While washing dishes, I often spot a wee wren foraging for insects in the rockery; I always stop and watch – wondering why this tiny creature stirs me so much; in the ten years I’ve lived with a wren family, I’ve never discovered where they nest. I’m out at the wheelie bins on Wednesday when our cheery postman arrives – ‘you’ve got a wren’s nest’, he announces; seeing my reaction, he takes me to a cavity in the old wall; ‘I’ve seen them arrive and leave’, he smiles.
My joyous reaction to this discovery is way beyond ‘bird-watching’ – it may be connected to something the great Scottish naturalist John Muir wrote: ‘when we try to pick out anything by itself – we find it hitched to everything in the universe’. Muir was a visionary – with a deep appreciation of how much humans need the natural world – how it all connects. For reasons beyond my understanding, my encounter with wrens speaks of ‘my place in the family of things’. Hopkins great line: ‘My heart in hiding – stirred for a bird’.
John Muir’s family emigrated from Dunbar to America when he was 11 years old (1849); he later wrote that he never lost his Scottish accent – nor his memories of the East Lothian countryside – which ignited his love of nature. It’s difficult to exaggerate the influence Muir had over the way Americans understand their relationship with the natural world. Many consider that Scotland has failed to recognise the greatness of one of ‘our ain’ – but there’s nothing new in that.
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Each year, Senscot invites financial donations from readers who wish to contribute to the cost of producing this bulletin. Traditionally, around 100 individuals give an average of £25 to become full company members. Senscot’s board is elected by and is accountable to these members. We also invite donations from individuals (donors) or organisations (associate members) who simply want to support what we do (amounts between £5 and £500). To join ordonate, see members page.
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Each year, Senscot invites financial donations from readers who wish to contribute to the cost of producing this bulletin. Traditionally, around 100 individuals give an average of £25 to become full company members. Senscot’s board is elected by and is accountable to these members. We also invite donations from individuals (donors) or organisations (associate members) who simply want to support what we do (amounts between £5 and £500). To join ordonate, see members page.
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Three-quarters of people in developed countries feel that they are not getting a fair shake; this article on the Axios site suggests that, if a single theme ran through Davos last week, it was acceptance that the Capitalist system is broken. This piece on the Transformation site by Kate Raworth (Doughnut Economics) offers ‘seven ways to think like a 21st century economist’. Raworth wrote the foreword for ‘The Economics of Arrival’, which I’m currently reading – another brave attempt to imagine what economic progress might mean when it stops meaning growth – how we can move from enlargement to improvement.
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As the corporate world continues to try and shape the ‘social change/social impact’ agenda, this short video, again from Davos, gets to the heart of the matter – talking about tax avoidance and jobs with dignity.
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South Queensferry, my nearest High St, once housed butchers, bakers, fishmongers etc – but everything got swallowed up when the giant Tesco arrived (removing residents’ earnings, from the local economy to the Tesco economy). Tesco announced this week that many of its fresh food counters will now close – risking 9,000 jobs………..The decision to combine several hospitals into the ginormous Queen Elizabeth in Glasgow brought predictable risks. Can you imagine the cottage hospital being unaware that pigeons had free access to spread disease? Bigger means more complex – further from the surveillance of common sense.
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A core theme of John Muir’s environmental philosophy is to challenge the ‘enormous conceit’ of mankind’s belief – that the natural world is there simply to serve our needs. This is a Muir quote I’d not seen before.
“I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not ‘hike!’ Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre’, ‘To the Holy Land’. And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”
Four SENs – Health, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee – have participated in the U>P (Unlocking Potential) pilot this year. The purpose of this Impact Evaluation pilot was to provide a broader understanding of the work being carried out by the four SENs on behalf of their members and the wider social enterprise sector. In doing so, it also sought to highlight the particular benefits the SENs can bring through demonstrating this impact. The final report identifies a number of key findings – but, overall, it underlines the invaluable support infrastructure SENs can provide to members – making them better placed to navigate their course through start up – to further stages of development – with access to peer support, network facilitators and direct, face-to-face connections. In addition, the report also highlights the impact that the breadth and scale of a SEN’s activity has on its members – in contributing to greater sustainability and resilience amongst members as they seek to meet the challenges and opportunities that come their way. See Full Report.
NOTICES: We can’t flag all notices here, but more jobs, events and tenders available on our website.
The Social Enterprise Collection (Scotland), housed at Glasgow Caley, is now up and running following a £90k grant from Scottish Govt. The current funding runs until March 2020 and the team at Glasgow Caley will be overseeing a series of initiatives which, as well as building the archive, will also include research and outreach work. If you’re interested in donating materials to the Collection – here’s the online form. The link gives you a flavour of the materials gathered to date – much of which was donated by the late John Pearce.
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Scottish Parliament debated the Scottish Govt’s – A Connected Scotland – Our Strategy for tackling social isolation and loneliness and building stronger connections. It was good to hear Health SEN member Weekday Wow Factor getting name-checked – as one of a number of SEN members seeking to address loneliness in Glasgow through the Pockets and Prospects project. On this same theme, another Health SEN member, Roar – Connections for Life presented at yesterday’s Cross-Party Group on Health Inequalities which focused on the Loneliness Strategy. The Govt has now set up a National Implementation Group -tasked with taking forward the Strategy and advising on the allocation of its £1m fund.
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David Attenborough’s Blue Planet series brought to many people’s attention the devasting effect of plastic in our oceans – it is estimated there will be more plastic than fish by 2050. So, it is heartening to hear that the community of Arran has become the first community in Scotland (one of 400 worldwide) to be awarded Plastic Free Communities status – in recognition of the island’s work to start reducing the impact of single-use plastic on the environment. See full story.
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This week’s bulletin profiles a venture in Glasgow that has been set up to save items from landfill and, at the same time, help communities and individuals develop practical DIY skills so they can fix their own possessions. Repair Café Glasgow, founded in 2017, is based on the principles of Repair Café International. The first Repair Café opened in Amsterdam in 2009 and is now a thriving global network of almost 1500 such cafes, located in 33 different countries. Repair Café Glasgow’s aim is to help people learn more about climate change and change attitudes through an innovative approach to waste reduction, social cohesion – as well as developing skills, through the act of repairing, upgrading and maintaining a broad range of products.
