Donald Trump to Scotland's Wind Power: You're Fired!
The seaside view from Trump's golf course in Scotland may soon include an offshore wind farm. The Donald is not pleased
Scotland may be famous for tartan kilts, the Loch Ness monster and single malt scotch, but if the vision of First Minister Alex Salmond is realized, it will have a new claim to fame: wind power. It's so windy off the coast, in fact, that harnessing all that wind could supply a fourth of Europe's offshore wind energy -- enough to keep Scottish lights on seven times over. Salmond, who is also the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), is keen on developing the country's tidal and wave power as well.
SCOTLAND'S SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PLAN
"The Scottish Government and our agencies are determined to build a strong, sustainable and world-leading offshore renewables industry, bringing jobs and investment to communities around the country," said Salmond at a recent meeting of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board (SEAB).[1]
"An increasing number of major overseas firms are already joining leading Scottish companies to invest in the development of wind, wave and tidal in Scotland," he said. "As we move towards our 2020 target of ensuring renewables contribute at least 100 percent of Scotland's own electricity demand, it is important that the scoping, planning, development and deployment of offshore wind, wave and tidal generation is done as effectively and efficiently as possible."[2]
THE DONALD: GOING FOR THE GREEN WITH A KNOCK-DOWN SHOT
Scotland is also famous for being the home of golf. And Salmond's penchant for wind has found a new foe in the form of Donald Trump, whose famous hair is in a muss over a Swedish-backed plan to build an offshore wind farm of 11 turbines in Aberdeen Bay, near his GBP 750 million (USD 1.18 billion) golf course in Balmedie.[3]
"With the reckless installation of these monsters, you will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history," Trump wrote, rather hyperbolically, in an angry letter to the First Minister. "As a matter of fact, I have just authorised my staff to allocate a substantial amount of money to launch an international campaign to fight your plan to surround Scotland's coast with many thousands of wind turbines." He characterized Salmond's plan as "insanity."[4]
THERE GOES THE COUNTRYSIDE
Trump is not alone.
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Reynard is a Justmeans staff writer for Sustainable Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility. A former media executive with 15 years experience in the private and non-profit sectors, Reynard is the co-founder of MomenTech, a New York-based experimental production studio that explores transnational progressivism, neo-nomadism, post-humanism and futurism. He is also author of the blog 13.7 Billion Years, covering cosmology, biodiversity, animal welfare, conservation and ethical consumption. He is currently developing the Underground Desert Living Unit (UDLU), a sustainable single-family dwelling envisioned as a potential adaptation response to the future loss of human habitat due to the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Reynard is also a contributing author of "Biomes and Ecosystems," a comprehensive reference encyclopedia of the Earth's key biological and geographic classifications, to be published by Salem Press in 2013.
