It wasn’t so long ago that a vibrant, wild forest stretched across much of Scotland. Beavers and cranes found sanctuary in extensive wetlands, salmon and trout filled Scotland’s rivers and lynx, wolf and wild boar stalked woodland glades. Scotland has become an ecological shadow of its former self with many species extinct and habitats degraded. …
After reporting about the national Coop Food Share initiative in the Voice recently, it is great to see that it is now up and running in both Lamlash and Brodick. Volunteers in Lamlash collect food from the (Lamlash) Coop Monday to Friday and take it to the church vestry which is open between 10.30 and …
A TIME OF REFLECTION ON HOW LONG MEANINGFUL CHANGE TAKES IN THE REAL WORLD A RECENT CASE STUDY. PART ONE By Sally Campbell Ten years ago, in June 2008, I was invited by the Pure Salmon Campaign to the AGM of Marine Harvest (MH) in Oslo. At the time Arran had been fighting a huge …
Following our feature last month on the allotments at the Arran Community Land Initiative, Judy Wilkinson, writer and allotments campaigner, argues that disconnection from nature breeds alienation, and looks at community growing as a mechanism for re-connecting people to the natural world. In 1995, Sarah Conn wrote in ‘Ecopsychology’ that we have cut ourselves off …
By Kenneth Gibson MSP Many readers will know of the horror that befell HMS Dasher in 1943 between Ardrossan and Brodick, yet this might be the first time they have heard of the Iolaire tragedy, the worst peacetime British sea disaster since the Titanic; one that hit the Isle of Lewis and its close-knit communities …
The garden is quite bare in December but Daphne Bholua “Jacqueline Postill” never fails to impress: Also this month we bring you a selection of photographs taken in the garden at Blairbeg House during the Spring and early summer 2018: Thanks to John Campbell for sending us these photographs.
A round-up of news from COAST, who report on some great successes for coastal community campaigns at the end of 2018 and leave us with a positive message to take forward into the new year. Coastal stakeholders succeed with three major breakthroughs for healthier Scottish seas If you care about people and the planet then …
If everyone’s success depended on it, would you share—or be selfish? By Dylan Selterman, writing in the National Geographic Magazine, June 2018 I TEACH UNDERGRADUATE psychology courses at the University of Maryland, and my classes draw students with diverse interests. But every one of them perks up when I pose this question: Do you want …
A report from Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North On 06 and 07 December, I visited the Western Isles as part of the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee to take vital evidence on the SNP Government’s Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill. The Bill sets a new target that no more …
By Mike Small The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has created a mobile exhibition featuring sixty years of the anti-nuclear movement in Scotland. Launched last month at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Scottish CND has made a visual timeline with accompanying video testimonies from key figures in the nuclear disarmament movement. Scottish CND, which turned …