"A deep sense of engagement comes about from artefacts that are individually or communally owned. It was this sense of ownership that allowed US windmills their cultural role and that made European windmills a vital part of their communities"
Windmills were once just machines on the land but now seem delightfully bucolic. Could wind turbines win us over too?
When Norwegians traveled to Denmark in the 90s wind turbines there were both exotic, part of the landscape and postcard motives.
Surprised this wonderful essay did not mention the gorgeous Éolienne Bollée, so beautiful that they gracefully adorned the rooftops of French chateaus throughout the 19th century.
I've always loved wind turbines, I think they just look magical, but I realise I'm probably in the minority!
"Without efforts of engagement, wind turbines remain inscrutable devices, easy to reduce to uniform, monolithic symbols of extractive capitalism. Unless we try to integrate them into local culture as focal things, they will never be symbols of the landscape like windmills of the past"