This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland
We received the Achiltibuie_Wind_turbine_planning_letter via a colleague and friend. The letter is asking people to write in support of a planning application for a community owned wind turbine.
The small community on Coigach North of Ullapool is located in a ‘world class environment.’ It’s faced with a number of challenges which are described, but has also been organising itself, also described, with a view being more sustainable. The letter is about the economic sustainability that will be generated by installing one community owned wind turbine – a project involving a capital outlay of £2 million being undertaken by a community of about 100 people. But interestingly reading the letter that sustainability is evident in the community organising that has been going on over a reasonable period.
What’s also interesting is that most communities organising around wind turbines are not trying to make them happen. Rather they are trying to resist their imposition by large corporates, land owners seeking to maximise incomes, and centralised national priority planning processes. In other parts of Scotland communities of a similar scale are faced with proposals for 100 turbines surrounding villages. These will be located on private land generating significant incomes for the land owners. These are being pushed through planning by large teams of consultants. The community might be in receipt of some charity in terms of hand outs from the power companies (perhaps mediated by local committees). One model is sustainable, the other is pretty remote from anything that might be called sustainable.
We recommend you read Achiltibuie_Wind_turbine_planning_letter – it is inspiring. 
ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
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