Last year two individuals, both interested in ‘preserving wildlife’ and ‘birds, science & environment’ respectively, tweeted their own view of the same Scottish sky.
Field intel
Two people, who may not share the same values, may have common purpose over working for the environment. This was evident with those I met on my field intel trip up north between lockdowns: conservation scientist, upland landowner, moorland buyout campaigner, govt raptor worker, forestry contractor, tenant farmer, rural writer. I’ve just undertaken another around East Anglia – ecologist, keeper, landowner, farmer, wilder, forester et al – in June 21.
Left brain..
All enable me to fine tune my thoughts, update opinion, find new ways to tease out commonality without rancour. And keep learning. Aldo Leopold was a master at this. I’m not sure we are. Perhaps Brexit, Covid, Trumpism put on hold our “ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function” (F Scott Fitzgerald).
While also:
Engaging with three different audiences – “mass mindset” civil society, farmers, land managers and academia – is a minefield of tricky comms.
Acting on land (Blog Nov 19)
Febrile evolution
I soon revised my aspirations for 2020 in its febrile atmosphere. Less room for reconciliation, more space for #countryside #critical thinking. Especially as primary industries – farming, forestry, aquaculture – move into new places. While land management practices, from shooting to soils, evolve towards more sustainable futures.
“This sport knows no bag limit, no closed season. It needs teachers, but not wardens. It calls for a new woodcraft of the highest cultural value. The sport I refer to is wildlife research”
Aldo Leopold ‘Sand Country Almanac’
Trees for reason
Forgetful at times of what has already been achieved, not recorded on social media or the internet, we reinvent the wheel. 40 years ago farmers came together in co-operatives to plant and harvest trees in the Dyfi valley. I hope we learn from mistakes (“Locals turn down £2.7mill”). Today, timber seems less important, alongside often mis-perceived non-native conifers. However carbon markets (Stump Up For Trees) and “strengthening native woodland” are also new drivers.
Public good search
Plenty of good stuff has missed the limelight due to searing distractions over the last year.
The Welsh Govt was delighted that Sustainable Management Schemes (Ireland Moor) delivered stuff they couldn’t. Natural England’s facilitated land managers groups have grown. Yorkshire gamekeepers built a hide for the public to watch hen harriers at their winter roost on a grouse moor (Swinton). Govt agricultural agencies (Rothamsted) ‘quietly’ research how arable farming can help sustainably feed salmon; while River Otter’s beavers (Clinton Estate) ‘noisily’ remain after a thumbs up.
Imagine if landowners, who also enjoy duck hunting, welcomed beavers!
Social science soft
Science has had a robust public airing over Covid, while media has embraced reductionist headlining. Even if evidence-informed might in fact be more effective than evidence-based research in delivering results. Social media, unsurprisingly, often discovered new ‘skills’ in avoiding any nuanced dialogue. Whereas it was disappointing when a scientist ‘had to’ erase his informative personal blog when he joined SAGE (clue in para nine). Mind you, no one’s that keen to unpack a ‘wicked problem’.
What’s for supper?
That said, watch these spaces. See how govt nudges us towards better diets and less food waste. Will it seek to reconcile public opinion ‘cute’ nature-friendly’ farming with public benefit ‘grittier’ land sparing and sharing?
Five years ago someone suggested I stop sitting on the fence. I declined, saying my aim is to understand, harness, seek out, stimulate common ground from over both sides of a ‘fence’.
Those sunset pics? Here they are. Same sky, different view, common purpose.
ps this is an adaptive blog revised anytime. Do comment. Some find it too cryptic, so I may, or may not, attempt to rectify this. As one of my purposes is to get you to think in a different way….
Great post and very timely given current circumstances. I often find myself in the minority on an issue, in that I can see both sides (and so disliked by both sides! 😉).
IMHO the answer, on balance, is usually somewhere in the middle.
All the best and HNY.
As ever, sound common sense much appreciated from a fellow ‘fence sitter’.
My family farm is coming off the fence to kick start an experiment. Entirely by coincidence, our new neighbours share a similar vision. It’s all very exciting, I hope you’ll sign up to follow our journey and even visit in person.
https://www.carbethhomefarm.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR27CzvdkN93d1xr547ZXieRoEy0i0LK8M7LdpMFYJY_qLxPtoyl1uOnlEs
Great post. I agree with how you sometimes seem distinctly in a minority (of one?) when able to see both sides of an argument. The worst is when you are pressured into taking one side. So polarised. I like your cryptic-ness – carry on regardless, I say. Being cryptic leaves more room for the imagination and more room to question. Keep at it. HNY