Outdoors on eBothy Blog

the politicisation of the scottish landscape

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

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.

on the interconnectedness of information

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Since the (hopefully temporary) demise of Solitary Walker’s blog, I’ve been rootin’ around for other sources of inspiration for the outdoors. Philosophical musings, poetry and the like. So I thought I’d do a quick round-up of the subject content of the blogs I read. Starting up Google Reader, there were a load of updates waiting to be read and perusing them it suddenly struck me that most of the blogs I follow concentrate on gear reviews.

the podzine

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been listening to the Podzine for a while so I thought I’d let others hear about it. Feature packed, interesting and just the ticket for a rainy winter’s night in the tent! Plus you can win goodies in the competition associated with each podcast. Here’s the Podzine over at The Outdoors Station.