'We have a duty to support wind farms'

When he starts talking about the Third World War and catastrophic climate change, you know you’re not in for a laugh-a-minute interview.

But when Richard Claxton talks about children having no future, there’s little desire to chuckle.

He says: “I think the overwhelming majority are very concerned about climate change,

especially those with children and grandchildren.

“Scientists say unless we take serious and drastic action, within seven to 10 years, our

children and grandchildren don’t have a future, facing catastrophic climate change of epic proportions.

“Even this month, the Pentagon warned the US Government about climate wars within 10 to 20 years with a mad scramble for the last remaining energy, food and water supplies.”

Richard Claxton, 40, is a former primary school teacher turned Greenpeace activist and pro-wind farm campaigner. A father of two, he wears his principles on his sleeve, although today it’s a Fairtrade T-shirt.

Meeting in a coffee shop, he’s the first man I’ve met to order a fruit tea. How very metrosexual, even for Pocklington.

I try not to be scared when he unpacks a briefcase stuffed with literature. He thinks carefully before answering questions, stopping mid-sentence to deliver what he considers a more concise soundbite. I think he’s been on a Greenpeace workshop on

handling the media.

Since 2005, he’s been involved in promoting wind farms. After a high-profile campaign backing a wind farm near Selby, he received offers to work for wind farm developers, now running his own environmental company Green Campaigns.

You might have seen photographs of him when he lobbied East Riding Council to pass a planning application for the wind farm at Lissett. That was him with the windturbine on his head. Lissett was approved, Routh wasn’t, after a successful campaign by local residents.

With that application going to appeal and other applications in the pipeline, not to mention floods, droughts, famine and economic collapse on the horizon, the issue is not going away.

“There is a huge majority in support of wind farms, 80 per cent in poll after poll,” he says. “Yet, whenever a planning application goes in, there will be a very vociferous minority campaigning against it. Supporters of wind power don’t make representations to the council and the decision-makers get the idea everybody hates wind farms. That’s just untrue.

“If you cave into nimbyism time after time, we will do nothing to tackle climate change.”

Before you ask, he would support a wind farm on his own doorstep. I suspect he’d use

earwax for candles if it helped the planet.

One by one, he shoots down – in a peaceful, non-violent way, of course – arguments that wind farms cause noise pollution, affect tourism and property prices and spoil the landscape.

“Strict guidelines on noise mean the council can attach conditions and if noise levels are exceeded, they can be shut down,” he says.

“You have to look at the experience of Out Newton, near Spurn Point. There was a vociferous campaign against the wind farm, yet now we have a community which is, generally speaking, very supportive.

“The view is subjective. I speak to many people who think they’re beautiful and even if you hate the look of them, I think we have a duty to support them. If we all

expect electricity at the flick of a switch and want action on climate change, we have a moral responsibility to accept some form of clean energy generation in our own area. We can’t leave it to other parts of the country or the world to make difficult decisions for us. A slight change in view is a small price to pay.

“In the Second World War, people didn’t object to airfields in the countryside because it would alter their view or generate noise. Everyone perceived there was a national and international need to do something and people were prepared to do their bit.

“Baroness Young, head of the Environment Agency, said recently we are in a Third World War situation. It’s as serious as that.”

He can’t remember a time when green issues didn’t feature in his life. They were always there, gnawing away at him.

“You can’t live with the naïve optimism our political leaders will make the hard decisions on our behalf. When you see them making decisions that make things worse, you realise things are not getting better unless people stand up and do something. You feel compelled to take action.”

He answers questions before I think of them, anticipating everything thrown at him by those he calls Anti-Windies.

He says: “Anti-Windies will say we should tackle climate change through other measures than on-shore wind farms, but the point is on-shore wind is the most mature renewable energy we have.”

He’s not suggesting wind is the only answer. But he believes drastic measures are required immediately and with solar, tide and wave power technology still not up to speed, wind power in the short-term is better than nothing.

He says: “Part of the problem is the Government has not been committed enough to renewables. They believe nuclear power will somehow be a silver bullet to solve our problems of climate change and energy security.

“It’s too little, too late for both.

“A new fleet of nuclear reactors is not going to be fully online until sometime in the

mid 2020s, with the first ones not going to appear for at least 10 years. We have less time than that to take drastic action on climate change.”

However crucial the green campaign, the Doomsday image is undoubtedly depressing. He seems taken aback when I ask how he deals with it personally.

“It can be hard to leave it behind,” he says.

“Al Gore said recently we should see it as a joy to be alive when the work we have to do is so important and can make all the difference.

“There’s a 30 per cent chance it’s too late now. I refuse to believe it. I think that’s all we can do as environmentalists. So long as we feel we have a chance, we fight on.

“I’m often reminded of a song by Billy Bragg. He says the majority, by their silence, shall pay for days like these.”

It’s always a good time to leave, when people start quoting the Bard of Barking. While I concur with the sentiment, Bragg’s constant lecturing does my head in. However crucial and worthy their campaign, I think environmentalists provoke a similar reaction in some.

Faced with prophecies of doom, it’s easy, if not sensible, to choose not to listen.

But, as you’d expect, Richard Claxton answers that with a gem of his own from his soundbite satchel.

“Not very long from now, our children and grandchildren will ask what were we thinking of, why didn’t we do anything and what did we do in the war against climate change,” he says.