Fay Young

Category: Environment

  • Life on the edge

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    Because it’s Friday…a trip to another world, not so very far away as the seagull flies. Anne Cholawo’s   YouTube film about her life on Soay which led to a top-selling book Island on the Edge: a life on Soay

  • Are we inviting the storms?

    Are we inviting the storms?

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    Oddly, almost eerily, quiet today. For nights over the last week the house has rocked with angry sound. First Gertrude then Henry came rattling at the windows, hammering on the doors, playing merry hell round the chimneys. The latest storms have blown over but surely Imogen will not be far behind?

  • Look to the islands for pragmatic politics of hope

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    It’s not everyone’s idea of escape. A force 7 gale lashed the boat as we crossed the stormy Sound of Eigg. But we were leaving all visible signs of the general election on the mainland and I welcomed that thought even as I closed my eyes and got my head down, praying I wouldn’t need the…

  • Bridge of sighs

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    No fuss, no fanfare. Without a tweet or a peep from the press, an invisible shift in the Scottish landscape took place in the early hours of this morning.

  • Blood on the tracks

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    “Many of the smaller ones perched on my hat, and when I carried my gun on my shoulder would sit on the muzzle. During my stay I killed forty-five all of which I skinned carefully.”   I really wish I hadn’t read that extract from David Douglas’s diary describing the birds he killed during his…

  • Can democracy deliver in time for climate change?

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    Is the NHS equipped to deal with floods, gales and heatwaves of extreme weather?  A deadly serious question is posed in a quiet corner of the Houses of Parliament.  While the media fulminates in a flash storm conjured by David Cameron during Prime Ministers Questions, the Environmental Audit Select Committee contemplates a more fearful threat than Ed…

  • Are Edinburgh’s Christmas lights sustainable?

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    It’s not much after four in the afternoon and the winter sun has set way to the west of Edinburgh castle. At the end of November the city is ready for a long dark night but birds are singing in East Princes Street Gardens as if dawn was breaking.  And no wonder. The sky is ablaze…

  • Seeking the starlings of yesteryear

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    I’m still stuck on the Forth Road Bridge. Searching  for news of the starlings that used to roost in their thousands on the south side of the bridge I stumble upon unexpected human activities higher up.

  • Fiddling with Europe while the planet burns

    Fiddling with Europe while the planet burns

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    The Red Gateway leads to an almost unimaginable world.  Yet it models the prospects for a future very like the one we are sleepwalking towards at present.  We will arrive there if we do nothing to turn away from business as usual. Stephen Blackmore On a misty, moisty Sunday morning there is not much chance…

  • A year of semi-natural Scotland

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    The old day job brings a brief escape from the surreal juxtaposing chaos of Facebook and Twitter. Off we go into the great outdoors for some down to earth chat with gardeners in the real world.

  • In these shoes?

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    One of the perks of my voluntary work with Leith Open Space is an occasional chance to peek behind the scenes at the Scottish Parliament.  Recently it gave me an unexpected view of the Deputy First Minister.

  • The mystery of the Hogwarts Treehouse

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    A new book burst on to the scene this week, a best seller on Amazon before the shops opened on Thursday. And no, I’m not talking about Ray’s book this time, I’m just grabbing a sneaky chance to revisit the mystery of the Hogwarts Treehouse.