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<br />/ <br /> <br />machines will be disguised in ancient dress is remote, but more <br />importantly because the visual effect will be greatly influenced <br />by public attitudes that develop step by step with the development <br />of windfarms, and by the circumstances and settings in which <br />various publics actually see windfarms. A different approach to <br />the issue may provide a better basis for estimating the probab"ly <br />impact. I propose to draw inferences from the known or at least <br />knowable impacts of other human actions of a somewhat similar <br />nature. <br /> <br />A large windfarm will be a human artifact on a monumental scalE~. <br />Other human artifacts on a comparably monumental scale include <br />cities, highways, cultivated agricultural areas, large dams and <br />reservoirs, the aggregate of nonurban housing, high-voltage <br />transmission lines, radio and television towers, and the aggregate <br />of automobiles. <br /> <br />It is very apparent that human artifacts as a class, including <br />those on a monumental scale, possess a degree of aesthetic <br />attractiveness that greatly exceeds their repulsiveness. We love <br />our houses, our cars, and our fruitful meadows; our cities have <br />attracted a hugh proportion of the population, and millions of us' <br />take to the highways. Repulsive aspects of these monumental-scale <br />artifacts are present, such as trash-filled city alleys, roadside <br />litter, and signboards that hide the scenery; but they are tolerated, <br />and a measure of the degree of toleration for these repulsive <br />aspects is the level of effort devoted to mitigating them. <br /> <br />It has been truly said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. <br />Is a ship a blot upon the unspoiled ocean while a whale is not? <br />Is a domestic cow a blot upon the natural landscape while a wild <br />deer is not? From person to person the answers \'Ii 11 be endl essly <br />varied. For the human race as a whole nevertheless, it is obvious <br />that shi ps and cows and in fact the whol e array of artifacts aY'e <br />more interesting and attractive, even beautiful, than otherwise. <br />What then of large windfarms? <br /> <br />Unless there is persuasive evidence to the contrary, I believe <br />our first order estimate should be that windfarms will share the <br />aesthetic characteristics of other monumental scale human artifacts. <br />They will be basically interesting and attractive. Unquestionably, <br />they will alter the appearance of the local landscape, and there <br />will be some persons who would aesthetically prefer the landscape <br />in its pristine state. However, only a small portion of the <br />landscape will be affected by windfarms, and presumably those <br />persons who seek the pristine experience will go to pristine <br />landscapes and avoid windfarms except as they may wish to go <br />slumming. Their life experience is therefore not degraded by the <br /> <br />12 <br />