Alastair McIntosh's Home Page

A Short Visual History of the Highland Clearances - workshop handout for Grassroots to Global "Just Walk" on land history and intergenerational cultural trauma (Oct 2025)

The Scotsman obituary of Dr Ulrich Loening of the Centre for Human Ecology, from colleagues & family and CHE Members' Testimony to his work (Oct 2025)

Scottish Land Commission's ScotLand Futures initiative, 5 min video incl. reciting The Forge (Aug 2025)

Russian publication of Riders on the Storm: The Climate Crisis and the Survival of Being, to buy or for free PDF/e-Book download from the Quakers in Moscow (Aug 2025)

Address to Highland-Palestine, "To Restore a Light Unto the Nations: Israel, Palestine, Scotland and the Charter of the Land" in Theology in Scotland, open access (June 2025)

Book review of "The Barlinnie Special Unit" (penal reform) in Theology in Scotland, open access (June 2025)

BBC Radio 4, "Prayer for the Day", broadcast 0543 Fri 27 Jun, audio or text

Maintaining Friendships in Good Repair: Ella Carmichael of the Carmina Gadelica, a BBC reflection

Govan GalGael to Iona Abbey report on volunteer work weeks (Apr 2025)

On "the blizzard of the world" and living in truth, 2 articles originally BBC reflections, also letter (April 2025)

The Roots and Vision of a Nation - public event address (Mar 2025)

Seven Years of GalGael-Iona Trips - Photo Recollection (Dec 2024)

The Maternal Mythic Milieu of Ralph Metzner - festschrift contribution (Dec 2024)

Through the Eye of a Potato: on Writing a Thesis in Human Ecology - Nature of Cities (Nov 2024).

The Future of Lough Neagh - my report on the study tour of The Lough Neagh Partnership to Hebridean community land trusts (Nov 2024)

Hope - a reflection for the Iona Community (Sep 2024)

A Sermon to the English on Land Reform, Dark Mountain special issue on "the land", (Jun 2024)

Data Set on our solar & heat pump renewable energy system, 64% reduction in CO2 emissions (updates)

Interviews selected press, radio, TV & podcast (to date)

[BBC Thoughts for the Day (to date)

Twitter feed

All publications

Hello, and a warm welcome to the website of Alastair McIntosh. Thank you for visiting my home page. See below for contact details and my public itinerary. The tabs above for are for main themes, and links on the left include a classified index of my publications and some other key ports of call.

I grew up and was educated on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland,. Together with four years in the 1970-80s working with appropriate technology in Papua New Guinea, my background gave me a grounding that has shaped my life's work. Much of this has focussed on land reform, community empowerment and the psychology and even spirituality of the wider human condition.

Since 2004, my wife Vérène Nicolas and I have lived within the parish boundary of Govan in the City of Glasgow where I am a founding trustee of the GalGael Trust. This works to "demonstrate ways of living with greater humanity in our times", helping one another to rebuild community and to counter unjust social structures that impact upon a hard-pressed urban area. Véréne is French. We met in rural Ireland in 1996, and she works with transformative learning and collaborative leadership.

Nearly all of what I've posted on this website has been previously published or delivered as an address. The resources here include landing pages for my books, the text of speeches, academic papers, articles and letters in the press, poetry, reports and some broadcasts. There's direct links to the past year's publications at the bottom left column of this page. Video etc. is either on the interviews menu, or provided as Zoom recording links for the current and previous year in my public itinerary lower down this page.

Since 1996, my work has been mainly freelance as a human ecologist, writer, speaker, researcher and activist. I am a Quaker, an honorary senior research fellow (honorary professor) in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow, and as a Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology was Scotland's first professor of human ecology at the University of Strathclyde. I have also held honorary fellowships at the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages (University of Ulster), the School of Divinity (University of Edinburgh) and the Schumacher Society.

What I do and stand for

This website broadly represents my work in human ecology - the study of and participation in relationships between the natural environment and the social environment. My approach to this integrates depth psychology and the spiritual. I understand the spiritual to be the inner ground of being in which our outer lives are held. In this, I am especially influenced by liberation theology in Christianity and other faiths, this being theology that liberates theology to liberate humanity. In choosing what to work on, I therefore ask questions like:

	Does what I do feed the hungry?
	Is it relevant to the poor or to the broken in nature?
	Is it meaningful?
	Does it give life?

In practice, this means working with professional groups, communities and key individuals within them to develop their vision, courage and capacity for practical change. It is the question of what gives life that most binds my work together, work that often involves holding seeming contradictions together in tension, and trying to approach matters with what the Celtic monks called "the inward ear of the heart" (Adomnán, Columba, II:13).

My books have variously been described as "weaving a dizzying range of ideas into a single bright fabric" by the poet John Burnside, "an inspiration to anyone who cares about their own connection to place" by Professor Carolyn Merchant, "a life-giving vision for our collective future" by Professor Michael E. Mann, "solid on the science yet dedicated to the human spirit" by Professor Katharine Hayhoe, "careful, sober reasoning" by Mary Midgley, "a spiritual journey" by Starhawk, "world-changing" by George Monbiot, "life-changing" by the Bishop of Liverpool and "truly mental" by Tom Yorke of Radiohead.

Places at which I have spoken or taught include:

	Environmental organisations including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, WWF International, the Society for Ecological Regeneration and Schumacher College;
	Religious bodies such as the World Council of Churches, the Holy Trinity Sergyev monastery and Iona Abbey;
	Military institutions (on nonviolence) regularly at the UK Defence Academy, also the Royal College of Defence Studies, the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, the Irish Military College and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy;
	Business groups including Groupe Credit Mutuel, Shell plc, Nokia Research Centre and Lafarge (on whose Sustainability Stakeholders' Panel I sat for a decade);
	University institutions including the Russian Academy of Sciences, Duke Divinity School, INSEAD business school, the Glasgow School of Art and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama;
	Festivals including the Edinburgh International, Ashville Wordfest, Greenbelt, HowTheLightGetsIn and the Lochs Agricultural Show back home in the Isle of Lewis.

Background and availability for events

Born in 1955, all of my school education (1960-73) took place in the community where I was raised, on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides or Western Isles. A traditional Scottish education allows for a generalist worldview. I hold a BSc in geography from the University of Aberdeen (1973-77) submajoring in psychology and moral philosophy; a financial MBA from the University of Edinburgh (1980-81); and a PhD by published works in liberation theology, land reform and community empowerment from the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages, University of Ulster (2008). A CV and short bio is here.

Since 1996 I've made my living on an entirely self employed basis - writing, broadcasting, keynote speaking at events, workshops, retreats, taught courses and consultancy. For availability see my public itinerary, and a rough idea of the kind of things I talk about at this list. My personal financial accountability, my suggesting scale of charging for events, and my approach to travel in the face of climate change are all given here. I undertake live and online events, and have the technology to offer blended events using Zoom.

The pandemic has caused most face-to-face events to have been cancelled or shifted online from 2020 into early 2022. However, I am fully vaccinated, and for in-person invitations can offer to bring and operate Zoom-adequate cameras and studio-quality wireless microphones to enable blended events.

I run this website to represent myself professionally. Its main purpose is to make my published work readily available and to give events information. Forgive it being a homespun website. I use antique FrontPage software from the last century, but it does a good enough job and I know how to manage it myself. Treat it as a retro experience.

Contact information:

Alastair McIntosh
26 Luss Road
Glasgow
G51 3YD
Scotland / Ecosse

What3Words ///starts.ended.marker

Email - mail@AlastairMcIntosh.com (preferred first point of contact)

Mobile (cellphone): +44 (0) 7444 580 380 (preferred second point of contact)

X-Twitter: @alastairmci Bluesky @alastairmci.bsky.social (I do not normally use other social media.)

For work issues please try to avoid phoning outside weekday working hours. Remember time zones - we're in GMT or BST in summer (i.e. GMT+1). If you need to discuss something that requires much thought I prefer an email first if possible to arrange a mutually convenient calling time. I am on Facetime, WhattsApp and Zoom: but unless it is a pressing matter please first try to arrange any call by email or text.

Directions to our home/office:

Public Transport: For public transport in Scotland, it is worthwhile downloading the Traveline Scotland app. If coming from central Glasgow, take the subway (underground train) to either Govan or Ibrox. They're each one mile from our house. From Govan is a more interesting walk, but Ibrox is a simpler route and less congested if we're picking you up by car (see below if walking). From either Govan subway station or the city centre (Renfield St), you can get a McGills Route 26 bus to the second stop on Craigton Road, from where we're the next street up on the right. The fare is £3.60 from town as of the start of 2018). They're every 10 or 16 minutes during the day, but the timetable is unreliable. Our house is no. 26, half way along Luss Rd on the right. If coming from city centre's Queen St or Central stations, the stops for the 26 bus are on Renfield Street (extending onto Union Street). Taxis up from Govan are about £4, from city centre about £12, and from the airport about £20.

If walking from the subway exit at Ibrox, turn right onto Copland Road. Up to the lights and turn right. Pass alongside the Rangers football stadium, go straight on over the first roundabout, straight over the second roundabout, on to the lights, turn right down Craigton Road, and Luss Road is the 5th exit on the left (depending on what you count as an exit).

By Car: If coming on the M8 from east or west, exit at junction 24 (Helen Street), signposted for Govan. Head downhill and over the lights to a roundabout, as if heading to the Clyde Tunnel. Turn left at the roundabout then right at the lights into a residential area, Craigton Road (signposted to "Elderpark Workspace"). Luss Road is the 3rd on the left (or 4th depending on what you count).

If coming by car from the North via the Clyde Tunnel, as you exit the tunnel prepare to take the first left just at the tunnel's end. Be careful - it comes on you very quickly and it's easy to overshoot. This brings you out onto Govan Road with a very large roundabout. Turn right at this, onto Drive Road, passing a Elder Park on your left. At the end of Drive road, keep the park on your left by turning left onto Langlands Road. Take the 3rd right, just before you lose the park, onto Arklett Road, then 2nd right is Luss Road.

Avoid the M8 approaches if you can when there's a football match on at Ibrox. There may also be parking congestion at such times. Taxi drivers from outwith this area do not know it well. Tell them that you want Luss Road which is off Craigton Road, and to take the Helen Street exit if coming from the M8.

If you are viewing in iOS or similar "Reader" mode, temporarily "hide reader", or otherwise turn it off, to view the timetable below and links above and to the side. Reader modes generally only let you see plain text. They don't display a full web page with boxes, tables, etc..

Alastair McIntosh's Itinerary of Main Events This table shows roughly which dates I'm booked up for, with booking links and, often, links to previous events' video recordings. That is why last year's activity is in the left column and this year's and beyond on the right. For information on booking me please click here. Gaps in the timetable do not necessarily signify availability, especially over weekends, as this is not my private diary. Dates marked for delivery of Thought for the Day mean that I have to be near a BBC studio early that morning and have time on the previous day for preparation - though these dates can sometimes be swapped with another presenter. Events marked "s.t.c." are "subject to consent/confirmation", and it is always best to confirm the time and venue of events with the organisers' information before turning up.
	2025 (last year)	This Year - 2026+
	Podcast recording on Spiritual Journey as a Quaker with Emma Roberts, 8 Jan 2025, listen to it here. Speaking on "Processes of State Formation in Scotland" at Scottish Histories of Resistance event, The GalGael Trust, Govan, 1100 - 1300, Sun 12 Jan 2025. Recording an Out of the Wild podcast on land reform, community and our human future, with Ken Ilgunas, 2030, Tue 14 Jan. Listen to it here. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Mon 20 Jan, broadcast 0720ish the next day [changed date]. Hosting the Centre for Human Ecology board Burns Supper and sharing, our house (private event), 1800, Fri 24 Jan. Guest on BBC Radio Scotland Sunday Morning programme, 0900-1000, Sun 26 Jan. Community capacity building, TFT Papua, Indonesia (private event), Mon 27 Jan, 0800-1100, by Zoom. Meeting of Lough Neagh Partnership Ownership and Management Working Group, from Seamus Heaney HomePlace, 1800-2000, Thu 30 Jan, private event by Zoom. Guest on BBC Radio Scotland discussing child mental health, false news and attention spans, 0904-0955, Sun 2 Feb, listen here from 1:04 in for 30 days. Hosting a performance and discussion of The Orgreave Stations by the Fife poet of coal miner provenance William Hershaw and Ayrshire illustrator Les McConnell, GalGael Trust, Govan, after communty meal with simple fare from 1800, performance from about 1900, Thu 6 Feb., by donation, ticket booking t.b.a.. Presentation to the Iona Community on partnership with the GalGael Trust, lunchtime, private event, Fri 14 Feb, Govan. GalGael Trust board meeting, 1700 - 2000, Tue 18 Feb, followed by a community land trust meeting, private events. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 26 Feb, broadcast 0720ish the next day. Delivering the inaugural lecture to the National Convention on Scotand's Future, The Roots and Vision of a Nation, Independence Forum Scotland, Sat 1 Mar, Greyfriars Charteris Centre, Edinburgh, read the address here. A sharing with the Peace Network and Eco Common Concerns Network of the Iona Community, 2000-2115, Thu 13 Mar, online, private event. Panel discussion on BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Morning programme, 0900-1000, Sun 6 April, listen for 30 days here. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 9 Apr, broadcast 0720ish the next day. Panel participant with Peigi Ann Sheilds in launch of the report Dùthchas agus dualchas an saoghal nan Gàidheil (on heritage and responses to climate change in Lewis) by Lewis Williams, associate professor of indigenous studies, Western University, Canada. Chaired by Agnes Rennie of the Galson Estate community trust. 1930-2100, Wed 23 April, all welcome online, report download and and registration here. Speaking about carbon offset trading at Strange Broth, session on New Enclosures, GalGael Trust, Glasgow, 1100 - 1300 Fri 25 Apr. Discussion on art and spirituality in launching chart-topping Nizlopi musician Luke Concannon's latest single, Darkness Flowers. Online 1900 Thu 8 May, details t.b.a.. House seminar with Jewish artist and playwright Tom Block, producer of the play Oud Player on the Tel about Palestine & Israel friendship and suffering. Private home event, Glasgow, evening, Sun 11 May, details of public events here. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Tue 13 May, broadcast 0720ish the next day. Online elders' meeting, Papua Transformation and Seventy-Three Foundation, 1400 - 1600 Thu 22 May, private event. GalGael Trust board, 1700, Tue 20 May. Meeting of Lough Neagh Partnership Ownership and Management Working Group, 1830-2000, Tue 10 Jun, private event by Zoom. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 11 Jun, broadcast 0720ish the next day, Thu 12 Jun. Talk and discussion, In the Belly of the Beast, at the Kairos think tank, 84 Tottenham Court Rd, London, from 1830, Thu 12 Jun, tickets & details here. Speaking at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, Spiritual Ecology Festival, Bishopgate, London, 13 - 15 Jun, tickets here. BBC Radio 4, Prayer for the Day, broadcast 0543 Fri 27 Jun, audio or text. Initial meeting, Catholic Institute for Nonviolence (Rome), afternoon Wed 9 Jul (private online event). In the Isle of Lewis, unavailable for mainland events, Wed 16 Jul - Mon 4 Aug. Introducing the "geopoetics" of Kenneth White at the Festival of Hope, Stage Scotland, at 15 Fairley St., morning Sat 9 Aug, Glasgow, all welcome, by donation. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 13 Aug, broadcast 0720ish the next day, Thu 14 Aug. GalGael Trust board, 1700, Tue 19 Aug. A sharing with visiting masters students from St Stephen's University, Canada: “To Reconstitute the World: land, community and nonviolence”, Ferguson Room, Glasgow University, 1900-2030, Mon 25 Aug.. In conversation with staff and students of the James Hutton Institute and Royal Agricultural University, research workshop Reversing the Gaze on community land rights and community group dynamics, afternoon Mon 1 Sep, Glasgow. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Tue 2 Sep, broadcast 0720ish the next day, Wed 3 Sep.. In France, Vérène's folks, Mon 8 Sep - Sun 21st. GalGael Trust AGM, 1730, Thu 25 Sep. 15 Fairley St, Glasgow, all welcome. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Mon 29 Sep, broadcast 0720ish the next day, Tue 30 Sep.. Speaking with Carol Craig in workshop on The Highland Clearances and Cultural Trauma for participants of Grassroots to Global's Just Walk, Crianlarich Youth Hostel, Thu 2 Oct.. Download handout PDF here. Keynote address, Depth and Discernment in Spiritual Writing, to Quakers Uniting In Publications annual meeting at Pendle Hill, USA, linked to the Russian language publication of Riders on the Storm, 75 mins commencing 1400 UK time (0900 EST, 1800 Moscow time) Fri 3 Oct, online, 75 mins, sign up free at above QUIP link. Some words of welcome to the Just Walk walkers for land justice at the Govan Stones, Govan Old Parish Church, 1830, Tue 7 Oct.. Centre for Human Ecology, holding a memorial "after the manner of Friends" to mark the the passing of emeritus director Ulrich Loening, Fri 10 Oct, members only. Speaking & a workshop on "Depths of Mentorship in Spiritual Writing" at the Iona Community's Festival of Writing & Storytelling at Iona Abbey, Sat 11 - Fri 17 Oct, details and booking here. Recording podcast for The Holy Wild with Victoria Loorz, 1930, Tue 21 Oct.. Hosting a joint event between the Scottish Quaker Community Justice Network & the GalGael Trust on The Barlinnie Special Unit: Shedding Light on Criminal Justice - 15 Fairley St, Glasgow, 1515 - 1730, Wed 22 Oct. Background to BSU here, GalGael video comment https://bit.ly/BSU-EVENT. Details t.b.a.. Speaking to SE Scotland Area Quaker Meeting on the GalGael-Iona work, Edinburgh Meeting House, Victoria Terrace, noon, Sat 1 Nov.. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 5 Nov, broadcast 0720ish Thu 6 Nov.. Delivering guest lecture on Land, Community, Power to MSc students at Edinburgh Futures Institute, Uni of Edinburgh, morning Tue 18 Nov. GalGael Trust board, 1700, Tue 18 Nov.. Meeting of Lough Neagh Partnership Ownership and Management Working Group, online from the Castledawson Inn(!), 1830-2000, Wed 19 Nov., private event. Speaking in a Live Literature Scotland event at the Macphail Centre, Ullapool - Compassion for the Cat; Compassion for the Mouse - 1800 - 2000 Thu 27 Nov, all welcome, free but book a place here. Visiting Scoraig, Fri 28 Nov - Sun 30th, private event. Online discussion with film-maker Hannah Close, The Spirit of Islandness, through the Advaya Network, course participants only, 1800, 18 Dec.. Hosting GalGael-Iona-Fishing Christmas party, Sun 28 Dec, GalGael Trust community.	BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 7Jan, broadcast 0720ish the next day. Guest on discussion panel with Renfrewshire Climate Action Hub or screening of the film North Sea: Nature Untamed, 1900, Sat 17 Jan 2026, all welcome, tickets free - £8, bookings here. Online writer's salon with the College of Fine Arts, Lenoir-Rhyne University, North Carolina, provisional theme Depth and Discernment in the Carrying Stream, probably a private event, Mon 26 Jan. Online sharing, Finding Purpose in Chaotic Times, with students at the College of the Atlantic, Maine, 1800 - 1900 UK time, Fri 30 Jan. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Mon 2 Feb, broadcast 0720ish the next day. GalGael Trust Board, 1700 Tue 17 Feb. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 4 Mar, broadcast 0720ish the next day. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 15 Apr, broadcast 0720ish the next day. Possibly things in Isle of Lewis, approx Thu 7 - 11 May. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Tue 19 May, broadcast 0720ish the next day. GalGael Trust Board, 1700 Tue 19 May. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, preparation during daytime Wed 17Jun, broadcast 0720ish the next day. Isle of Lewis with friends & family, approx 18 Jul - 2 Aug. GalGael Trust Board, 1700 Tue 18 Aug. GalGael Trust AGM, 1700 or thereabouts, Thu 17 Sep 2026. GalGael Trust Board, 1700 Tue 24 Nov. Leading the week on Hopeful Imagination at Iona Abbey with the Iona Community, Sat 3 - Fri 9 Oct, details & booking. Deepen Your Roots podcast interview recording, 1800-1930 Mon 23 Nov. Poetry reading and keynote address, "Auguries Beyond Absence: Towards Openings Of The Way", in the Swaledale Festival, late May - early June, 2027, s.t.c..

Disclaimer: Material published on this site is my sole responsibility and is not necessarily endorsed by any other person or organisation that might be associated with it, including funders, colleagues and my internet service provider. A considerable portion of my work is unpaid and should, therefore, not necessarily be assumed to be funded by charitable organisations that support elements of what I do. Details of how my work is resourced is public information and may be found by clicking here. Any third party whose material might be placed or cited here, and who considers that it should be taken down, should contact me through the channels given on this page. Any errors of fact in these pages will be speedily and gratefully corrected if I am notified of a problem. As for perceived errors of opinion ... that is what debate is for.

Last Updated: 23-Dec-2025

www.AlastairMcIntosh.com

First created Sept 2000