tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694983711794441623.post7261874066949466935..comments2024-02-04T12:33:21.975-08:00Comments on The Crow Diaries: Unesco's Lake District award: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694983711794441623.post-31616019322260381732017-07-12T00:48:05.987-07:002017-07-12T00:48:05.987-07:00If you took your Ambleside Civic Centre Rose colou...If you took your Ambleside Civic Centre Rose coloured glasses off for a minute, you would see where people who think this is a bad idea-from an ecological and social perspective- are coming from. Its rewarding agricultural bad practice for a start. The massive overgrazing of the fells which has seen them become cropped ecological deserts.Capable of supporting a very limited ecosystem. Devoid of many species which could thrive in the uplands where it not turned over for profit. I notice in George Monbiot's article yesterday,that Lake District farmer James Rebanks was paid thirty grand for basically writing a report saying environmentally speaking, everything is dandy..That's outrageous actually and doesn't do Rebanks or the bureaucrats who commissioned him any favours.<br /><br />I guess you are willing to accept periodic flooding of places like Cockermouth, Patterdale & Glenridding, Keswick etc, because of the denuding of the fells by our four legged friends. After all,the BBC Countryfile view of the Lakes as created by our heroic farmers and their Herdwicks is more important,it appears,than diversifying into more sustainable areas of agriculture and bringing some life back into the uplands.<br /><br />No mention of social cleansing? Local people driven out of the Lakes by second home owners. Those pretty little villages dead but preserved in aspic for tourists?<br /><br />You can see in Richard Leafe's reaction that this was all about marketing the Lakes as a commercial product over any environmental considerations, Why else put an actual figure on the expected increase in tourists?<br /><br />The irony of historical conservation figures like Ruskin, Rawnsley and Hill is that they would be turning in the graves if they were around the witness the ecologically degraded theme park the Lakes had become. I imagine that they would enthusiastically support any efforts to restore ecological diversity to the uplands as much as Monbiot.<br /><br />The Lake District in fact is no more worthy of WHS than Snowdonia or The Peak District. In fact Snowdonia probably retains more relatively unspoiled and diverse areas than the Lakes. The Lakes does though, hold the 'advantage' in that it has a more more affluent and influential proportion of its population who are driven by both commercial interest and self promotion. Environmental considerations don't come into it.<br />Footless Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08545519120244657632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694983711794441623.post-23677314891295660072017-07-11T10:42:13.135-07:002017-07-11T10:42:13.135-07:00As a local living in Ambleside, working in the Nat...As a local living in Ambleside, working in the National Park, an active member of. Ambleside Civic Trust, I love these kind of polemics driven by cliches. Let's see. 1. 'using a narrow market definition of what constitutes a site worthy of world heritage status' ? What ? I've read both the LDNP bid documentation and the criteria for inscription. I must have missed the paragraphs about WHS and them having to meet economic market protocols. Because there aren't any. That statement simply doesn't make any sense. Oh. There's 2 (even better) : 'an ill conceived exercise in self promotion over environmental impact' ????? What a load of cobblers that is. The Lake District (along with good old John Muir) led the world in inspirational conservation movements. Those movements have resulted in the protection and conservation of landscapes and heritage sites across the planet. If that is self promotion, then let's have more of it please. And some considered expertise in assessing the relevance of World Heritage status, not ignorance.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16990973735272058994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2694983711794441623.post-14145755142111549842017-07-11T07:28:38.588-07:002017-07-11T07:28:38.588-07:00My initial thoughts were similar ....even bigger q...My initial thoughts were similar ....even bigger queues at the over-priced supermarket check-outs and pubs and lanes clogged with the vehicles of folk bagging a few more Wainwrights. I think however that this was on the cards anyway - the Lake District has been so well promoted in TV programmes and films in recent years that an increase in visitors is inevitable.<br />My hope (and it may a vain hope) is that UNESCO World Heritage status will focus the collective minds of those responsible for the National Park to plan and execute development more responsibly than they have in the past.<br />---RANT ENDS-----Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05927498324812386326noreply@blogger.com