Through his windmills, William was able to generate interest in the use of renewable and clean sources of energy. For a long time, the people of Malawi valued the trees from a utilitarian perspective, chopping the trees for firewood and timbre. Due to poverty, they had to maximise the natural resources around them to survive. Indeed, the dominant social paradigm was more common in less developed countries where they believed natural resources could be exploited for economic growth.

William however had a more ecologistic-scientific value of nature (according to Kellert’s value types) where he believed that every part of nature had a role to play and it was important to keep everything in balance. The trees played a regulatory and supporting role in ecosystem services such as preventing soil erosion and climate regulation. This reflects the new ecological paradigm which recognizes the limits of the Earth and the need to manage the effects of anthropogenic activities on the environment.