Author: Ric Lander
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Preview Clip: Around St Fittick’s Kirk
This post is a preview of my completed film about Torry, available here. St. Fittick’s Kirk, Torry, used to look out across a wide open beach: the Bay of Nigg. A popular bathing spot in the early 20th century in more recent years it was a haven for dog walkers and surfers. That was until…
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Cycling through Spaghetti Country
This summer I travelled with my bike from Derby to Kidderminster cycling along some beautiful lanes and canals, stepping off a new train and finishing on an old one. Beginning at Willington, my route followed the Trent and Mersey Canal, Coventry Canal, Birmingham & Fazeley Canal then Birmingham Main Line Canal before leaving the waterways…
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The science of Edinburgh’s gloaming
Last night we had the most gorgeous velvet simmer dim in Leith. I thought I would dip into the science of twilight because as it turns out, 1st June – 11th July is the gloaming time at 56˚ north! For most of the year the night is bordered by different depths of twilight. “Astronomical Twilight”…
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Fossil fuel industry spills money and power in year of tumult
When a ship is plain sailing, it’s hard to knock it off course. That’s been the conundrum for us rubber-dinghied climate activists for decades now as we try our best to push the supertanker that is the global economy towards sustainability. But in 2020 the ship hit the rocks – and hard. As the keel…
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Just & Green Recovery letter sent to the First Minister
As the peak of the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic passed I worked with colleagues at Friends of the Earth Scotland and elsewhere to draft a letter to the First Minister about what a just recovery should entail. The letter was initially signed by 82 civil society organisations from across different sectors of Scottish…
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A Coronavirus reading list for UK Climate Activists
Published 13 April, minor updates 15 Apr This is a reading list about Coronavirus, ecological breakdown, system change and justice. It’s aimed at UK climate but hopefully will be of wider use too. I’m a slow reader and this all took me about 3hrs to read. If you don’t have this time I’d choose one…
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Fossil fuels are coming to the UN talks in Glasgow
This is a script for a workshop I wrote for the Fossil Free UK Gathering held in Yorkshire, October 2019. In 1992 world leaders (mostly men) convened in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Earth Summit. They signed the first major treaty on global warming, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).…
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Glasgow University’s fossil free first – interview
October 2014. It’s a cold morning in Glasgow and the start of a new academic year. Most students are in class – or in bed. But Živilė Mantrimaitė and a small group of activists are on a mission, sneaking around the University’s iconic Gilbert Scott Building looking for places to hide. “We were looking for…
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The Brexit Vote
In recent weeks it has been said ad nauseam that Labour’s main problem in this election is it’s Brexit policy. I do not agree. In fact I would go so far as to say the Labour Party has, by a country mile, the best Brexit policy of the main parties. This is not glowingly self-evident,…
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Diary: Making a safer world for trans people
Content warning: suicide, depression Earlier this year my friend Danielle Myriam Fisher suicided. Today is Trans Day of Remembrance, and so I wanted to say a few words to remember her, what her story means to me, and why I think we need to act. Danielle was a deeply committed activist and contributed hugely to…