Alastair McIntosh's Home Page
Home Search this Website Published Articles Letters to the Press Hell & High Water Soil and Soul - Book Poetry - Lov'n'Rev Spiritual Activism Superquarry Briefing En d'Autres Langues CV/Kids/Photos

 

 

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Shortcut links to Key Material on this web

[Contact information]

[Engagements itinerary

[BBC Audio Interview/Profile]

[Links to Other Websites]

[Published articles by (chronological listing)]

[Published articles by classified subject index:]

  1. Community

  2. Globalisation

  3. Nonviolence

  4. Sustainability

  5. Land Reform

  6. Superquarries

  7. Epistemology

  8. Psychology

  9. PNG & Pacific

  10. Spirituality

  11. Consciousness

  12. Mythology

 

The links below shortcut to a cross-section of material on this website

[Index of rare third party resources on this website]

[The Return of the Summit of Mount Roineabhal, Harris]

[Spiritual Activism MSc Module at the CHE]

[PDF leaflet for 2008-09 CHE courses at Strathclyde University]

[BBC Thoughts for the Day]

[Le Monde Diplomatique article - land reform & national identity]

[Europe, Globalisation and Sustainability]

[Scotland, Nature & Religion]

[Cold War Psychohistory]

[Power of Love: What can nonviolence say to violence?]

[People & Parliament: the full technical report]

[Embracing Multicultural Scotland: CHE's "Who's a Real Scot?" report]

[Dream Job Report - minority ethnic opportunity in Scotland]

[The Harris superquarry lawsuit: Do corporations have human rights?]

[Liberation Theology in Community Empowerment]

[Esquivel's Stations of the Cross]

[Land reform & Eigg campaign]

[Review article Michael Fry's Wild Scots - land reform & historical revisionism]

[Sustainable Community Housing Policy - consultation paper]

[The Highland Clearances & colonial psychodynamics]

[Combatting Islamophobia]

[Origins of the Bougainville Crisis]

[United Nations paper - Celtic biodiversity & geopoetics]

[Edinburgh International Festival lecture on identity & belonging]

[The late Colin Macleod of the GalGael Peoples of Scotland]

[The GalGael Peoples: 1996 poem on identity, & GalGael Trust]

[Celtic shamanism and cultural psychotherapy]

[Consciousness research]

[Fairy Hills & conservation]

[St Andrew: nonviolence, feminism & Scots nationhood]

British science policy: a classical & ecofeminist critique]

[The science of Dr Strangelove]

[Discounted Cash Flow & weak sustainability critique]

[Historical critique of usury]

[Erós & Thanatos: tobacco advertising psychopathology]

[Poverty, Chastity & Obedience]

[Environmental Education for Adaptation - report on university environmental education]

[The Cult of Biotechnology?]

[State of Scottish fishing industry]

[Sustainable tropical forestry - Wokabout Somils in S. Pacific]

[Healing Nationhood (book)]

[Eigg Freedom Shlide - 12/8 celebratory jig]

New Here: [Schumacher/WWF Briefing on "Rekindling Community" (Oct 08)]  [Online video of "Howie's Do" 2008 lecture on inner dynamics of climate change (Sep 08)] [New Book - Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition (June 08)]  [Third Way article on Spirituality of Stillbirth (4MB) (June 08)]  [Scottish fishing industry ESRC/Scottish Govt presentation (Mar 08)]  [Submission to Scottish Govt Rural Housing Inquiry (Mar 08)]  [INSEAD sharing/debate with Lafarge Vice-President, Harris Superquarry (Feb 08)]  [Walter Wink Festschrift on spiritual activism (Jan 08)]  [Audio archive of land reform broadcasts from the 1990s, Dec 07]

  Hello, and a warm welcome to the website of Alastair McIntosh. Thank you for visiting my homepage. Located in Glasgow, Scotland, I am writer, lecturer, social activist, broadcaster and campaigning academic from the Isle of Lewis; a Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology (CHE), a director of the GalGael Trust, a Visiting Fellow of the Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages at the University of Ulster, and Visiting Professor of Human Ecology at the University of Strathclyde. See below for contact details. Use the tabs above for main themes, and the links to the left for a classified index and items that might be of particular interest.

 

What I Do and Why this Website (updated June 2008)

When you take an interest in major world problems of our time, it's like pulling on a tangled ball of string. You can't unravel one loop until you've understood the interconnections with all the rest. As such, my work is extremely varied, but what joins it all up is a fundamental passion for that which gives life - with community that is social, ecological and even spiritual.    

The purpose of this website is to represent myself professionally in self-employment and to make material available that I have unearthed over more than three decades of exploration, action and reflection. It comprises a constantly growing range of work representing my field of human ecology - the study and participation in the relationships between the natural environment and the social environment. Some would define human ecology as simply being the relationships between population, environment, resources and technology (PRET). I don't think this goes far enough. We need also to incorporate the psychological and spiritual context of what it means to be human beings. I therefore do human ecology with attitude. It is linked together by always asking such questions as, "Is what I'm doing now feeding the hungry?", "Is it relevant to the poor or to the broken in nature?", "Does it contribute to understanding and meaningfulness?", and the central spiritual question, "Does it give life?" 

The articles reproduced in the publications sections of this website are normally material that has already been published in print media elsewhere and has therefore passed through a third party refereeing or editing process. The contents range from items that appeared in small local newspapers to national newspaper features,  papers in peer reviewed scholarly journals, reports and deliveries at conferences. There is also a small amount of 3rd party resource material where I've scanned stuff that's mostly fallen out of print - things like Camara's classic Spiral of Violence, Esquivel's liberation theology images of the Stations, Iain Crichton Smith's essay Real People in a Real Place, and the writings of Melanesian philosophers who influenced me such as Bernard Narokobi. These 3rd party resources comprise only items essential to my work or to the studies of my students, and I regret that I cannot accept unsolicited material that people sometimes send me hoping that links can be posted to this page.

In sum, the pages on this site reflect what I have so far found human ecology to be about. This is not uncontroversial - according to Harvard University's law school, this website has been one of 854 blocked by the People's Republic of China. How's that for a bit of, shall we say, relaxing "armchair persecution"?! 

Please note that this is an amateur website. I maintain it myself, and it's for substance rather than style. Some of the pages are pretty scruffy as I made them when I was still learning about webs. Some of the picture files are overly bulky and therefore slow loading. Sorry about all that, but I just don't have time to run a website that's all bells and smells.

 

Campaigns, Work & Writing 

My best-known work includes Scottish land reform especially with the Isle of Eigg (1990 - present), the Harris superquarry battle (1992 - 2004), the spirituality of community, identity, belonging and place (1986 - present), nonviolence and understanding war (1976 - present), the psychospirituality of climate change (2006 to present) and the development of human ecology in Scotland (1990 - present).

Less well-known is my work with South Pacific education, development and ethnography (1980-91), sustainable tropical forestry (1984-95), micro-hydro electric and alternative energy (1978-86), the depth psychology of cigarette advertising (1995-96), the "Glasgow Two" release campaign with TC Campbell (1994 - 2000), NGO marketing, PR, finance & management (1980 - 1990), parapsychology and the psychology of consciousness (1973 - 1980), cultural psychotherapy, conflict and power analysis (1994 - present) and the GalGael Trust, urban poverty and cultural renewal (1997 - present).

For press interviews on some of these issues click here. For information about my major books - Soil and Soul (2001), Love and Revolution (poetry, 2006) and Hell and High Water (2008) click the relevant tabs above. Soil and Soul is my best know book, described by George Monbiot as "world changing", by the Bishop of Liverpool as "life-changing", by Starhawk and "inspirational", and by Thom Yorke of Radiohead as "truly mental".

My work is undertaken as a self-employed academic, writer and activist, working in such venues as Strathclyde University, Queen's University Belfast, Edinburgh University (where I was postgraduate teaching director in human ecology for 7 years), the University of Ulster's Academy of Irish Heritages (a new involvement), and several other universities around the world. Other venues where I have spoken or teach include the Edinburgh International Festival, the Schumacher Lectures and Schumacher College, Greenbelt Festival, the Society for Ecological Regeneration, Groupe Credit Mutuel (a French bank where I have trained management in principles of mutuality), Friends of the Earth, WWF International and UK, Lafarge in Paris (where I intriguingly sit on their Sustainability Stakeholders' Panel), INSEAD European Management School near Paris, the Russian Academy of Sciences Economics Department, the British Council, the Irish School of Ecumenics, the University of Ireland Maynooth, the World Council of Churches, and, rather incongruously but regularly over more than a decade now, the Defence Academy's Joint Services Command & Staff College (Britain's foremost military training establishment).

See the itinerary on this page for links to, or details of, recent and forthcoming events..

 

Life & Work with Vérène 

My wife, Vérène Nicolas, and I live in Drumoyne in the Greater Govan area of Glasgow. This is the former shipbuilding area and has many social problems but great cultural richness. We chose it because, amongst other things, we already had strong connections there through our longstanding involvement with the Govan-based GalGael Trust (of which I am a founding director and the honorary treasurer). 

Vérène is also a Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology and she co-ordinates the MSc degree in human ecology in partnership with Strathclyde University. We work both closely together and also have our own separate areas of involvement. Her specialist concerns rest with conflict resolution, the empowerment needs of marginalised women, combating racism, activist mentoring and popular education, especially with the Training for Transformation approach from South Africa. She is also training to be a Biodanza dance teacher. Information is on her gradually-updating website - www.VereneNicolas.org.

On New Year's day in 2007 Vérène and I were shaken by the sudden death at 32 weeks of Ossian, the son we'd been expecting. The significance and the richness interwoven with this tragedy is still unfolding, and there is some sharing about this on Vérène's website and in an April 2008 article. Spirituality as that which gives life is central to the work of us both. That is why Ossian's passing had a powerful impact in shaping my book on climate change. We have to learn to face death if we are to understand life.

 

My Work as of 2008

Since 1996 I have been entirely self-employed. At present my main commitments are various pieces of contract teaching work, especially on the MSc degree with CHE and Strathclyde University where I am responsible for the masters level module in Spiritual Activism. Teaching and lecturing absorbs about a third of my time. The rest is spent writing, researching and campaigning.

From autumn 2006 to spring 2007 I worked on a book Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition, commissioned by Birlinn Press in Edinburgh. This starts with the science and politics, but leads into the psychological and spiritual underpinnings of the consumerism that is the cutting edge of global warming.

In spring and summer 2008 I am commissioned to write a Schumacher Briefing (see below). This will draw upon and document work undertaken by a dozen of my students that has been funded as a research programme into the spirituality of community regeneration by WWF International.

 

Rekindling Community: Connecting People, Environment and Spirituality

By Alastair McIntosh, due autumn 2008 from Green Books

Schumacher Briefing No. 15 - Publisher's Synopsis: Climate change, species extinction, war and alienation. These are just some of the threats that imperil a world that gives us life. There is no single solution, but one thing is certain. Unless humanity learns how to rekindle community, all other efforts will wither on the vine.  

This timely new Schumacher Briefing explores three integrated pillars of community – with one another, with the natural environment and with the spiritual ground of all being. McIntosh draws not just on his own extensive experience, but also on the work of a dozen associates at the Centre for Human Ecology – mostly his former students. These have carried out research into the spirituality of community regeneration assisted by WWF International. Each of them provides a short summary of their findings, weaving a rich tapestry that illuminates community. 

With its emphasis on spirituality the Briefing examines the implications of living as if all life is interconnected. It draws upon and explores spiritual insights contained in E. F. Schumacher's 1972 classic, Small is Beautiful,  and addresses both the theory of community and its practical regeneration.

The contexts in which this is explored range from remote islands to inner city deprivation and the world of corporations and government. The results fortify our capacity to face the future and point to ever-deeper meanings of love.

Advance order from Amazon.co.uk

Also during 2008 I am assembling a dozen past publications with a unifying short thesis, presented to the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages, University of Ulster, for consideration for the award of PhD by Publications. This is entitled, Some Contributions of Liberation Theology to Community Empowerment in Scottish Land Reform 1991-2002. It explores the spirituality of community - especially the ontology and epistemology of essentialism drawing heavily on democratic intellectualism and the metaphysics of the 19th century Scottish philosopher J. F. Ferrier - leading to what I call the Cycle of Belonging and the Rubric of Regeneration. I have never felt drawn to "do" a PhD, but this avenue where the doing is based on what's already been done, is helpful in an era where, sadly, a PhD has become a kind of academic union card.

 

Charging for my Work, and Travel Issues

My work is funded entirely from writing, public speaking, teaching, consultancy, small grants and, sometimes but of great value - especially for the needs of the Centre for human Ecology - private benefactors. As transparent fiscal accountability is important in the campaigning work I do, I have made details available at this link.

My address and other contact details, keywords for internet search engines, and events itinerary are given below. Notification of errors within, and the provision of links from other relevant websites to this site, are warmly appreciated. Thank you for visiting.

 

Click here to go to published articles index

Click here for back  to Top of Page

 

 

Contact Information:

 

Alastair McIntosh

26 Luss Road

Drumoyne

Glasgow

G51 3YD

Scotland / Ecosse

 

 

Tel: 0141 445 8750 (+44 141 from overseas)

(Please try to avoid phoning outside weekday working hours, and remember timezones)

Email - see special instructions below

 

Directions to our home/office: If coming from central Glasgow, the easiest way if completing your journey by bus or taxi is to take the subway to Govan. The bus station is right beside the subway. We're on the No. 90 (First Direct) or 289 (Yellow) bus routes (costs about £1). Ask to get off at Craigton Road, just past the Post Office (Luss Rd is the next off to the right). Alternatively, take a taxi either from the stand diagonally opposite the subway station near the Pearce Institute or from the taxi office which has a buzzer on the door beside the Brechin Bar (or call 0141 440 0001). Taxis cost about £3. If walking, the route is easier to describe if you get out at Ibrox subway station which is one mile from our house. Exit the station and turn right onto Copland Road. Up to the lights and turn right. Pass the Rangers football stadium, go straight on over the first roundabout, on to the second roundabout and straight over, then following the instructions as shown in the next paragraph.

 

If coming by car 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.

 

 

Contacting me by Email:  mail@AlastairMcIntosh.com .... important instructions if emailing me .... first, make sure you spell it right - the capitals don't matter here, but I get loads of people who understandably spell my name wrong and then wonder why they never hear back. Second, check on my itinerary (above) to ensure I'm around as Verene usually insists that I take her rather than the computer on holiday. And third, I'm really sorry but as my email address is all over the web, I am forced to use the SpamArrest "Accept List" system to avoid the couple of hundred spams a day that otherwise come in. What this means is that if you email me from an address not already on my "accept" list, including an alternative email address that you maybe use, I will not normally see your email until you respond to a "challenge message", which will require you, only once, to type a particular word into the system. If you do this you will then be added to my accept list and I will be able to receive the message you just sent plus all future ones without further hassle. The challenge message is sent out almost immediately, so if you are a stranger emailing me, and it's urgent, please wait a few minutes then check your in-box to respond to the challenge. The exception to this requirement is in situations where I have authorised emails from an entire domain to be accepted, for example, with institutions with which I work closely. In such cases your email will get straight through without challenge. A major problem, however, is when your email system or your domain can mistakenly think that my challenge message is spam and junks it before you see it. Apart from mis-spellings of my name, this is the main cause of me not getting emails. Accordingly, if you are in doubt as to whether I might have got your message or not, please follow up by phone on the above number but, please, avoiding weekends and evenings. If I'm not in, leave a message saying when you sent your message, and if it's there I'll manually dig it out of the spam filter. Very sorry about all that, but it's the only way I can manage the mail I receive. I do, by the way, try to respond even if very briefly to all emails received, though sometimes this can take quite a while if I'm under pressure.

 

 

Website keywords: Centre for Human Ecology - Action for Transformation Programme with Verene Nicolas - working with spirituality, community empowerment project, land reform, social justice, ecological justice, cultural regeneration, liberation theology, ecofeminism, deep ecology, interfaith, multiculturalism, combating Islamophobia, Quakerism, Quakers, transpersonal psychology, parapsychology, individuation, C.G. Jung, development, democratic intellect, GulfWatch, activist training, Training for Transformation, the Scottish constitution, St Andrew, saltire, Declaration of Arbroath, Isle of Eigg Trust, GalGael Trust, Iona Community, Isle of Lewis, Leurbost, Liurbost, Luirbost, Liurboist, Líurboist, Lurebost (does our village have an identity crisis?), North Lochs, Isle of Harris, Papua New Guinea, Highlands, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, Lingerabay superquarry, Lingerbay, Lafarge, Redland, People & Parliament, Embracing Multicultural Scotland, Carbeth Hutters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Orthodox Church, Schumacher Society, appropriate technology, micro-hydro electric, indigenous values, indigenous technologies, music, penny whistle, poetics, geopoetics, bard, bardic school and, of course, in the full Celtic tradition of Scots mythopoesis ... the faeries, fairies and faerie out from under the fairy hill.

 

Name spelling variants: Alastair Iain McIntosh, Alastair I. McIntosh, A. I. McIntosh, A. McIntosh, Alistair MacIntosh, Alastair MacIntosh, Alistair MacIntosh, Alastair Mackintosh, Alistair Mackintosh, Alasdair Mackintosh, Alistair McIntosh, Alasdair McIntosh, Mc Intosh, AlastairMcIntosh, Alisdair, Alister, Alligator (well, that's what Microsoft's spell-check suggests!).  .

 

 

Alastair McIntosh's Itinerary of Main Events, in Chronological Order

This table is both to show roughly when I'm booked up for this year and, as an indication of the sort of events I do, last year's programme. Note that gaps in the timetable do not necessarily signify availability, especially where weekends are concerned. Dates marked for delivery of Thought for the Day do not necessarily imply unavailability during that day, though the previous morning may be busy. Details of some public events may be subject to change, so please check with the organisers before considering turning up. Events marked "s.t.c." = "subject to consent/confirmation". 

Last Year - 2007

This Year - 2008+

 

 

 

  1. Lecture on deep ecology and the history of ideas, Environment & Society, University of Strathclyde, 8 Feb. 2007.

  2. Sharing and celebration of the gift of our stillborn son, Ossian Nicolas McIntosh, Quaker Meeting House, Glasgow, 6.45 pm, 14 February 2007 - click here for details - all welcome. 

  3. Address to plenary of the Iona Community at Dunblane, 7.30 pm, 9 Feb 2007, on The Holiness of People and Place.

  4. Reunion evening for past CHE students on my Spiritual Activism MSc module, Glasgow, 26 March.

  5. On Scoraig & Isle of Lewis, 4 - 10 April.

  6. Lafarge Stakeholders' Sustainability Panel, Scotland, 12 - 13 April. 

  7. Talk to Sustainable Development Education, Edinburgh: "Engaging the Powers Within", 19 April.

  8. In debate with Joel Kovell at the Dept of Geography & Sociology, University of Strathclyde, afternoon, 19 April: "Engage with or end capitalism? Which way to Sustainability?"

  9. Leading Strathclyde Uni human ecology MSc field trip to Isle of Eigg, Sat 21 - Thurs 26 April.

  10. Speaking in the forum on "Ceremony and Sustainable Culture" on theme, After Beltane? Sustaining Community; Sustaining Ourselves, organised by the Beltane Fire Society, St George West Church, 58 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh, 7 - 9 pm, Friday 27 April.

  11. 5 - 15 May, in Ireland, Co. Mayo & University of Ulster Academy of Irish Heritages.

  12. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0725, 17 May.

  13. Knockengorrach Festival with my son Adam, 18-20 May.

  14. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0725, 24 May.

  15. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0725, 30 May.

  16. In France, 5 - 11 June.

  17. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0725, 12 June, and then on Eigg for 10th Anniversary celebrations.

  18. Speaking and demonstrating (with dough and scythe) at The Third West Country Scythe Festival & Competition on the theme, "Scything through the Swathes of Landed Power", 17 June 2007, Langport, Somerset.

  19. Presentations on The Pornography of Consumerism and Being Stakeholders, Being Human on WWF's One Planet Leaders programme, Geneva, 20-22 June.

  20. The Outsider Festival, Rothiemurchas Estate, in debate with Jeremy Leggett chaired by David Steel - Shaping the Future: Climate Change and Everything, 3 pm, 24 June.

  21. Address to visiting theologians, Glasgow, 28 June 2007.

  22. Eden Project, Cornwall. Public lecture to Friends of Eden, 6.00pm, Fri 6 July, on Land, Spirit and Community. 

  23. Teaching Earth & the Sacred with Verene at Schumacher College, Devon, 1 - 14 July (with Eden Project in the middle - see 3 events above).

  24. Offering a day workshop with my wife, Vérène Nicolas, Sat 7 July,  on Land, Spirit & Community: What Sustains Us in Times of Challenge? Open to public - organised by the Biodynamic Agricultural Association.

  25. Public lecture in Totnes (Transition Towns series) - Land Reform: Lessons from Eigg, 11 July, in the evening.

  26. Performance / presentation as the closing session of Aos Dana, the Book Festival at Feis an Eilein (Skye Book Festival), Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Skye, on Soil & Soul; Love & Revolution, 17 July 2007, 4.30 pm. 

  27. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0720ish, 20 July.

  28. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0720ish, 2 August.

  29. Speaking with Vérène Nicolas at Salon du Livre Insulaire - Les Trésors des îles écossaises (Treasures of Scottish Islands Book Festival) - Isle of Ouessant (Ushant), Brittany, 18-26 August. 

  30. Chairing panel on Land & Rural Resistance at European Sociological Association Conference, Hamish Wood Building, University of Strathclyde, Tue 4 September, with Susie Jacobs, Fiona Mackenzie, Giovanni Folliero & Annamaria Vitale.

  31. 6 Sept WWF International, Geneva, One Planet Leaders training.

  32. Paper on Climate Change & the Pornography of Consumerism at Communication & Conflict Conference, University of Strathclyde, 0945, Sat 8 September.

  33. Poetic performance in a sea cave with chart-topping Nizlopi at the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival, Durness, 28 - 30 Sept..

  34. Delivery of the opening keynote address, Sparking the Fire of Regeneration, at "An t-Sradag Bheathail: The Vital Spark" - the 2007 International Heritage Interpretation Conference, Interpret Scotland, Aviemore, 1 - 2 October. 

  35. Talk/workshop on poetics, people and place at Staffin Festival, Isle of Skye, 2 - 4 October.

  36. Presentation and party for new MSc Human Ecology students, 4 October.

  37. Workshops on globalisation, spirituality and poetics with Diocese of Liverpool, 15 - 16 Oct 2007 (per John Reed).

  38. Eulogy for the late Tony McManus at launch of his book, The Radical Field, Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, Hillhead Library, Glasgow, 6pm 24 October.

  39. GalGael Hoolie - Pearce Institute, Govan, 6 - 10pm Saturday 27 Oct, all welcome.

  40. Highland clearance programme - BBC 2 - 8pm, 29 Oct - viewing with students.

  41. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0720ish, 30 October.

  42. Bishop of Liverpool, Glasgow, morning of 1 Nov.

  43. GalGael Trust AGM/party - 6.30 pm 2 November - all welcome.

  44. Writer's workshop with patients at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, 6 November (Scottish Book Trust).

  45. Weekend workshop on English insights from Scottish land reform (open to public) - Ruskin Mill Educational Trust, Nailsworth, Gloucs - on theme Community, Spirit and Land: Reconnecting People with Land, 10 - 11 November.

  46. Presentation and panel debate on conflict and nonviolence, Advanced Command & Staff Course, Joint Services Command & Staff College, Defence Academy, Shrivenham, 12 November.

  47. Filming at Aberfoyle for mountains documentary, 14 November.

  48. Lecture on community for Culture, Ethics & Environment course, Kings Buildings, Edinburgh University, 21 November 2007.

  49. Discussion on the Clearances at GalGael, Govan, 11a.m., 23 November.

  50. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0720ish, 27 November.

  51. Address to planners on participation at SNH, Battleby, 27 November.

  52. Lecture at Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds, 28 November, 3pm.

  53. St Andrew's Night debate, 30 November at Cromarty for Highland Year of Culture, debate with Christopher Harvie MSP on theme: 'What's left of Highland Culture - and is it worth bothering about?'

 

 

  1. Consultation at WWF UK, London, 10 January 2008.

  2. Strathclyde Uni departmental research away day, 23 January 2008.

  3. Reading and commentary on Robert Burns, 8 - 9 pm, 23 January, Sunny Govan Radio.

  4. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 24 January.

  5. CHE climate change event Fri 25 January 2008, Glasgow.

  6. Workshop on Poetics, Prophecy & Ecology with Wild Goose / Iona Communty, Renfield St Stephen's Church, Glasgow, 7.30 27 January 2008.

  7. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 1 February.

  8. Presentation in Lapidus "Words in the World" event, Carlton Studios, Gorbals, Glasgow, 1 Feb, 5pm.

  9. Thu 7 - Fri 8 Feb, teaching Spiritual Activism 1, University of Strathclyde / CHE.

  10. Meetings at University of Ulster, 12 - 13 Feb.

  11. MSc student tutorial evening 1 from 5.00 pm, 14 Feb.

  12. WWF-UK 21 February (evening).

  13. MSc student tutorial evening 2 from 5.00. 26 Feb.

  14. WWF-UK think-tank, Saatchi & Saatchi, London 28-29 Feb.

  15. CHE Burns Supper 29 February.

  16. MSc student tutorial evening 3 from 5.00, 1 March.

  17. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 10 March.

  18. Speaking at Change and Continuity in Scotland's Fishing Communities, Scottish Government & Economic and Social Research Council Public Policy Seminar and Scottish Government, Aberdeen, 11 March.

  19. WWF UK & RSA Values, sustainability and public life think-tank, RSA, London, 12 March.

  20. WWF UK think-tank, Saatchi & Saatchi, London, 13 March.

  21. Lafarge Stakeholders' Sustainability Panel, Paris, 14-15 March.

  22. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 17 March.

  23. Public discussion with Gavin Renwick, "The Home Office Project", University of Dundee, The Cooper Gallery, 2pm, 18 March.

  24. Wed 26 - Sat 29 Mar, teaching Spiritual Activism 2, University of Strathclyde / CHE, on Iona.

  25. MSc student tutorial evening 3, Strathclyde University, 1 April.

  26. Scottish Govt. Minister for the Environment, meeting at GalGael Trust, Govan, 1 April.

  27. Keynote address at Values in Nature and the Environment (VINE) conference on Inspirational Nature, Lancaster University, 2-3 April.

  28. Presentations for the Public Health Agency of Canada, the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, and International Human Ecology Network retreat, University of Saskatchewan, Canada, 4-14 April. Includes a public lecture at the Dept of Native Studies, Fri evening, on The recovery of indigenous identities and land reform: a Scottish experience.

  29. Research methodology teaching day, Strathclyde Uni, 17 April.

  30. Premier of "Given to the People" - Simon Yuill's documentary about Pollok Free State, all welcome at GalGael Trust, 18 April, 7pm.

  31. The moment of truth is now ... it will be poetry, panel and workshop at Scottish Churches House, Dunblane,4-9 pm, 20 April, £20 with £21 b/b option.

  32. A sharing with executives from Shell on corporate engagement with environmental activism - How Lafarge did the Right Thing over the Harris Superquarry, and its Implications [this link opens to an INSEAD PDF background article] - Stirling, 21 April 2008.

  33. MSc student tutorial evening 4, from 7 pm, 5 May.

  34. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 8 May (from Belfast studio).

  35. Round table with Friends of the Earth Ireland and religious leaders, Belfast, 7-8 May.

  36. Lecture at the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages (please confirm precise venue with the Academy, University of Ulster, Derry, 5.30 pm 8th May - Some Contributions of Liberation Theology to Community Empowerment in Scottish Land Reform 1991 - 2003.

  37. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 16 May.

  38. Scottish Crofters' Foundation and University of Highlands & Islands seminar on crofters as indigenous peoples (invited participant), Inverness, 16 May.

  39. Lecture jointly with Iain MacKinnon on indigeniety at National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 20 May. This is subject to confirmation; if I can't be there, Iain will stand in. Otherwise unavailable 15-30 May.

  40. Leading the "Greenbelt on Iona" week, Iona Abbey (with input from Kathy Galloway), on theme The Holiness of Place, 24 - 30 May (fully booked). Preaching in the Abbey on the morning of Sunday 25th on the same theme.

  41. Panellist and session chair at 9th Congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore, University of Ulster, Magee, 17-20 June.

  42. Launch of Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition, at GalGael Trust, Govan, 7pm Wed 25 June with the Scottish Government Minister for the Environment, Michael Russell MSP. By invitation - contact me to be added to invitation list.

  43. GalGael Board - 5 pm 24 June.

  44. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 1 July.

  45. During the period 8-18 July on Isle of Lewis and out of email contact.

  46. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 22 July.

  47. Big Tent, Falkland Festival, Fife, keynote address on climate change, Death by Consumption, 2 pm 26 July, and workshop using poetry in the Lapidus tent, 11 am of the morning of the 27th.

  48. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 29 July.

  49. Sat 9 Aug - 2 events at Festival of Spirituality and Peace, ,St John's Church (Venue 127), Princes St, Edinburgh. Land and Freedom - in conversation with Kevin Locke of the Lakota first nation on land, culture and spirituality at 10.45 am, followed by Hell and High Water - conversation with Duncan McLaren of Friends of the Earth on climate change, with input from comedian Abie Philbin Bowman, at 12.30. Both events last an hour and cost £5 (£3.50).

  50. Preaching as part of the Festival of Spiritual and Peace, morning service, St John's Church, Princes St, Edinburgh, Sun 10 Aug, s.t.c.

  51. Speaking at Edinburgh Book Festival, Highland Park Speigeltent, jointly with Michael Northcott, 7pm, Mon 11 Aug.

  52. In France 15-29 August and out of email contact.

  53. WWF International One Planet Leaders lecture on consumerism, 3-5 Sept, England.

  54. Giving lecture at Howie's "Do" Lectures, West Wales, Sat 6 Sept.

  55. CHE new graduates' celebration, Ulrich's yew tree, Sat 13 Sept.

  56. Keynote address, "Humanity and Climate Change", Mayor's Thames Festival (Green Man Stage), London, 1.30pm, Sunday 14 Sept.

  57. Talk on Facing Climate Change - the Relevance of Irish Cultural Heritages at the Irish Cultural Centre, 50-52 Camden Sq
    London NW1 9XB     (Please note address correction), 6 pm, Sunday 14 Sept, all welcome.

  58. Supping with the Devil? Why I Serve on the Lafarge Stakeholder Panel - presentation to 200 senior cement industry managers at Baveno, Italy, 17 Sept.

  59. Sharing on the Quaker environment testimony, Glasgow Quaker meeting, morning of Sun 21 Sept., s.t.c..

  60. Sharing with Oneir group, Glasgow, evening Mon 22 Sept.

  61. MSc human ecology examinations board, Strathclyde Uni, 11 am 24 Sep.

  62. On panel at Edinburgh Filmhouse "Take One Action" film festival, after the showing of The Camden 28 from 6pm, 24 September, in association with Greenbelt Festival.

  63. Keynote address to conference of Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Reflections on 30 years' voluntary sector experience, Cumbernauld, morning of 1 Oct.

  64. Teaching and party with new CHE/Strathclyde MSc students, afternoon/eve, 1 Oct. Week 29 Sept - 3 Oct - partly taken up with events for new MSc human ecology students.

  65. Family event, 4-6 Oct.

  66. Think tank on rural issues with Carnegie Trust, Dumfermline, Fri 10 Oct.

  67. Glasgow launch of my new book, Rekindling Community: Connecting People, Environment & Spirituality, Room 504, Dept. of Geography & Sociology, Graham Hills Building, 50 George St, Glasgow. All welcome. See below for Edinburgh launch on 30th.

  68. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 22 Oct

  69. Iona Community Board, 121 George St, Edin., a.m. 23 Oct.

  70. Address at the "Pipelines and Profits: People Under Pressure" Hedge School vis-a-vis Shell and Co. Mayo, Ireland, 24-26 Oct. Organised by Action from Ireland. My presentation at 1215 on the Sunday afternoon on the theme "Soil and Soul" with a local resident response.

  71. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, 0724, 29 Oct, s.t.c..

  72. Lecture and panel on nonviolence and the ethics of war, Advanced Command & Staff Course, Joint Services Command and Staff College, UK Defence Academy, 28-29 Oct.

  73. Edinburgh launch event for Rekindling Community as part of a panel on The Politics of Community Development 40 Years On in Wordpower's Radical Book Fair, 2pm, Thurs 30 Oct in the Blue Drill Hall, 30-38 Dalmeny St, off Leith Walk, Edinburgh.

  74. Public lecture at the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages, Faculty of Arts, University of Ulster, Derry, 3 Nov, 4pm, Climate Change, Faerie and Community: Some "Irish" Cultural Insights on a Troubled World.

  75. Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland interfaith/environment consultation 5 Nov, and possibly in Ulster 30 Oct - 5 Nov.

  76. Talk to Scottish Social Research Association on Social Methodology and Some Challenges of Climate Change, 1730, 11 Nov [note this is is a changed date], Friends' Meeting House, Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh.

  77. Speaking in The Scotsman debate on social change, Progress Beyond Politics, 7pm, Wed 12 Nov, Albert Halls, Stirling, invited audience only but apply for tickets here.

  78. Address on Spiritual Aspects of Climate Change, Quaker Area Meeting, Glasgow, 1400, Sat 15 Nov.

  79. Address/panel at European Parliament / Scottish Green Party International Committee joint conference on identity, belonging and nationality, Edinburgh, Sat 15 Nov., 1930, Quaker Meeting House.

  80. Lecture on community for Culture, Ethics & Environment course, Kings Buildings, Edinburgh University, morning of Wed 3 Dec.

  81. Guest lecture to Ethical Enterprise students, 1100, and sociology students, Strathclyde Uni, 1300, Thu 27 Nov.

  82. Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland awards, Edinburgh, 7 pm 27 Nov.

  83. GalGael Trust AGM afternoon/evening Fri 5 Dec.

  84. Lafarge Board Executive with Sustainability Stakeholders Panel - 11 Dec, Paris.

  85. Spiritual Activism MSc human ecology workshop 1 at Strathclyde University, 20-21 Jan 2009.

  86. Talk to Royal Scottish Geographical Society on Climate Change, Macbeth and the Inner Life, Renfield Church Centre, Glasgow, 2.15pm, 22 Jan 2009.

  87. Workshop on environment and spirituality with Edinburgh Quakers, morning of Sat 7 Jan 2009.

  88. Presentation to the Irish Command & Staff School, Irish Defence College, 5 Feb 2009.

  89. Climate change and spirituality - presentation for Quaker General Meeting, Edinburgh, 2pm, Sat 7 Feb 2009.

  90. Sharing with students and staff at Glasgow's International Christian College, afternoon Wed 11 Mar 2009.

  91. Lecture and panel discussion on Gilgamesh and Siduri's Wisdom: a Study of Climate Change and the Ancients, Edinburgh International Festival of Middle East Spirituality and Peace, Fri 13 March 2009.

  92. Spiritual Activism workshop 2 at Strathclyde University, 17-18 Mar 2009, s.t.c.

  93. International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture conference, Amsterdam, 23-26 July 2009, s.t.c.

  94. Speaking at Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham, 28-31 Aug 2009.

  95. Lafarge Board Executive with Sustainability Stakeholders' Panel - 10 Dec 2009, Paris, s.t.c..

 

 

 

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