Glen Feshie in the New York Times

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 Sean Kelly 16 May 2022

I know this topic has been covered before, but this article is well worth a read.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/05/headway/scotland-peatlands-c...

It does however, only focus on one landowner, and the issues of peatland preservation, because carbon capture is now a political hot potato, but other environmental concerns are not really addressed. Little about rewilding the highlands, the decline of the mountain hare, encroachment of skiing development into these remote areas, the proliferation of grouse moors and their lack of bio-diversity, the deliberate culling of raptors, bulldozed tracks and the destruction they cause, the introduction of wind-farms. It is sadly a very long sorry list.

But land carbon credits sold to the highest bidder? Just who are the good guys in all this?

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 Tringa 20 May 2022
In reply to Sean Kelly:

I read that article too and have, on and off, been following what Anders Povlsen has been doing for a few years. I can't decide how I feel about him.

For example, for years there has been plenty of comment that the deer population of Scotland is too high and he has done something about it. However, part of his plans is some very expensive holiday accommodation which isn't very inclusive, and as noted in the article there is an issue about the buying of property in Tongue.

As you say there are many other this to consider and if rewilding took off on a big scale it would alter dramatically the Scottish landscape as we know it today.

To answer your question, I don't know who the good guys are or what the answer is to the future of the Scottish landscape, work and life in the Highlands.

Dave

 DaveHK 20 May 2022
In reply to Tringa:

> I don't know who the good guys are or what the answer is to the future of the Scottish landscape, work and life in the Highlands.

Land reform.

Post edited at 09:00
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 NobleStone 20 May 2022
In reply to Sean Kelly:

I think one of the most succinct arguments I've heard is Dave Mac's interview with Andy Wightman:  youtube.com/watch?v=xWwE0-3_YXQ&

 magma 20 May 2022
In reply to Sean Kelly:

carbon credits and Brewdog - Earth says no sale..

 magma 20 May 2022
In reply to NobleStone:

thanks- very informative

Monbiot's article from 2014: https://www.monbiot.com/2014/05/19/highland-spring/

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 magma 20 May 2022
In reply to Sean Kelly:

i saw another peatland preservation project where they were removing tree saplings eg birch to prevent drying out so where does tree planting come in - different locations presumably - and who decides?

Post edited at 13:51
OP Sean Kelly 20 May 2022
In reply to NobleStone:

> I think one of the most succinct arguments I've heard is Dave Mac's interview with Andy Wightman:  youtube.com/watch?v=xWwE0-3_YXQ&

Thanks for that link. Concise and very much to the point. In effect Andy Wightman is echoing Aldo Leopold 80 years ago, when he wrote  A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC / THINKING LIKE A MOUNTAIN.

https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/aldo-leopold/

The other definitive book of concern for the environment we inhabit is Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

http://rachelcarson.org/Default.aspx

And now 60 years later we appear to have made little progress towards achieving their hopes for the environment. So is the acquisition of money the root of all evil and to hell with everything else?

 SFM 21 May 2022
In reply to Sean Kelly:

Very interesting thread. Some good reading I’ve not seen before.

Also climbing related, I reckon I now know where Silent Spring at Polney Crag got it’s name from!  

 Tringa 21 May 2022
In reply to NobleStone:

> I think one of the most succinct arguments I've heard is Dave Mac's interview with Andy Wightman:  youtube.com/watch?v=xWwE0-3_YXQ&

Thanks for posting this excellent interview. Well worth half an hour of anyone's time.

Dave

OP Sean Kelly 21 May 2022
In reply to Sean Kelly:

The book that originally triggered my intetest in this topic was Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction which is very well written, and in case you were wondering, we are in the middle of the 6th extinction at the moment. 


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