Against the Grain

Today I had the luxury of walking across the land we are developing to bring about The Wave Bristol. It was warm, slightly sultry and the place was buzzing with activity. Birds, insects and even a pheasant charging its way to cover. All within 20 minutes of the city centre.

I was struck with a big pang of guilt. For a while, we are going to be invading this land with diggers, soil shifters, construction teams and shatter the relative peace and quiet of nature. Why? So people can surf. That's just crazy.

Again, it meant I really needed to remind myself of the wider benefits of what we are trying to do. Yes, there will be a lake, with waves, in the middle of agricultural land. We will need to transplant some hedgerows. Two half dead trees are being felled. Grass will be dug up and replaced with water.

But what we are creating is a destination that can have a wider massive impact on the environment in a much more positive way. We are planting a huge number of trees, areas are going to be created with wetlands for critters to live and thrive. The core opportunity is around education though. To make a better future, our kids need to understand the challenges we face, no........THEY face.

By teaching kids from the city about ecology, environment, nature, water, food, agriculture and conservation, we stand a chance of making a bigger impact on a more global level.

So what I ended up doing is mapping out with my mind the completed vision, a harmonised educational opportunity with a pretty radical centrepiece that will bring people to the site, but then deliver one of the most engaging educational experiences dreamt up of.

Purists will never be 100% comfortable with what we have planned, but the uplift could be massive, turning some fields that occasionally flood (and no doubt end up with an ill thought out housing scheme in the next 50 years) into an activity, educational, ecological haven.

The only way to predict the future, is to plan it and build it ourselves.