Will climate change trump tourism in Scotland? - The Globe and Mail

In the battle between those two great forces of nature, Donald Trump and the Scottish wind, you might want to put your money on the one that blows so fiercely and relentlessly. On the other hand, you might want to back the wind.More related to this storyTrump talks up Toronto tower'I couldn't care less,' Donald Trump responds to transgender beauty queen furorWind turbines: A blow for ChinaBusinessVideo: Trump backs Romney for U.S. presidentHotelsVideo: Donald Trump in TorontoMr. Trump was in Scotland this week to protest the installation of wind turbines four kilometres off the coast of Aberdeenshire, in direct sightline of golfers playing the new course he will open in July ($300 for 18 holes, slightly less for locals.) In his usual fashion, Mr. Trump did not conserve his own energy while criticizing the feather extension Scottish government's enthusiasm for wind power: “It will be the destruction of Scotland if this madness continues.” He then pooh-poohed the idea that climate change was caused by humans, and went on to compare Scotland's commitment to wind farms to its decision to release the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, from prison.You can perhaps see why Mr. Trump is such a divisive figure in Scotland, where his £750-million luxury resort and golf course just north of Aberdeen has earned him a bucket load of foes and fans alike. Those opposing sides were out in force in Edinburgh to greet Mr. Trump after his testimony before the Scottish parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism committee. His supporters carried signs that said, “Tourism, not Turbines.” His foes Feather hair banged drums and called the New York real-estate mogul a windbag. A member of a group called WIGS (Wind is Good Scotland) held an orange balloon over Mr. Trump's head so that his famously dense coiffure was drawn, as if by magic, into the air.The ballyhoo outside Holyrood – at one point, police had to keep the pro- and anti-wind factions apart – was compelling political theatre, but also indicated just how vitriolic the fight over wind power is becoming in Great Britain. Does a country that sells itself on its unspoiled scenery and majestic castles want to Hair extensions trade that landscape for the promise of renewable electricity? (The UK is committed to getting 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, up from almost 10 per cent now; Scotland has a much loftier goal of 100 per cent renewable in the next eight years.)From one end of the UK to the other, there are fights brewing over the placement of wind turbines in historic or picturesque locations. Ironically, some of the most heated battles involve battlefields: There may soon be turbines built at Naseby, where Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeated King Charles I's troops in 1645, and the site of the battle of Hyddgen in mid-Wales, where the nationalist hero Owain Glyndwr trounced English forces in 1401.Apart from Mr. Trump's fight, the highest-profile wind-farm contretemps is happening on “the wild and windy moor” (as Kate Bush sang) where Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw fell in love. A 60-metre high test mast will soon go up near Top Withens, the ruined house set in desolate moorland that inspired Emily Brontë'sWuthering Heights. The Bronte Parsonage Museum, located in the house where Emily, Charlotte and their siblings grew up, joined the campaign against the mast, which it fears could lead to the construction of four giant wind turbines.“One of the things that draws people here is the landscape,” said Andrew McCarthy, director of the museum, which hosts 80,000 visitors a year. “People do want to go out onto the moors and experience the wilderness that the Brontës knew. The proliferation of wind turbines within that landscape is at odds with that.”By far the biggest tempest is swirling around the east coast of Scotland, 25 km north of Aberdeen, where the Swedish company Vattenfall is leading a multinational coalition to build 11 wind turbines – “monstrosities” and “ugly windmills” in Trump-speak – a few kilometres off the coast.