Alastair McIntosh's Home Page

Hello, and a warm welcome to the website of Alastair McIntosh. Thank you for visiting my home page. See below for contact details and my public itinerary. The tabs above for are for main themes, and links on the left include a classified index of my publications and some other key ports of call.

I grew up and was educated on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland,. Together with four years in the 1970-80s working with appropriate technology in Papua New Guinea, my background gave me a grounding that has shaped my life's work. Much of this has focussed on land reform, community empowerment and the psychology and even spirituality of the wider human condition.

Since 2004, my wife Vérène Nicolas and I have lived within the parish boundary of Govan in the City of Glasgow where I am a founding trustee of the GalGael Trust. This works to "demonstrate ways of living with greater humanity in our times", helping one another to rebuild community and to counter unjust social structures that impact upon a hard-pressed urban area. Véréne is French. We met in rural Ireland in 1996, and she works with transformative learning and collaborative leadership.

Nearly all of what I've posted on this website has been previously published or delivered as an address. The resources here include landing pages for my books, the text of speeches, academic papers, articles and letters in the press, poetry, reports and some broadcasts. There's direct links to the past year's publications at the bottom left column of this page. Video etc. is either on the interviews menu, or provided as Zoom recording links for the current and previous year in my public itinerary lower down this page.

Since 1996, my work has been mainly freelance as a human ecologist, writer, speaker, researcher and activist. I am a Quaker, an honorary senior research fellow (honorary professor) in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow, and as a Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology was Scotland's first professor of human ecology at the University of Strathclyde. I have also held honorary fellowships at the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages (University of Ulster), the School of Divinity (University of Edinburgh) and the Schumacher Society.

What I do and stand for

This website broadly represents my work in human ecology - the study of and participation in relationships between the natural environment and the social environment. My approach to this integrates depth psychology and the spiritual. I understand the spiritual to be the inner ground of being in which our outer lives are held. In this, I am especially influenced by liberation theology in Christianity and other faiths, this being theology that liberates theology to liberate humanity. In choosing what to work on, I therefore ask questions like:

	Does what I do feed the hungry?
	Is it relevant to the poor or to the broken in nature?
	Is it meaningful?
	Does it give life?

In practice, this means working with professional groups, communities and key individuals within them to develop their vision, courage and capacity for practical change. It is the question of what gives life that most binds my work together, work that often involves holding seeming contradictions together in tension, and trying to approach matters with what the Celtic monks called "the inward ear of the heart" (Adomnán, Columba, II:13).

My books have variously been described as "weaving a dizzying range of ideas into a single bright fabric" by the poet John Burnside, "an inspiration to anyone who cares about their own connection to place" by Professor Carolyn Merchant, "a life-giving vision for our collective future" by Professor Michael E. Mann, "solid on the science yet dedicated to the human spirit" by Professor Katharine Hayhoe, "careful, sober reasoning" by Mary Midgley, "a spiritual journey" by Starhawk, "world-changing" by George Monbiot, "life-changing" by the Bishop of Liverpool and "truly mental" by Tom Yorke of Radiohead.

Places at which I have spoken or taught include:

	Environmental organisations including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, WWF International, the Society for Ecological Regeneration and Schumacher College;
	Religious bodies such as the World Council of Churches, the Holy Trinity Sergyev monastery and Iona Abbey;
	Military institutions (on nonviolence) regularly at the UK Defence Academy, also the Royal College of Defence Studies, the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, the Irish Military College and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy;
	Business groups including Groupe Credit Mutuel, Shell plc, Nokia Research Centre and Lafarge (on whose Sustainability Stakeholders' Panel I sat for a decade);
	University institutions including the Russian Academy of Sciences, Duke Divinity School, INSEAD business school, the Glasgow School of Art and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama;
	Festivals including the Edinburgh International, Ashville Wordfest, Greenbelt, HowTheLightGetsIn and the Lochs Agricultural Show back home in the Isle of Lewis.

Background and availability for events

Born in 1955, all of my school education (1960-73) took place in the community where I was raised, on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides or Western Isles. A traditional Scottish education allows for a generalist worldview. I hold a BSc in geography from the University of Aberdeen (1973-77) submajoring in psychology and moral philosophy; a financial MBA from the University of Edinburgh (1980-81); and a PhD by published works in liberation theology, land reform and community empowerment from the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages, University of Ulster (2008). A CV and short bio is here.

Since 1996 I've made my living on an entirely self employed basis - writing, broadcasting, keynote speaking at events, workshops, retreats, taught courses and consultancy. For availability see my public itinerary, and a rough idea of the kind of things I talk about at this list. My personal financial accountability, my suggesting scale of charging for events, and my approach to travel in the face of climate change are all given here. I undertake live and online events, and have the technology to offer blended events using Zoom.

The pandemic has caused most face-to-face events to have been cancelled or shifted online from 2020 into early 2022. However, I am fully vaccinated, and for in-person invitations can offer to bring and operate Zoom-adequate cameras and studio-quality wireless microphones to enable blended events.

I run this website to represent myself professionally. Its main purpose is to make my published work readily available and to give events information. Forgive it being a homespun website. I use antique FrontPage software from the last century, but it does a good enough job and I know how to manage it myself. Treat it as a retro experience.

Contact information:

Alastair McIntosh
26 Luss Road
Glasgow
G51 3YD
Scotland / Ecosse

Email - mail@AlastairMcIntosh.com (preferred first point of contact)

Mobile (cellphone): +44 (0) 7444 580 380 (preferred second point of contact)

Twitter: @alastairmci (I can be DM'd without requiring to follow. I do not normally use other social media.)

For work issues please try to avoid phoning outside weekday working hours. Remember time zones - we're in GMT or BST in summer (i.e. GMT+1). If you need to discuss something that requires much thought I prefer an email first if possible to arrange a mutually convenient calling time. I am on Skype, Facetime, WhattsApp and Zoom: but unless it is a pressing matter please first try to arrange any call by email or text.

Directions to our home/office:

Public Transport: For public transport in Scotland, it is worthwhile downloading the Traveline Scotland app. If coming from central Glasgow, take the subway (underground train) to either Govan or Ibrox. They're each one mile from our house. From Govan is a more interesting walk, but Ibrox is a simpler route and less congested if we're picking you up by car (see below if walking). From either Govan subway station or the city centre (Renfield St), you can get a McGills Route 26 bus to the second stop on Craigton Road, from where we're the next street up on the right. The fare is £3.60 from town as of the start of 2018). They're every 10 or 16 minutes during the day, but the timetable is unreliable. Our house is no. 26, half way along Luss Rd on the right. If coming from city centre's Queen St or Central stations, the stops for the 26 bus are on Renfield Street (extending onto Union Street). Taxis up from Govan are about £4, from city centre about £12, and from the airport about £20.

If walking from the subway exit at Ibrox, turn right onto Copland Road. Up to the lights and turn right. Pass alongside the Rangers football stadium, go straight on over the first roundabout, straight over the second roundabout, on to the lights, turn right down Craigton Road, and Luss Road is the 5th exit on the left (depending on what you count as an exit).

By Car: If coming on the M8 from east or west, exit at junction 24 (Helen Street), signposted for Govan. Head downhill and over the lights to a roundabout, as if heading to the Clyde Tunnel. Turn left at the roundabout then right at the lights into a residential area, Craigton Road (signposted to "Elderpark Workspace"). Luss Road is the 3rd on the left (or 4th depending on what you count).

If coming by car from the North via the Clyde Tunnel, as you exit the tunnel prepare to take the first left just at the tunnel's end. Be careful - it comes on you very quickly and it's easy to overshoot. This brings you out onto Govan Road with a very large roundabout. Turn right at this, onto Drive Road, passing a Elder Park on your left. At the end of Drive road, keep the park on your left by turning left onto Langlands Road. Take the 3rd right, just before you lose the park, onto Arklett Road, then 2nd right is Luss Road.

Avoid the M8 approaches if you can when there's a football match on at Ibrox. There may also be parking congestion at such times. Taxi drivers from outwith this area do not know it well. Tell them that you want Luss Road which is off Craigton Road, and to take the Helen Street exit if coming from the M8.

If you are viewing in iOS or similar "Reader" mode, temporarily "hide reader", or otherwise turn it off, to view the timetable below and links above and to the side. Reader modes generally only let you see plain text. They don't display a full web page with boxes, tables, etc..

Alastair McIntosh's Itinerary of Main Events This table shows roughly which dates I'm booked up for, with booking links and, often, links to previous events' video recordings. It also shows what sorts of events I take on. For information on booking me for events please click here. For an overview of my typical speaking topics click here. Gaps in the timetable do not necessarily signify availability, especially over weekends, as this is not my private diary. Dates marked for delivery of Thought for the Day mean that I have to be near a BBC studio early that morning, and have time on the previous day for preparation - though these dates can be swapped with another presenter. Events marked "s.t.c." are "subject to consent/confirmation", and it is best to confirm events with the organisers' information before turning up.
	2022 (last year)	This Year - 2023+
	As this year continues to see Covid uncertainty, I can offer Zoom facilities for up to 500 participants. I also have portable equipment for my events to offer blended meetings with excellent speaker & audience audio and wide-angle audience camera. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Tue 11 Jan 2022, (preparation previous day). Talk on Climate Change and the Farther Reaches of Human Nature, The Scientific & Medical Network, 1930, Wed 2 Feb, online, tickets £11.99 here. Seminar for the John Muir Trust and partners Northwest Regenerate, Landscape and the Gaelic Worldview, 1100-1300, Wed 9 Feb., private Zoom link. Keynote address at the Festival of Unitarians - FUSE 2022 - The Pilgrimage of Life: Journeys of Spiritual Unfolding, 1030-1330, Sat 19 Feb, by Zoom, bookings here, £25 full conference fee. Annual Gathering (AGM) of the GalGael Trust, 1800, Thu 24 Feb. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Fri 25 Feb, (preparation previous day). Online talk and discussion, Rekindling our Inner Fire for Skye & Lochalsh Faiths Together Group, 1600-1730 Thu 10 Mar, by Zoom, link t.b.a.. (Also that day, tied up in morning recording Good Friday programme with BBC Radio Scotland, see below). Speaking on marine protection and reconnecting coastal communities after preview showing of the film Time Limit at the AGM of Our Seas, Glasgow, 1800, Thu 10 Mar, in-person. Diocese of Manchester, An Evening with AM, Author of Riders on the Storm, Mon 14 Mar, 1930 - 2100, all welcome, free, Eventbrite register here. Taking the GalGael Trust staff & volunteers to Iona, Fri 18 to Sun 21 Mar. Conference talk - ‘In Our Doom Is Our Dharma’: Quickening to the Signs of our Times - at the Woodbrooke Quaker Centre, Birmingham, 1000-1200, Sat 27 Mar, bookings here, weekend event, my sharing by Zoom. With Véréne in France to care for elderly relatives - not available for in-person events but can do things online - Wed 30 Mar - Thu 14 Apr. Alongside Pain and Hope - a BBC Radio Scotland special for Good Friday when they'd be expecting 'Good Morning Scotland'! My wife Véréne Nicolas and I with Madge Bray who researches keening, interviewed on living with and making sense of suffering, 0630, Fri 15 Apr., listen here (28 mins, permalink). Speaking in and co-organising a 2-day conference, Facing Our Future: Learning from Papua and Scotland, with the Centre for Human Ecology, the GalGael Trust, and village-based, NGO and governmental officials from Papua & West Papua provinces, Indonesia, online private event, mornings of Fri 22 and Sat 23 Apr. Caring for Creation: Unlocking the Future, keynote address to 21st annual gathering & AGM of Eco-Congregation Scotland, St Blane's, Dunblane, 1030 Sat 30 April, bookings. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Wed 4 May, (preparation previous day). Talk to SW England Quakers on Climate Change and Spiritual Calling, 1900-2100, Mon 9 May, watch Zoom recording here. Talk to the Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre & Edinburgh Interfaith Association - Together for our Planet - What are we called to do?, 1930 Wed 11 May, Salisbury Centre, Edinburgh. For in-person or Zoom blended, watch Zoom recording here. Assisting (technology and panel input) at a CPD training day - Working with Privileged Abandonment - held by psychotherapist Nick Duffell, author of The Making of Them and Wounded Leaders. Quaker Meeting House, Glasgow, Sat 14 May (also tied up with him on the 13th), registration here. Véréne and I organising the Elder Park Rose Garden volunteers from Govan to Benmore Botanic Gardens, Sun 15 May. Lecture to indigenous leaders, Sabah, Malaysia, on Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism as part of online conference by LEAP - Land Empowerment Animals People - 0900 - 1030, Mon 16 May, private event, but video now available here. Keynote address, The Depth and Context of Community Curation, to archivists & curators at Green Spaces of Care, National Museum of Wales, 1030 - 1200, Mon 23 May, Zoom private event. Lecture on Some Spiritual Considerations in Personal and Cultural Psychotherapy, to students of the Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling, Garnethill Centre, Glasgow, 1700-1915, Wed 25 May, private event. On BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Morning programme, 0910 - 0925, discussing "deference" with Cathy Macdonald, Rev Richard Frazer of the C of S and Prof Stephen Reicher. Live webcast with Heroes Too, Hong Kong, based around community and environment, details t.b.c., 0900-1000, Sun 5 June. Speaking in St Stephen's Church, Exeter, to environmental groups, The Inner-Life Demands of Climate Change, 1800, Wed 8 Jun, travelling 7th, details here. Speaking at the Realisation gathering of the Perspectiva think tank, St Giles House, Dorset, Thu 9 - Sun 12 Jun, private event. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Mon 20 Jun, (preparation previous day, note changed date). Keynote address Environmental Education for Adaptation: Knowledge, Consumption and the Ontological Question to sustainability, business & education conference, Susanna Wesley Foundation, University of Roehampton, London, Wed 29 - Thu 30 June, details t.b.a . Leading workshops and keynote address at Nordic Quakers Yearly Meeting on the theme Seeking a Quaker Spirituality for Our Times, Gottenberg, Sweden, Thu 30 June - Sun 3 Jul, details t.b.a.. On holiday, Isle of Lewis, mostly unavailable, Wed 6 - Thu 21 July. Speaking on Feeding the Flow of Life Back Into the Community in the Erasmus funded Inspiring Voices programme of ENGAGE: Harvesting Biography for Social Impact, Switzerland, by Zoom, 2000, Sun 24 July. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Wed 27 Jul, (preparation previous day). BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Thu 25 Aug, (preparation previous day). Speaking in PeatFest, festival of peat (yes, I've warned them I'm of a hand peat-digging culture), 1100 - 1200, Thu 1 Sept, online, registration here. Family matters in France, Wed 7 - Fri 16 Sep, mostly unavailable. Riders on the Storm - a Conversation with Alastair McIntosh chaired by Rev’d Mark Johnstone, Glasgow Cathedral Festival (Castle St.), 1400 - 1500, Fri 30 Sep., details here. GalGael Trust staff & board planning away day, Tue 4 Oct.. Speaking in the Centre for Human Ecology's course on "degrowth", 1830 - 2030, Wed 5 Oct, by Zoom, course registration here. BBC Radio 4 programme recording from somewhere up Ben Nevis (I kid you not!), Wed 5 - Fri 7 Oct, s.t.c.. Address on Radical Human Ecology at the 50th anniversary of the Centre for Human Ecology, Sat 8 Oct, preliminary info here. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Thu 13 Oct, (preparation previous day). A short talk on The Scottish Hebridean Sabbath in the Green Sabbath Weekend online conference, 2125, Thu 20 Oct, with other talks incl. Ched Myers from 1400, free, sign-up at link. Speaker at the Small Farms & Crofts Day of Action outside the Scottish Parliament, at request of The Scottish Crafting Federation, with The Landworkers' Alliance, The Soil Association, etc.. from 1200, Tue 25 Oct. details here. Keynote address: Cultivating Peace - In Ourselves and in the World, and a Meeting for Clearness workshop at the conference of the European Unitarian Universalist churches. Fri 28 - Sun 30 Oct, Mittelwihr, France. Residential is now sold out, but for blended online, register here. Leading Sunday Worship from Ben Nevis on BBC Radio 4 jointly with broadcaster Anna Magnusson, 0810, Sun 30 Oct (the day the clocks go forward), listen live or for next 30 days at this link. Leading the Sunday service with sermon on Cultivating Peace: The Karma Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita, at the European Unitarian Universalist annual conference, 1000, Sun 30 Oct, Mittelwihr (above). Recitation from The GalGael Peoples of Scotland poem at the GalGael Trust's 25th anniversary year closing event, starting 1600, Tue 1 Nov, 15 Fairley St., Glasgow. Free, but register here. Online panel, The Power of the Eigg Story, Yesterday and Today, together with Lesley Riddoch and Andy Wightman, 1930, Wed 2 Nov, podcast of the discussion now here. Address on Decolonising Land and Minds for the Carrolup Touring Art Exhibition, Tracing the Art of a Stolen Generation, with the University of Glasgow and the Hunterian Museum. Exhibition viewing from 1800, refreshments 1830, talk starts at 1900, Mon 7 Nov., in-person event in the University Chapel, free, bookings here. Soil and Soul in telling in communicating the climate change emergency, at the Yorkshire Festival of Story, Settle, Yorkshire Dales, online 1900, Fri 18 Nov.. GalGael Trust AGM, 1800 Thu 1 Dec, all welcome. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Fri 9 Dec, (preparation previous day). BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Wed 28 Dec, Holy Innocents Day, (preparation previous day).	BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Fri 27 Jan 2023 (changed date), (preparation previous day). Speaking on the panel at a public meeting on Falkland Estate’s Future: Learning from the communities of Eigg and Langholm, 1900 - 2100, Falkland Palace, Fife, Register here. Scottish launch of the new edition of Poacher's Pilgrimage: a Journey Into Land and Soul at the Pitlochry Winter Words Literature Festival, 1530 - 1630, Fri 10 Feb. At Work in the Ruins, I will be in dialogue with Dougald Hine about his new book, together with Caro Ross & Dougie Srang at the GalGael Trust, 15 Fairley St., Glasgow, 1930, Sat 11 Feb. Eventbrite tickets here, by donation, note that workshop will be cold so dress warmly. Delivering the Dick Balharry MemorialTalk 2023 to the Ramblers Association of Scotland to mark the anniversary of the 2003 Land Reform (Scotland) Act - "Land Reform, Access, and the Renewal of Relationship" - both in-person in Edinburgh and blended by Zoom, free. Video recording here and text version here. Lead speaker in the Maryport Arts & Literary Festival for the English launch of the new edition of Poacher's Pilgrimage: a Journey into Land and Soul, 1930 (doors open 1900), Sat 4 Mar, Senhouse Roman Museum Tickets at above link & a continuation event below. Building on the above, a workshop the next morning, Sun 5 Mar, 0945 - 1130:The Pilgrimage of Life, details & ticket info at the event link above. Talk, The Basket of Community, as a contributor to the course KINSHIP 2023: World as Archipelago by Advia, 1800, Tue 7 Mar. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Tue 14 Mar, (preparation previous day). Leading the Quaker Westerly Gathering,The Pilgrimage of Life, Crianlarich youth hostel, Fri 17 to Sat 18 March, fully booked. On BBC Radio Scotland Sunday Morning With, discussing "after the Pandemic", Sun 19 Mar. A sharing and discussion on Ground Zero: Atomic Theology and Third Millennium Christianity with SCANA: Scottish Christians Against Nuclear Arms,1000, Tue 21 Mar., (by Zoom, members only). Private event pre the next day's Carbon Offsets conference, 1900, Wed 22 Mar. Keynote speaker in the Carbon Offsetting and Communities conference, on "Who is 'the community' and why does it matter?", Scottish Universities Insight Institute, Strathclyde University, 23 - 24 Mar (my input Fri morning). In conversation with the Isle of Iona artist Mhairi Killin, Looking North Through Art, University of St Andrews, 1330-1430, Wed 5 April, free event by Zoom, details t.b.a.. Quaker membership interviewing, 1700, Tue 11 Apr., private event. Interview with Caspar Henderson, Wed 12 Apr., unavailable all day. A sharing with Prof Laura Hope-Gill's creative writing class, Lenoir-Rhyne Uni, N. Carolina, by Zoom, 2030 Thu 13 Apr, private event. Talk on imagination in academic research methodology, Towards an Ecology of the Imagination in "Composting the City", University of Warwick,1915 - 2045, Tue 18 Apr, by Zoom, details t.b.a.. Leading GalGael Trust retreat to Iona, Sat 22 - Tue 25 April. BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Wed 3 May, (preparation previous day). BBC Radio Scotland Thought for the Day, broadcast 0720ish, Tue 13 Jun, (preparation previous day). Probably in Hebrides, 7 - 19 July approx. Probably in France 30 Aug - 14 Sept approx. Delivering the annual ecotheology lecture to The Hazelnut Community, "Prayer as the Cosmic Root of Poetry", 1930 - 2100 Tue 17 Oct, by Zoom, details t.b.a. Keynote address at conference Myth, Ritual and Practice for the Age of Ecological Catastrophe, provisional title, Opening the Flows of Life into the Community. European Forum for the Study of Religion and the Environment with the Lincoln Theological Institute, Potsdam, Germany, 16 - 18 May 2024 (may be travelling either side).

Disclaimer: Material published on this site is my sole responsibility and is not necessarily endorsed by any other person or organisation that might be associated with it, including funders, colleagues and my internet service provider. A considerable portion of my work is unpaid and should, therefore, not necessarily be assumed to be funded by charitable organisations that support elements of what I do. Details of how my work is resourced is public information and may be found by clicking here. Any third party whose material might be placed or cited here, and who considers that it should be taken down, should contact me through the channels given on this page. Any errors of fact in these pages will be speedily and gratefully corrected if I am notified of a problem. As for perceived errors of opinion ... that is what debate is for.

Last Updated: 22-Mar-2023

www.AlastairMcIntosh.com

First created Sept 2000