The Power of Communities Cohesion, Collaboration, or Crucibles of Conflict?
“Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change.”
Max Carver
• Culture, Conservation, Carbon and Coasts
• Planning, Policy and Peatlands
• The Community of Geography
• Community Food, Transport and Health
• Big Noise and Net Zero
• Lighthouse Houses and Island Life
• Pleistocene Megafauna and A Tower of Giraffes
• Faith and Science Leaders Call to ‘Step Up’
• Reader Offer: The Missing Lynx
The Geographercommunity
Although community can mean different things to different people, when most of us refer to it we mean local geographical communities, and that is the version we have adopted most for this edition of The Geographer. It is remarkable to see all the ways in which community engagement extends, and we hope readers will get a sense of that richness through the many articles in this edition.
Everyone has a local community to a greater or lesser extent, and these are the most relevant within the context of locally-based decision making as they are the most impacted. However, even the concept of what constitutes ‘local’ can be contested and create tension. A current example is the tension over driving speeds. The community of local drivers often wants to drive as quickly and smoothly as possible through a place, but those that live alongside the roads want the lowest and safest speeds possible. Who gets to decide who’s right?
Often it is the more cohesive communities who seem to prosper, and the less functional or coordinated who struggle. The most extreme example of this which I witnessed was whilst developing a project in the late 1990s, working with 130 local community organisations throughout the Argyll Islands, to make a joint funding bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. It became apparent that every island had its own distinctive character and sense of cohesion. Those who had some element of a shared vision or enthusiasm for change were more successful. One island community was, however, so divided that its members spent all of their energy vehemently disagreeing with each other, and, uniquely, it didn’t manage to bring a single community-led project forward.
Communities can be as varied as the people within them, and not all feel welcoming or inclusive, which does beg a question as to what a legitimate community looks like. At its best, good community engagement can better inform local delivery of services and facilities, especially by public bodies, drawing on the knowledge and experiences of people living in an area. It can facilitate positive change and should lead to better democratic participation, better services and better outcomes for communities, not just through better design, but through increased trust and a sense of engagement.
I am grateful to Angus Hardie, who has been at the helm of the Scottish Community Alliance for the past 14 years, and involved in community projects for nearly 40. We have benefited from his deep knowledge in creating this magazine, and worked with him on it to thank him for all that he has done in his career.
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive, RSGS
RSGS, Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU tel: 01738 455050 email: enquiries@rsgs.org www.rsgs.org
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The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the RSGS.
Cover image: Protestors block a UK home office immigration enforcement van in Kenmure Street, Glasgow, 2021.
We are delighted to announce that His Majesty The King has accepted the Patronage of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. This follows a comprehensive review of the Patronages of over one thousand organisations held by The late Queen, The former Prince of Wales and The former Duchess of Cornwall. For decades, His Majesty has been a champion of the natural environment and the need to take action on critical issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. We are honoured to have His Majesty’s support for our work. visit us!
When our Fair Maid’s House visitor centre reopened to the public in early May, we were pleased to unveil a brand-new exhibition celebrating over 15 years of The Geographer magazine. This looks back at the range of topics featured, from outer space to the deep oceans, and at some of the incredible people who have contributed fascinating articles and stunning images.
Housed in the oldest secular building in Perth, the Fair Maid’s House is a geographical delight, full of maps, books, artefacts, and many, many stories. Over the summer, we plan to open the visitor centre from 12:30pm to 4:00pm every Thursday, Friday and Saturday until Saturday 28th September. So please come along and visit us – we look forward to welcoming you to the Geographical Heart of Scotland! And if you would be interested in volunteering at the Fair Maid’s House, please email us at enquiries@rsgs.org or phone us on 01738 455050.
Membership rate changes
The Board has agreed to increase our membership rates in August of this year – the first meaningful increase in five years. We were determined to keep costs low for members during the Covid-19 lockdown and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis. However, we are unable to keep absorbing all the various cost increases that we have incurred over the past five years, as energy costs, repairs, venue fees, and pretty much everything else has gone up in price substantially. From 1st August 2024, the rates will be:
• Student/SAGT membership
• School membership
• Single membership
• Joint membership
• Life membership
£25 / year
£36 / year
£60 / year
£90 / year
£1,600
Elizabeth Mrema FRSGS, Geddes Environment Medallist
In February, we were delighted to present the RSGS Geddes Environment Medal to Elizabeth Mrema, for championing environmental conservation and for her dedication, passion and tireless efforts in support of our natural world. Since 2023, Ms Mrema has been Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, and she was the Executive Secretary of the much-lauded Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Montreal in 2022. Under her guidance, the Convention on Biological Diversity saw the adoption of a new set of international goals for biodiversity, fostering collaboration among nations and organisations to address the urgent need for conservation.
Faith, science and NGOs
David Langworth FRSGS
In February, we were delighted to present RSGS Honorary Fellowship to David Langworth for his invaluable contributions to the RSGS Borders Group over many years. A retired cartographer with a keen love of the world, David held the role of Chair of the Borders Group for over 15 years, hosting, presenting and promoting speakers for the Inspiring People talks programme.
Curriculum design webinars
In March, we hosted the fourth in our series of webinars on aspects of educational reform emerging from recent Scottish Government reports. We focused on teaching geospatial analysis, which considered the skills, implications, applications and job opportunities in the increasing use of geospatial technology. Reports from all the webinars are available at www.rsgs.org/blog
Steven Carr FRSGS, Livingstone Medallist
In May, at Hibernian Football Club in Edinburgh, during half-time in the match against Aberdeen, our Trustee David Henry was delighted to present the prestigious RSGS Livingstone Medal to Steven Carr for his work to help Ukrainian orphan families. Steven, a Perth local councillor and Hibernian FC fan, first visited Dnipro in Ukraine in 2005 when the club played a UEFA tie against Dnipropetrovsk. Moved by his visit to an orphanage there, Steven set up the Dnipro Kids charity to offer help and practical support to the orphan families, and has been the driving force behind the charity’s mission ever since. The charity has arranged the evacuation of Ukrainian orphans and provided families with a temporary sanctuary in Scotland, a home, and education until they can safely return back to Ukraine.
In May, in response to Government intentions to water down climate policy, RSGS convened an event to bring together the faith, science and NGO communities in Scotland. Giving a voice to the soul, head and heart of society, the event underlined the absolute necessity of tackling climate change, and the need to raise the issue beyond that of a political football.
Rt Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, gave a joint statement on behalf of a dozen faith groups; Professor Stuart Haszeldine, Co-Director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, spoke on behalf of the science community; and Mike Robinson, Chief Executive of RSGS, spoke on behalf of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and the NGO community.
Chaired by two young geographers, Ellie Kirkland and Dylan Hamilton, the event presented a unified front across a swathe of society which wanted to see a renewed focus on action, and encouraged politicians, business and community leaders, communities and individuals to step up and do more to act.
See pages 12–13 for more information.
New historical map of Perth
In May, the Perthshire Society of Natural Science and the Historic Towns Trust hosted a launch event for ‘An Historical
Map of Perth’, a project to create a map and gazetteer providing a broad introduction to Perth’s history. Short talks were given by Professor Vanessa Harding (Historic Towns Trust), Theresa Hughes (Perthshire Society of Natural Science), Mike Robinson (RSGS) and David Bowler (Alder Archaeology), talking about the topography, archaeology and history of Perth.
Pier restoration
In April, the historic Inveraray Pier was re-opened to the public after ten years of being closed due to disrepair. The pier was bought and restored by the local community, with generous funding support from statutory and charitable organisations. See inveraraypier.scot for details.
Future Generations Fund
Blog highlights
We continue to make weekly additions to our blog (www. rsgs.org/blog), covering a range of interesting topics and news about our work. Recent posts include: Fridtjof Nansen: a solar eclipse in the Arctic Ocean. In April 1894, Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen was observing a solar eclipse in the Arctic Ocean.
Take heart: around the world, people want to see action on climate change. ‘Why doesn’t anyone care about climate change as much as I do?’ writes Liz Murray of Global Justice Now in her opinion piece.
A retrograde act. RSGS Chief Executive Mike Robinson explains why the Scottish Government’s plans to remove the 2030 emissions reduction target is a retrograde step which undermines years of climate leadership in this country.
Three women explorers who tore up the rule book. We look at three remarkable women travellers (Isabella Bird, Mary Kingsley, Isobel Wylie Hutchison) who lived life according to their own rules, and made a great success of it.
Jo Jeffreys FRSGS
In March, we awarded RSGS Honorary Fellowship to Jo Jeffreys, a specialist in sustainability and ESG practice at Jacobs and one of the first and most enthusiastic early adopters of the RSGS Climate Solutions courses. Jo is a champion of sustainable practice in all walks of life, and was a great supporter of the coached version of the Accelerator course within Jacobs, encouraging and supporting others to engage with and act on climate solutions. With her support and enthusiasm, Jacobs became one of our first corporate partners and we have formed an excellent working relationship and ongoing partnership with them as a result.
Train overtakes plane
In May, Transform Scotland published a report which analysed the travel behaviour of over 150 of Scotland’s public bodies, including local authorities, NHS trusts, colleges and universities, and a wide range of organisations working in the environment, science, the arts, social care and other sectors. The report Fight or Flight found that 52% of trips between the Central Belt and London were now being made by train, up from 26% in equivalent research a decade ago.
Report author Elspeth Wray said, “We’re pleased that Scotland’s public sector is taking action to tackle climate emissions by cutting back on domestic flights. We urge all public bodies to follow the example of sector leaders, for example by ruling out flights between the Scottish Central Belt and London and setting strong emissions reduction targets for air travel.”
See transform.scot/2024/05/07/new-report-train-overtakes-planefor-public-sector-travel-to-london for more information.
RSGS Chief Executive Mike Robinson was invited for an introductory meeting at Buckingham Palace in April to discuss RSGS’s work in sustainability and climate change education. Without the necessary funding, it is extremely difficult at almost every geographical level to deliver positive climate action, and certainly not at scale. Without money and certainty, it is difficult to drive further investment and innovation. So, one topic of conversation was our work to develop (and promote the principle of) a Future Generations Fund, which we launched with an appeal to our members in 2022.
We plan to continue to build this Fund over the next three to five years, to help drive our existing and new work with and for young people, providing some sense of belief, and a budget, to target some of the issues of most concern to young people, and overcome the short-termism that can dominate decision making. It is low-level, as RSGS is not a large charity, but through leading by example, we hope to inspire others, and we are challenging companies and politicians to do the same.
Extinct Nile branch
The largest pyramid field in Egypt is clustered along a narrow desert strip, curiously located several kilometres away from the Nile. Using radar satellite imagery, geophysical data and deep soil coring, a team of researchers has now identified segments of a major extinct branch of the Nile, which they have named the Ahramat Branch, running at the foothills of the Western Desert Plateau, where the majority of the pyramids lie. They suggest that the Ahramat Branch was used as a transportation waterway for workmen and building materials to the pyramids’ sites. See www.nature.com/articles/ d41586-024-01449-y for more information.
Climate targets
The past two or three months have been dominated by the repercussions of news on climate change targets. Scottish Government announced an intention to remove the 2030 target of 75% emissions cuts, agreed in 2019. It is largely a result of inaction on climate since the cross-party target was set and the climate emergency declared. The net zero target for 2045 remains intact, and we are still likely to see 68–72% reductions achieved by 2030, but only if this is seen as a trigger to step up action, and not if it is viewed as a reason to stop trying. The ongoing success or otherwise will very much depend upon the public (and therefore the political) appetite for the necessary changes.
Explorer playing cards
Artist Sarah Barnard has created a set of playing cards featuring polar explorers, which she is offering to readers of The Geographer at a 25% discount on the regular price of £22 per pack. Visit www.barnardpolar.shop and quote discount code RSGS25; offer ends 30 September 2024. reader offer
Sue Stockdale FRSGS
We were pleased to award RSGS Honorary Fellowship to Sue Stockdale in February. For over 30 years, she has travelled across the world on her adventures, bringing back stories to inspire people to be curious, explore the world, connect with others and maximise their potential.
Sue helped establish Venture Scotland, a Scottish charity enabling disadvantaged young adults to explore wild places and conserve the environment, and she is a committee member of Raleigh UK Society, that focuses on adventure and conservation activities. She co-founded and hosts a not-for-profit podcast, Access to Inspiration, that promotes a greater understanding of people, places, and our impact on the world; guests from 25 countries have been interviewed over 70+ episodes, including six in which she partnered with RSGS; all are available for download.
Neil Ramsay Kermack (1926–2023)
Rona Kermack, daughter
Neil was born and brought up in Colinton, just outside Edinburgh. He attended the Edinburgh Academy, and after school he joined the Royal Artillery and saw service in India for two years. At the end of the war he studied Veterinary Medicine at the Royal Dick in Edinburgh. Initially he saw practice in Devon where he met his wife, Betty Durham. They moved to Scotland and he worked in a practice in Bridge of Allan before moving south of the border to become Partner of a rural veterinary practice on the North Yorkshire Moors. They had two children, Rona and Gill, and later two grandchildren with whom he had a great rapport and shared his interest in geographical research around the world. Neil was also passionate about trees and the maintenance of woodlands. He was a true Scotsman, and keeping his connection with Scotland was very important to him, while he spent the rest of his life in North Yorkshire and became a well-respected and much-loved member of the local community. After Betty sadly died in 2001, he continued to live with his elder daughter, Rona, until he died aged 96 on 6th February 2023 in the house he had lived in for over 60 years and surrounded by his beloved trees.
The RSGS was a charity very close to his heart, following on from his father, William Ramsay Kermack, who was a member and was also on the Council. Neil took a keen interest in the world around him, and always looked forward to receiving The Geographer which he found so informative. Even in his nineties he was inspired by the various different geographical themes, lectures and projects. Hopefully the legacy he has left will help go towards future geographical research and inspire the younger generation.
In his Will, Neil Kermack left a generous legacy of £25,000 to RSGS, to help fund our work into the future. We are very grateful for his lifelong support.
Roger S Watts FRSGS (1931–2024)
Margaret Wilkes, RSGS Trustee
I was sad to learn of the death in February of Roger Watts, former Chairman of RSGS Council and former Chair of RSGS’s Glasgow Group. It brought back vivid memories of his vibrant, lively personality, his humour, and his persistence and pragmatism where management was concerned. His endeavour in both Chairmanship roles was to try to alter RSGS’s mindset and make its membership of wider appeal. His zest for all things relating to exploration too lives long in the mind, not least for those Antarctic expeditions setting sail from the west of Scotland.
Even while in charge of National Savings in Scotland at its then Glasgow HQ, Roger found time to contribute widely to RSGS’s activities, giving talks, writing a series of notes on lesser-known Scottish explorers, including James Bruce of Kinnaird in 1991, and contributing to the Society’s then newsletter, GeogScot, including a description of his trip across the High Atlas in Morocco. He also pursued his researches into the travels of the intrepid female explorer and traveller Isabella Bird (Bishop), working in tandem at times with Professor Kiyonori Kanasaka FRSGS, based in Tokyo, Japan, on what was to both an absorbing lifelong passion. Roger, with his wife June, frequently entertained Kiyonori and members of his family at their home in Newton Mearns, and Roger memorably drove Kiyonori round Mull so he could inspect an area of Scotland closely associated with Isabella. Roger too was RSGS Chairman of Council in 1992 when the difficult decision was taken to move its HQ from 14 Randolph Crescent, Edinburgh, to a suite of rooms in the University of Strathclyde.
On a lighter but memorable note, in May 1992, when still RSGS Chairman of Council, Roger with three RSGS companions undertook an intrepid but successful bicycle expedition over the Corrieyairack Pass, three undertaking this from east to west and one walking it from west to east.
It was most fitting that RSGS’s current Chair of Trustees, Professor John Briggs, himself so long associated with RSGS and with other geographic activities in Glasgow, represented the Society at Roger’s funeral in Clarkston, Glasgow, in March.
Volunteer for your Local Group
We are currently looking for volunteers for our 13 Local Groups (in Aberdeen, Ayr, Borders, Dumfries, Dundee, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Helensburgh, Inverness, Kirkcaldy, Perth and Stirling) to help host our Inspiring People talks programme. We are also on the lookout for some more volunteers at our Fair Maid’s House Visitor Centre in Perth. To learn more about the local events in your area, or to volunteer with your Local Group, please contact us on enquiries@rsgs.org or 01738 455050.
Voices of the Earth
get involved
We are delighted to say that we have secured enough funding to allow our Writer-in-Residence Jo Woolf to create and publish her follow-up to The Great Horizon. We are very grateful to all those members and supporters who contributed directly by making donations to our fundraising appeal, and those who bought our limited-edition Explorer’s Gin (as we are dedicating our profits from that small project towards Jo’s book). Jo has now begun interviewing the first of her contributors, and hopes to have the book ready for summer 2025.
Visits to RSGS
We welcomed several groups of special visitors to the Fair Maid’s House in March, including our Young Geographers Committee who are planning to produce a new Young Geographer magazine, students on an expedition night before heading to Nepal with World Challenge, students from Kinnoull Primary School, staff from Education Scotland, and a brass band!
If you would like to help fund our work with young people, please donate to our Future Generations Fund, at www.rsgs.org/donate/future
AGM outcomes
At the RSGS AGM in March, members unanimously agreed to amend Articles 15, 48.1 and 49, to remove the proscriptive nature of previous wording and to make us fully legal compliant. Members unanimously approved the three nominations for Elected Trustee positions: Professor John Briggs FRSGS, Barry Hextall, and David Howe. The minutes of the meeting are available at www.rsgs.org/governancedocuments or by contacting RSGS HQ. At the subsequent Board meeting, the Trustees elected John Briggs as Chair, Kenneth Muir as Vice-Chair, and Barry Hextall as Treasurer.
Legacy gifts
RSGS has developed a reputation for delivering impact and a reach which is well beyond the scope of most similarly sized charities. For the past 140 years we have been the beating heart of geography education in Scotland, and have inspired generations of people by providing platforms for first-hand experience and cutting-edge science and discovery. Our members have often remained members for most of their lives, with many long-standing supporters having been part of our community for more than 50 years.
It is difficult to overstate how valuable their support is when this lifelong passion leads to legacy donations for our work. These legacies have made the difference in so many ways, providing essential support for our education work, providing offices and giving us the confidence to make the move to Perth back in 2009. In addition, most of our maps, books and artefacts were gifted to us in Wills, and our reach would be so much less without this help.
For us to continue to promote change, to champion the community of geography and to share the inspiration we all feel for the world around us, we hope that more of our members will consider leaving a legacy to RSGS in their Wills. As a small charity, your gift makes even more of a difference. Please contact Mike at RSGS HQ if you would like to discuss this with us.
Perth Museum
A new Perth Museum opened in late March 2024, after a £27 million redevelopment project. As well as housing the iconic Stone of Destiny, the museum tells the story of Scotland through Perth’s history as the nation’s first capital. The museum opened with a special exhibition, Unicorn, exploring the cultural history and significance of Scotland’s national animal. See perthmuseum. co.uk for details. If you are planning a visit to the RSGS visitor centre in the Fair Maid’s House, you can make a full day out of it by visiting the new Perth Museum in the morning.
RSGS policy engagement activities
April began with the launch of the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) report on the cost of climate inaction, in which we were asked for comment, making SFC the focus of our Meet the Experts session in May. Barely a fortnight later, the UKCCC advice about the achievability of Scotland’s climate targets hit the news and created a good deal of media interest. Then, just after the Easter break, the Scottish Government announced its intention to withdraw the 2030 target, which eventually played a part in the resignation of the First Minister.
In amongst all of this, we had a meeting at Buckingham Palace about our work on sustainability and climate, a visit to an excellent Climate Café gathering in Birnam, discussions about sovereign wealth funds, and we hosted a major event with the faith, academic, civil society and scientific communities in Scotland to remind all of our leaders of the need for more action to tackle climate change. We also gave several talks: at the University of St Andrews, for a number of community groups, for the launch of a new historical map of Perth, and at the Scotland IS conference in Glasgow.
Meet the Experts
As part of our ongoing CPD to support people who have completed the Climate Solutions qualification, we run regular Meet the Experts sessions online, which help explore a wide range of topics and give people a chance to ask questions of experts and practitioners at the forefront of developments. We have now run 30 of these monthly sessions. Our most recent meetings have explored the issues of corporate sustainability reporting (with RSGS Board member and Jordisk CEO David Howe) and the potential of deep geothermal energy and heat production, plus sessions to update people on the many changes in climate commitments over the recent months of political uncertainty around targets.
We will pause for the summer, but will start again in September with Ordnance Survey looking at satellite monitoring of emissions and the role of big data. Anyone can join in, so if you are interested please look out for details on our website and social media.
news
Kenneth Maclean FRSGS (1944–2024)
Mike Robinson, RSGS Chief Executive RSGS staff, volunteers and members, and many throughout Scottish education, were so sad to hear of the death of Kenny Maclean.
Kenny has been one of our most regular volunteers, working in our Collections Team each Monday, writing articles for The Geographer magazine and Scottish Geographical Journal, and answering enquiries from students and others. He remained a highly regarded figure within the geography community generally. Quite how highly regarded was brought home to me when I was giving blood one evening. Sitting at a table for the usual postdonation tea and biscuit, I got chatting with a couple from Dumfries. As soon as they heard the word ‘geography’, they launched into a story about this wonderful teacher from Perth who had written many of the leading textbooks still used in the classroom, and had inspired them as teachers, and so many of his own pupils. They didn’t know Kenny well, but their fondness for him was palpable.
their children David and Fiona and ruled over by his wife, Hazel, known to classes as ‘Lady Maclean’. Margaret Wilkes, RSGS Collections Team Members of RSGS Collections Team were shattered to learn of the sudden unexpected death on 10 March of our muchrespected colleague and friend, our ‘geographical guru’, Kenny Maclean. For some 14 years this modest man of total integrity was the backbone of our Team in many aspects of its work, and the news proved difficult to absorb. As a form of catharsis, we produced a tribute to him in the RSGS reception hall’s glass case, choosing his own previously created and geographically analytical texts, images and hand-drawn maps relating to Mellon Udrigle in Wester Ross, from whence came his paternal roots.
I am pleased that we were able to acknowledge that in some form, with the award of our Joy Tivy Education Medal in 2019. Kenny’s enthusiasm for his subject was everpresent, and despite a keen intellect (described by one of his lecturers as the most promising academic he had ever taught), Kenny was always so approachable and generous with his knowledge. His greatest pleasure was encouraging others – always ready to listen to students and colleagues, and gently challenging and nudging them down whatever path of intellectual enquiry they were considering, with his dry wit or subtle questioning. He was a regular figure in the office in Perth and will be sorely missed by staff and volunteers alike.
David Maclean, son; John Rogers, close colleague His teaching of Geography was inspired by his knowledge, enthusiasm, humour and engagement with his classes that brought out the best in his pupils. Many of these pupils went on to do Geography degrees, leading them to careers in a variety of associated fields including many who became Geography teachers.
Kenny’s output of Geography teaching materials was not restricted to his own school, but included, soon after coming to Perth, the production of An Environmental Atlas of Perth and Perthshire’s Changing Landscape, both collaborations of information from local Geography teachers that Kenny edited and produced, and a prolific series of Geography textbooks that he co-authored with Norman Thompson of Moray House over a period of 30 years.
All of these publications featured Kenny’s inimitable style of landscape sketches and land use maps. These same diagrams appeared in the famous dusty yellow chalk in his classroom, and one former department member has confessed to plagiarising these for his own teaching.
The family home in Perth, known to classes as ‘Maclean Towers’, was always alive with laughter and fun shared with
His role on occasions such as RSGS Geography Day or Doors Open Day was, as always, to educate, be it young children, visitors, or dignitaries such as HRH The Princess Royal, all delivered in a warm friendly way. Within our Collections Team he is irreplaceable; and one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet or work with.
Erica Caldwell, former SAGT President
As a fellow Principal Teacher of Geography, I found it hard to express how much I, and colleagues, appreciated the excellent textbooks he wrote (with Norman Thomson) to help us enthuse years of pupils. They all had depth, quality and challenge (often for teachers too).
I wish I had kept copies of them all. I do have the last Higher Geography one. A real tour de force.
It was an absolute privilege to know Kenny and be bathed in the benefits of his tremendous intellect all wrapped inside such a kind and thoughtful man. The geography world will miss him.
Community action
Angus Hardie, Director, Scottish Community Alliance
The instinct for community action – a collective willingness of citizens to cooperate with one another in pursuit of a common purpose – is, I believe, innate to us all. However, the history of community action in Scotland suggests that the extent to which it has been able to flourish is shaped by extraneous factors, largely outwith the control of communities. And so, the impact that community action has had, and the level of public interest in it as a tool for social change, has ebbed and flowed over time.
The earliest recorded example of organised community action occurred in 1761 in the East Ayrshire village of Fenwick, when the Fenwick Weavers’ Society, the world’s first workers’ cooperative, was formed to improve the social and economic conditions of its community. The ethos of cooperation and mutuality has continued to hold appeal ever since but the industrial revolution, and the dominance of free market capitalism, has ensured the cooperative model of enterprise has remained largely on the margins of the mainstream economy.
“Community action has never been more central to the Scottish Government’s ambitions.”
In the 1970s, the remote and sparsely populated areas of the Highlands and Islands proved a fertile ground for a new kind of community cooperative to take root. Where private business struggled to run essential services such as shops and petrol stations, communities were encouraged by the Highlands and Islands Development Board to become organised and take over the running of these vital services themselves. These community cooperatives, some of which still exist today, are considered the forerunners of the modern-day community development trust – a term used to describe a community-led organisation that often owns land or buildings, generates some independent income, and typically holds a position of informal leadership within a community of place.
Development trusts are now commonplace across Scotland, but these organisations only began to gain traction in policy circles from 2003 when a new national intermediary, Development Trusts Association Scotland, was established and started to draw this particular type of community organisation together into a single national network. Simultaneously, other forms of community action, with more specialised areas of interest, were also beginning to form their own national networks of mutual support across which the experience and expertise of their members could be shared. These networks not only supported grassroots community action of many different forms, they also began to play a representative function and acquired a ‘political’ voice that hitherto had not existed.
For a number of reasons, the first decade of the 21st century was highly significant for Scotland’s community sector with new levels of interest being shown in alternative economic models such as asset-locked social enterprises, cooperatives and community owned businesses of various descriptions. There were several key factors in this.
A crisis in public services. Since 1990, levels of spending on public services had been steadily increasing in real terms without any noticeable improvement in outcomes, and in 2011 the Christie Commission concluded that fundamental reform of public services was required. Top-down, centralised delivery had to stop with communities moving front and
centre in the design and delivery of these services. This new level of official interest in communities and what they could achieve led to the Scottish Government’s first ‘strategy’ for the community sector, The Community Empowerment Action Plan 2009, and eventually the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
The internet era. In 1993, there were ten websites on the entire world wide web. Ten years later, any community group anywhere in the world could make themselves digitally visible. For the emerging national networks supporting community action, the impact of the internet on their work was transformational.
Regeneration policy failure. In 2010, after 30 years of investing in regeneration programmes aimed at tackling the most severe areas of multiple deprivation in the country, the Scottish Government concluded that all these previous approaches had failed to shift the dial on any of the key indicators of health, educational attainment or socioeconomic disadvantage. It was a damning indictment and led to the launch of a new national regeneration strategy, Achieving A Sustainable Future, which indicated that future programmes of regeneration should be community-led rather than driven by public sector agencies.
And so, for these reasons, the community sector was no longer peripheral to mainstream policy thinking. Indeed, with more recent policy initiatives such as Community Wealth Building and the Local Governance Review, it could be argued that community action in all its forms has never been more central to the Scottish Government’s ambitions.
While that may be so, it is also true that more than a decade has passed since the Christie Commission signalled a new direction for public services (with the newly enhanced role for communities) and yet next to no substantive progress has been made. Something fundamental and deep within the system is resisting the much called for reforms. And whatever that is, it also explains the growing sense of frustration within the community sector as the gap between policy rhetoric and implementation grows. And in large part, this is about the nature of power and the simple truth that whoever holds it, is rarely prepared to give it away.
Image by Mike Erskine from Unsplash
Worrying about community
Dr Shawn Bodden, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh
Social scientists and philosophers share a longstanding tradition of worrying about community, and geographers are no exception. A frequent complaint is that no one means quite the same thing when they use the word: after all, a community garden, a community of nations, a community council, an online community, and a local community each describe rather different things. For their part, geographers in recent decades have developed strong arguments for an ‘agonistic’ understanding of community, which focuses on the conflictual and exclusionary capacities of a concept usually associated with togetherness. The emphasis on political agonism has developed in response to overly positive images of community promoted by policymakers, a discourse in which a ‘sense of community’ is treated as a sort of cure-all for societal conflict, but one always just beyond our grasp. In the UK, geographers were particularly keen to challenge the Government’s 2001 Cantle Report, written in response to the Oldham Riots, which set out a plan for promoting ‘community cohesion’ to avoid future unrest. In the government’s view, disagreement was the mark of community’s absence. In contrast, geographers’ emphasis on agonism has aimed to assert disagreement and conflict as fundamental to community. This approach has led to rich, pluralistic accounts of communities as spaces where different perspectives and values collide, but it has also led many geographers to view the concept as a whole with suspicion. The new worry is that community is necessarily compromised, emphasising collaboration and conviviality while eliding the exclusions that make it possible.
or critical geographers’ accounts of agonistic confrontation, are ‘really’ community. Maybe it’s a simplification, or maybe they’re describing something else entirely? But we might also take these different interpretations together as a salient lesson about what it means to talk about community in everyday life: if worrying about community, and worrying about getting community right, has become central to the concept, then talking about community might best be viewed as a kind of claims-making on others’ attention, an invitation or provocation to respond to matters of potential public concern.
“Life in the UK will be directly affected by rival understandings of community.”
For geographers, policymakers and other professionals invested in cultivating or critiquing community, this lesson should recommend an alternative approach to that of defining community again and again. Instead of trying to pin community down, they might instead take seriously the understandings of –and questions about – community that people develop when they work to make or change one. Such an ethos can be seen at work in the recent development of a new subdiscipline of community geography and the growing recognition of participatory research methods in geography more broadly. In this sense, dealing with problems, questions and worries about community is an ordinary feature of the work to make and re-make one.
Debates about community may seem like so much splitting of hairs, but given the reprise of the missing ‘sense of community’ in the 2022 Levelling Up white paper, it’s clear that life in the UK will be directly affected by rival understandings of – and worries about – community for some time to come. Nonetheless, it can be enlightening, and perhaps quite humbling, to recognise that worries about ephemeral conviviality and agonistic exclusion were features of even the earliest academic debates about community, such as the 1887 classic Community and Civil Society by German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies. For Tönnies, community described the personal and intimate sides of collective human life not captured within ‘mechanistic’ social and economic relations: in principle, anyone with the money for it can buy a coffee from their nearby café, but only certain people will get a discount because they’re friends with the barista. We might pause to wonder if this example, or for that matter policymakers’ rose-tinted scenes of conviviality
The hope that the concept of community has something to offer is alive and well today. In Scotland, for example, community has become a major feature of alternative ownership models, and community buy-outs have received considerable celebration as civic models. In a similar, if more adversarial vein, community activism in Hungary, where I conducted my doctoral research in 2018, is frequently treated as a last stronghold of democracy in a state whose legal institutions have been dismantled for the personal enrichment of government allies. Geographers are right to be critical of the often overly optimistic assessments of what these community initiatives might offer, especially if they serve as a stopgap for underfunded public services, but there is a need and an opportunity for more constructive forms of critique: geographers are well placed to serve as bridges between community groups and policymakers, and indeed between community activists working in different locales. Participatory community research can support the development of new forms of local democracy and participatory accounting capable of acknowledging that uncertainty, inquiry and even worries about community are part and parcel of the work involved in recreating public life for the better.
Geography is about making an impact in the real world
Jan Marco Müller, Coordinator for Science Diplomacy and Multilateral Relations, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission
When I started studying geography at the University of Marburg in Germany 34 years ago, there were voices trying to discourage me. Some said that as a geographer I am never ever going to find a job, while others felt that the subject is usually studied by people who do not know what else to study. However, it was clear for me from the beginning that there is no better subject to study if you want to get trained as an interdisciplinary thinker, as somebody who sees global issues in a holistic way – and who has the skills to make an impact in the real world.
After having worked for almost 25 years in science management, science advice and science diplomacy, I have to say that I could not have made a better choice than studying geography, which prepares you perfectly for a job at the interface of science, policy and diplomacy. This is because geographers have the unique ability to engage with all scientific disciplines – whether in the natural sciences, social sciences or humanities – and rally them around solving complex real-world problems, such as climate change, water scarcity, or biodiversity loss – issues that are crucial for our future.
Arguably, it is rare to find job offers saying ‘We are looking for a geographer’. That is because many out there have the misperception that geography is primarily about being able to pinpoint countries on a map (after all, we are a -graphy, not a -logy, right?). In reality, geographers are so versatile that you can find them in the most diverse positions. Their real strength lies in their ability to connect the dots, which makes them a perfect fit for jobs that require transversal, interdisciplinary skills. This is also the reason why you can find them quite often in research management positions, which is a career I had chosen after my PhD, working in the management of environmental research centres in Germany, Italy, and the UK. Afterwards I got more and more involved in science advice to policy, working for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (the Commission’s in-house science and knowledge service) and then for the first Chief Scientific Advisor of the Commission, Dame Anne Glover. This is where I discovered another skill of geographers: the ability to communicate science to a broader public. In fact, as geographers we have worked with infographics long before they became fashionable in public communications: we simply call them maps. We may see them only as a tool to do our work, but maps are a fantastic way of visualising scientific evidence. They have literally shaped world views (not always to the better I admit, as due to the popular Mercator projection people believe that Russia is twice as large as Africa while the opposite is the case). Add to this that geographers do not deal with abstract issues: we deal with real problems of real people. And these issues are the ones policymakers have to solve and for which they need our help because our research is spatially explicit, as geographers would say.
Looking at it, geography is more closely related to diplomacy than other disciplines, since both deal with the same object: planet Earth with its natural and cultural spaces and the associated processes and conflicts. Geography and geopolitics start with the same prefix, after all.
Knowing that the capital of Burkina Faso is called Ouagadougou is certainly an asset when you work in a diplomatic service. But the decisive factor for my recruitment was that one of the central tasks in this job was to provide strategic analyses of science-related topics with regard to their spatial and geopolitical dimension, often combined with the creation of thematic maps. Geography can provide, analyse and visualise data on a wide range of diplomatically highly relevant topics, from natural resources to territorial disputes. Defusing cross-border conflicts is one of the core tasks of diplomacy – and these in turn are one of the core competencies of geography. This problem-solving capacity makes us very attractive for policymakers and diplomats alike.
“I could not have made a better choice than studying geography.”
Last but not least, let’s not forget one more key asset geographers can offer: we do field work with local partners around the world, including in countries where diplomats cannot go, or can only go with difficulty, be it Iran, North Korea or Myanmar. This does not only mean that we are sought-after experts for specific countries or regions, but that geography itself can be considered a ‘soft power’ that contributes to overcoming barriers between nations and making the world a better place. There is nothing more satisfying which you can achieve as a scientist.
Consequently, it is perhaps no coincidence that a geographer like me had been chosen to serve as the first Science and Technology Advisor of the European External Action Service and to coordinate the development of a European framework for science diplomacy, a task I am currently working on.
Image by Arpit Rastogi from Unsplash
Community of Geography
Mike Robinson, RSGS
Chief Executive
Whilst local communities are important, and all of us can identify with one or more to differing degrees, they are not necessarily the only way people identify themselves. Increasingly, people are more likely to relate to their communities of interest. A community of wild swimmers, or online gamers, or cyclists or climbers or people who shop in Aldi or whatever.
We are multi-faceted creatures, so it is unsurprising that we can be members of several communities at once, but often we derive a sense of ourselves from the interests we share, the hobbies we pursue, the institutions we have attended, the choices we make, or the jobs that we do. Charity membership is a common form of a community of interest –in RSGS’s case, a community of geography. Our members comprise people who are interested in geography, in the world around them, in education, in travel, in maps and books, in sustainability, etc.
I think what we actually sense as our primary community is where we feel we belong: our tribe; our sense of place and pride; of participation or ownership; our passion; our sense of self and identity; our sense of purpose.
becoming a historical society? Our job is, after all, to remain relevant and remind people of the importance of geography in the everyday.
This has been brought into sharper focus with the loss of several longstanding members recently. We do not wish to record only the outrageous and extreme. We also want to pay respect to the many and varied experiences and knowledge of our members, Fellows, academics, teachers, travellers, writers, speakers, volunteers.
“How do we do more to capture the sense of community that wraps around our subject?”
So how can we build on our role at the heart of Scotland’s geographical community?
I would like to think that, over the last 15 years, we have championed the relevance of geography to everyday lives, even just by referring to the topics of the 64 magazines that we’ve produced since 2009. Geography is a science with an understanding of the realism of living daily life, and almost every major issue of our day has a strong geographical component and can be solved better through geography. I firmly believe it has a huge role in helping guide the future. But how do we do more to capture the sense of community that wraps around our subject?
I often joke that, because the weather is the most common topic of conversation in this country, and weather is a geographical issue, everybody is therefore automatically a geographer. With a history spanning the last 140 years, and as a repository of some of the best stories of that period we have clearly had a role at both the inception and the heart of Scottish geography, and it is hard not to get sentimental sometimes. But there is also an ever-present weight of responsibility in running an organisation like RSGS with such heritage. How do we continue that legacy without slipping into
I was reminded recently of a talk in Perth in which the speaker paused during his talk, suddenly feeling the need to better understand the RSGS audience. He asked how many of them had been on a camel. Nearly two-thirds of the audience raised their hand. He was visibly shocked. Or the time when I hosted a Yanomami tribal elder and one of the audience asked if they could speak to our guest in Yanomami. Our members and supporters are a welltravelled lot. Well-informed too, and quite intimidating for some speakers. As a collective group you have studied or taught most things, travelled to most places, worked most jobs and at many levels, read a lot of books, discovered a huge amount about the places where you live, learned to speak many languages, and achieved some outstanding things in your own right – climbing high mountains, kayaking big rivers, walking across deserts, sailing the oceans, writing books, filmmaking, or just understanding locales, taking pictures and holidays in remote parts of the world. People with a passion and curiosity about the world around them at every micro and macro level.
In just the last few weeks we have seen the deaths of a number of our dedicated members, and it has really brought home to me that we are losing these stories. It reinforced our sense of responsibility to our community, for RSGS to be that repository of your stories too. We are determined to work harder to collect your memories and adventures and achievements. We want our archive to be yours too. A place of permanent record of the true impact of geography on the Society, on the subject, and on the wider world.
I would therefore like to challenge you, each and every one of our readers, to write to us and share your stories with us, however short or specific, so we can build this legacy, and expand our archive to truly reflect our community of geography.
Help us build our Community of Geography
How has your interest in geography played a role in your life? What story best encapsulates your own love of geography and the world? Whom have you met who inspired you, and why? Whom have you inspired most? What is the most memorable place you have visited, and why?
If any of these questions spark a response in you, please share your thoughts with us at enquiries@rsgs.org
Circular communities in Scotland
Laura Alcock-Ferguson, Chief Executive, Circular Communities Scotland
Community is belonging. It’s the opposite of loneliness, of isolation. As the former director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, and now the CEO of a membership organisation, I understand the power community has. It has the capacity to transform individual lives, and spearhead meaningful social change.
In a way, a membership body is its own kind of community. Our members belong to the same cause. They themselves are community organisations, tackling overconsumption and waste, ultimately contributing to what is known in policy circles as the ‘circular economy’.
Put simply, the circular economy works to keep materials in circulation for as long as possible. It avoids landfill, and instead works to reuse, repair and, ultimately, recycle, so that items can be born again.
As charities and social enterprises, our members do this through reuse bike shops, repair cafés, sharing libraries, community gardens, charity shops, pre-loved furniture sale, starter pack provision, and more. If you live in Scotland, one of our members won’t be far from your doorstep.
Our members understand that what’s good for the environment is good for their communities, too. It sounds profound, and in a society built on wasteful practices, it is. And this simple understanding is at the heart of their work.
wasteful consumption and poor-quality items found in our high streets, and for that they need circularity embedded into legislation, affordable premises, multi-year funding, and local authorities to be their champions (and customers).
“Our members understand that what’s good for the environment is good for their communities, too.”
Circular Communities Scotland provides an array of funding information, marketing support and news sharing, policy insights and influence. Most of all, we offer a community where our members can thrive together. In return, our members allow us to share the incredible work they do, addressing social causes like homelessness, child poverty, women’s rights, and mental health stigma, all while supporting the environment.
A refurbished bike sold to a family who can’t afford to buy one new provides freedom, exercise, independence, mental wellbeing, and fun. Community gardens reduce food waste, offer a way to connect with nature in our cities, and provide access to outdoor education. Reusing furniture keeps sofas, beds and desks out of landfill. Instead, they can be resold for under market value, or furnish local authority properties for families with limited access to housing, through initiatives like our Reuse Consortium. Learning to repair your own clothes, through workshops at textile reuse charities, saves garments from landfill, improves confidence, and inspires creativity.
Waste will not disappear on its own. We must reduce it, or else it will end up further encroaching on our wildlife, our soil, and our seas. Circularity offers the potential to be a graceful part of the solution. Our community-based member organisations are pioneers, demonstrating how circularity can be a viable, fashionable, and enjoyable part of the way we consume.
Circular Communities Scotland is where Scottish organisations offering this to their communities belong. We are proud to support and represent our members, and to provide a collective voice for their calls to action. Our members want to be a meaningful alternative to fast fashion,
As 21st-century humans we are technically more connected than ever, but community can feel hard to find. In my role, I’ve been reminded of the importance of connection, and inspired by the individual impact our members have within their communities.
It’s organisations like our members that offer a physical place for local people to connect with one another, volunteer, build new hobbies, create lasting relationships, upskill, and even train and complete apprenticeships to get back into employment. With ongoing pressures on household budgets due to the cost-of-living crisis, our members offer affordable, often free, goods, services, and advice. They also host events, which provide socialisation and upskilling, and offer us a chance to contribute, in our own small way, to save our planet’s resources.
They also provide a sense of belonging to a greater cause. An old chair kept in use, upcycled, and sold on might seem a small feat against a tide of mass production. However, we know that in 2022–23 our members saved over 27,000 tonnes from landfill.
Yet it is the collective social power of circular community organisations in Scotland which should not be overlooked. It is possible to measure tonnages kept from landfill but challenging to discern their wider social and environmental impact. For me, their work begins and ends with community.
I invite everyone reading this to visit their local circular charity or social enterprise. Just search our members map at www.circularcommunities.scot to find your nearest. There, you can support the environment, tackle waste, contribute to meaningful social causes, save money, connect with your local community, and belong.
Scotland Beyond Net Zero
Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Glasgow
It’s been several months since world leaders met in Dubai for the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP) and agreed to bring an end to the fossil fuel era and set a paradigm for a just and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emissions cuts and increased climate finance.
Yet here in Glasgow we’re already ahead of the curve.
On the energy transition, Glasgow has the potential to pave the way. Glasgow thrived from industrialisation, but it was one of the first cities in the world to declare a climate emergency. So too did the University of Glasgow, setting ambitious net zero targets and committing to reducing our carbon footprint by over 50%. As an institution we introduced a carbon management plan to address emissions across the board, from embedded carbon within our estate to business travel and supply chains. We planted 20,000 trees across 11 hectares at our Cochno Farm and Research Centre, and at the end of 2024 we completed our divestment from fossil fuels, fulfilling a commitment we made back in 2014 to divest over the coming decade. Our university has also launched a new Centre for Sustainable Energy to catalyse the research needed to support clean and green energy solutions, investing in our strengths in new technologies such as quantum and semiconductors, 5G/6G sensing technology and green hydrogen.
As a large organisation with £1bn turnover and one of the region’s biggest employers, our commitment to net zero matters to the economy. We are a signatory to the Sustainable Glasgow Green Economy Hub Charter, and we recently partnered with the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce to deliver the inaugural Congress of Business, with an aim to use the Glasgow Climate Pacts to drive climate action through peer-to-peer learning within businesses and across cities.
This is because tackling this emergency will require the most radical economic transformation we’ve seen in peacetime. Delivering net zero requires significant and long-term investment. Recent studies suggest investment needs are estimated to rise to an additional £50bn per annum by 2030, most of which will come from the private sector. But it’s essential we capitalise on those technologies which will drive the productivity and growth Scotland needs.
Of course, education and investment in the green skills agenda will also be central to realising net zero targets, ensuring learners are exposed to carbon literacy and climate change for their future careers. Perhaps most importantly of all, our universities have significant convening power. A just transition requires that we don’t leave marginalised communities behind. At home this has seen our institution selected as the new European hub of XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing incentive competitions, which will place Glasgow at the centre of attention for investors across the world, accelerating the entrepreneurship needed to tackle the climate emergency.
However, Glasgow is only a very small piece in the larger jigsaw we must complete, in order for Scotland to achieve and go beyond its net zero targets. We know we cannot act alone, and we treat the climate emergency as a transgenerational and global crisis. A crisis of this magnitude, like the Covid-19 pandemic, requires partnership and collaboration. That is why the University of Glasgow has joined forces with the University of Edinburgh to launch a landmark new initiative: Scotland Beyond Net Zero (SBNZ, scotland-beyond-net-zero. ac.uk). We have invited universities across Scotland to join with us to create a coalition which brings together our collective research strengths, encouraging the action needed to reach net zero and empower government, policymakers, organisations and industry to make informed changes. Many of them have already agreed to join.
The new venture will combine world-changing research, innovation and expertise in climate science and sustainability to address key challenges linked with the climate emergency, including clean energy, storage, decarbonisation, green transport, community empowerment and climate justice. By supporting and connecting existing networks and initiatives, and stimulating new activities and endeavours, SBNZ aims to become a leading global example of partnerships to effect positive action on climate change.
But all of this must happen at pace.
During an event at the university, our Honorary Professor and Chief Executive of the UK Climate Change Committee, Chris Stark, stipulated that while we’ve broadly halved emissions within the UK since 1990 levels, we won’t reach 2030 targets we’ve set unless we make a concerted effort to change the policies currently guiding us.
“The new venture will combine worldchanging research, innovation and expertise in climate science and sustainability.”
And moving faster means collaboration. Scotland Beyond Net Zero will see us begin to take the right steps as a sector to work collectively together, but it’s imperative we sustain this momentum in the months and years ahead. The climate emergency demands that all of us – academia, business, government and third sector organisations – step up our efforts to work more closely together. We have immense potential to innovate to solve the stubborn challenges associated with achieving a fair and just transition to net zero, and in launching this coalition we hope to encourage partners across the nation to join us and shape our transition to 2045 and beyond.
Image by Nicholas Doherty from Unsplash
Faith, science and NGOs
Mike Robinson, RSGS Chief Executive
In May 2024, RSGS hosted an extraordinary coming-together of the faith community in Scotland, alongside the scientific, academic and civil communities, to remind people that there is no moral or scientific wiggle room on climate action, and to try to lift the issue above that of a political football. Chaired by two young geographers, Ellie Kirkland and Dylan Hamilton, this event presented a unified front across a swathe of society who wanted to see renewed focus and priority. It followed closely on the heels of a government announcement to renege on 2030 climate targets, and was a timely reminder to leaders in government and across industry that climate change is not optional. Whoever is in charge, whatever our political or religious beliefs, there is no moral or scientific dispute over the need to take action. This call from the scientific, academic and NGO communities in Scotland, standing together with the whole of the faith community, was described as a cry from the head, heart and soul of our society to step up and act.
Professor Stuart Haszeldine from the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute at the University of Edinburgh spoke of the scientific imperative:
“Climate change is already happening, and whatever other short-term crises come along, it still needs to be tackled.”
The message was clear: climate change is already happening, and whatever other short-term crises come along, it still needs to be tackled. And everything tells us that the sooner we act the better, and the longer we wait the more it will cost in both human and economic terms. And yet we have missed eight of the last ten annual targets in Scotland, and now face losing some targets altogether. Climate change doesn’t stop just because we don’t want to deal with it. This is not the time to step back from our commitments, as the costs of inaction are also significant, and will increase the more we allow climate change to gather pace.
The moral imperative is obvious too. The impacts are increasingly extreme and are affecting people’s lives here at home, and even more adversely in often very poor countries around the world, who have done little to cause climate change.
“The science of climate change forced by fossil fuel use has been known since the mid 1800s, linked to climate since the 1930s, measured since the 1950s, and computer-modelled since the 1970s. All these say the same thing: climate is in trouble and humans are the cause. Climate heating effects can be seen everywhere – no models are needed – in oceans, atmosphere, glaciers, rainfall, heatwaves and fires. We know climate changes are happening as predicted, but faster than predicted. We know that humans can’t change the weather, but humans have changed climate. Hundreds of global conferences have been held, and thousands of scientific articles written. The science is clear, but governments are doing too little.”
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Sally Foster-Fulton, gave a joint statement on behalf of leaders representing more than a dozen faith groups:
“We believe that addressing the climate crisis is a moral necessity, and Scotland must do all it can to play its part. We are alarmed by the conclusion of the Climate Change Committee, which recently described Scotland’s 2030 targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions as ‘no longer credible’. This must be a wake-up call to us all. If we collectively fail to act there will be grave implications for the planet – our common home – and for our sisters and brothers across the world who have contributed the least to this crisis and who are already bearing its worst effects. We are calling for unity from all political parties, from business leaders, communities and everyone in society to recognise the risks of inaction. We must regather and redouble our efforts and seek ways to work together to deliver the action we all know we need to see.”
Throughout 2019, the year of the school climate strikes, every party in the Scottish Parliament was unanimous in setting its 2045 targets, and in calling for at least a 75% reduction by 2030. There was a positive mood amongst the public and politicians, a recognition of our collective responsibility to do better, and a determination to deliver against commitments. Governments declared climate emergencies. Businesses set net zero targets. People demanded better. But over the past five years, this energy and focus has slipped.
I read the statement from civil society, on behalf of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland:
“People in Scotland care deeply about the need for change and climate justice, and we believe that all those with the power to act must now prioritise action to tackle and respond to climate change, both here and internationally. Doing so isn’t optional, and the sooner we act the better and more affordable it will be; the longer we wait, or delay, the more it will cost in both human and economic terms.”
I went on to explain that on flooding alone, one in five UK households is considered ‘at risk’. We are, in effect, taking extreme risks with people’s lives and livelihoods, and we need to lower the odds. Action on climate, which means action on nature, on housing, on transport, on energy, on heat, on farming, on justice, on poverty, on education and skills development, on
finance… We have reverted to ‘business as usual’, despite knowing that this will adversely affect every single one of us. Despite knowing that the costs of inaction are prohibitive. And despite knowing that current and future generations rely on us taking responsible action. And yet by stepping up and taking action, we can not only limit the damage from climate impacts like flooding, storms, heatwaves and droughts, but we can deliver better housing, better social justice, a better environment, cleaner air, and more sustainable jobs.
The message from the youth Chairs was clear: that they see now as a time to regain that focus. To reinforce the public demand for action, and through that, to regain hope.
“We need every political party, every business, every public body, every one of us to take this issue seriously. To play a role. And we all have a role to play, whether that is in funding climate action, delivering net zero commitments, learning more about climate change, embracing and enacting local solutions, or demanding better from our political and business leaders.
“Climate change will affect every one of us, now and in the future. In working to solve climate change, we have a chance to bring people from all walks of life, from all faiths, and from all sectors, to work together towards a shared and positive aim, and to heal some of the fractures in our society, and build solutions that work for everyone, in a way that almost no other issue can. But it will need all of us to recapture the determination we had only five years ago. We have an opportunity to get back on track, but we all need to do more. This is the moment to reset, reenergise and redouble our efforts.”
RSGS plans to create a short film, thanks to support from Bluestone Energy, to capture a wide range of respected voices speaking about the need for action in an attempt to help recapture the public determination so evident in 2019.
“The costs of inaction will increase the more we allow climate change to gather pace.”
Left to right, back row to front: Dr Leslie Mabon, Open University; Adrian Shaw, EcoCongregation Scotland; Andy MacPherson, Bluestone Energy; Prof Mark Sutton, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology; Dr Jen Roberts, University of Strathclyde; Becky Kenton-Lake, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland; Prof Stuart Haszeldine, Edinburgh Climate Change Institute; Aekus Kamboj, CEMVO Scotland; Prof Jo Sharp, Geographer Royal for Scotland; Prof Pete Nienow, University of Edinburgh; Ellie Kirkland; Prof Sarah Skerratt, Royal Society of Edinburgh; Mike Robinson, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, and RSGS; Prof Dame Anne Glover, RSGS; Lang Banks, WWF Scotland; Dylan Hamilton; Dr Maureen Sier, Interfaith Scotland; Susan Mitchell, Quakers; Rt Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, Church of Scotland; Dr Srihari Vallabhajosula, University of Glasgow; Dr Valerie Cameron, Scottish Episcopal Church; Laura Young; Lucy le Roux, Christian Aid.
Transport history repeats itself
David Kelly, Director for Scotland, Community Transport Association
If you’re a transport geek, the word is an insult or even a slur. If you’re a climate activist, it’s perhaps something more like a curse.
One innocuous surname has acquired an immense power in the popular imagination in the decades since, on the face of it at least, the man who made it infamous ceased to be relevant.
It has become a byword for a multitude of policymaking sins – austerity, myopia, false prophecies. And a repository of memories, counterfactuals and alternative histories – the past, futures and opportunities we lost. Beeching.
As Chairman of British Railways between 1961 and 1965, Dr Richard Beeching’s reports recommended and led to a mass programme of station and route closures. Railways were ripped up and torn out all over the country to make way and find money for the future – the car. In Scotland, 850 miles of passenger railway closed between 1964 and 1972. Buses were promised to connect places which lost their rail links, but they either didn’t materialise or didn’t last long. The communities left behind became ‘transport deserts’ based on car dependency and forced car ownership.
Many of them never quite recovered. Places which lost a local or nearby train station in this era suffered for decades from lower population and economic growth than those which avoided ‘the Beeching axe’. Communities are still picking up the pieces.
pulls out, putting more pressure on the dedicated band of volunteers at the Killin and District Volunteer Car Scheme. It provides door-to-door transport for older and disabled people living across a large, remote area.
“Since 2019, Scotland has lost 25 million miles of bus routes.”
In 1970, Glenfarg in Kinross-shire lost its railway line and station. In 2020, the daytime bus service to Kinross was withdrawn, and in 2023 its replacement disappeared when the local provider retired. Glenfarg Community Transport Group responded, creating a frequent, scheduled bus service to Kinross and now also Perth, which has ‘transformed village life’. Passenger numbers have outstripped historic levels, with demand more than doubling since its launch, proving how communitypowered buses can revitalise people, places and public transport.
The Community Transport Association (CTA) works with local charities and community groups to ensure everyone, everywhere has access to local transport which meets their needs. Our 180 members deliver community-led, non-profit transport solutions for urban, rural and island communities in 31 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.
From community-owned buses and car clubs to cycling classes and walking festivals, the amazing work they do is as diverse as the places they serve. Community transport plays an essential role in plugging gaps in our transport network, including healing the scars left by Beeching.
But our sector, and these same communities, now find themselves in the eye of a new storm thanks to a new era of transport cuts.
In 1965, Killin on Loch Tay lost its railway line and station. Nowadays, it survives on a threadbare bus service, which requires long journey times and three transfers to reach key amenities and public services, like the nearest hospital.
Now even that is under threat, as the commercial operator
In 1968, the Stirlingshire village of Doune lost its railway line and station when the Dunblane to Callander section of the original route to Oban was closed. Then in 2017, following a similar pattern to Glenfarg and Killin, Doune lost its last regular bus service. We’re now working with Kilmadock Development Trust and partners to try to develop a community-owned bus connection to Dunblane.
These are just three examples from three communities. But they were once all part of the same national story with rail, and now they are all part of the same national trend with buses. It is an unfolding tragedy of Beeching-like proportions.
Since 2019, Scotland has lost 25 million miles of bus routes. Forprofit operators have withdrawn ‘commercially unviable’ services and councils have reduced funding for supported services. As a result, bus passenger numbers have fallen by a third.
Alongside policies like franchising, as being progressed by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and considered elsewhere, community transport can reverse this decline and help tackle climate change and transport poverty.
There are now 20 local groups across Scotland delivering timetabled bus services from Glasgow to Glenfarg to Orkney and taking local transport back into local hands. These communities, and many more like them, need and deserve more support, from start-up capital for vehicles to ongoing funding for drivers, maintenance and training.
With more buses on the chopping block, the need for community-owned buses is only growing. Investment in community transport must be part of the urgent action taken by central, national and local government to address the inter-generational impact of Beeching, reverse local bus cuts and get us back on track to net zero by 2045.
Glenfarg Community Transport Group.
Killin & District Volunteer Car Scheme.
Tornagrain: a new community
Andrew Howard, Managing Director, Moray Estates
The new town of Tornagrain, just outside Inverness, is one of the first new towns in a generation in Scotland. The town, which is in its early stages, has 320 homes with some 600–700 residents. When complete, in several decades, it will have 5,000 homes and approximately 12,000 residents. The project, which is being led by the landowner, Moray Estates, is a response to the rapid growth of Inverness in the last 40 years and the desire of The Highland Council to see a more planned pattern of growth than the urban sprawl that tends to predominate almost everywhere. In the early 2000s the Moray Estates team, led by the Earl of Moray, spent considerable time studying precedent new community projects in the UK, Europe and the US to try and understand what the preconditions for success would be. New-build projects such as Poundbury in Dorset were important sources of ideas and information, but it was local communities such as Forres, Nairn, Findhorn and Cromarty which provided much inspiration.
The masterplan for the town was developed in a major community design process called a charrette in 2006, facilitated by a leader of the traditional urbanism movement, Andres Duany. The outcome of this process, which had been attended by 600 members of the local community, was a masterplan for a new ‘market town’. Compact, diverse, mixed use and with a focus on an urban structure which favoured pedestrians and street character over the car. The creation of a community was understood from the start to be more complex than simply building something and waiting to see what happened. Three key themes were considered to influence the creation of a community which would evolve quickly and prove resilient over time.
Firstly, the structure of the town is important. A compact masterplan focused on neighbourhoods which contain residents’ daily needs such as primary schools, shops, cafés etc, allied to a street network designed to favour walking and cycling, were likely to encourage the use of those services and facilitate social bonds which can be damaged by the isolation of car-based travel.
The town is based around five-minute walk zones with daily needs services within that distance – 450m. The town centre, when built, will be just ten
minutes’ walk for almost all residents. Such a compact and walkable environment makes the car a less attractive option and increases the use of, and economic viability of, local services. Despite being a small community there is already a food store, pharmacy, café, play area, community room and nursery, which will be joined by a primary school, doctors’ surgery, dentists and more retail in the next three years.
Secondly, from the start of development in 2016, amenities have been delivered which are hoped will encourage social interaction and community bonds. There are tennis courts, 60 allotments, a community orchard and a community garden. These are all heavily used, and in the community garden residents have come together to deliver a project themselves. Residents have formed a Community Association to coordinate these and other activities such as community events.
“The creation of a community was understood from the start to be more complex than simply building something.”
Finally, all owners at Tornagrain are members of the Tornagrain Owners Association (TOA). The Estate transfers all amenity land to the TOA once completed, so the community will own all the greenspace and other facilities in the town. In addition, the community plays a role, which becomes a controlling role later in the project, in the control of their community via a Deed of Conditions. This document sets out the terms under which community-held assets are managed and what changes can be made to properties over time. It acts a little like a conservation area. This provides a wider benefit to the community in protecting it from change not consistent with the original vision, but ultimately will put residents in control of that process.
Only time will tell whether the measures put in place to encourage the development of a community will work, but early signs are very positive.
Big Noise: orchestrating social change through music
Ryan Harley, PR & Public Affairs Assistant, Sistema Scotland
Big Noise, a pioneering music education and social change programme delivered by the charity Sistema Scotland, uses music as the catalyst to enable children and young people to realise their potential and positively impact their communities. Founded in 2008, Big Noise is deeply rooted in the belief that music, combined with nurturing relationships and long-term commitment, can foster confidence, resilience, aspiration, and pride within individuals, empowering them to lead fulfilled lives and contribute meaningfully to their communities.
Sistema Scotland’s first Big Noise programme took root in the community of Raploch in Stirling with the launch of Big Noise Raploch. Big Noise programmes offer immersive music education based on the symphony orchestra to children and young people in some of Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities, facilitating invaluable personal and social development. The programme also aims to strengthen the communities where it is based; developing relationships with participants and their families based on mutual respect, trust and a commitment to work together and tackle inequalities for the long term.
choirs and traditional music bands across different Big Noise centres brings communities together and amplifies community spirit for members of all ages.
Tracey Sanderson, a member of Big Noise Douglas‘s community choir, said, “The choir has become a very important part of my life and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I have met people from all walks of life, people I never thought I would meet. I look forward to our rehearsals every week and being part of the choir makes me very happy.”
“A commitment to community development goes above and beyond providing music education.”
Determined to further Sistema Scotland’s dedication to its Big Noise communities, the charity welcomed Paul Sullivan as the new Director for Children, Young People, and Communities last year. This newly created role signifies the organisation’s focus and dedication towards social change and delivering positive outcomes for local communities. Paul’s work ensures that all Big Noise children, young people and community members have a champion who makes sure the programme is designed to meet their needs, support their rights, amplify their voices, and represent their views both within and outwith the organisation.
Today, around 3,500 children and young people across Scotland benefit from Big Noise’s long-term immersive work – which now spans six programmes in the communities of Raploch and Fallin in Stirling, Govanhill in Glasgow, Torry in Aberdeen, Douglas in Dundee, and Wester Hailes in Edinburgh.
At the heart of Sistema Scotland’s work is the dedication to long-term, targeted support in communities facing complex challenges and barriers to creativity. A commitment to community development goes above and beyond providing music education to children and young people; also looking to nurture the social and emotional wellbeing of the individuals it serves, fulfilling the wider aim of social transformation of the communities it serves.
In addition to music education, Sistema Scotland recognises that support must extend to other critical areas, so has expanded the scope of its provision to help cater to the needs of the wider community. For example, each Big Noise programme provides additional resources such as free holiday clubs, ensuring that children can continue their musical education during school breaks, while offering children and young people a safe and social space to spend the holidays, enabling parents to work or study. During these holiday clubs, all Big Noise participants are provided a healthy meal and snacks to alleviate some of the cost to families during the school holidays. Big Noise also provides a healthy snack to all of its after-school club participants across Scotland.
Sistema Scotland’s commitment to its communities is evident in its outreach to community members not of school age.
The charity runs Little Noise, which provides music sessions to babies, pre-school children, and their parents and carers, offering the chance for community integration, socialisation, and early childhood musical engagement. Adults in Big Noise communities aren’t left behind either, with adult orchestras like Big Noise Govanhill’s Del Mondo orchestra and Big Noise Torry’s The Noise orchestra providing opportunities for lifelong learning, tackling social isolation, creating fun, social places to engage in music making with other community members. Similarly, the establishment of community
Paul said, “For over 15 years, Sistema Scotland has strived to unlock the potential of children and young people through the universal language of music. We passionately believe that music helps to foster pride within the communities we serve, and helps our participants and community members develop a confidence and resilience that transcends the orchestra and manifests in their everyday lives. As we move forward, we remain steadfast in our ambition to bring about positive social change and help create communities that are positive, proud, and prosperous.”
Big Noise offers far more than just a music education. It serves as an instrument of social change that continues to resonate throughout the communities it works within.
Big Noise Douglas: community choir.
Big Noise Torry: The Noise orchestra.
Creativity: the beating heart of any community
Kelly Donaldson, Editor, Creative Lives
It’s no coincidence that when the pandemic hit and life as we knew it ground to a halt, creativity stepped up to the plate. Not just via the countless online opportunities that burst forth, but in the way creative groups rallied to provide friendship and connection in their communities. This unsurprising response cemented what we at Creative Lives (www.creative-lives.org) already knew – that creative expression is a fundamental part of who we are, and that creativity brings people together.
As a charity that advocates across the UK and Ireland for everyone to have access to affordable, accessible creative activity, Creative Lives is passionate about the wellbeing benefits it can bring. Countless studies show that taking part in a creative activity, particularly with others, can improve people’s physical and mental health. It’s also proven to reduce loneliness and stress, and increase skills; while on a wider scale, it can inspire civic engagement and fuel community cohesion. Which is why Creative Lives works nationally and locally to improve the infrastructure in which creative activity can happen.
grants to creative groups around the country. Although modest in size, these pockets of money can have a profound effect on recipients, boosting morale, encouraging ambition and giving them the recognition they deserve.
“Local creative groups are the lifeblood of Scotland’s cultural scene.”
We know that creativity is happening in villages, towns and cities across Scotland on a regular basis. Much of it is carried out by volunteer-run groups who use their own funds to cover room hire, materials, performance space, instruments and much more. But the cost-of-living crisis is squeezing the air out of many groups, forcing them to change spaces, reduce numbers and, in some cases, close entirely. Those who keep going are often dogged by transport issues (the ability to travel safely to your chosen activity can be a deal-breaker for some) and increased utility bills.
We hear about these struggles (and the strong desire to overcome them) through our surveys, research and anecdotal evidence, which we share with local and national governments. For example, we recently addressed the CrossParty Group on Culture and Communities at the Scottish Parliament. More than a decade of cuts has left culture budgets pitched against statutory services, meaning culture is often seen as nice-to-have rather than an essential part of a healthy, happy community.
It’s not an overstatement to say local creative groups are the lifeblood of Scotland’s cultural scene. In rural areas, amateur performances and exhibitions in the local church hall can be the only cultural connection people have in a year. In bigger cities, with a plethora of professional arts to discover, local groups remain vitally important and often make up a considerable chunk of the audiences that consume incoming culture. And let’s not forget, those professionals all started as amateurs – the next generation of actors, musicians and visual artists is currently cutting its teeth at a creative group near you.
At Creative Lives, we support this crucial, grassroots creativity in a variety of ways. Across the UK, our hyperlocal place-based activity sees us working in tandem with local authorities to map existing creativity in an area, then help improve it via training for group leaders, small grants, and networking. In Scotland, with help from the Scottish Community Alliance, we have distributed almost 100 micro-
Our annual Creative Lives Awards have a similar impact on winners, offering creative heroes a moment in the spotlight, boosting their profile locally and encouraging funders to take them more seriously. Held online, our ‘Creative Network’ and ‘Creative Learning’ sessions bring people together to learn from experts in the field, and each other, while our information toolkits and research publications are utilised by grassroots groups, policy-makers and others. We also host a ‘Creativity Map’ on our website, which helps people find a creative group near them, and the groups themselves to grow. There is no question that the coming years will prove challenging for the voluntary creative sector, but amidst this lies an opportunity. Community groups can and do play a pivotal role in the betterment of people’s lives. With the right support, they can be a valuable part of the solution, whether through social prescribing or simply offering a hand of friendship. In particular, those newly arrived in the country or who find themselves in a vulnerable situation can benefit hugely from the warm oases these groups provide.
The more empowered and respected groups feel, the greater the impact they can have on Scotland’s cultural life – and Creative Lives is ready to work tirelessly on their behalf to help make that happen.
Creative Hands art group, Ullapool.
Writers Ink writing group, Glasgow.
A tower of giraffes
Gareth Ruddock, CEO, Giraffe and Checkin Works
The collective noun for group of giraffes is a ‘tower’, but is a tower of giraffes a community?
Known locally as Giraffe, due to our social enterprise café in Perth, Scotland, we were created in 2009 to support autistic people to be able to experience inclusion and fulfil their place in their ‘community’. This simple aspiration has taken us down many avenues, and some cul de sacs!
Including our café (and amongst many other things) we:
• own and operate a large production kitchen;
• run a successful outside catering business;
• offer a programme of socialisation, inclusion, learning and personal development activities for our trainee community; annually prevent hundreds of tonnes of surplus food from going to landfill; are about to launch a range of fine dining ready meals which celebrate the amazing community of local suppliers and producers in Perth and Kinross. We do all these things for our trainees, of our communities. Our trainees receive support in all aspects of their lives; very much dictated by their aspirations, goals and potential. It’s a journey we support them through and we’ll only stop accompanying them on that journey when they don’t need us
For one trainee, an outcome could be making eye contact and speaking to a stranger; for another it could be feeling confident enough to return to university or live independently. With us fickle humans, there’s no ‘one size fits all’, but our person-centred approach to our trainees ensures everyone benefits in the right way for them.
I took over from the founder of Giraffe, and when I asked why it was called Giraffe, I was regaled with many different reasons, but the two that had the most resonance were: “because we really stick our neck out for folk” and “the name Giraffe means nothing, has no stigma, doesn’t have a negative or unknown perception” – essentially, as an organisation, we don’t wear the name of the disability/barrier/affliction we aim to fix/eradicate/raise awareness of.
Through the first COVID lockdown our café had to close and a couple of Giraffe volunteers decided they didn’t want to waste the food that remained in the fridges. They opted to turn them into tasty homemade dinners for people self-isolating or experiencing hardship. When we reached out to community partners to offer these meals, we saw many other examples of necks being stuck out
to help strangers, support the vulnerable and relieve hardship.
Fast forward a few years and our meal provision, a community-focused, selfless and environmentally friendly initiative, has provided more than 135,000 meals for free to people in need, and triggered the building of a £200,000 community kitchen. These meals are made by our staff, volunteers and, importantly, our trainees. By sticking our neck out, we’ve actually found a way to support even more trainees and even more people in need.
“Our trainees receive support in all aspects of their lives.”
As for the other (potential) reason for us being called Giraffe, having an organisation with a name that doesn’t explain a thing allows us to help anyone and everyone, in any way we have capacity to do so. It doesn’t matter which community you see yourself in, Giraffe can still help. If we can’t, we’ll certainly know the people who can.
Everyone knows what a giraffe looks like, right? If there was a group of giraffes standing around together, we’d know they were giraffes because of the way they look, the way they stand, the food they eat, where they live and how they run, for example. Right?
At one point in time not too long ago, it was believed there were nine specific sub-species of giraffe. By 2011, a study had described only eight species, but then in 2016, in another study, researchers suggested the existence of four species, which have not exchanged genetic information between each other for one to two million years. Fantastic research and excellent studies conducted by learned people, but… would the giraffes even care? All the different ‘types’ of giraffes intermingle, eat together, bathe together, get hunted together and often die together.
As for our organisation Giraffe, we define community in a very similar way: without judgement, ignoring any differences, and not caring about or being defined by their perceived origins or segment of community.
As an organisation, as well as our beneficiary community, we exist and support many communities (third sector, voluntary groups, local communities in need, food and drink tourism, local enterprise, employability networks, autism networks, social enterprise, and many, many more) and as individuals we add even more networks (parent groups, local neighbourhood, hobbies and pastimes, political and religious affiliations, social life, music taste, football team, and many, many more) and we are sticking our neck out for each and every one of them irrespective of why we are in their communities or they are in ours.
We, however, are not alone. You all stick your neck out, help each other, work for the greater good. It’s what makes a community a community, it’s what creates inclusion, it’s what creates a sense of belonging, and it’s quite possibly why we were put on this floating rock.
Truth is, we’re all giraffes and we’re all in many towers. As long as we’re doing right by the other members of our towers, we’re creating and sustaining communities.
Image by Danièle Konsbruck from Pixabay
Food and communities
Pete Ritchie, Executive Director, Nourish Scotland
I went to the local greengrocer yesterday. I picked up some local rhubarb, a couple of nice plums (not local – the plum trees in Dundee are still in flower), some Hebridean oatcakes and some bread made with Mungoswell flour from East Lothian. All very nice.
But here’s what’s more interesting. I chatted with the young guy serving about the song on the radio, and then when it came to paying I realised I’d forgotten my card. “Don’t worry, I’ll put it in the book – you can pay next time you’re in.”
Apart from family, he was the only person I spoke to in 3D yesterday. My community has shrunk since moving here a year or so back, and yesterday I felt part of this new one. Food has the capacity to connect us in community, and to make communities stronger; eating is after all one of the few things we all have in common. But many of the channels for communication have silted up. We can buy food online, or we can check ourselves out of the supermarket without speaking to a soul.
The most common household in Scotland is now one person living alone: 903,000 households. Shopping and cooking for one and eating alone is commonplace. We can order a carryout just for ourselves, or buy a prepacked one-person portion of pasta with peppers. We go to work less and there are fewer large workplaces with canteens.
So for food to do more for community, and for communities to do more with food, we need some countervailing social institutions; and these have started to emerge in the last 20 years. Community gardens have blossomed across Scotland, not just as places to produce food but as practical expressions of care. A recent report by University of Glasgow described community gardens as a locus of care; for ourselves, each other and the world. They create social capital, as the report describes: “What is particularly important is the way that a wider range of groups, who might otherwise have little substantive contact with one another, meet and exchange ideas and stories as they collectively produce new urban spaces though the practice of community gardening.”
Places like the Maxwell Centre Dundee (maxdundee. org.uk), Granton Community Gardeners (www. grantoncommunitygardeners.org) and most recently Greyfriars Community Garden (greyfriarsgardenglasgow.co.uk) are hotspots
of community building.
Community cafés and community meals have multiplied, often linked to growing spaces, offering a site of hospitality rather than simply transaction. Meanwhile, local food shops like mine hang on in the face of the machine, many nourished in turn by Green City Wholefoods. This 40-year-old workers co-operative threads together a network of shops across Scotland which sell food and make community for free. Food banks have morphed into pantries. While these are not a substitute for people having enough money in their pocket to buy their food at a regular shop, they are places where people can be members and participants, not recipients and not just consumers. So, all good then? Well, not quite. Many of these are pioneer projects, literally breaking new ground in some places. They are not yet seen as an essential part of the 20-minute neighbourhood, of the wellbeing economy, of the Good Food Nation. As local authorities and health boards make their good food plans, there is no money earmarked from the farming budget or the health budget or the parks budget to underpin these new forms of civic activity.
“We are working to develop a new social institution in Scotland: the public diner.”
Nourish Scotland wants to see part of the agriculture budget allocated to local authorities to support community food projects and more ways to connect people through food. Giving communities more say on food can lead to surprising results, as in Mouans-Sartoux (mead-mouans-sartoux.fr/en/ manger-bio), a town the size of Dunblane which has 100% organic food in its three schools and a host of other projects. We are also working to develop a new social institution in Scotland: the public diner. Public diners are state-supported restaurants which offer nutritious price-capped menus to the general public. These operated in the 1940s and 1950s under the banner of ‘British restaurants’. At their peak there were about 2,500 operating throughout the UK (roughly twice the current number of McDonald’s), with 16 in the City of Edinburgh alone.
Similar models can be found in other countries. The City of Mexico won the prestigious Milan Pact Awards for their Community Dining Rooms which serve nutritious meals to anyone who lives, works, or passes through the city. In Poland, ‘milk bars’, often associated with communism, continue to operate and receive a subsidy to this day.
Public diners are state-supported through capital or revenue grants or in-kind support. But their income comes primarily from sales. They meet high standards of sustainability and fair work. Their menu is ‘healthy enough’. They are desirable places to go to: places where anyone, that is ‘you and I’, would choose to eat. Public diners could form an important part of our social infrastructure, alongside public libraries, leisure centres and schools, and become a valuable part of community life.
Image by Priscilla du Preez from Unsplash
Communities are growing our food future
Karen Davidson, GrowGreen Scotland
The social movement for collective food growing in Scotland is happening across the country and in all settings and sizes in community gardens, orchards, and market gardens, school sites, and community-supported agriculture projects. Sites are on public and private land, including local authority, churches, NHS, schools, farmland, large estates, and housing developments. This movement is emerging for many reasons, and as it expands and develops is increasingly significant to the transformation required for a sustainable, resilient, food future. It acts like a ‘plant community’, with ‘early colonisers’ connecting people together, by drawing on and using appropriate resources, and creating conditions that allow local people, place and nature to thrive. Community-led growing sites are not just growing food; they are hubs for a wide range of local food initiatives, providing sustainable solutions to food insecurity by empowering people, enabling them to participate and/or benefit. Organic, radical, disruptive and definitely grassroots, this is not a leisure activity – it is a powerhouse for positive change happening under our noses that we mustn’t overlook.
The aim is not to replace our trips to the supermarket; it is to build and deliver a part of a more resilient food future for Scotland that is visible, and local, where we grow more of what we eat and eat more of what we grow. The centralised global food system that feeds us developed rapidly in the past 60 years. It has brought us food abundance, choice and convenience, with most of our food now coming from other countries. This system is not a global success as it leaves out most of the world’s citizens, including people living in food poverty and insecurity in Scotland. We rely very heavily on it for our food and in many ways it is successful. It is also threatened, increasingly vulnerable to multiple crises, and contributing to many of them: climate and nature emergencies, wars, depleted soil resulting in less nutrition and contributing to diseases, animal cruelty, degradation, pollution and waste.
Scotland imports on average 70% of the food we eat every year. Most of what is grown in our agricultural sector is for animal feed or alcohol products, and much of that for export. 80% of Scotland’s land area is considered agricultural land; however, only 10% of this is arable, the rest for grazing and grassland. Horticulture, including local market gardens and community food growing, contributes unprocessed fruit, vegetables, grains and legumes required for a healthy and nutritious human diet, with some grown organically or regeneratively. This is not at a scale it could be, with challenges to scale up including land and skills shortages, and conflicting policy. There is diminishing
“Most of what is grown in our agricultural sector is for animal feed or alcohol products.”
land available, from a low start, with much of the suitable land competing with multiple demands, from growing trees to sequester carbon in years to come, to new homes and substations.
There are clear opportunities to secure more land for more communities to participate, and for systems to safeguard suitable land. Community groups are creative, unlocking more land for growing, securing and sharing land often overlooked or underused, and informal, often intergenerational, skills sharing. They are building food security, resilience and capacity for food response to emergencies, as many proved during COVID.
This food movement, started by communities using food for social benefits including connection, mental health and wellbeing, now has a strong focus on food production, and is the preferred way for communities to act on the climate and nature emergencies. A new stewardship role in partnership with nature has developed, providing learning through participating, with sites rewilding, planting for pollinators, using greener energy sources, managing water including scarcity and flooding, providing some fresh local food yearround through sheltered growing, teaching composting and advocating for reduced waste and more, all demonstrating to their community how to make a just transition together, in a way that suits them and their resources.
There are practical ways we can expand, extend and support this movement to be transformational, and for all communities and peoples to have the opportunity to participate and/or benefit. Key are adjustments in the planning system; wider recognition, status and understanding of what is happening, what is possible, the innovative practical solutions that are being overlooked; effective targeted investment for infrastructure and workers for what is a mostly volunteer-led movement, proven effective and high return; and partnerships that provide research, data collection and evaluation that support rapid transformational change.
We are digging deeper into an insecure food future if we don’t look at this community-led movement, why it is happening, how it fits into our food future and why we need to support, celebrate and participate in it.
Contemporary community land ownership and land reform
Dr Josh Doble, Policy Manager, Community Land Scotland
It is often said that Scotland is on a land reform ‘journey’ as we seek to address one of the most unequal land ownership patterns in the world. Whilst there have been notable success stories of community ownership around Scotland since the 2003 Land Reform Act, the overall picture of land ownership in Scotland remains stark. We still have half of Scotland’s privately-owned rural land owned by 433 people and companies, and ownership patterns continue to concentrate. This contributes to huge inequalities in terms of opportunities to generate an income from land, to produce food, to build houses, set up businesses or carry out work to fight the climate and biodiversity crises. The fact that Scotland has a rural housing and depopulation crisis, is seeing swathes of land permanently turned into Sitka plantations, and has one of the world’s most depleted natural environments is a direct result of its deeply unequal land ownership patterns.
Land reform in Scotland is the ongoing process in which the ownership of land, its distribution and the law which governs it is changed so that more people have access to land, more people own land and there is a fairer system for deciding who should own land. Scottish land reform was pioneered over the past century by enterprising communities in the Highlands and Islands who wanted to secure their futures through owning the land that they worked and lived on.
Community Land
Scotland represents community landowners around Scotland, which includes crofting land in the Highlands and Islands, uplands in the south of Scotland, entire islands, and communities across urban Scotland. The community ownership model which has developed in Scotland is focused on communities acquiring and owning land and buildings that will develop the local area according to local needs. This could include using the land for things like local housing (in Arisaig and Staffin for example), croft creation (as is happening on the Isle of Eigg), new farming opportunities and food production (on the Isle of Ulva), renewable energy, business development and community facilities. In recent years urban communities have become increasingly involved in taking ownership of greenbelt sites, former estates, historic buildings and greenspace, to name just a few. Urban land reform is a vital part of regenerating vacant and derelict sites which blight our towns and cities, as well as giving urban communities sources of empowerment, income and agency. Around 3% of the total land area of Scotland is under community ownership at the moment, but we are calling for the government to support 10% of Scotland to be under community ownership by 2030.
rather than paying absentee landlords with no interest in the local community. Land reform helps build affordable housing, supports local democracy and regenerates areas of economic and population decline. The revival of island communities such as in Lewis and Harris, and entirely communityowned islands such as Eigg and Gigha, is testament to the transformational potential of community-led land reform. These communities replaced monopoly landowners and were able to make decisions based on the needs of those living there.
The Land Reform Bill which has just been introduced to the Scottish Parliament is not the radical or divisive legislation which some have depicted it as. The Bill contains some potentially impactful mechanisms such as the ‘lotting’ of large estates and compulsory land management plans; however, these need to be considerably strengthened. Unfortunately, the Bill focuses on land management in a very limited way and will need significant amendment in order to deliver the diversification of land ownership which is key to creating thriving communities.
“We still have half of Scotland’s privately-owned rural land owned by 433 people and companies.”
The Bill proposes that land transfers over 1,000ha will be subject to ministers assessing if the landholding works against community sustainability and needs to be ‘lotted’ into smaller parcels. However, this will not impact the vast majority of landholdings. In fact, only a handful of transactions will be involved every year according to the Scottish Land Commission. This threshold should be lowered to 500ha and there should be provisions for intervention into ownership which works against the public interest. This should happen at any point during land ownership rather than just the point of ‘transfer’ and would provide public oversight over the ‘transfer’ and management of significant landholdings. The large estates which the legislation may cover are increasingly being used for speculative carbon sequestration projects or to plant conifer monocultures, rather than for growing food or meeting our climate and biodiversity targets. Furthermore, urban Scotland has been cut out of this Bill; communities in towns, villages and cities will not benefit from any of the new interventions proposed. Land reform is a national issue. The legislation must work for all of Scotland.
When communities own their own land and buildings, they are focused on creating sustainable and thriving local economies which deliver local opportunity and circulate wealth locally
Land reform has empowered crofters, tenant farmers and rural and urban communities over the past 100 years. We look forward to the draft Land Reform Bill, and future legislation, being substantially more ambitious in order to continue the important work of giving more people the chance to live and work on the land.
I am a socially engaged artist, photographer and educator based in Glasgow. Engaging with local communities, people and their stories are at the heart of my work. Through a process built around meaningful connection and participation, my work aims to create opportunities for previously untold stories to be shared authentically, illuminating the collective human experience, and exploring a sense of place. My work has been exhibited nationally, including at the Royal Scottish Academy, Street Level Photoworks, Visual Arts Scotland and the Glasgow Women’s Library, as well as being published in The Guardian and Source magazine. In 2021, I won the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain Award.
Climate change is here and the predictions of more intense rainfall and extreme weather are no longer in doubt. Equally clear in Kinross is the pressure for ever more houses, with associated loss of rural land and too often of old mature trees and hedgerows too. How to minimise the environmental impacts of development, particularly on the water environment, has been a focus of a positive community endeavour led by the Kinross-shire Civic Trust, from 2019 to the present day.
“Reed buntings, snipe and dragonflies are among the interesting creatures seen.”
The first challenge was for the community groups to learn about sustainable drainage, or in many instances just the basics of conventional drainage. What excited people in Kinross was the scope for creating new wetlands and other habitats which are designed to reduce diffuse pollution and also to manage flood risk. If designed and constructed carefully with biodiversity and amenity in mind, such features would be positive assets in a town or village.
The global biodiversity crisis is, like climate change, another classic example of the need for a positive mindset summarised in the phrase ‘think global, act local’. Those two issues come together when considering the options for managing rainfall runoff in a new development, and existing areas too. There are plenty of positive ways to manage rainfall in our villages, towns and cities, using the water to support plants in parks and gardens, and create wildlife habitats too. The use of technology to minimise and ideally eliminate adverse impacts from intense and/or prolonged downpours has been driven by legislation in Scotland which requires the use of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) technology. The word ‘urban’ in that term reflects the undeniable adverse impacts of diffuse sources when examined at the scale of a town or city. But the techniques can equally apply in smaller settlements down to a single house if the positive benefits are also considered.
The aspirations for the technology are ambitious: a sustainable drainage system should aim to:
• deal with diffuse pollution, for example oily runoff from roads and car parks;
• slow the outflow of runoff from roads and other impervious surfaces;
• create attractive visual assets with amenity value;
• enhance biodiversity – not just preventing pollution in receiving watercourses or lochs, but ideally encouraging diversity in plants and animals within the site, for example by using vegetation as part of the treatment and attenuation process.
Vegetation is a key component of SUDS known as ‘soft engineering’ which contrasts with alternative hard features such as permeable surfaces used on many car parks and stones/gravel filter drains along motorways and trunk roads. In a community engagement initiative run by Melbourne Water ten years ago, soft engineering systems were collectively referred to as raingardens.
Inspired by that, in Kinross-shire a modest project to have 20 raingardens by 2020 was launched and objectives achieved (mainly assessing existing sites). Subsequently, Nature Restoration Funding has allowed the Trust to undertake new
work, transforming a run-down, failing, conventional drainage system at Kinross Park and Ride, converting a grass turf topped soakaway system to a pair of biodiverse and effective shallow swale drainage features. There are several existing good condition SUDS features further along the road from the Park and Ride down towards Loch Leven; an obvious idea then to designate the route as the Kinross Raingardens Trail. The link road there is drained across directly as sheet flow runoff into grass swales alongside the road (no pipes, no gully-&-grid structures). The shallow grass swales, in turn, drain into an excellent constructed wetland. Reed buntings, snipe and dragonflies are among the interesting creatures seen there. The grass swales provide the first stage in pollutant removal, leaving the wetlands to further improve water quality from low-level contamination to river quality, supporting amphibians and wetland plants and invertebrates.
In 2023 and with more confidence, significant cutting back of Typha latifolia (reedmace) in the road drainage wetland was achieved, and a comparable exercise was carried out at another wetland along the Trail, where commercial/industrial estate drainage is treated prior to discharge to a tributary of Loch Leven.
The latest projects of the Trust are the conversion of treeshaded, herbicide-maintained desert margins at the Park and Ride to create woodland fringe flora, using plug plants grown from Scotia Seeds as well as a top-up with woodland floor seedmix. In addition, two new ponds have been created in a neighbouring flood area. The close proximity of the new ponds to the two existing constructed wetlands should favour dispersal and a healthy gene pool. In 2024 we shall be erecting signs along the Raingardens Trail, linked to information pages on the website of the Kinross-shire Civic Trust. We are grateful to the organisations which have sponsored this initiative and organisations which have helped in other ways.
The swale provides the first stage of treatment for road runoff.
Summer flowers in the Kipper Hire swale.
Pond life
Dr George McGavin FRSGS, entomologist, author, presenter
Seventy per cent of Earth’s surface is covered by water but 97% of this water is salty. Of the roughly 3% that remains, that can be thought of as freshwater, most is frozen or underground and only a very small amount of it is readily available – that is, water that could be scooped up in a container of some sort. Derived from precipitation, surface water bodies such as ponds and lakes, bogs and marshes, streams and rivers are among the most important habitats there are, and just like terrestrial ecosystems they are a dynamic complex of interacting communities of plants, animals, and micro-organisms. If you want to see some of the most fascinating insects on Earth up close and personal, you don’t have to go to the ends of the Earth. Just visit a pond. There’s a lot more going on in a pond than you might imagine. Ponds contain more than 60% of all freshwater species, and if you want to encourage a diverse range of wildlife in your garden you must consider digging your own pond. It needn’t be big and fancy, but whatever it is, it won’t be long before it’s teeming with life. The food chain will take a year or two to fully develop. Plants and algae will oxygenate the water and provide a food source for the herbivorous species, including small, filter-feeding crustaceans. Zooplankton feeding on the phytoplankton will be fed on by smaller predators, chief among them the insects.
“Ponds may look tranquil but beneath the surface some cunning killers skulk among the weeds.”
cunning killers skulk among the weeds. Backswimmers and water boatmen cruise about looking for small prey whose bodily fluid they can suck out. Larger and more fearsome predators are dragonfly nymphs whose extensible jaws can be shot forward to seize quite large prey, even tadpoles and small fish. The larvae of some water beetles are known as water tigers – and with good reason. They have very large curved jaws and will attack a large range of prey, even other water tigers. There can be few sights more entrancing than that of a dragonfly nymph crawling up the stem of plant to shed its skin for the last time. The winged adult, an agile, aerial predator, will eventually find a mate and their eggs will be laid in or close to the water. Even on the surface film, danger lurks in the form of long-legged water boatmen which dash about in response to ripples that might indicate something has fallen onto the water.
Insects are mostly terrestrial animals, and in those species that live in association with freshwater, it is typically the immature stages that are aquatic. As insects breathe by means of an air-filled tracheal system connected to the outside by openings called spiracles, aquatic insects have evolved various modifications for breathing underwater. Small larvae can absorb enough oxygen from the water through their surfaces. Some, such as mosquito larvae, have terminal siphons that act as snorkels, while many such as mayfly nymphs and damselfly nymphs have gills. In dragonfly nymphs, the gills are not visible on the outside but are contained inside the rectal chamber. Some aquatic insects, such as backswimmers, have a silvery appearance because they can trap a thin layer of air close to their bodies which acts like a physical gill exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Ponds may look tranquil but beneath the surface some
Ponds and other water bodies are as much under threat as any other habitat. It is thought that the UK has lost more than half of its ponds in the last century and a large number of those that remain are in a poor state of heath. Many have simply been drained or have become silted up. Excessive nutrient run-off from intensive agriculture and the spread of invasive alien water weeds has been very damaging. Allowing dogs to swim in ponds, lakes and rivers may seem harmless enough, but the powerful insecticides found in spot-on flea treatments can have a devastating impact on aquatic insect communities and reduce the food available for fish, birds and bats. And don’t get me started on the parlous state of our heavily polluted rivers.
David Francis, Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland
Community is one of those words that seems to invite a warm glow. It holds out a promise of mutual aid, all for one, one for all, mutual recognition, respect. It is laced through public policy like cherries through a cake: community empowerment, community wealth building. One of the Scottish Government’s National Outcomes, that bold attempt to codify in public policy terms what human flourishing might look like, is that “we live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient, and safe.”
Those words are interesting in the light of community’s etymology. The origin of the word lies in the Latin munire, which means ‘to fortify’. It’s the root of the word moenia, which means ‘city walls’, so the base meaning of community might be ‘everyone within the city walls’. Those walls need gates though. Whether those gates stay shut most of the time or whether they are open to others determines whether the community is merely enclosed or inclusive, static or fluid.
City walls are by and large a thing of the past, but one thing they did was mark a boundary. The contemporary idea of community (and I’m thinking here of geographical communities and not ‘communities of interest’) is much less defined, which can be problematic when it comes to concepts like ‘community wealth building’. If a community is to have wealth, the surplus value of economic activity, who is entitled to share in that wealth and how is that to be determined?
When we think of a different kind of wealth, cultural heritage, especially the intangible kind, we have civic society in the form of a UNESCO convention defining intangible cultural heritage as “practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills… that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage.” When it comes to the ‘communities’ part of that statement, the word is parsed by what Valdimar Hafstein and Martin Skrydstrup call an ‘indefinition’.
In order, first, to figure out what intangible heritage is and, then, to involve communities in safeguarding it as the convention requires, it is necessary to delimit such communities to define membership in them, and to design a mechanism for consultation or cooperation. In other words, who do you talk to, who has the authority, from where do they derive that authority? Without an idea of boundaries, membership, or
precisely who is or should be consulted, community remains a loose, though attractive sounding, concept.
Some years ago, the nascent organisation Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS) started to explore traditional arts not as a generality but to focus on their local expression. In an attempt to sharpen the focus and also to delimit the areas in which we might work fruitfully, we turned to that ethnographic talisman, The Statistical Account of Scotland, the mighty survey of the country’s geology, topography, flora and fauna, agriculture, economics, folklore, and spiritual wellbeing conducted on a parish by parish basis with varying degrees of enthusiasm by the nation’s parish ministers not once, but twice, first in the 1790s and again in the 1840s. (There was also a third, not much prized, survey in the first part of the last century.)
Here perhaps was the sense of scale we sought. It is true that the parish is closely associated in people’s minds with the church, but the parish is not only an area of ecclesiastical concern but a civic one as well. The parish was the unit of government in Scotland right up until 1930, and the civil parish boundaries are still used by the census as a way of classifying and comparing information.
“The parish was the unit of government in Scotland right up until 1930.”
The idea behind the People’s Parish project is that, unlike the old Statistical Account, Scotland’s story should be told not by a few professionals or central institutions, but by the people who live and work in each of Scotland’s 871 ancient civil parishes. It is a central idea of the project that each community will produce something distinctive to itself. Not the least of the challenges is that while the parish seems to offer a solution to the question of delimiting communities, life and society have moved on since they were last drawn up. What we are proposing is that, in order to flourish in the present and in the future, communities, whatever the issues with their delimitation, also need a relationship with their past, their collective memory. This localised approach is perhaps a way of tackling and redressing two of the key difficulties of modern life: alienation and loss of meaning.
Image by Ben Lambert from Unsplash
Men’s sheds
Jason Schroeder, Chief Executive Officer, Scottish Men’s Sheds Association
Now nearing its tenth anniversary, the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) has seen an immense transformation and commitment made by over 10,000 volunteers across Scotland towards a better future for men’s health and wellbeing. From our headquarters in Aberdeenshire, our small team of four staff, supported by our Patron Sir Harry Burns and eight national board members, continue to support and inspire this rapidly-growing movement. This trailblazing of the SMSA movement, since our charity’s inception in 2014, empowers social change and raises awareness of the wealth of diverse benefits of attending a Men’s Shed to ultimately secure new opportunities of experiencing healthy masculinity for our future generations.
starting something new – and enabling us to become selfsufficient.”
Sheds offer a missing and much-needed safe space for men of all ages and backgrounds to come together ‘shoulder to shoulder’ and build meaningful relationships whilst getting actively involved in their communities. The added bonus is that all of this is integral to improve health and wellbeing by combatting social isolation, loneliness and boredom without the risky behaviour.
“Sheds provide a voluntary opportunity for men’s social and wellbeing needs.”
Since the first-ever Scottish Men’s Shed opened in Aberdeenshire back in 2013, we now have over 200 open or developing Men’s Shed groups in all 32 local authority regions. However, it is our vision that every man in Scotland will, one day, have the opportunity to attend a Shed in their local community if they choose to do so. There still remains a lot of development and investment required to reach this goal, and we are actively seeking philanthropists to this end. Many people still perceive, even ten years on, that Sheds are just for elderly, retired men who want to work on DIY projects. However, we are steadily breaking down these misconceptions. In Scotland, we adapted the Australian model, the ‘home of Sheds’ which began over 30 years ago, to widen accessibility to all men over the age of 18. And it is certainly not all woodwork and metalwork. Sheds continually diversify to meet their members’ needs, and now 3D printing, arts and crafts, exercise/sport, computing, cooking, health talks, day outings, model making, board games, bands and music groups are becoming more common to see.
Sheds provide a voluntary opportunity for men’s social and wellbeing needs, whether that is for renewed purpose, escape from a present situation, calm, relaxation and respite, and/ or fun and friendship, and/or to learn new skills, mentor or be mentored through kindness and healthy camaraderie.
The SMSA is a Scottish charity not affiliated to any other organisations who support ‘Shedders’ to help create these environments in their local communities for a better quality of life for Scottish men, their families, circle of friends and communities.
It is important to address that Sheds are not run by us. It is not a top-down movement but rather a grassroots movement, ‘for the men and by the men’ by design. For the Shed to thrive it has to be volunteer-led. Our Association is a membership support organisation, with a sole focus of ‘In Scotland, For Scotland’ ethos. From a seed idea to opening the doors and remaining sustainable, as the central hub, our bespoke development plans are solution-focused and we represent their voice in the third as well as public and private sectors. Kinross and District Men’s Shed said, “The SMSA has been a wonderful support and a great hub of information and advice. We and some other local Sheds would not exist without their help steering us in the right direction – through the obstacles and bureaucracy that is thrown at you especially when
The SMSA continues on its journey to make a real difference by empowering thousands of men (our sons, brothers, fathers, uncles and grandfathers) and their communities to take control and play a massive part in a system change towards a wellbeing economy.
Clyde Coast & Cumbrae’s Men’s Shed Chairman Ian Murdoch said, “I have watched every single member work hard, work together, support each other and represent the Shed in a magnificent way throughout our first year. Some with health issues and some with wellbeing concerns or suffering from social isolation. This just proves that the Men’s Shed works. I know this one certainly does!”
Jon Searle from Wee County Men’s Shed said, “For me, my new idyllic leisure-filled low-pressure life in retirement was not so idyllic. Where was the excitement, the responsibilities, the challenges that I was used to throughout my career? Yes, I now had the time to work on all those projects I had put off for so long and complete those I had started and not finished, but… I was bored. So, if you feel as I did before I joined my local Shed and the SMSA then why not come along and find out more?”
Connect with 4,000+ SMSA movement members and join the SMSA (scottishmsa.org.uk) as an individual for free today, and why not ‘Head to the Shed’ and see if it’s for you? Search the SMSA ‘Find a Shed’ map to find the Shed closest to you and find out more by following the SMSA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube
Blueprint for a Healthier Scotland: it’s doable… so let’s do it
John Cassidy, Chair, Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing
In the current post-pandemic/cost-of-living crisis, many have put forward comments on this now being a time of deep challenges and endemic epidemics and also of opportunity. Many have commented that the window of opportunity may be short-lived and we have to ‘reimagine and re-evaluate’. Many have commented that intense wounds have been exposed and we must not ‘just slip back’ into ‘old ways’. Many have started to embrace the optimistic idea of ‘building back better’.
Communities and their fantastic responses to the pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis are at the centre of much thinking about the future. The language is positive, the rhetoric strong. We must ‘support and trust local delivery’ and ‘community solutions’. We must ‘build on the foundations of community power’. We need to ‘channel the surge of community spirit into a lasting framework of community power’. We need to ‘put neighbourhoods and communities at the heart of a new wave of decentralisation’. We must embrace ‘the potential of localism’. Perhaps a more basic point, ‘All I’m asking … is for a little respect’.
The comments on the big picture are less positive and creative. It is argued that ‘state capacity has been drained by the scale of the crisis’. There is a growing and ‘certain economic recession’. Governments will ‘fall back on traditional levers’. ‘In many places stubbornly paternalistic attitudes persist in the public sector’. Are we ‘doubling down on the orthodoxy and sweeping unconventional practices and dissenting viewpoints aside … Is the answer to do what we have been doing, only more thoroughly’. Not really a very optimistic outlook.
improvement organisations make up Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing (SCHW). SCHW has produced, to present to the Scottish Government, a Blueprint for a Healthier Scotland
The Blueprint is grounded in practice, supported by research and structured round a heap of common sense. As one of SCHW’s critical friends commented, “It is doable.” It is a ‘how to do it’ proposal that would help tackle many of the challenges and responses highlighted in the first five paragraphs of this article. It is available on SCHW’s website, www.schw.co.uk, and has been sent to many organisations, networks, politicians of all parties and critical friends of SCHW. It will be presented formally to the new Cabinet Secretary for Health in the Scottish Government in the near future – an opportunity to do something differently. So let’s do it… it really is doable.
“Communities are at the centre of much thinking about the future.”
However, there is no shortage of ‘sound’ advice for governments and decision makers to help ensure a positive journey to a more hopeful future. Not a lot of detail on ‘how to’, however. ‘Build on an old idea whose time is now: the power of community’. ‘Invest to protect, strengthen and grow local organisations’. ‘Strengthening local resilience will help to ensure that we centre our economic future around citizens, wellbeing and environmental sustainability’. ‘Community-led approaches do not just provide good social outcomes but are also proven to create stronger local economies’. ‘We must focus on the potential of neighbourhood as an organising unit for political power’.
Loneliness and lack of social contact have been shown to increase poor physical health, depression and dementia. Air pollution increases the risk of dying by 6%, obesity by 23%, alcohol abuse by 37%, and loneliness by 45%. We need each other and in the future we do need to meet, have tea, talk and hug. We need caring neighbourhoods. We need energised, able, thriving communities.
In Scotland we have an amazing asset – our voluntary, community and charitable organisations. We have organisations using community-led approaches which make a fundamental difference to the lives of individuals, families and communities, day in day out, in many of our most disadvantaged communities and neighbourhoods. We do celebrate localism and, during this crisis, thank goodness. Eighty-eight community-led health and wellbeing
Common Health Assets research project
The UK-wide Common Health Assets research project, coordinated by Glasgow Caledonian University and working with organisations in Glasgow and Lanarkshire, East London, Northern Ireland, and Bournemouth, aims to find out how community organisations’ use of ‘assets-based approaches’ improves health and wellbeing, and how that might be different in different contexts. Where positive effects are identified they will be analysed to determine whether they can be applied elsewhere (‘scaled up’), and how community organisations can find ways to survive (sustainability).
Assets-based approaches are about ‘doing with’ (rather than ‘doing to’) and working with communities to build on their strengths, mobilising the knowledge and skills of local people. The project studies communityled organisations (CLOs) in areas that are often called ‘deprived’ – because of poverty, poor physical and social environments, and lower health outcomes. In addition to one-to-one and group support to tackle mental health issues, CLOs work with communities to offer a range of quality-of-life improvement activities, such as walking or cooking groups, language classes, and community gardens or cafés.
See commonhealthassets.uk for further information.
Toilets and transforming communities
Tarryn Pegna, Story Producer, Tearfund
Plastic waste, dead leaves and human excrement used to litter the walkways between houses and buildings in Mariam’s village in Mali. She describes the smell, particularly in the rainy season, as “unbearable.” She says, “It could take over the whole village!”
Mariam has lived in this village, Péné, in the commune of Koro, her whole life. Now, aged 42, she is married with ten children: three boys and seven girls. They’ve all struggled with health issues caused by the unsanitary conditions that have been a problem in the community for many years. “There were frequent cases of diarrhoea, malaria and typhoid fever,” Mariam tells us. “My children would all get sick. This prevented us from saving money for a long time because all the money was spent on caring for the children.”
“Giving people access to toilets is a hugely cost-effective way to improve people’s lives.”
having to go in the open causes for communities, the safety of girls, especially, is placed at risk. Not having a toilet in their home leaves girls vulnerable to attack. At school, if there are no facilities, life gets particularly difficult when girls have their period. As a result, many girls miss school. Some get so frustrated that they give up altogether. This lack of education keeps girls trapped in a cycle of poverty. Instead of the things that should be, it’s their futures that are going down the toilet.
Around the world, the number of people facing the dangerous impacts of poor sanitation is staggering. Diarrhoeal disease kills around 443,832 children each year. In war zones it causes more deaths than war itself. And, as with Mariam’s family, a lack of proper sanitation facilities can keep families locked in cycles of disease and poverty. But, things have changed in the village of Péné, and Mariam herself has been a key part of this transformation. In June 2023, a local Tearfund partner, the Evangelical Development Agency of Mali, started to run training and awareness sessions in the village about health and sanitation. As Mariam took part, she started to understand more fully the causes of the problem and how they can be managed. She realised that the solution lay in the hands of women like her.
Mariam started to get other women from the village involved and now, once a week, a group of women run awarenessraising days that they, themselves have set up. The group helps people in the wider community to understand the problem caused by poor sanitation and how they can prevent it. The women explain to community members the harm caused by open defecation. This has led to a reduction in this harmful practice. They also collect all the plastic waste, which they then sell and use the money to support people most in need in their community. Since the women started these weekly awareness-raising days, as well as implementing what they’ve understood in their own homes, Mariam says Péné village has become “cleaner and cleaner.” She tells us, “The village is now an attractive place to live! Children and adults are healthier and stronger and no longer ill all the time.”
Issaï lives in another village in the same region which was also struggling with a hygiene problem. A shortage of toilets meant that many people had to resort to open defecation in the sparse bush. This forced young and old alike to walk far from the village to find enough cover to relieve themselves with any privacy.
Apart from the dangerous health problems
The impacts on older people, who may be less mobile or more frail, are also significant. Issaï says, “I am too old. To relieve myself, I cannot go very far into the bush and we are in a period of rain. There is water everywhere. Often the needs can come late at night when it’s not safe for old people like me to go out.” Added to the indignity of using the toilet in the open, not having a safe place to go carries a very real risk of harm for many people like Issaï.
But, thanks to the resulting increased productivity and lower health care costs, giving people access to toilets is a hugely cost-effective way to improve people’s lives. In Issaï’s village, as part of a similar programme to help the community improve sanitation and hygiene, Tearfund’s local partner built and restored latrines for many vulnerable households, including Issaï’s. “This latrine will bring me great relief as I no longer have to expose myself in the bush in front of people,” Issaï says, “or go out late at night and risk reptiles and other dangers. From now on I will relieve myself quietly at home, undisturbed without the whole village knowing.”
Toilet Twinning (toilettwinning.org) is one way Tearfund raises money to bring dignity, productivity and protection from diseases to communities around the world through supporting sanitation and hygiene work. Since 2010, more than 190,000 toilets have been twinned, giving about 840,000 people in 50 countries access to safe sanitation. And we estimate that around one million people receive hygiene education each year thanks to the programmes that Toilet Twinning helps fund.
Crofting communities and the contested nature of peatland improvement
Dr Cornelia Helmcke, Centre for Energy Ethics; Dr Lydia Cole and Ewan Jenkins, School of Geography and Sustainable Development; all
‘Improving Lewis’ titled an article in the spring 2024 edition of The Geographer. While, in this piece, Chris Fleet FRSGS discusses a map of the Isle of Lewis from 1919 as a “rare early example of vegetation and land use mapping in Scotland,” my research team and I, who had studied peatland management in Lewis over the last year, were reminded of the changes in the understanding of land improvement over time. The notion seemed clear back in 1919: the map includes a cross-section of the island indicating how the vast moorland can be claimed and put into agricultural use. The plan never materialised but throughout the century landowners and land managers across Scotland tried to improve their bogs: drain them, graze them, plant trees or introduced sand to grow crops, largely supported by public grant schemes. A hundred years later, the picture has drastically changed. The global race to net zero brought to the surface the value of peatlands for natural carbon storage. It is estimated that peatlands, which cover 3–4% of the world’s land surface, contain up to one-third of the world’s soil carbon, and twice as much carbon as is held in its forests. Approximately 12% of the world’s peatlands have been drained or damaged in some way, contributing to 4% of annual global humaninduced greenhouse gas emissions. To reach net zero targets, the UK aims to restore at least 50% of upland peatlands and 25% of lowland peatlands, to protect the ‘natural capital’ (ie, carbon) held in these ecosystems. Scotland holds the largest extent of British peatlands and the Scottish Government has committed £250 million to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030.
Suddenly, formally improved peatlands are being regarded as ‘degraded’ and in need of restoration to improve ecosystem health and, as such, keep the carbon in the ground. Digger drivers developed their skills in building and maintaining drains. Now, they are paid to do the opposite: blocking drains to rewet and reprofile peatlands. The Scottish Government’s Peatland ACTION programme is tasked with retraining digger drivers, spreading knowledge about peatland ecosystems and implementing restoration on the ground. Peatland ACTION Officers have successfully initiated and carried out restoration works around Scotland in recent years, but progress has fallen short of governmental annual targets. Both politicians and NatureScot see a ‘finance gap’ as the major challenge in scaling up ecosystem restoration. They place their hope in the voluntary carbon market to attract seemingly necessary private (‘green’) finance.
The voluntary carbon market allows the trading of carbon credits between those that reduce emissions (generating carbon credits through ecosystem restoration) and those
that seek to offset their ‘unavoidable’ emissions.
In the UK, peatland carbon credits are accredited by the Peatland Code.
“Scottish Government has committed £250 million to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030.”
The Peatland Code provides assurances to buyers of carbon credits that the natural capital benefits being sold are ‘real’ (restoration was successful), ‘quantifiable’ (reductions in emissions have been measured using the latest scientific methods), ‘additional’ (without the sale of carbon credits this restoration would not have been realised) and ‘permanent’ (the carbon capture is long-term).
The registration of a project is required before restoration works commence and it is the landowner who can seek such registration.
These latter points seem conventional and unproblematic. They are, however, key to rising tensions around carbon credit schemes in crofting communities across the Highlands and Islands. Nearly one-third of Scotland’s peat to a depth of over two metres is held in crofting tenure. Crofts, unique to Scotland, are tenancies that include a right to graze and extract peat (as fuel) on areas of common land. The so-called common grazings amount to 550,000 hectares nationwide. If a landlord signs up for carbon credit-driven peatland restoration on land that includes common grazings, these constitutional rights are undermined and therefore require the consent of each member. There are currently several issues that make full consent unlikely.
First, to guarantee the ‘permanent’ avoidance of carbon emission through peatland degradation, the registered land will need to be ‘spared’ from grazing and peat cutting activities for the whole extent of the project’s length. As the project’s length is determined by the depth of peat to be saved from drying and eroding (emitting carbon), lasting between 30 and 100 years (one year per one centimetre of peat depth), this commitment is generational and includes future landowners and crofters.
While our interviewees in Lewis reported an overall decline of grazing and peat cutting, the access to the common grazings was still regarded as an essential right and safety net, its management and landscape part of local culture, community, and identity. For generations, families have managed and maintained peatlands in a state that allows for sheep grazing and roaming. Because of ongoing energy insecurity in the Outer Hebrides (resulting from restricted subsea cables, amongst other reasons) and the steep increase of energy
improvement
all University of St Andrews
prices since 2022, some families have returned to peat as a fuel source. In light of continuing uncertainties in the energy supply, crofters are hesitant to give up their rights.
Second, interviewees raised concerns regarding the actual financial benefits of generating carbon credits on common grazings. The incentive structure intrinsic to the carbon credit calculation favours larger peat areas, of progressed deterioration and held by a single landowner. The larger the area of peat to be restored, the lower the fixed cost relative to peatland restored (eg, initial investment in equipment). The economics of scale promote the acquisition of larger estates, and the enclosing of a greater extent of land, as visible on the Scottish land market. And the more degraded the peatland, the more carbon is kept in the ground in direct response to restoration intervention. This relationship is expressed through the ‘emission factors’ that are currently used to calculate avoided emissions in peatlands. Each category condition, from actively eroding to near-natural, has a different emission factor which indicates the estimated average quantity of tonnes of CO2 emitted per hectare per year (tCO2e/ha/yr). The number is highest in an actively eroding state (23.84 tCO2e/ha/yr) and drastically decreases with improvement (4.54 in drained, 2.54 in modified and 1.08 in near-natural state). A greater change in emission factor between pre-/post-restoration conditions translates directly into more carbon credits generated, meaning greater returns on investment. As such, restoring peatlands to a near-healthy state is less rewarding than restoring it from actively eroding to drained (still emitting). Finally, the fewer shareholders are involved in the project, the more benefits can be generated for the single investors.
Common grazings have a membership range that can reach numbers above 400. If a benefit sharing agreement would be reached, how much profit can be expected? Also, most common grazings have maintained their peatlands in a relative healthy state, as active erosion would restrict vegetation cover (food) and accessibility for grazing animals. Consequentially, the financial returns can be expected to be limited. Ironically, those landlords that have historically benefited the most from traditional improvement of their peatlands (eg, through publicly supported drainage and afforestation), are now expected to benefit the most from their restoration.
Community ownership can offer ways to circumvent the landlord–crofters discrepancy. Benefits of carbon credit trading could be channelled directly into a community wealth fund. But next to the flawed incentive structure, carbon
credit trading is a highly risky undertaking. It is currently unclear how the voluntary market will evolve, how much a peatland credit will be worth on the market, and what the demand will be beyond 2045. Sound and long-term financial governance will be essential to monitor market trends and advertise credits. Financial buffers will be needed to be able to respond to unpredictable climate events that can set back restoration progression. Investors argue therefore for the government to ‘de-risk’ the sector, to provide insurance and a price-floor guarantee. The public purse actively bearing the risk associated with peatland carbon trading would effectively negate the argument of attracting private investors to fill the ‘finance’ gap in the first place.
More importantly, the public budget of Peatland ACTION is not yet exceeded; it is underspent. Misinformation spread by private carbon brokers among landowners in the Outer Hebrides is slowing down the uptake of publicly funded restoration as no one wants to risk missing out on promised financial returns from carbon credits. Our research has shown that instead of making peatland restoration a lucrative business for investors, exacerbating inequality to land access in Scotland, the Government should invest the already assigned budget in building on the local knowledge and skills in support of peatland restoration. More, locally based Peatland ACTION Officers can closely collaborate with the communities in finding context-specific, targeted interventions that guarantee not only carbon capture but moreover the long-term availability of these landscapes to their resident human and other-than-human communities, protecting local water sources from contamination, allowing grazing and bird breeding, while regulating the microclimate (storing water over dry periods and avoiding floods during rainy periods). Community-led initiatives across the country have proven that there is agency among the population to restore ecosystems and habitats and to find pathways that allow for a combination of land use and practices. It is the responsibility of the government to support these initiatives and not to undermine them in order to make space for private gains. Crofters have been and continue to be important partners in the sustainable management of Scottish landscapes – any improvement will be fruitless without them.
“Nearly one-third of Scotland’s peat to a depth of over two metres is held in crofting tenure.”
Visit peatland-restoration-guide.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk for more information on our project and findings.
Island living
Martin Shields, former Director, Isle of Kerrera Development Trust
My wife and I moved to the isle of Kerrera in 2012 to take on a small café and bunkhouse business. We had romantic ideas of how life would be on a semi-remote island and looked forward to integrating into the then population of around 50 people. At that point, we very much had our sights and energy focused on growing our business and made the decision to try and stay at arm’s length from community development, or ‘politics’ as it can sometimes be mislabelled, but this didn’t last long!
We immediately bonded with another family who were both active members in the Isle of Kerrera Development Trust (IKDT), so it was inevitable that we would join IKDT and help them and the other volunteer directors improve the island for the residents and visitors alike.
“We have discovered that perseverance is vital for communities.”
For the last 12 years we have worked, against all odds, to deliver a wide range of projects that will be of benefit to future generations of Kerrera residents. Without a doubt the two biggest on that list would be the North–South link road and the acquisition and renovation of the old school building into a modern community hub. (Over £1.5 million capital spend between them.)
Throughout this time we have also worked on a variety of other projects: waste disposal and recycling, rural broadband connection, e-bike hire, and particularly in securing the lifeline ferry service… nothing is particularly straightforward when living on an island!
During our time on Kerrera we have discovered that perseverance is vital for communities. If you take the North–South road as an example, this has been locally regarded as a development priority for decades. Our north and south communities operated very separately, only able to come together at special occasions and involving taking a few different boats. Each end of Kerrera had different assets and priorities, which was a major challenge for an island with such a small population.
When Transport Scotland started the process of taking over the last private lifeline ferry service, it gave our board exposure to politicians in local and national government, and it allowed us to portray how difficult it was living on an island
where half the population could not access the soon-to-be government funded lifeline ferry.
We always felt that the government or the council should surely be responsible for delivering a connecting road to allow everyone unfettered access to the ferry. Surely it’s not up to island communities to deliver major infrastructure projects? For many years, both suggested it was the other’s responsibility. In the end, they both provided some funds but the responsibility for delivery fell on the community development trust.
We had been engaging with the Scottish Government Islands Team since its inception, and they understood how vital the road would be for our community to thrive. We were delighted with the news that they had infrastructure funding that we could access. We could only use the funding to upgrade the existing quad track to a forest grade single track road.
We knew that this was not an ideal long-term solution, so we petitioned Argyll and Bute Council to help fund the tar topping of the road to ensure the longevity of the project.
After lobbying and networking for many years as the volunteer chairman of IKDT, I was honoured to be able to take on the short-term paid role of Project Manager tasked with delivering the road.
We decided to use a company who would ‘cut and fill’, which would mean that all the material for the initial stage would be obtained on the island. In essence, when the large plant is cutting away the land to make the road line, they are uncovering large quantities of stone. They then graded this on site and used this for the various layers that made up the forest track. The environmental benefits of this method over importing vast quantities of rock made it an easy choice.
With the road in place it means that the community is more cohesive. Everyone can access the ferry and the new community centre. It’s helped the island marina to thrive and become the biggest employer on the island, and gives the community more resilience with alternative access to the mainland through the marina ferry.
We recently celebrated the official launch of the Old School Community Centre. It was marvellous to see a full house which included former students and teachers who couldn’t quite believe the progress made on our little island paradise.
Chris Fleet FRSGS, Map Curator, National Library of Scotland
This wonderfully detailed map of Iona was printed in 1930, and included in a pocket-sized guide book: Iona Past and Present with Maps. The guide book text, and almost certainly most of the map content, had been carefully gathered and researched by Alexander and Euphemia Ritchie, who by this time had been a central part of the Iona island community for at least three decades. Alexander had lived on Iona from the age of 12, but after 20 years spent at sea as a marine engineer, a shipwreck left him with a serious leg injury and he returned to Iona. He was subsequently appointed official guide and custodian of the Abbey ruins by the Duke of Argyll in 1898, welcoming the growing numbers of visitors to the island and Abbey.
The wealth of place names and other details on this map completely surpass Ordnance Survey’s own record, and are a testament to the Ritchies’ ability to gather knowledge and tradition from the local community, handed down over many generations. But the Ritchies also had personal connections with a wider scholarly community too, including WJ Watson, Professor of Celtic at Edinburgh University, who advised on place names. Artist James Shearer drew the map and views, including those of ‘Iona Cathedral or Abbey’ and ‘Iona from the South’, along with insets of historic maps.
In 1938, less than a decade after this map was published, the Reverend George Macleod founded the Iona Community with a central mission of rebuilding the ruined Abbey. Macleod also had wider aims – to revitalise the Church of Scotland community and, more broadly, the Presbyterian family of churches. This was to be achieved through recovering the centrality of mission, as well as reinvigorating the congregation and the parish community.
“The wealth of place names are a testament to the Ritchies’ ability to gather knowledge and tradition from the local community.”
Alexander Ritchie, Euphemia Ritchie, James Shearer, The map of Iona. Ì Chaluim
National Planning Framework 4
Clare Symonds, Planning Democracy
The feeling of depression and powerlessness that we get when we experience local environmental destruction has been termed solastalgia. Eco anxiety is particularly prevalent in communities living close to large-scale developments, when they are exposed first-hand to the destructive nature of building works. Planning Democracy frequently has to counsel distraught individuals who have tried and failed to engage with the planning system, in an attempt to protect their natural surroundings.
In Scotland our predominantly market driven planning system views development as a positive because it creates growth and contributes to the economy; it equates development with public interest. In this neoliberal system planners are expected to facilitate rather than regulate development, and the developer is seen as the primary interest, while communities opposing or trying to improve environmentally destructive developments are viewed as being obstructive in the delivery of economic growth. Communities often struggle to be heard in the decisionmaking process, despite having to live with the consequences of these decisions.
“Significant culture change within the planning system is required.”
However, the new National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) offers a glimmer of hope for communities with the potential to bring more equality and fairness to the planning system. NPF4, published in February 2023, is a key planning document containing all of Scotland’s planning policies. In contrast to previous NPFs, whose chief aim was to deliver the Government’s economic strategy, there is a notable change in emphasis in NPF4; one that prioritises nature and climate, giving ‘significant’ weight to nature restoration. However, this new direction needs to be supported by a wider transformation if it is to succeed. Planning Democracy carried out some community-led research to help assess whether these new policies are working to protect and restore nature. Whilst the results were not particularly encouraging in terms of any notable change in the quality of decision making, Planning Democracy believes that it is still early days and there remains an opportunity to use this potentially transformational policy document as a lever for change.
In a culture of austerity where council planners are overstretched and under-resourced, there is an overlooked source of expertise and commitment to nature that lies within our communities. The key conclusion of our research suggests that significant culture change within the planning system is required, where communities are recognised as key players in the delivery of these policies. The perception of communities as opponents of development needs to change to one where they are viewed as equal partners in helping to achieve nature restoration outcomes.
Good quality community engagement builds trust, reduces the likelihood of legal and regulatory challenges, and promotes learning and behaviours that enhance the local environment. Whilst there are some requirements for developers to consult communities pre-application, this is rarely used as an opportunity to establish truly authentic collaborative relationships in the early stages of the design of a development.
Many environmental enhancements are set out in planning conditions, but environmental management plans could benefit from input from local environmental groups with local
knowledge of habitats and species. Compliance with planning conditions can also be less than adequate, and can rely on communities to report on whether or not they are being adhered to. Unfortunately, communities are rarely given credit for reporting when there are problems such as tree felling during nesting season, or pollution incidents, let alone being kept abreast of enforcement action such as pollution cleanups. It seems sensible to us that community liaison groups should be a legal requirement on major developments as part of the commitment to collaborative planning.
Nature restoration takes years. Any biodiversity enhancements such as tree planting or meadow creation that may now be required as part of the NPF4 policies need long-term management, well after developers have moved on and the planning process is deemed complete. There is an opportunity here to explore ways to include communities so that ongoing biodiversity management plans can be passed to local environmental groups to carry out.
NPF4 provides a strong policy framework, which is extremely welcome, but its implementation is going to take much wider commitment to change. It has to include the active involvement of communities and environmental organisations as key collaborative partners to succeed. This will not only help deliver longer term and more appropriate development, but may help to alleviate widespread feelings of disempowerment among communities and the increasingly pervasive forms of eco anxiety.
In the Cairngorms National Park there could be opportunities for more nature-sympathetic planning through better community involvement. NatureScot have advised government that our National Parks need a “step change” in ambition to achieve their aims more effectively, and a “key element” is for communities to play a greater role.
Along with NPF4’s emphasis on addressing the climate and nature emergencies, this looks hopeful for communities and is welcomed by the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, which works to promote awareness, conservation and wise use of natural heritage and the environment.
An example where a new approach could make a difference is a hotel complex in central Aviemore, close to a burn that becomes part of the River Spey, an internationally protected area. The development was controversially approved by the Park Authority, despite well-informed community concerns about impacts on landscape and biodiversity, overdevelopment, increasing the oversupply of tourist accommodation, no provision of affordable housing for residents, and insufficient greenspaces. Due to SEPA’s concerns about development on a floodplain, the decision has been referred to Ministers, who can take account of community views afresh. A scaled-down development could be placed on the higher ground of the site away from the burn and the floodplain, and include housing rather than solely tourist accommodation. This would ensure that the floodplain is retained as a valued greenspace for people to enjoy, connectivity for wildlife restored, flood risk reduced through natural flood management, and community housing needs contributed to.
This kind of approach is in line with the step change NatureScot are advising, and provides the prospect of community and nature positive outcomes consistent with NPF4.
Community leadership is vital for the future of our seas
Rebecca
Plant, Programme Manager, Scotland, Fauna & Flora
Scotland, just as with other nations around the world, is increasingly confronting the impacts of the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Within Scotland, we have seen ongoing species declines, with average numbers of Scottish seabirds down by 49%. Inshore waters have been fished to such a point that in many areas the only remaining commercial catch is shellfish.
Communities across Scotland are intimately connected to their marine environment, witnessing first-hand the resulting impacts on their own environment, wellbeing and prospects. Even so, organised and proactive communities are making a significant impact on conservation in the marine environment, driving innovative solutions and fostering grassroots conservation movements. The role that such groups can have is clearly demonstrated by the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST, www.arrancoast.com) who pioneered the country’s first marine no-take zone, and subsequently partnered with Fauna & Flora (www.fauna-flora.org), which sparked the Coastal Communities Network (CCN, www. communitiesforseas.scot) in 2017 – in part as a means to share their experiences.
Habitat protection and restoration is often a slow process, but we already see biodiversity recovery within sites in Scotland where there are committed local groups. A growing body of evidence from the Lamlash Bay No-Take-Zone (NTZ) shows that the size, fertility and abundance of commercial species such as lobsters and scallops is significantly better within the NTZ, and seabed biodiversity is found to be increasing by 50% –examples of how biodiversity can be preserved and improved as a result of community actions and marine protection.
Local communities hold essential knowledge, and have a vital stake and mandate, to drive forward effective locally-led conservation.
“Local communities hold essential knowledge, and have a vital stake and mandate.”
CCN is a community-led network comprising local groups committed to the preservation and safeguarding of Scotland’s coastal and marine environments. Membership currently numbers 27 groups across Scotland’s coast, and CCN acts as a dynamic forum that has harnessed the power of a combined community voice to engage with government bodies. By reporting illegal activities and engaging with government bodies, CCN empowers communities to assert their rights and protect their marine and coastal natural heritage.
CCN is a success story of community-led conservation in the UK and a model that could be applied elsewhere. Together, CCN members have co-designed a project to report the illegal use of Acoustic Deterrent Devices on the west coast, raised a case with Environmental Standards Scotland, collaboratively achieved the first Hope Spot in mainland-UK waters, and trained other communities to establish habitat restoration projects. There has been a recent surge in community groups adopting marine restoration techniques in Scotland, a mobilisation that has been led by CCN members, evidencing the success of investing into local community groups and the value of peer-to-peer connection.
Encouraging and enabling community groups to identify their own aspirations for local conservation and restoration initiatives, and to design them for positive community cobenefits, provides a route towards sustainable solutions.
In late 2023, the Scottish Government published their response to the contentious consultation on their proposal to designate 10% of Scottish seas as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) by 2026. This indicated that “concerns regarding the potential impacts on local communities, particularly in rural coastal areas and islands, were shared by both those in support of and those against the proposals,” and many respondents also highlighted “concerns around taking a blanket approach to marine protection, and instead suggested building on the local knowledge and values of people who live by and work on the sea.” These concerns underscore the need for nuanced approaches that work for communities as a whole, and in response, the Scottish Government has begun to recognise the pivotal role of communities in marine restoration, signalling a shift towards more collaborative models of governance.
A recently published Scottish Government consultation on marine restoration follows in this vein, stating that “promoting and enabling communities to undertake responsible restoration in their local marine environment will be absolutely vital to reversing biodiversity decline in our seas and coasts.”
This is music to our ears. However, none of this work can be done in isolation and without establishing an enabling environment that fosters community leadership and participation. What we now want to see is a range of support on offer to local groups so that they can take on this vital role – and this goes beyond the obvious financial support to recognising and breaking down the barriers to participation and cultivating a culture of collaboration and support. By empowering communities to identify their own aspirations for conservation and restoration, we pave the way for sustainable solutions rooted in local knowledge and collective stewardship.
Image by TJ Fitzsimmons from Unsplash
Community development: the power of a plan
Annie Tordoff, Live Life Morvern Steering Group
Morvern is a small peninsula in the West Highlands, with a resident population of just 300 people, and is making strides to be a thriving net zero economy. There are around 20 registered charities and communities of interest participating in and enjoying this quiet spot of Scotland.
In the face of rural economic depopulation, lack of housing and a cost-of-living crisis, is it possible to be a net zero community? Morvern has a track record that has built confidence over time.
In 1999, after its first community planning exercise, Morvern Community Development Company (MCDC) opened its community owned fuel pump in Lochaline – not insignificant to avoid a 60-mile round trip to Fort William to fill up. This was followed by the purchase of 1.2 hectares of hazel woods right in the heart of the village with fabulous views and surrounding our war memorial. The wood was purchased from the Forestry Commission in October 2004 under Scottish Enterprise sponsorship. Financial support was secured from Highland Council, the Forestry Commission and local interests. Additional support was gratefully received from the Development Trusts Association in Scotland, offering advice and helping to build confidence in a board of volunteer Directors.
Leaping forward, 2021 saw a culmination of several important developments. Three one-bedroom homes in Lochaline were snapped up for rental, a community hub with café, charity shop, office space and meeting room opened, and the 1.6 megawatt Run of the Barr river community hydro scheme was commissioned, bringing a much-needed source of sustainable income. Morvern also held several local events on each of the ten days of Glasgow-based COP26 to promote our net zero aspirations, highlighting where individual action can make a difference.
And in 2023 the important Morvern Woodlands was recognised in the project coordination by the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest’s ‘Saving Morvern’s Rainforest’ project, led by RSPB. The amazing richness of natural life in Morvern’s landscape, biodiversity, attracts many visitors who come here specifically to enjoy this wildlife and wildness. There are a number of special habitats here, including Atlantic rainforest, hazel and oak woodland remnants. This initiative has brought jobs to the area and a resurgence in interest in our local natural habitats. Indeed, saving the rainforest is also a top priority in the latest community plan.
“Morvern has a track record that has built confidence over time.”
In 2011 a group of volunteers developed the community allotments on waste land in the heart of the village which has an uncertain history of ownership, with grant support from various funders. The area is a gardeners’ haven for many, with a covered area, pizza oven and log-built shed.
Also in 2011 the Lochaline Harbour pontoon facility opened, bringing boats and their business into a safe anchorage and now a growing centre for watersports.
In 2014 Morvern Community Woodlands (MCW) purchased the much-loved Achnaha woods from Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) with help from the National Forest Land Scheme and generous donations from local people. We had previously had a management agreement with FCS which had enabled us to undertake work in the woods: clearing rhododendron (which previously occupied more than a quarter of the wood), building new paths; and constructing a woodland shelter. MCW are now pursuing the purchase of woodland crofts to enable further land ownership by local people.
In 2015 CAOLAS, the Community Association Of Lochs And Sounds (www.caolas.org), was established by local community members as a way to increase understanding of the marine environment in our locality and involve people in its conservation. The 104km inshore coastal waters around Morvern are home to a variety of species and habitats of national and international importance, and support jobs in fishing, aquaculture, transport and tourism, and could provide us with green/blue energy and blue carbon storage. A community project led by CAOLAS to restore a population of European native oysters to Lochaline in order to increase biodiversity in and above the loch and clean up our seas was started. Further work is being scoped to look at cultivation of sea grass to capture carbon. Volunteers including schools monitor the oysters, collecting important shared data across our West Coast.
In 2021, needing to refresh a community plan that residents were ‘bought into’, Morvern Community Council engaged Planning Aid Scotland to help fully consult and shape its future aspirations. This followed a failed community buy-out of a local 6,000-acre estate where funds were in place but a community ballot did not support the acquisition. Our plan, Live Life Morvern, was the end result; the plan was the overall winner in the Scottish Government Planning Innovation awards in March 2024. The plan provides collective responsibility and shared goals for the next decade with an inspiring vision. Morvern Community Development is now pushing ahead with Phase 2 plans to build ten larger family homes.
Morvern, like all other rural areas, intermittently suffers from volunteer fatigue and inevitable differences of opinion, all which are amplified in a small community. But in summarising our achievements and the focus that Live Life Morvern holds for the future, we should feel confident that anything is possible.
What’s in a name?
Kate Patfield, Senior Press Officer, Ordnance Survey
Would you know where to find the Eye of the Butt, the Dalek or Harry Potter Bridge? With the development of a new database by national mapping service Ordnance Survey (OS), emergency services should be getting even closer to the communities they serve by sharing local names for landmarks.
During the last few months, OS has been encouraging bluelight organisations to input local and colloquial nicknames into a new database called the Vernacular Names Tool. This is a replacement for FINTAN, a mapping tool created more than ten years ago in response to a request from HM Coastguard, to allow users to upload any local name, alternative name or nickname for a coastal feature alongside the accurate location or existing geographic name in the mapping database. This ensured that HM Coastguard responders could get to emergencies, however their location was described, with much greater confidence and speed. From only having a rough idea of location and needing to search the map to confirm the right place, control room staff could simply type in a location nickname and be given a precise location. Now most of the contents of FINTAN have been uploaded into the Vernacular Names Tool alongside input from new emergency service users across England, Wales and Scotland, bringing the current volume of names to over nine and a half thousand, including Jabba the Hut, Stink Cove, Teletubby Hill and Coffin Rocks.
Chief Coastguard Peter Mizen said, “The Vernacular Tool is an incredibly useful resource for our Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres to have access to. It has allowed local knowledge to be shared across our operational network and there are examples where its use has improved the tasking of critical rescue assets.”
John Kimmance, Managing Director of OS National Mapping Services, said, “Wherever we live, we all have nicknames for local places. Uploading these into a database really could mean the difference between life and death on an emergency call. It is great to see how FINTAN added value to the work of HM Coastguard. We are now keen to get more 999 services uploading information into this essential tool.”
During a visit to OS Headquarters in Southampton, HRH The Princess Royal added a new colloquial name of her own to the database – ‘the wedding cake’, an alternative name for the Queen Victoria Memorial, which is situated opposite Buckingham Palace in London.
Further down the line, the information from the vernacular tool will be pulled into a new product, the OS Emergency Services Gazetteer. Launched in March this year, the gazetteer is a comprehensive and maintained database of locations with information populated and continually updated by OS. It already contains 1.3 million features – names, places and objects – such as motorway and road junctions and roundabouts, and is particularly effective in identifying the location of those areas that have no addresses, such as named cliffs and named waterfalls. The gazetteer is designed to equip responders with the precise location information they need to act quickly to save lives and property during emergencies. Like the vernacular tool, the gazetteer is a living, breathing resource, which continues to grow after its launch as new information is added.
Every feature within the gazetteer has a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) to improve data sharing and reporting. The UPRN serves as a unique identifier (much like a National Insurance number or car registration) for a location, applying a ‘common standard’ for addressable buildings and objects, which then makes it possible to collate, share, and connect data from various sources. The UPRN is already an established and trusted data tool relied upon by the emergency services, for example identifying the exact location of doctors’ surgeries or schools for emergency planning. Along with the help of utility companies, UPRNs have also been used to identify vulnerable households which could be particularly at risk during periods of flooding or extreme heat, ensuring emergency services and local resilience forums prioritise their safety.
OS has a long history of supporting the emergency services and their communities, and the use of its data has become essential in daily operations across the police, fire, ambulance and coastguard services. Not so well known is the fact is that OS also provides a 24/7 ‘mapping for emergencies’ service, in case the resilience community needs support for mapping the effects of flooding, or evacuation parameters during a suspected terrorist threat. But aside from supporting those blue-light responders, OS also supports thousands of other public sector organisations from parish and county councils right up to central government. Right at the heart of the provision of community healthcare and transport services, or emergency planning, OS data is frequently used to support accurate service delivery.
“Control room staff could simply type in a location nickname and be given a precise location.”
Image by Connor Mollison from Unsplash
The history of the lighthouse keepers’ houses of Erraid
Judy Gibson, Trustee, Ross of Mull Historical Centre
The Island of Erraid lies at the south western tip of the Ross of Mull. It is a tidal island easily accessed across the sands from Knockvologan or Fidden at low tide. Before 1867 there was only one family living on the island in the croft house.
The winter of 1885–86 had some horrific gales and 24 ships were wrecked on the Torran Rocks – a six-mile stretch of reefs extending out from Erraid. As a result, the Merchant Ship Owners and insurance companies petitioned the Northern Lighthouse Board to erect a lighthouse. Thomas and David Stevenson, engineers to the Board, were commissioned to design and build it. They visited Erraid to decide on where to locate the quarry and shore station. On that first trip, they were accompanied by Thomas’ son, the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who incorporated aspects of his Erraid experiences in many of his works.
In 1867 a granite quarry was opened up on the side of the hill overlooking Erraid Sound, and work started on the lighthouse which was to be situated on the Dhu Heartach Rock 15 miles out to sea.
This was no small venture: 180 men were employed in the building of the lighthouse and shore station, 96 experienced quarry men and stonemasons were brought in from Aberdeen and Peterhead, and many labourers would have been recruited from the local area. Huts were erected on Erraid to house the men, but many came with families who would have had to find accommodation locally. A huge pier and workshops were built by the shore. The quarry had its own smithy and there was a second one by the pier. The island was soon shaking from the sounds of blasting, and hammering, and all the noises that accompany a huge industrial operation as this.
beautifully shaped and fitted. The entire length of the walls surrounding the gardens was capped with curved coping stones. The roofs were tiled and fitted with lead guttering that fed into water tanks to supply each house. There were kitchen sinks plumbed into a sewage system. Each house had its own outhouse at the bottom of the garden. Two granite washhouses were built at the back of the row of cottages for the families to use. There was even a sundial on a pedestal installed in the end garden. This was housing of a quality normally only accessible on Mull by those with significant wealth. It must have caused quite a stir in the local community. A job as a lighthouse keeper would have been well sought after.
“180 men were employed in the building of the lighthouse and shore station.”
Every good weather day was used to its full advantage to get work done on the reef, but there were many days when the conditions out there were impossible to land the large granite blocks. In the summer of 1867 there were only 27 days when landing was possible. Despite this they managed to complete the building of the lighthouse by the end of 1871 and the light was first lit in 1872.
When work on the lighthouse wasn’t possible, the men were put to work building a row of eight granite cottages, outhouses and walled gardens for the use of the lighthouse keepers and their families. The quality of workmanship and the attention to detail on the cottages was of a similar high standard to that of the lighthouse itself. Every stone was
There were eight keepers and their families on Erraid. Four keepers worked for Skerryvore lighthouse and four for Dhu Heartach. Three men at a time would be on each light, staying out for a minimum of three weeks at a time. The men left on shore would be working on maintenance. The shore station was run somewhat like a military institution, as were the lighthouses. Inspections were carried out unannounced and the women were expected to maintain high standards of housekeeping. There was a great deal of polishing of doorknobs, scrubbing doorsteps, and dusting every ledge, nook and cranny. This could and did lead to a fair degree of rivalry between the women. This sometimes resulted in certain families not talking to each other for months. Keepers stayed only for a few years at each light, so the Erraid families would be constantly changing and this may have helped to reduce discord which could develop within such an isolated community. Families functioned independently of each other for the basic running of each household but there was plenty of opportunity for helping each other out. On sunny days the whole community would make picnic trips to the beach, and the ceilidhs on Erraid had a great reputation and people would walk from miles away on Mull to attend. The families grew their own vegetables, fished and caught rabbits. Fuel and boxes of key provisions would come from Oban, but the women and children would walk over to the Knockvologan and Fidden farms for milk, butter and eggs and into Fionnphort for other smaller items. The island had its own post box and Hughie McGilvray from the croft house would row the mail daily over to Fidden, meet up with the Fionnphort postman and exchange gossip and mail.
In 1886 a school was opened on Erraid, using the large room
at the end of the row. It started with 11 children from the shore station and four from the croft house. The teacher was housed in a cottage down near the pier. By the early 1920s the Erraid school was also taking in children from the Ross. The children had the island as their playground and Mrs McKechnie, the sole teacher for many years, would frequently take them outside for their learning. Memoirs written by some of the lighthouse keepers’ children describe with great fondness their experiences of growing up on the island. With up to eight families and often 15 children or more, it would have been quite a vibrant place and made for many magical memories.
In 1952 the shore station was moved to Oban, the island was put up for sale by the Argyll estates, and the cottages became empty. They were mostly used for holiday homes by the successive owners of the island, until in 1978 the current owners, the Van der Sluis family, offered to the Findhorn Foundation a custodial role of the island and the cottages once again became homes.
“The children had the island as their playground.”
It almost feels like a personal slight, as someone obsessed with ice age fossils, that my home country has so few to speak of. Whereas England, Wales and Ireland can boast copious fossil Pleistocene riches, Caledonia has hardly enough to fill a poke.
The answer why is obvious when you take more than a glance at the scoured straths and glens that make up the bulk of Scotland. The rasped bedrocks testify to the glacial might that covered northern Britain, grinding everything before them to rock flour. We did have mammoths, rhinos and sabretooths, but their bones have been turned into so much dust.
dated rhino in Britain. Similarly, in opencast coal mines in Sourlie, Ayrshire, rhino and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) limb bones have been found and dated to around 33,000 RCYBP. Apart from telling us when these giant mammals roamed Scotland, the dates also help inform when particular parts of the country were covered in glaciers: if there was open ground and fodder for megafauna, the glaciers must have retreated.
“The first Scottish woolly mammoth was dug from Greenhill Quarry in Ayrshire in 1816.”
The ragtag of surviving bits and bones are therefore very special. They rode out the ice age in a smattering of deep gravels and other protected locations, waiting to be discovered. It’s perhaps not surprising that most of our Pleistocene fossils were dug in the 19th century during the frenzy of canal digging and quarrying that followed the industrial revolution.
The first Scottish woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) identified as such was dug from Greenhill Quarry in Ayrshire in 1816 from under five metres of solid clay. A hefty piece of ivory tusk, it has been radiocarbon dated to around 27,000 RCYBP (radiocarbon years before present). Just five years later, in 1821, digging of the Union Canal unearthed a 12kg section of mammoth tusk within the Cliftonhall estate in Midlothian. Cheekily sold for carving (into chess pieces!) by the navvies who found it, only two-thirds of the tusk was subsequently recovered by the estate owner, as zealous whittlers had already split it into smaller pieces. Even the recovered sections have been mishandled over the years, and more parts of it have disappeared on its long journey to the National Museum of Scotland.
Shetland can also lay claim to tusks. In 1934, a trawler brought up two tusks in its nets from the seabed off Unst.
As the North Sea is a Holocene infilling of what used to be an open grassy steppe, mammoths are known to have lived and died there, and are often brought up by trawlers plying the Dogger Bank and other submerged landscapes. However, that’s not the case here, as dating of the tusks show them to be only a few centuries old. They were from elephants: probably the cargo of a 17th-century Dutch shipwreck. The Shetland News did do an April Fool story in 2013, claiming a mammoth tusk found in Sullom Voe and examined by Swedish palaeontologist Avril Narr (April Fool in Swedish), but I’m not holding my breath for a Shetland mammoth.
A more recently discovered sea fossil is the real deal. The Loch Ryan mammoth was found by beachcomber Nic Coombey on the Stranraer coast in 2018. The fossil femur is definitely from a woolly mammoth and probably eroded from deposits under the Irish Sea. The Loch Ryan femur is also the only mammoth bone (as opposed to tusk or tooth) that has been found in Scotland to date.
That other woolly giant, the woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis), is also found at a few Scottish sites. In Bishopbriggs, multiple rhino bones and teeth have been found in glaciofluvial sands and gravels quarried for industry in the 1930s. Dated to 31,000 RCYBP, they are the youngest
A rare and beautiful member of the ice age fauna is the misnamed Irish Elk (Megaloceros giganteus), which has also been found in Scotland and in many other Eurasian countries. The largest deer to have ever lived, dwarfing the moose (Alces alces), its prodigious antlers span up to 12 feet wide and four feet in breadth. That’s not to say that moose aren’t impressive; they most definitely are. Fossil moose have been found in many Scottish Holocene sites, including by a young Hugh Miller (recounted in My Schools and Schoolmasters).
The first Megaloceros finding in Scotland was of an almost complete skull and rack from Maybole in Ayrshire in 1837. The skull was found after draining bogland and excavating the underlying marl. A second antlered skull was discovered in peat on Islay in 1870. A third section of skull and antler was found in 1899 in the river Cree in Wigtownshire. While the Irish Elk went extinct around 7,000 years ago, the dated Scottish remains from the Cree are some of the youngest in Western Europe at ~10,500 RCYBP.
And that’s about it for extinct ice age Scottish mammals. Of course there are still other sites and other remains we could talk about. It would be remiss not to mention the incredible Inchnadamph bone caves of Assynt, which are jammed full of reindeer, brown bear (Ursus arctos), wolf (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx), Arctic lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus), and Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus). So many young reindeer remains have been found that the caves must have been a calving ground for thousands of generations. While a few radiocarbon dates show that the reindeer and brown bear lived in Assynt from the Late Pleistocene, most of the remains are probably Holocene in age (including the thirdcentury-AD lynx). An interesting exception is the skull of a polar bear (Ursus maritimus), which has been dated to the Late Pleistocene. It remains Scotland’s only polar bear fossil.
Dr Barnett is the author of The Missing Lynx, published by Bloomsbury Wildlife. See back page for details, and a special offer price for our readers.
Sir George Adam Smith and the Historical Geography of the Holy Land
Kenneth Maclean FRSGS, RSGS Collections Team
The picture shows the entry of General Allenby into Jerusalem in December 1917, after its surrender by Turkish forces to British Imperial troops; a victory with significant long-term geopolitical implications. Sources record that a factor in Allenby’s success was his use of George Adam Smith’s Historical Geography of the Holy Land (HGHL) as a military handbook, which provided a comprehensive geographical survey of the area, its topographical detail, including the steep slopes and ridges of the Judean Hills, and the sites of longforgotten wells. The HGHL, however, is best remembered as a study guide for biblical scholars, rather than a soldierly aid.
George Adam Smith: life and career
George Adam Smith (GAS) was born in Calcutta in 1856 where his father Dr George Smith (a founding figure of the RSGS) was Principal of Doveton College for Eurasian Boys. Two years after the Indian Mutiny / First Nationalist Uprising, GAS and his brother returned to Edinburgh with their mother. After attendance at the Royal High School, he proceeded to Edinburgh University, graduating MA in 1875. Destined for the Free Kirk ministry, he spent four years at New College Divinity School, where he was particularly influenced by the Hebrew scholar AB Davidson, a key proponent of German schools of Biblical Criticism whose ideas were challenging the traditionally Calvinist Free Kirk. Before ordination, he went to Cairo to work with the American Mission, and critically for his later HGHL, learned some Arabic and undertook the first of four visits to Palestine: twice (in 1880 and 1891) before writing HGHL, and in 1901 and 1904. Of the 1891 visit, RD Kernohan wrote in The Road to Zion, “An escort, with sword, pistol and musket was still needed – and the party mustered 32 animals (13 horses, 15 mules, four asses) and seven tents. There were Hanna, the dragoman … Francis and another camp waiter, Iskander the cook and his assistant, together with various grooms and muleteers.”
tributes were made in memory of this significant biblical scholar and geographer. One of his Free Kirk trainees, later minister of St Georges West, Edinburgh, wrote: “I can picture [Smith] round that raised contour map where he so often gathered us, enthusiastically explaining why such-and-such an expedition went that way and not that. It was so infectious and so natural. And it made us preachers”.
“Throughout HGHL, theology and geography are two sides of one coin.”
The Historical Geography of the Holy Land By 1935, HGHL had sold 35,000 copies and reached its 25th edition. It typifies the ‘Geography behind History’ approach to historical geography. To quote Smith’s preface: “What is needed … is some idea of the outline of Palestine, its shape and disposition, its plains, passes and mountains; its rain, winds and temperatures; its colours, lights and shades. Students … desire to see a background and to feel an atmosphere to learn what geography has to commit to questions of Biblical criticism.”
For GAS it was essential that HGHL was as up to date as possible. Three conditions were necessary: “personal acquaintance with the land; a study of the exploration, discoveries and decipherments; … and the results of Biblical Criticism.” Hence the four visits to Palestine by Smith; meticulous field work, with “no feature of the landscape, no wadi or tell or track that escaped his keen eye,” along with daily readings of temperature and barometric pressure; visits to archaeological sites; contemporary geographical thought, including work by German geographer Carl Ritter; and the acceptance of modern critical thought.
Inducted to the fashionable charge of Queen’s Cross Free Church, Aberdeen, GAS established a reputation as a preacher and author diffusing critical concepts regarding Old Testament scholarship. His related enthusiasm for geography was reflected in his role as a founding figure in the Aberdeen branch of the RSGS, further travels in the Holy Land and climbing in the Alps.
In 1892 GAS was appointed Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at the Glasgow Free (after 1900, United Free) College. Academically his work progressed with the publication of HGHL and, more controversially, his Modern Criticism and the Old Testament – a text criticised by conservative members of his own and other denominations. In 1909 he was appointed Principal of Aberdeen University, a post held until 1935; served as Moderator of the United Free Church General Assembly; and played an active role in the 1929 union of his denomination with the Church of Scotland.
Recognition of his worth came with a knighthood in 1916 and a host of honorary degrees. He retired to Balerno village, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, passing away in 1942. Many
The HGHL falls into three ‘Books’. Book One has an overview of Syria’s geographical situation astride three continents, the form of the land with what Smith dubbed its three ‘strips’, the climate and fertility of the land, with their effects on religion. Books Two and Three review the regional divisions (eg “The Coast”, “Land of Edom”) and historical themes (eg “The Philistines and their cities”). Illustrating the book are Bartholomew layer-coloured maps at a scale of 4 inches to a mile.
In HGHL, Smith is a very effective communicator, blending narrative eloquence, luminescent descriptions of scenery, and at times, a sense of the numinous. It was a text issued in a less secular age; readers would have understood GAS’s remark, “God was good to me when I wrote that book.”
Throughout HGHL, theology and geography are two sides of one coin. Rather like geographer-theologian J M Houston, recently discussed by Chris Philo (see Scottish Geographical Journal, Vol 138, Sep–Dec 2022), GAS “embodied, practised and voiced a distinctive gathering-place between geography and theology”.
FURTHER READING
Fixing the Indemnity: The Life and Work of Sir George Adam Smith by ID Campbell (2004)
Scriptural Geography: Portraying the Holy Land by EJ Aiken (2020)
An interview with John Lewington FRSGS
Holly McNair, Communications Officer, RSGS
Is it true that you were a Geography teacher?
Once upon a time, I was a Geography teacher, but that’s only one of many things which I have squeezed into my life. I lived in Edinburgh and left school at 18, and I took a job as a management trainee with a textile company in Glasgow. Eventually, they wanted me to go to a college and study something that I didn’t want to do. So, I decided I wanted to study what I’d always enjoyed, which was geography. Once I graduated from Edinburgh, there were two things I wanted to do: I wanted to work in a developing country, and I wanted to get married.
“I wanted to study what I’d always enjoyed, which was geography.”
I found a job as a merchandise manager with a Liverpool company who had ventures in West Africa, and they sent me to Kano in northern Nigeria. My wife and I got married, and I departed for Africa. Off I toddled. I’d never been abroad in my life until then. Trying to get into Nigeria then was difficult. They kept asking me questions that I couldn’t possibly answer, and eventually a small man in uniform appeared and said, “for goodness sake, can’t you see he’s wet behind the ears? Just let him in.”
And they did and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I traded with native traders. If they came to me with something that I might want to buy, then we negotiated. The bottom line was they had to teach me some Hausa, otherwise I wouldn’t deal with them. So I learned Hausa, or traders’ Hausa, quite quickly. My wife eventually came out, but we were robbed one night, which was scary for a relatively newly married couple, and we decided that perhaps Nigeria was not our future. We were watching the film To Sir, with Love one night, and at the end of it I said to my wife, “I think there’s a moral here; I think I should go and be a teacher.”
I trained to be a Geography teacher in Jordanhill, and then, having graduated as a Geography and Modern Studies teacher, we looked around for local authorities who were looking for a Geography teacher and provided a house. And Perth was one such authority. They provided me with a house in North Muirton and a job at St Columba’s, and that’s where I started professionally teaching. My wife’s parents were ageing; they lived in the Borders, so we moved to Jedburgh. After a couple of years, I saw a job advertised in Shetland. I applied for the job and turned up to discover that I was one of three people supposed to be interviewed. However, two of them chose not to turn up, so they had a Hobson’s choice: me or nothing. And they offered me the job. And funnily enough I accepted, and we moved to Shetland and I got very involved in the Shetland community.
Eventually we decided that we needed, for family reasons, to come back to the mainland. Perth seemed the obvious place, and we’ve been here almost 20 years ever since, where I have continued to be involved with the community in one way or another. I have been president of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, I have been a member of Perth Civic Trust, and my connection with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society is enduring.
How did you get involved with Radio Shetland?
One day I got asked if I would mind doing a talk to a group of people for Christian Aid Week. I think it was a country in
West Africa they were specialising in, so I did a talk about the country to a group of people in Shetland, not knowing that one of the audience was the boss of Radio Shetland. She went back to Radio Shetland after this and said, “I think I know somebody who could be a broadcaster.” And lo and behold, I was asked if I would take part in a live discussion programme, which I did, and a month later I was asked if I wouldn’t mind chairing the programme, and I did that for 12 years.
I loved it. Some of my programmes I particularly loved. I did one about cancer which people talk about still. The boss of Cancer Research was in Shetland to collect a big cheque, and he would have to be one of my guests on the programme. I found a Macmillan nurse and a local GP, and I decided I needed someone that does all the naughty things that Cancer Research warn about, so that was going to be me. I was a smoker and a drinker, two things which I thought would get me black marks, and it was a programme which people talked about for years because it made a difference to them, their experience, their family. What other things have you done?
They were hoping to start Young Enterprise Scotland in Shetland, and they were looking for a teacher who would be the school link. Young Enterprise gives senior school pupils a chance to run a company for a year, make money, or not, to learn how to run a business. And they were looking for a volunteer, so I did that for 12 years. I even chaired the Young Enterprise Scotland conference in Glasgow, which was challenging because I was in Shetland. However, one of the sponsoring companies was very keen to help, and one day I had to attend Sumburgh airport to get on a plane. I didn’t realise until we took off that I was the only passenger. That was scary enough until the pilot sat down beside me with a cup of coffee. He explained that once you get near enough Aberdeen, machines fly themselves, so he could sit back and have his coffee.
Have you always volunteered in the Fair Maid’s House?
Yes, it was in the Fair Maid’s House that volunteers were needed, and that’s where I’ve been ever since. One of my habits is trying to learn, and anybody coming into the Fair Maid’s House, whether they are a visitor or a volunteer, is surrounded by potential questions. I’ve always encouraged fellow volunteers to say to visitors, “I don’t know but I’m going to find out,” and then go and do your homework. I love that. I’ve been doing it for a long time, and I hope I will continue to do it forever more.
One of the things I always say to new volunteers is, “be careful, the person who comes in who is the least smartly dressed is probably the most eminent professor.” One gentleman came in the door, and he poked me in the middle of the chest and he said, “What do you know about Scotia?” He explained that one of his ancestors had been on the crew of Scotia. “Oh,” I said, “the crew of Scotia spoke to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1905, I think.” I went to get the boss, Mike, and said, “I have a visitor here who’d love to see our Visitors Book from 1905.” Within a few minutes he was with that Visitors Book, and this elderly gentleman, who’d
come in angry, left here on cloud nine, because he had been shown the signature of one of his ancestors who had been part of the group who had spoken to RSGS in 1905. Is there anything you think RSGS does well?
The talks programme is fantastic. We cover the whole country, we cover every topic, it’s absolutely incredible how it manages to do that. I think the Society has become a very professional body working on hardly any staff at all. How you managed to do that, I really don’t know. It’s one of the wonders of the modern world.
John Lewington is a longstanding RSGS member and much-valued volunteer.
“We moved to Shetland and I got very involved in the Shetland community.”
John Lewington speaking at the launch of ‘An Historical Map of Perth’.
To help celebrate the 140th anniversary of RSGS in 2024, I chose quotes by 14 of the fascinating people connected with RSGS from 1884 to the present day. Their words tell us something unique: they might encapsulate a moment in time, or convey a vision for the future, or describe an epic journey. They might also touch on key events in the wider context of world history. Just as importantly, they reveal something precious about the individuality of the person who spoke them.
The first seven quotes were published in the spring 2024 edition of The Geographer. Here we have the second seven.
Sir Michael Palin
“I think you’ve got to get there, walk around, smell it, feel it, touch it, see the expressions on people’s faces, then you’ll learn something – you may learn that they all hate you, but it’s highly unlikely! My experience of the world is that people are interested in each other – they want to know more about you, and if you want to know more about them, that’s the way it opens up.”
In his first TV travel series Around the World in 80 Days, which aired in 1989, Michael Palin spoke frankly about the discomforts as well as the pleasures of travelling, and immediately gained a tremendous public following. With good humour and a curious mind, he embarked on gruelling journeys and helped to open up the world’s remotest regions to an audience for whom travel off the beaten track had suddenly become a real possibility. More than 30 years and many series later, he is still crossing borders into potentially difficult regions to see for himself what life is like there. North Korea and Iraq are among his most recent destinations.
Sir Michael was awarded the Livingstone Medal in 2008; he gave an online talk for RSGS in 2021.
Helen Sharman
“The whole time in space, I don’t think I once thought about any material object I owned. When push comes to shove, what is the most important thing in life? Your material stuff really doesn’t matter but we do need to take care of those people who we know and love on Earth.”
Orbiting the Earth in the Mir Space Station in 1991, Helen Sharman was offered a rare perspective on the planet that is our home. As a scientist and Britain’s first astronaut, her work was focused on investigating the formation of protein crystals in space and the effects of weightlessness on the human body. But when she gazed out at the Earth, she realised that everything in its environment was interconnected: political boundaries made no difference to weather patterns and smoke from fires. It was her relationships with the people down there on that beautiful blue planet that occupied her thoughts the most.
Colonel John Blashford-Snell
“There’s a tribe in the far end of Guyana called the Wai-wai. A friend of mine, General Joe Singh, who was the head of the Guyana Defence Force, was very keen to help this tribe because they act as sort of honorary guardians of his southern border. He was a blood brother of the tribe, and he said to me, ‘They desperately need medical aid and dentists.’ So we took an expedition of doctors and dentists back to help the tribe.
And when we were about to leave, the chief priest of the church there – they had an Evangelical church – said to me, ‘When you come back, as I hope you will, would you do us a favour?’ And I said, ‘What is it?’ And he said, ‘Would you bring me a grand piano?’”
A Colonel in the Royal Engineers, John Blashford-Snell is the ‘explorer’s explorer’, whose exploits are held in awe by modern-day adventurers. Over the last 50 years he has mounted over 100 expeditions worldwide, focusing on scientific research and community aid. The stories arising from these expeditions have taken on an immortality of their own: for example, in 1968, while making the first descent of the Blue Nile from its source in Ethiopia, he had an idea to use inflatable boats, and thereby ‘accidentally’ invented the sport of white-water rafting.
John was making his second visit to the Wai-wai tribe in Guyana in 2000, and he promised to see what he could do about getting them a grand piano. A few months later, using teamwork and ingenuity, he was hauling a baby grand through the rainforest to the Wai-wai’s hilltop settlement. Two years after that, he received a message to say that it needed tuning… John received the Livingstone Medal in 1974 and has given many talks to RSGS. Most recently, he was interviewed for the Inspiring People talks in 2021.
Wangari Maathai
“I found myself not just a woman wanting to plant trees to provide food and firewood. I found myself a woman fighting for justice, a woman fighting for equality. I started planting trees and found myself in the forefront of fighting for the restoration of democracy in my country.” (Wangari Maathai, Oregon State University, via Flickr)
Returning to Kenya in 1966 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, Wangari Maathai was shocked at the deforestation that was happening in her beloved homeland, destroying the natural environment and impacting the welfare of local people. In response, she set up the Green Belt Movement, encouraging women to collect seeds and plant trees. The project gained impetus, and Wangari found herself drawn onto the political stage. She served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, and in partnership with the University of Nairobi she founded the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies.
Helen gave a talk for RSGS in 1996, and was interviewed for The Geographer in 2019.
Wangari was awarded the Livingstone Medal in 2007.
Sir David Attenborough
“‘Some people,’ I shouted, ‘are said to dislike bats because they fear they might get entangled in their hair. Of course, there is no danger of that – because bats have an amazing navigational system, far beyond the range of the human ear. It is one of nature’s marvels.
As you can see, none of these tens of thousands of bats are even colliding with one another, let alone me.’
That was about as much as I could manage before I choked. Maurice cut the camera.
Hugh turned off the battery light. And a huge bat crashed straight into my face.”
Making a wildlife programme in Borneo might sound glamorous, but for David Attenborough and his film crew (cameraman Maurice Fisher and assistant Hugh Maynard) the reality was very different. Venturing into the depths of a bat cave, their torches lit up great dunes of droppings, topped with a seething crust of cockroaches. David, professional as ever, did his best to address the camera before the stench of the droppings (and an unfortunate bat) almost overpowered him.
Today, Sir David Attenborough is loved and respected not just for the brilliance of his wildlife documentaries, but for his wisdom about the future of the Earth’s natural environments and the diverse forms of life that they support. In his recent book, A Life on Our Planet, he shares his belief that, as humans, we can still manage our impact on the Earth and once again become a species in harmony with nature. Sir David received the Livingstone Medal in 1989 and the Scottish Geographical Medal in 2011. Lyse Doucet
“People who are fighting for their lives… they have to wake up with a bit of hope and a bit of humanity and a bit of humour. And humour, for me, is the universal language. I use it constantly, I learn enough of the language just to be able to tell a few jokes because that is what keeps people going.”
As the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet is regularly sent to report from places of human conflict and natural disaster. When she was a guest of RSGS in March 2023, she had just returned from the Middle East, where she had been reporting on the earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey; before that, she had been in Ukraine, witnessing the impact of the Russian invasion at first hand. She gave us an insight into the exceptional challenges of her profession and revealed that she greatly admired the “uncommon, everyday kind of courage” in the people she met. Lyse was awarded the Mungo Park Medal in 2023.
Bertrand Piccard
“There was a time in exploration when it was new continents, then it was new planets. Now, it’s really how to live better on this planet, how to protect our planet, how to improve the quality of life, how to find new solutions. So you don’t really require a lot of physical strength. You need to find a mental endurance to go through the obstacles, through the people who tell you it’s impossible, and keep faith that life is something that is worth living well.” (Piccard Portrait, by Revillard-Rezo)
After piloting a Rozière balloon, the Breitling Orbiter 3, non-stop around the world, Bertrand Piccard dreamed of circumnavigating the globe in a plane that used no fossil fuel. This is how the Solar Impulse was born, a revolutionary aircraft that uses photovoltaic cells to capture energy from the sun. In 2016, Piccard and fellow pilot André Borschberg took turns to fly this ‘noiseless dragonfly’ with a 72-metre wingspan for a total distance of 43,000km, starting and finishing in Abu Dhabi. It was the world’s first round-the-world flight powered entirely by solar energy.
Now, Piccard is using his pioneering spirit to show world leaders that there are viable and desirable alternatives to the carbon-intensive technologies of the past. He is also encouraging us all to question our preconceptions about what we can and cannot do: he says that shedding our fears is like dropping ballast from a balloon in order to find a new direction.
Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg were awarded the Mungo Park Medal in 2017.
Our understanding of the Earth, the methods that we use to experience it, and the ways in which we communicate that experience, have been utterly transformed in the space of 140 years. But I do think that if, in 1884, someone had suggested to John George Bartholomew that a guest speaker at RSGS would be talking about flying around the world in a solar-powered plane, he would have been surprised and delighted (and would quite possibly have been thinking about how to incorporate the new data into Bartholomew’s world atlases).
SOURCES
Sir Michael Palin: interview with Jo Woolf for The Geographer (2021)
Helen Sharman: interview with Jo Woolf for The Geographer (2019)
Col John Blashford-Snell: interview with Dr Vanessa Collingridge for RSGS Inspiring People talks (2021)
Wangari Maathai: documentary Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Maathai (2008)
Sir David Attenborough: Life on Air (2002), describing the filming of Eastward with Attenborough in 1973
Lyse Doucet: interview with Dr Vanessa Collingridge for RSGS (2023)
Bertrand Piccard: interview with Sue Stockbridge, Access to Inspiration podcast for RSGS (2023)
The Missing Lynx The Past and Future of Britain’s Lost Mammals
Ross Barnett (Bloomsbury Wildlife, July 2020)
Britain was a very different place 15,000 years ago: home to lions, lynx, bears, wolves, bison and many more megafauna. But as its climate changed and human populations expanded, most of early Britain’s largest mammals disappeared. Palaeontologist Ross Barnett uses case studies, new fossil discoveries and biomolecular evidence to paint a picture of these lost species and to explore the ecological significance of their disappearance. He also looks at the realistic potential of reintroductions, rewilding and even of resurrection in Britain and overseas.
The Ripple Effect
A Celebration of Britain’s Brilliant Wild Swimming Communities
Anna Deacon, Vicky Allan (Black & White Publishing, September 2023)
Wild swimming has been a movement, a wave that has surged in popularity across Britain, rippling out and spreading joy. And at the centre of it all are the groups and communities that gather at the water’s edge… to dip together, scream together, laugh together, and share stories and support. From menopausal mermaids to student dippers, male mental health groups to Wim Hof enthusiasts, this book dives into why so many people say it’s not just about the water but the marvellous pods of people they find themselves swimming with.
Behind Everest
Readers of The Geographer can buy The Missing Lynx in paperback for only £8.99 (RRP £11.99) with FREE UK P&P. To order, please visit www.bloomsbury.com/uk/missinglynx-9781472957351 and quote discount code ‘MISSINGLYNX24’ at the checkout.
Offer ends 30th Sept 2024
Not the End of the World
How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
Hannah Ritchie (Chatto & Windus, January 2024)
We are bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, we should reconsider having children. But data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in history. Packed with research, practical guidance and enlightening graphics, she give us the tools to understand what works, what doesn’t, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.
Ruth Mallory’s Journey in the Shadow of the First British Expeditions
Kate Nicholson (Pen & Sword Books, May 2024)
This captivating story intertwines the remarkable life of Ruth Mallory, wife of legendary Everest climber George Mallory, with a parallel journey a century later, and explores our evolving attitudes towards risk and responsibility. Kate’s quest to understand Ruth takes her to forgotten corners of archives in the UK and USA, and into private recollections and collections. She explores the complexities of marriage, the indomitable spirit of early female climbers, and the enduring impact of the First World War, the League of Nations and the Empire on individual lives.
The Beacon Bike Around England and Wales in 327 Lighthouses
Edward Peppitt (Icon Books, April 2024)
This is the story of a 3,500-mile cycle ride to explore the onshore and offshore lighthouses of England and Wales, proving that a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis doesn’t mean giving up on a dream. It is the tale of one man’s quest to fulfil the promise he made to himself as a small child, nestled in the bed of an attic room while the glow of Dungeness lighthouse flashed past his window. It is also a loving tribute to the coast; not only its beautiful landscape, but also the communities that make it so special.
RSGS: a better way to see the world
Phone 01738 455050 or visit www.rsgs.org to join the RSGS.
Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU
Charity SC015599
Way Makers An Anthology of Women’s Writing about Walking
Kerri Andrews (Reaktion Books, September 2023)
Moving from Elizabeth Carter’s correspondence with Catherine Talbot in the 18th century through to Merryn Glover in the present day, and across poetry, letters, diaries, novels and more, this anthology traces a long tradition of women’s walking literature. Walking is, for these women, a source of creativity and comfort, a means of expressing grief, longing and desire, and an activity representing freedom but also sometimes tinged with danger and fear.
