the politicisation of the scottish landscape

Wed, Jan 12, 2011

It seems there’s a political battle looming between the increasingly oppressed outdoors masses and the Scottish government. As I said in my post about Dunmaglass, the figures for renewable development in Scotland do not add up and what the Scottish government gives with one hand, it destroys with the other. Then it struck me that what’s happening is habitat destruction. The habitat of those who love the outdoors. Politicians have been destroying habitats for centuries and the unfortunate inhabitants, having no worth their eyes and no means to communicate have quietly died out, sometimes with a maudlin swansong on the front of a National Geographic or protester’s t-shirt. Habitat destruction in Scotland has a long history, from the clearing of the Caledonian Forest, to Victorian mass wildlife killings and Forestry Commission monoculture. Possibly the greatest destruction in modern times has been the flooding of the glens for hydro power. Power that was modelled on Norway, until those responsible realised there are no glaciers in Scotland and therefore no reliable means of power generation from water. What we see now are flooded glens used as batteries for lowland cities. When the masses make a cup of tea, the glens provide the power surge required to boil all those kettles. The Highlands are on standby, quite literally.

Forestry was needed after the second world war, so no-one complained at the monotonous blanket that was draped over the landscape. When the glens were flooded people needed work and a better standard of living. There was the nascent rise of environmentalism when the Ben Lomond scheme was challenged and defeated. A flooding too far.

Today however, there is no world war to recover from. The standard of living is possibly one of the best in the world. We are awash with electrical power. We do not need anything else from our landscape. We’ve taken enough to satisfy our western lifestyles. What is happening now is greed. Greed for a small country to get recognition on the world stage. Politicians wanting to leave a legacy that isn’t relevant to our country.

Those politicians are now destroying our habitat. Our breathing spaces. Our spiritual lungs. The one reason we can put up with modern society. But first we must apply Hanlon’s Razor to them. This adage states:

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”

and the best way to deal with stupidity is by educating. Hence the rise of political influence from the outdoors community. The Scottish public aren’t daft. We’re all susceptible to rhetoric and Alex Salmond is a past master at the genre. We all love great speeches but we also have to see the other side of the coin and with a Scottish general election coming in May, the MCofS and other outdoors groups are trying to get their message across.

Perhaps it’s time for an outdoors political party? The groundswell is there. There are protests imminent. The stakes are the highest they’ve ever been. When they carved up the hills for conifers and flooded the glens for power there was plenty landscape to go round. Now there isn’t.

It’s time for our Bannockburn.