If you want to be impressed with one hell of a new golf resort, click here. If you want to know why this course is causing no small amount of panic in Scotland, just north of Aberdeen, read on.

Donald Trump, one of the wealthiest and most ruthless real estate developers of all time, has had designs on a fragile tract of land along Scotland's northeast coast for some time. In fact, the project has been in the works for the past few years, and already it's seen a fair bit of controversy.

But last week, the murmerings of dissent were a little louder than they have been, and for good reason. It seems the area on which Trump intends to build "the world's greatest golf course" is an officially designated "Site of Special Scientific Interest."

Moreover, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds argued that the land should be preserved for its natural habitat, to which Trump swiftly countered that 2,500 birds are shot over that land each year, and that locals are using the site as a personal garbage dump.

As with most things, money is likely to determine the outcome of this battle. Or maybe it won't, and the environmentalists will win. However unlikely that may be, this story draws attention to a part of the world that you might never have thought about, even if you visit the "world's greatest golf course" that could occupy that space one day. Every day we encounter buildings, freeways, strip-malls, and myriad other man-made constructions that obscure the earth beneath and around them.

Maybe this story will inspire us to pay more attention to those pieces of land that aren't yet hosting a piece of "civilization" -- and maybe we'll be inclined to fight if we see one of those pieces literally losing ground against a corporate plan.

[Image Credit: Dave Souza from Wikimedia Commons]