The Big Picture

South Downs painting by local artist John Thompson
Scotland seems to be ahead of the game in looking at the big picture, using the joined-up thinking that needs to happen now to address the current crises in resources, economy, nature and climate.
Last month’s Film at the Horsham Green Film Festival was made in Scotland: ‘Riverwoods’. This wonderful film opened with shots of Alaska’s bountiful nature, then moved across the same latitude to Scotland with its acres of treeless uplands, a legacy of the clearances of the traditional small mixed farms to make way for large scale sheep grazing.
But why are there no sheep at Knepp’s rewilding project? Read more



Is the climate broken? Should the Government be doing more about it? Can ordinary citizens do anything? How will things look for our children and grandchildren?
When I was invited to write an article on my experience with bumble bees, this title came to mind. I like to think it’s part of Christopher Bollas’s ‘unthought known’ territory – something you’ve carried around in your mind without ever really realising it. And as it turns out, the phrase is rather apt: Darwin referred to them as the ‘hum bee’ – because they ‘hummed’.
