Alastair McIntosh
@alastairmci
Human ecologist & Quaker, I share on justice, environment, nonviolence & spirituality. Books include Soil and Soul, Poacher's Pilgrimage & Riders on the Storm.
My best-known book is Soil and Soul (2001) on land, community & activism. Poacher’s Pilgrimage (2016) is perhaps my most beautiful book, a spiritual ecology of the imagination. And Riders on the Storm (2020) is on the science & symptoms of a human crisis, seeking what gives life.
It's now way too late. The tipping point we long warned of has been reached. Nothing you have seen yet prepares you for what you will see now unless, by some miracle, the world's leaders GET FOOD AND WATER IN TO GAZA
Gaza hospital says 21 children dead from malnutrition in 72 hours as UN warns 'last lifelines collapsing' bbc.in/4f2fKOd
UK politics are broken & failing. But Scottish politics, democracy & govt are not in good health. Neither is the SNP or independence & we should recognise this, discuss it & do something abt it. My essay in @ScotNational thenational.scot/politics/25343…
Well, Mrs Gamp asked a fair question. It’s a question also asked of other protestors such as with climate change. Whether intentionally or otherwise, she gave me an opportunity to make a point about activist demographics, in which I take some interest 👇 bloomsbury.com/uk/spiritual-a…
Consistent with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine. I will make this solemn announcement before the United Nations General Assembly this coming September.…
Tomorrow's front page of @ScotNational - Convicted US felon to arrive in Scotland Plus Nadia El-Nakla on the horrific situation Israel is inflicting on her family members in Gaza
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist: ‘“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is an ass — an idiot.”’ This is why the authoritarian trend in UK politics is dangerous. It rips apart the fabric of the social contract.
The ban on Palestine Action is being applied so widely - obvious intent is to scare folk into passivity on Gaza. That won’t work. thenational.scot/politics/25337…
Eigg doesn’t keep its independence to itself. To paraphrase what the iconic Hebridean island’s younger generation say: “Our parents’ generation (1990s) brought about Eigg’s freedom from landlordism. Our generation’s task is to share that freedom back into the wider world.”
Tomorrow's front page 📰 Community-owned Scottish isle to boycott Israel
I sent this to a friend, a prominent British university professor whose many years’ work in Gaza and wider Palestine has been destroyed, and colleagues murdered by the unholy forces that have possessed the State of Israel (helped by UK arms). She said: “That means it’s too late.”
Gaza hospital says 21 children dead from malnutrition in 72 hours as UN warns 'last lifelines collapsing' bbc.in/4f2fKOd
The authoritarian over-reach of police & the UK Govt misusing the Terrorism Act. The placard in Edinburgh of the protester arrested: “Those who take action against genocide in Palestine are not the terrorists.” HT @HudaAmmori
These are the UN’s SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) that Trump’s USA has denounced. Happily, in Scotland from where his mother emigrated, the SDGs are part of the @scotgov National Performance Framework. gov.scot/publications/s…
U.S withdraws form UNESCO again. Spokesperson denounced UNESCO’s commitment to the UN’s SDGs, which include calls to reduce poverty, increase gender equity and fight climate change as evidence of “a globalist, ideological agenda”. msn.com/en-us/news/oth… @UofGlasgow
When greenwashing leaves a stain - with Oxygen Conservation: “We were met by a bunch of young, clean-cut city types, who seemed excited to be suddenly responsible for such a ‘wild’ and ‘remote’ place. They didn’t seem to know much about Scotland…” felicitymartin.substack.com/p/when-greenwa…
In memoriam: Ulrich Loening 1931-2025 With great sadness, and yet a sense of rich fulfilment, The Centre for Human Ecology announces the death of emeritus director, Ulrich Loening at the age of 94. che.ac.uk/news/in-memory…
I always suspected that the real driver of the corporate buy-up of Scotland to “offset” carbon was land speculation: see p.15 communitylandscotland.org.uk/wp-content/upl…. But give the eco veneers, I had not suspected the possibility that the carbon might be a foil perhaps to get land for wind farms.
When Oxygen Conservation bought Glen Lednock with a massive loan from Triodos bank they failed to explain they would need to build a wimdfarm to pay it back. Felicity Martin explains why the proposed planning application is so wrong parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/21/gle…
This law is going to become unenforceable and then @YvetteCooperMP will have to resign.
BREAKING: Four arrested on terror charges in Liverpool, including local legend Audrey White, her brother and a local priest. They were detained for holding signs during the local protest which said "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."
Took grandson Jasper aged 6 out fishing today, first such voyage without his parents. Caught a lythe and a mackerel, off the Isle of Pabbay, Isle of Lewis. Tiring work!
BBC: “No arrests were made in relation to the march in Edinburgh.” Well done @PoliceScotland. No arrests, and NO to UK laws to silence Scottish freedom of speech against what would appear to constitute genocide in international law. bbc.com/news/articles/…
As an actively retired British army general (2-star), Charlie Herbert’s principled stand against what appears to pass the tests for “genocide” in international law is especially significant.
Why march tomorrow in London? There are lots of reasons. For me, it’s to protest the UK governments complicity in a murderous campaign lacking distinction, proportionality and morality. 👇 And because I refuse to be silenced. 12pm, Embankment Tube Station, London
When are the Scottish Government & our National Parks going to look at what land speculators - aka investors - are actually doing on the ground as a result of their obsession with tree planting targets and courtesy of the Scottish Forestry grants system? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/18/abr…