An article in today's Monde about the negative side effects of wind turbines - those who live near them complain of the noise and the disorienting effect of having constant movement in their field of vision. There are complaints of anxiety, high tension and depression, and anecdotes of people who live with their blinds closed or have been forced to sell their homes (often at a loss because the presence of a wind turbine in the vicinity has reduced its value). Well, welcome to city life! I don't wish to come down too hard on the country mice but half the population of the world lives with these inconveniences on a daily basis. Given that rural living tends to have a higher carbon footprint than urban living it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect the country folk to do their part in shifting to a more environmentally responsible future. And doing your part means accepting a certain level of discomfort. Another article, this time in this week's Economist, has the president of the Maldives reacting to the rising level of the world's oceans by evoking the possibility of buying land in order to evacuate his population and restart the nation elsewhere. Town or country or island state, the same wind, the same rising sea surrounds us.