John Field is based in Walthamstow, where he has been a Ranger for Waltham Forest since 2022. His focus is on using digital technology in a socially positive way. By day he works in engineering leadership and operational agility in the ‘tech for good’ sector.
Q1
what inspired you to become a ranger?
I’m a proud Londoner, originally from the English Shires, with a strong desire to “give back” to London. I’m very lucky to live in Waltham Forest, with areas including Walthamstow Wetlands, Lee Valley marshes and Epping Forest, as well as its human ecosystem. Learning of the National Park City in 2014 immediately grabbed me as one way to contribute back.
Q2
How are you making London greener, healthier, and wilder?
I’m lucky to have decades of experience in software engineering and leadership, project management and organisational change, particularly in the ‘tech-for-good’ sector. I’m aware of how these skills can impact society and want to use them as best I can. Most of my work is done behind the scenes, helping with the community side of LNPC and the website.
Q3
What do you think has the single most positive impact of the environmental initiatives you’ve been part of?
Community awareness of the breadth and depth of London’s nature and history. Londoners often seem unaware of what’s on their doorstep, even if they’ve lived in the same area all their lives, and I want to help. As society and culture is increasingly digital, effective means of communication of information, stories and ideas are more important than ever. One project I’ve been involved with was migrating the LNPC website, not just to make the website easier for humans to use (and Rangers to build with), but also for digital tools – such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and the semantic web – so LNPC can be more visible online as well as with humans in ‘the real world’.
Q4
What have you gained from being part of the LNPC Community?
Meeting other like minded people. I was particularly excited to mentor other Rangers at a hackathon day at the LondonNPC Visitors Centre on Fleet Street. We made a ton of progress that day and I enjoyed helping to upskill others.
Q5
Describe your proudest moment as a ranger
While proud of the website migration, perhaps other proud moments are still to come. There are a lot of Rangers doing environmental work and outreach and I want to help them have a wider impact. I’m also proud that I’m a part of showing people London is a National Park City, making more people aware of all that’s in this wonderful city we live in.
Q6
Describe your most challenging moment as a Ranger and how you overcame it
Finding the time and energy to devote to volunteer work is the hardest part. Like many others, it’s a challenge of sticking at it, staying motivated, and prioritising, keeping both the wider goal and the day-to-day in mind.
Q7
What’s next for you as a ranger?
We’ve been talking about making a community map/Ranger database, but all the Rangers are doing this in their spare time, often after a day of work, which I appreciate is hard for everybody… so it may take a little time before that’s ready.
Q8
What continues to motivate you on your Ranger journey?
The incredible potential of London as both the greatest city in the world and as an exemplar of the future. The fact that I’m giving back to London’s soil (metaphorically) is a big draw, which really motivates me and inspires me.
Q9
What has been your most memorable encounter with nature in London?
Seeing red kites over London. I don’t see them regularly around here, but when I do, it reminds me where I came from, and where we are going. To me, red kite reintroduction is a powerful symbol of not only what humans can do to the natural world, but also undo and repair – and how wildlife can thrive in a major city. (Next up: beavers!)
Q10
How can we encourage more people to ‘Do London Differently’?
Make people more aware of London’s polycultural history, present, and future, with multifaceted and orthogonal communities at local and global scales. Perhaps a combination of making people aware of what’s out there, outreach, and encouraging new things to expand rather than constraining human abilities. Just one recent example was learning about synthetic and plant-based biofuels at the recent Restore Nature Now March; there is so much more we humans can innovate in a global city than solar panels and oat milk.
Q11
It’s 2029…as a community, what do you hope LNPC would have achieved by our 10th anniversary? And what might London look like as a result?
I’d like to see more cohabitation between wildlife and humans in London. Human civilisation has a habit to basically concrete everything over and shut out the natural world and I think, through LondonNPC, we can have a great impact in showing people the other ways that are possible to coexist with nature.
Read more Ranger Stories here.
Interview by Zabby Allen.
Find out more about London National Park City and how you can get involved by visiting our About Us page
Together, we can make London greener, healthier, and wilder..
