ALL CHANGE

Did you come across that story, carried by the BBC, which looked into food production over the next x-number of years?

More growing our own food. Less waste. More local shops. Less supermarkets.

All because of climate change.

Why is this relevant, you might well ask.

Well, quite simply because we just cannot go on as we are. Oil is running out. So is gas. So - potentially - is nuclear (the idea that nuclear can produce 'cheap' energy indefinitely is pure myth). We're facing huge changes. For all that there are still a dwindling number of climate change deniers, the facts are there. If we don't make the changes to our lifestyles soon, we will be forced to. There is no alternative.

Unless, of course, you're a nookie who recently moved into the area because you think of it as 'exclusive'. If so, you probably drive a fairly inefficient vehicle, which is both noisy and kills wildlife (oh - isn't that what turbines are meant to do?) You probably think of the countryside as some enclave that once upon a time was mainly the preserve of the farming community, but that bunch are as messy as they come, so they can all clear off leaving you with your uninterrupted views of something or other and your innate sense of superiority.

In other words, you're a neo-colonial with delusions of grandeur. And you want to keep your privileges exactly as they are, thank you very much. No social housing, no eco-developments and, most of all, NO WINDFARMS.

But - guess what? - you're a dying breed. You're a symbol of an age which has taken, abused, misused, and generally stuffed the planet.

And get this: you are not allowed to stand in the way of legitimate, vital attempts to redress the balance. Your petty-minded 'me-first' attitude will not be tolerated. And making up excuses to oppose the windfarm, on such trumped-up bases as noise, harm to wildlife, and harm to the environment won't hold water. It's a fig leaf, designed only to camouflage the fact that your opposition to the windfarm is purely selfish.

The proposed Lenchwick Wind Farm will 'kill the Vale countryside', will it? You hypocrite! Nothing is killing the countryside more than global warming and the influx of people who have no genuine interest in or care for the environment (that's you, that is).

You want a countryside pickled in aspic, where nothing moves or makes a sound. After all, that's what you paid for, isn't it?

And that's what you'll get - the real death of the countryside, not because of valuable renewable initiatives but because of your behaviour, your attitudes, and your adherence to a nonsensical idea of what life in the country is like.

The rest of you out there - those of you who are concerned about sustainability, and the future for your children - should take note of what the nookie fraternity have already done to our local area. They have tried to turn it into a rich person's playground. Which it is not. They have polarised the area over the windfarm, making up lies about it, scaring and threatening their neighbours, with the sole purpose of protecting their privileges.

They have diverted your tax money into a misguided scheme to try to find grounds for opposing the plans - not for the benefit of the local area, society as a whole, or the planet, but purely for their own benefit, to maintain their myth of an empty landscape.

And they will sell us all downriver, given half a chance.

Don't you think it's time we said 'NO' to such selfishness, such arrogance, and such blatant neglect of the global need?

Don't you think it's time we said 'YES' to the Lenchwick Windfarm?