Renewable energy meets headwinds from German grassroots

The winter cold was biting, the black night illuminated only by flashlight and streetlamp, but still the group gathered at their tiny town square.

They were scientists and engineers, local shopkeepers and retired teachers, all determined to keep wind companies out of a nearby forest. The group shuns the word “activist,” but no word better describes how they’ve been able to slow the progress of wind power in this part of rural Germany for more than a decade.

“Nature is gone. There are no birds to be heard. We cannot eat money,” blares music from a speaker held by Erika Otto, who wrote the lyrics. Illuminated by the orange-yellow glare of a streetlamp, a scientist stepped into

Frustration with the wind“What are the country’s energy goals?”