The New York Times recently took a closer look at a classic case of a community fighting for and against wind farm development. A proposed project in the Catskills mountains in upstate New York has brought out the "not in my backyard" attitude among many who still insist they do support wind power technology – just not when it's blocking their view.

The project calls for a wind farm with 33 turbines, each 410 feet tall, to stretch six miles along a ridge. The farm could produce 260 million kilowatt hours a year, or enough to power 43,000 homes.

It's sad to see so many proposed wind farms die in the planning stages because of mostly aesthetic reasons. Either we should learn to appreciate their design and see them as collections of sculptures that just so happen to provide clean power to our homes, or we should help to change the design so it appeals to the masses. Several papers and books narrate the power design holds in wind farms gaining acceptance. Perhaps a design challenge is in order.