Soil and Soul—June's Eco Book Club Discussion

Welcome to my eco book club, where we discuss one book and focus on one mini-goal per month. The goal is to learn and encourage optimism instead of letting eco-anxiety take over.

Book of the month: Soil and Soul by Alastair McIntosh

Goal: Engage in local community gardens

If you are new to my book club, welcome! One of my biggest beliefs in solutions to solve climate change is that it cannot be a technological-only solution. It has to be a holistic solution; yes, taking carbon out of the air is a priority, but it isn't the only one. We have to tackle the problem at the root. That is to say, we have to understand where we came from, why our ancestors did what they did, and incorporate the past into the future. We practice culture the way we do because it made sense for the resources we had back then and the lives we lived. As such, Land Back is one of the most important conversations in conservation. Land is a precursor to culture and a creator of community. And without land, we will not be able to truly understand our roots.

I had several doubts about having my first land reform book as one written by a white, Scottish campaigner. Indeed, airs of colonialism slip into McIntosh’s writing and whilst I agree with the gist of what he says, I disagree with *how* he says it.

However, I’ve chosen this book for two reasons. Although I do not class people indigenous to Scotland as Indigenous, they, too, have suffered from aristocratic and class hierarchies that drive them from their traditional way of life. These efforts will need to be made for everyone, not just Indigenous people. Secondly, I live in the UK, and this book about Scottish land reform is more applicable to me. I don’t recommend this book for everyone—there are micro aggressions and a callous, old world style of writing of the Jeremy Clarkson type. A whole other discussion can be had about building upon the works of less-than-perfect activists. However, McIntosh was a key campaigner that helped the Isle of Eigg trust become a community-owned trust; future work being donne to put land back into the hands of the community build upon his work and thus, his work can and should not be understated.

McIntosh combines spirituality and religion alongside culture, community, and land to write a manifesto documenting his success in reforming the Isle of Eigg and removing a Laird. It is a success story that inspires many other efforts across the country and I think it is a worthwhile read, especially for English people who do not understand what lies behind the desperation of Scottish nationalism.

As city-dwellers, land is hard to come by and the ancestral cultures built on those lands are largely lost to us now. However, it doesn’t have to stay that way—the community and culture built around it can be found, largely in community gardens. I briefly visited the Garden of Earthly Delights and found a thriving, vibrant place where they shared food and gardened together. It’s a beautiful third space where you can learn from elders and relax your mind and body. Also, they were just handing out these beautiful, home grown radishes when I went! The community found in communal gardens may not have the same deep roots as our ancestral cultures but they can and should be cultivated.

I highly recommend finding one close to you as a way to become immersed in your local community & ecology. If you can't personally visit these, I recommend donating some money to keep these spaces up and running--here is GED's gofundme.

I hope you learnt something from this discussion and join me in next month's discussion! In July we will be reading Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders by Angelou Ezeilo and looking at the ways the environment is historically inaccessible to PoC youths.

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