Posts tagged with "future"

Are you feeling optimistic?

It was a crisp Autumn day, beautiful colours and the birds singing. As I cycled up the Innocent Railway path towards work I passed dog walkers and other cyclists we smiled and wished each other a good morning.  I was paying attention to all the life that was flourishing and jumping about around me.  Isn ‘t that amazing, considering 100 years ago, a steam train would have been rushing through, billowing out black smoke , with absolutely no chance of any life being able to thrive?

As I pedalled, I started to drift away, imagining what it could be like in the future.  What if, in the future, our roads became the life channels around our cities?  Since the infrastructure revolves around our small communities, people don’t have to travel so far within the cities.  They walk and cycle when they need to because commuting has almost become a thing of the past.  People work from home much more, only getting together at work for necessary meetings.  We don’t all need our own cars, because there are car pools on the outskirts of cities and high speed public transport services.

I felt so uplifted after this daydream, because although I know it’s probably too idealist, if more people contributed their ideas about what the future could be like, could we end up with a realistic plan?

I’m sure people travelling by rail 100 years ago along the Innocent Railway line wouldn’t have dreamt of what it would become.  Do you think people will be saying the same 100 years in the future about our environment today?

Guilty or not?

I have bloggers’ guilt.  Or have I just been avoiding blogging recently cos I’ve lost the trail…  Either way, I’m back on line cos I’ve had lots of brilliant conversations with you lot - and you’re still commenting on stuff, so I just need to get over it!

The last 2 weeks have been quite strange.  Is it just the unsettling changing of the seasons, or is the time gap increasing between Knoydart and I?  Whatever - but things are slipping, definitely.  Do the effects of the wilderness leave you if you don’t go back often enough?  This is something I hope isn’t true, because lots of conversations with folks have been about how we can bring a bit of the wilderness into our everyday lives, rather than going to the remotest parts of Scotland to find it.

But is this really possible? Moving into the DARK season after one of the coldest weeks ever, how can we still be inspired to go out and find it?

My boyfirend and I took a trip up to Aberdeenshire the other weekend for a night away - I suppose I was trying to regain a bit of that Knoydart feeling - and it was beautiful - especially the stretch from Braemar to Ballater (autumn is amazing up there).  But I kept on feeling guilty because we’d driven up there.  What we learn from nature is key to the future of the human race, but being in nature is detrimental to the future of the human race - vicious circle - no?

How can we enjoy and learn from the wilderness without feeling guilty?

The other thing I’ve been feeling guilty about it lack of action.  I feel in some ways the questions I’m asking are too big for my brain to cope with, which  has partly led to my recent frustration.  I’m having a massive sense of it, but trying to squeeze this in - new job, busy lives, etc. - how can you create action that matters?  And my organisation gave me the opportunity to do this - and I feel very responsible - but the links between health and nature are huge, so what can we do about it?

Had a brilliant conversation with a pal last week and he was quick to point out that this could come across as being a bunch of middle class folk going out and finding themselves in nature.  While I know this isn’t true (we’ve found ourselves already BTW), I think it’s important that it doesn’t come across in this way. Language is so important in whether people feel included or excluded.

Action and focus is what’s needed though - this will be at the forefront of my mind for the next trip away which is looming next week.  Surely they won’t make us do another solo day this time of year????  Better get some more thermals just in case.