly have a problem with “visual pollution.”
To me it sounds a lot like those dudes that spew smoke out the back of their truck for no other reason than to “trigger” anyone they think might not approve.
The solution to this is so simple its insane.
You offer anyone whose home is within sight of a wind turbine say… 5000kw/h a year in free electricity. With a little careful planning and given that your average turbine produces around 6 million kwh a year. Id imagine they shut up pretty fucking fast.
Makes sense to me. If people who have to deal with something are invested in that thing they will defend it. Never miss an opportunity to take someone outside pissing in and put them inside pissing out.
I’ve tended to find people against them want the same skyline their grandparents had 50 years ago, ignoring that even the trees changed shape. So to them its change and conservative rural people abhor anychange that doesn’t have an immediate and tangible benefit.
