Reaping the whirlwind: landscape and environment concepts in the South Gippsland windfarm debate

This thesis seeks to address the following question: How are constructs of 'landscape' and 'the environment' used by people in their negotiation of established and proposed windfarms in South Gippsland? Following from this principal question are subsidiary concerns such as: how people use landscape aesthetics in the debate and, for those who list windfarms as a 'threat' to aesthetics, how windfarms might compromise their concept of landscape. This study also examines how 'the environment' is understood in relation to windfarms and how it is used to demonstrate opposition or support. Questions of scale are also investigated; for instance, is the 'local' environment used in a different way to the 'global' environment to support a position in the debate? This study will demonstrate that the development of windfarms highlights ways in which a global issue is comprehended at a local level, how the 'global' concerns about renewable energy are expressed in local communities