Tag: Wilderness

  • Is the hijack of Christmas by consumerism a bad thing or has this modern religion done more for World Peace than the old ones?

    The annual Christmas urban melee for presents is over. Waistlines, expanded to bursting point are now forced into post-indulgence exercise programmes. New presents lie discarded and recycling bins are fit to burst with wrapping paper and packaging. Religious leaders typically bemoan the hijacking of the traditional message of Christmas by commerce in a festival of consumption, but recently I’ve had cause…

  • Back to Basics

    I spend every day of my life working as a conservation professional. I am one of the lucky few to have secured a full time position working for a conservation NGO. I consider myself incredibly lucky to be doing a job that I love, and like many of my colleagues I find it impossible to…

  • How much would you pay NOT to visit a Nature Reserve?

    My  assumption is that visitors attending nature reserves cause damage and disturbance, no matter how lightly they tread. So, how much would you pay not to visit one? Would it be enough just to know it was there doing what it does, but better for your absence. Many of us already pay for the conservation of…

  • The shadow and the landscape; notes on the nature of experience

    Autumn is the best time to play hide-and-seek: it smudges the edges of the world. The space between the parenthesis of dawn and dusk is barely daylight, more a leaf-strewn, muddy puddle, a tree-bare, bonfire-smoke-poem. The distinction between object and background is confused. A boon to the hider,  but a nightmare for the seeker.  We…