Tails from an Island

If you have not read Mr Peastack’s post on environmental concerns and peat on the islands, I suggest you put a moment of our precious time on this world to one side to do so. It is well written, concise and addresses many thoughts that a lot of people seem to be having at the moment on Lewis.

I took an hour or so from my busy schedule learning what turns out to be Polish [interesting though] and working to take off to visit Callanish to see the wondrous stones that have lain there for some eons of time. I believe it was J Matheson who saw fit to clear the layer of thick peat away from this area – amazing when you think that peat can usually regenerate at the rate of only about 1mm per year and the layer cleared was several metres deep. With superb weather – again, the visit was spiritually uplifting and I find myself having to readdress my whole life. I shall get back to that later.

With all the talk about wind-farms and the ‘economic-development’ that would come from it, I feel I want to have my say – for what it’s worth as a recent incomer but hopefully long time stayer. Much of this I am sure has already been said and more succinctly too but I shall say it none the less.

Having already looked at the three windmills that sit on the skyline above Stornoway – the three SMALL windmills that is – you can see the mess they have made of the land immediately surrounding them. Imagine the devastation that would be caused by the many many huge windmills planned to the fragile land and all the interruption to the fauna and flora in an area that has been considered to be pristine and unique. Consider the traffic on the roads while these things are being built, the atmospheric pollution from that [from the manufacture of the windmills, the trucks, the fuel used to transport them or their constituent parts here and so on]. What would we be left with? An island devastated, possibly economically a little better off but culturally, visually, ecologically and probably aurally bankrupt.

I see these huge windmills as a flag for a wrong turn in the way our world is taking. We are not addressing what is the most fundamental and important aspect; that of entropy. [best do a google search for this]. This is something I will attempt to look at in a later post.

I feel the most important thing would be for us, everyone – especially me – and especially us who have the pleasure of living on this wonderful group of islands – to look at ourselves and consider how much we can reduce our consuming and particularly our energy consumption. If we want to persuade these purveyors of yet more destruction of our world of the necessity to look to a new way to live then we must perhaps try and live that life ourselves first. Why not put ourselves forward as a model for contemporary, sustainable ecologically positive living where the need for energy is reduced rather than increased; where the need to consume overtly is decreased; where the cultural, visual and aural beauty of the islands is maintained, not as a stagnate museum piece but as a dynamic developing place where sustainability is the keystone.

I am sure you can all see many holes in this argument and I welcome your thoughts on it.

One issue I have giving much thought is that with reduced consumerism the economic model that the western world has forced upon us and we have all benefited from – both positively and negatively – would be under threat. I will address this is a later post.

Meanwhile, my life has changed.
I will lower my use of energy by doing the following.
• Replace all the electric bulbs in my house to low energy ones.
• Only heat one room in my house. Ensure my house is adequately insulated. [is it possible to use treated sheeps’ wool? I am told the crofters get very little for it a present].
• Only use my car for essential journeys that are time-limited. Otherwise use public transport and my trusty bicycle – after all the roads here are among the best in the UK for cycling.
• Reduce my use of flights to very essential – ie- emergency use only – not shopping/holidays etc.
• Recycle everything including furniture and the like.
• Consume much less frivolous items.
• Take note of air-miles and high energy consuming grown/processed foods.
• Never take plastic bags from supermarkets.
• Support local shops – where I can.
• Utilise the mobile library.
• And Sunday WILL be a day or rest for me. Why not have Sunday as a day when we never use motorised transport on the island – except in emergencies? Imagine; we might talk to each other more, appreciate the quietude and meditative qualities of this place and in process appreciate the pleasure from not rushing hither and thither seeking more and ‘better’ when all the time it is where were are; in ourselves if only we can find it.
I am not saying anyone else should do this. I am not trying to impose this, rather; I am putting his out for consideration discussion and development.
I'm off to meditate now.
Toodle doo
Alpinia