Cape Cod and Nantucket are windy places. Early settlers capitalized on this and built windmills. In the past several years, there has been overwhelming resistance to a wind farm called Cape Wind in the ocean near the Cape and Nantucket. I read an interesting quote that refers, possibly to the huge support that the concept of "change" received in Massachusetts in the last presidential election. "Despite the popularity of "change" in slogans, people often fear it. Change introduces new stuff that vexes people who prefer old stuff. Change that's resisted when first proposed often doesn't look beneficial until after the fact. Change confers benefits unevenly. Nations that pioneered oceanic exploration and trade benefited sharply. People who stuck to their oxcarts were left behind literally and figuratively."
Even in the face of the environmental disaster (oil leak) in the Gulf Of Mexico, I have not heard much positive support for this huge wind generated electric power project in the Cape Cod region. Maybe we are green and all environmental as long as it is not in our backyard. Much of the resistance has come from the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag nations, I guess it's OK to blight the landscape all over america with Indian casinos but not alternative energy production. Anyway, President Obama's Interior department approved the project, so far.
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