Many people spend their whole lives in Cities and have never had a personal experience of the beauty that seems to just happen when Nature starts to take over, just a little. Living Nature to many of our city children is a dirty and dangerous thing which is to be kept at a distance. For our city managers this is a convenient thing and they present the view that the choice before Hackney Residents is a choice between a one or two less games football and a decision in favour of a switch to clean eco-friendly energy provided by a Wind-Turbine.

The case for the Turbine is bogus!
Here is just part of the case against it

1) The site for the Turbine is Common Land, control of land will be handed over to a private interest energy company or companies.

2)The Turbine could be sited anywhere else and the energy transmitted by cable to Hackney in the normal way.

3) A series of smaller turbines would generate the same energy without dominating the skyline.

4) Hackney Marshes and the greater Lea-Marshes still provide an experience of a rural environment in close proximity to very dense housing conurbations. The open horizens and 'big sky' are a key element of this. A towering structure, combined with large-scale housing developments through the Lea Marshes will destroy this
forever.

5) Mental Health Problems are suffered by very large numbers of people in the borough, and Depression is
now being recognised aa a much more widespread problem than previously recorded. Recovery from these conditions along with M.E. and a whole variety of stress related illnesses is improved when sufferers have the opportunity to enjoy the experience of an outdoor natural, semi-rural environment.

6) The leisure and recreation opportunities of this open space have barely begun to be developed by schools & other learning groups. A small sample study by University College London in the adjacent housing estate revealed that children and play-workers have no experience of, and know almost nothing about 'cost free' types of play and recreation in natural free-space.

7) While many are content to use their Motor Cars to take their children to the sea-side or other wide-open spaces, the people who cannot afford to travel are not being informed of the benefits that lie on their doorstep. The majority of Hackney residents know very little about the marshes other than the football pitches. The council seems content to reinforce this narrow idea.

The choice between football and the environment is a cruelly false one. It disguises the take-over of common land by private companies. It plays on people's capacity to surrender something for the greater good. For shades of things to come, go to Millfields Recreation Ground, E5, and see the land grab being carried out by the National Grid and EDF by their redeveloped power station.



The is a lot more to Hackney Marshes than football. They are part of the greater Lea Marshes, a semi rural space with wide horizens and open skies existing in close proximity to very dense housing conurbations. This space is threatened on all sides and is about to be cut through by high-rise housing developments, courtesy of Waltham Forest Council. Wind Turbines are iconic, beautiful and powerful political symbols, but, just like the Statue of Liberty, siting and context are everything. This turbine could be an albatross around the neck of the green movement for generations to come. 'Greens' must not forget the inter-connectedness of nature and society. A small change in one part can send a ripple of changes through everything. A turbine here may be a symbol of victory for them today. What will it mean in 2013 when we count the cost of the Olympics?


If Hackney schools were teaching children the pleasures and the meaning of the enjoyment of the countryside, those same children would eventually be spending more time outdoors and less time indoors with the heating thermostat at maximum while they play at 'virtual outdoors' electronic games. This policy would also fit with the Government 'Horizens' project. This scheme aims to reduce personal depression among the adult population by ensuring that children have meaningful emotional experiences.
There are no fast profits to be had, and there are limited political gains in the quiet enjoyment of natural free-space; perhaps there are some healthy gains, though, for the ecology and well-being of our shared world and a growth in direct knowledge of its precious fragility.