Don Quijote

France is “thinking” about durable (this word is now simplified to green) energy, and although in high circles nuclear energy is also considered to be durable, the idea that wind energy might be a good alternative for fossil fuel and possibly nuclear energy wins slowly some ground.
Obviously, there are high circles and low circles. Whenever in France the high circles propose something, a considerable part of the low circles starts to protest.
The Burgundy region as well as the Saône-et-Loire department are “thinking” about wind farms, which are quite common in the Netherlands, but also in other parts of France and Europe. One condition for exploiting wind farms effectively is the presence of wind, one would think. And wind is exactly what Burgundy is lacking. Apart from the occasional autumn tempest there is hardly any wind, something that struck me as a very weird thing coming from a windy country like the Netherlands.

Anyway, feasibility studies were announced, and some sites were chosen, where possibly a wind park might be erected.
One of the “chosen” spots is a hill near the village of Saint-Ythaire. The moment this became known, half the population was up in arms, forming committees to fight the proposed wind turbines or éoliennes, as they are called here. The other half stayed put, in fear of upsetting the neighbours.
As said earlier, wind farms in the Netherlands are not uncommon, also not at the edge of towns or villages. There is hardly any opposition against them as far as I know; the occasional ornithologist is opposing them from a bird’s eye point of view, some people worry about the stroboscopic effect which might cause epileptic attacks, but horizon pollution and the influence of the whizzing of the wings hardly raises anybody’s concern.
The inhabitants of Saint-Ythaire however think differently. They have since decorated their village with signs warning against 5 turbines of 125 m each (too high, horizon pollution),

signs stating the “fact” that éoliennes are an ecological deception, signs saying that the efficiency will be insignificant (the only good argument I have heard so far) and statements that say that each of the proposed 5 éoliennes will require 1500 tons of concrete for its foundation (another argument that makes me think “what does this have to do with the price of beans?”).
Anyway, travelling through the Netherlands for a week, enjoying the continuous wind blowing there and feasting my eyes on the horizon pollution caused by wind turbines, I found a very nice alternative in Zoetermeer, the town I lived in for a long time. Smack in the middle of town there is an old, alternative wind mill, still working and in use for the fabrication of flour. I would not mind having one of them in my back garden...