wind farms...allover the place. Greens back Lake District wind farm Apr 19 2005
Green lobby groups are to highlight local support for a wind farm to help in the battle against climate change.
Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are backing proposals for the farm at Whinash in the Lake District, as a planning inquiry into the scheme opens at Penrith in Cumbria.
The site is near the M6 and lies between the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District National Park, although it is not a designated national park area.
Wind farms, as a source of renewable power, curb the need for fossil fuel burning, the chief cause of global warming.
But their construction in various parts of the country has sparked controversy with opponents criticising their noise and their impact on the landscape.
But Jill Perry, energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth said of the current Lakeland inquiry: "I'm amazed that people are claiming that the area should be designated a national park. What kind of national park has a motorway running through it?
"People need to wake up to the fact that climate change will happen and it's not good enough to pretend that we can sit back for the next few years thinking about the situation."
Jim Footner of Greenpeace said: "Climate change is the greatest threat our planet faces, already killing over 150,000 people every year and putting one in three of our land based species at risk from extinction.
"Clean energy alternatives such as the Whinash wind farm are crucial if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
"Contrary to what some people believe the biggest threat to the British landscape is climate change - not the visual impacts of wind turbines. Wind farms like that proposed for Whinash are part of the solution."
