Inversnaid

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest. One of his poems was written about a mountain stream that flows from Inversnaid into Loch Lomond in the Scottish highlands. The last few verses, of this fine poem, in particular, have much to say to us today: “…What would the World be, once

Earth for All

I have just read ‘Earth for All: A survival guide for humanity’. This is A Report to the Club of Rome (2022) by Sandrine Dixson-Decleve et al. It comes fifty years after ‘The Limits to Growth’ (1972) by Donella Meadows et al. The Club of Rome is an international think tank dedicated to systemic thinking

Remember the mosses

I have just read the book ‘Gathering Moss’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer (ISBN 978-0-141-99762-9) . She is both an expert in moss ecology and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. The stories told of different moss species are shared with great reverence and honour for these humble plants. Indeed, in alerting us early

The One-Straw Revolution

There are so many wonderful lessons to be drawn from the book ‘The One Straw Revolution’ (ISBN 978-1-59017-313-8) by Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) in which he writes about the development and practice of his natural framing technique on a hillside in Japan. The principles of his method are: Nature left alone is in perfect balance, he

Vernacular Values

I have recently read Ivan Illich’s book ‘Shadow Work’ (1981). I was drawn to it given that the author had in the past thrilled me with his insights in his book ‘Limits to medicine’ (1976). In ‘Shadow Work’ Ivan Illich sets out his thesis that our modern-day economy has commodified almost everything- such that people

Being frugal

To be frugal is a way of being that has, in modern times, not been widely celebrated. It perhaps invokes a sense of stinginess, a lack of generosity, or a restriction to a freedom to use resources as we wish. However, the origins of this word come from ‘fruitfulness’ and the ‘enjoyment of this fruitfulness’.

Ancient Futures

I am very grateful to Nickie, a member of our bioregional group, for recommending that I read the book ‘Ancient Futures’ by Helena Norberg-Hodge. Since reading it, I have re-visited it several times and it continues to teach me. The book’s author describes the lives and culture of the Ladakh people who live in arid

Environmental History

I recently read the book ‘Floating Coast: an environmental history of the Bering Strait’ by Bathsheba Demuth.(ISBN: 978-0-393-35832-2) It is a remarkable piece of writing about the whaling industry in and around the Bering Strait whose geography is that of its first peoples and in more recent times also that of American and Russian territories

Ecocriticism

I recently read an article about Serenella Iovino who is an Italian academic involved in ‘Ecocriticism’. This is an approach that looks at literature to find out how the relationships between human and non-human beings are portrayed and which also hopes to raise our consciousness of how we are part of nature. She also says

Climate change and mental health

The climate emergency is already impacting lives around the World. This in turn is affecting mental health which was the topic of a recent excellent broadcast on the BBC World Service programme ‘The climate question’. The particular episode being entitled “How is climate change affecting our mental health?” There was a great range of voices