WHO WE ARE

A Chartered Environmentalist working mainly in manufacturing on energy, pollution and resources, Clare seeks light relief from industrial sites by messing about on the river, monitoring water quality for our Pollution workstream along with other Members of Lea Guardians.

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Clare has lived in Hackney for over 50 years, and locally is secretary of Millfields Park Users Group, President of N1WI, serves on the Public Affairs Committee of the Middlesex Federation of WIs and is a WI Climate Ambassador.

 Reiner is very committed to increase community cohesion and inclusion of all, in particular the most vulnerable, members of the community in a socially and politically active community; strong participation of residents in planning and decision-making in everything that creates, maintains and improves their social, ecological and built environment; and in fighting any form of discrimination, exclusion and expressions of hate. Reiner is a keen walker and cyclist; he is volunteering in maintenance works in Abney Park Cemetery and an active member of Hackney Green Party.

A retired teacher who worked to include environmental sustainability into the curriculum, school grounds and everyday life of schools in which she worked. She is convinced that Education for Sustainability should start in all schools and continue through life - through all ages, ethnicities and classes and that the sustainability discussion/information should be taken far beyond the ‘usual older, white middle class, environmental interest groups’.

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To this end, she helps to organise the Sustainable Hackney ‘Films for Action’ and is very keen to work with other SH members and groups to establish a Climate Hub in Hackney, while also continuing to take out  ‘mobile hubs’ giving information on Climate Change, Hackney Council’s Climate Action Plan and reducing our carbon footprint into various community venues, to reach those who may not normally feel  able or inclined to approach us.  

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Sandra also belongs to Hackney Fairtrade Group and is working along with Cllr Smyth and Hackney Council to increase the knowledge, sale and uptake of Fairtrade items throughout Hackney.

Dominic is a Hackney native whose belief in the power of local communities has led him to be involved in local projects and activism. He was a key volunteer in the A Hackney Autobiography project, which commemorated the community centre Centerprise; he has worked with Hackney Council on workshops relating to policy and sustainable issues, and pushed for the Council to decarbonize; and he was instrumental in convincing his MP, Diane Abbott, to support Power for People’s Local Electricity Scheme, currently making its way through Parliament. He is also in the Sustainable Hackney Built Environment and Housing workstream sub-group, advocating for sustainable housing, refurbishment, and retrofitting.

Chesca is a passionate believer than everyone’s quality of life will be better in a sustainable future. She has professional interests in biomimicry and the circular economy. She runs a community for start-ups and scale ups looking to be more sustainable, Grow Greener, and a yoga-led mental health platform, UNSTABLE.

Glyn has lived and worked in Hackney since 1985, as a parks and estates gardener, nature conservation worker and also taught horticulture and food growing for 15 years, part-time, at Capel Manor and Organic Lea. He fully retired in 2023.

Glyn leads the Sustainable Hackney Food and Food Growing workstream focusing on helping to create a more healthy and sustainable food system and  encouraging and supporting action on around food issues in Hackney.

His priority in 2025 will be revitalising the Hackney Food Partnership and supporting the Hackney Right to Grow initiative. Glyn sees urban community food growing as a key way to tackle food poverty, climate change, health issues and help strengthen communities.

Jan has been a resident of Stoke Newington since 1981 and an environmentalist since the late 60’s. I was influenced by Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ and the Club of Rome ‘The Limits to Growth’. In the mid 70’s I took an Open University unit on ‘Pollution and Environmental Controls’. I was active in the mid 70’s in Friends of the Earth (acted as the London co-ordinator), Greenpeace and the Anti-Nuclear movement. In 1980/81 I sat on an Advisory Group to the GLC on improving and promoting better recycling and collaborated with others and a transport planning officer to develop the first designated cycle route in Islington. I also worked with John Grimshaw (later

founder of Sustrans) to organise a national conference of planning officers to develop a national network of cycle routes. After a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning, I followed a Postgraduate Course in Conservation Planning. In 1983 I set up a Cooperative Paper Merchanting business, called PaperBack - promoting, helping develop and selling recycled papers suitable for printing and office use from which I retired 13 years ago. I’m a lifelong keen cyclist and gardener and take a special interest in recycling.

Barbara McFarlane is an architect. Active in Architect's Climate Action Network. Interested in community retrofit initiatives and their potential to deliver positive change in our homes and community. Interested in a just transition in particular how many demolition and rebuild projects are not delivering the social housing promised. We need scrutinise the whole life carbon reduction targets proposed by developer in the demolish and rebuild schemes in the borough. At the same time look at the potential of the alternatives to demolition such as retrospectively fitting energy improvements to homes.

Architect.  Since construction is one of the major sources of greenhouse gases, I feel strongly that we in this industry have a responsibility to minimise the carbon footprint of what we do.  Instrumental in the campaigning of this Sustainable Hackney group is to ensure that all construction in the borough minimises its carbon footprint, and all proposed construction, demolition and/or  repurposing is sustainable.  The circular economy is a vital part of this process, the need to leave fossil fuels and construction materials in the ground and use and re-use what we have.

Fran is a researcher in sustainability planetary health. She is the founder of 4GOOD, a social enterprise that aims to inspire people to do more good through events and workshops. She has lived in Hackney for 10 years, and is passionate about helping build a sustainable future for all.