Jay Griffiths at Glasgow Book Festival

Renowned author Jay Griffiths will be presenting a talk for the Glasgow Book Festival this coming Saturday, 15th March 2008, on Happiness and the Wild. Jay will be sharing the platform with Oliver James, who will be speaking about affluence and happiness. The sessions is from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Mitchell Library.

Jay's book "Wild : An Elemental Journey" which we co-launched with Gaia last year, will be out for paperback in May and has been longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. Congratulations to Jay.

Campfire Questions with Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop

We recently had an opportunity to catch up with Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop, intrepid Wilderness expeditioner and educator. Jamie also somehow finds time to run an impressive string of entrepreneurial projects making a real difference. These include Offscreened which takes young people to the Middle East on cultural interchange, iNomad which is all about communicating discovery and last but most certainly not least Digital Explorer which you can learn more about if you keep reading.

Here's what we asked, and what he said:

• You’re an expeditioner with plenty of Wilderness experience – could you tell us a bit more about that and also who or what inspired you to get out there (I’m thinking of the mentor you mention but go as broad as you like)

I was very lucky to be let loose in the Scottish highlands as a child. As a family we went up to the Cairngorms every year and it was amazing to roam for miles around and not see another person. I first learnt about wilderness and nature during these trips. When I was a teenager I had the fortune to go on a two week Outward Bound type holiday led by Richard Waite. Richard invited me back for the following two years to help out with other trips. In terms of bringing the wilderness to young people, I would say that he was a definite mentor, and it is thanks to him that I am now leading youth expeditions. Heinrich Harrer is also to blame. I read Seven Years in Tibet whilst ill when I was fourteen. I had roamed Tibet and the Himalaya for years in my mind, before I finally got there aged eighteen. Six trips later and they still bowl me over – they are awesome in the true sense of the word and contain a deep spiritual essence.

• On the entrepreneurial side you have three great projects on the go – do you use anything you learnt in Wilderness to deal with the sometimes more city-based challenges one faces as an entrepreneur?

When the going gets tough, I find myself reaching back to expeditions. Having a mental toolkit of head down, 5,000 metres up, head-throbbing pain, difficulty breathing, snow in the face and visibility down to a few yards makes a late night or two much easier. On expedition you get up every morning and put your mind and body through it all again. You’re tired, muscles ache, fingers are numb and you just get on with it. I think expeditions really give you two important qualities as an entrepreneur – determination and courage. I don’t have a head for heights and so Himalayan expeditions are something of a mind over fear over body juggling act. When I am fearful of taking a plunge in business, it is never as bad as telling myself that I won’t fall off. The consequences of a slip in business are never as bad as they are in the hills.

• You somehow also find time to teach – any advice for teachers?

I think I could do with a lot of advice from my colleagues. I am surrounded every day at school by such wonderfully committed and talented teachers it humbles me. I think that I would have some advice for the people who are a bit higher up in the educational food-chain. It would be nice to see some real financial commitment (and extra time) to help teachers equip the young people of the UK properly for life in a globalised world and inspire a greater sense of environmental guardianship. I would love to have the time and funds to introduce all my pupils to a wild place.

• Specifically for the work you do with building skills for Google Earth – any advice for our trails alumni?

Google Earth is the best platform I know for presenting journeys. A 3-D earth that spins and zooms and tilts – magic! In terms of building skills, I have been training educators and expeditioners for about a year (and have trained over 100 people now). I have put all the resources that I have developed on http://digitalexplorer.co.uk/google-earth/. If anyone who reads this needs more help then get in touch or come on a course.

• Last but not least, have you got some book recommendations for our readers?

I am really enjoying ‘Wild’ by Jay Griffiths at the moment. It is an evocative ode to the wilderness that is fast disappearing in the world and within ourselves. Her language is beautiful and has a rich earthy flavour. The other book I enjoyed recently was Robert Macfarlane’s ‘Mountains of the Mind’. In terms of the Himalaya, there are two wonderful books ‘Snow Leopard’ by Peter Matthiessen and ‘A Journey in Ladakh’ by Andrew Harvey.

Great insights and as for Google Earth - We're hoping to get together a workshop for our Trails Alumni on this subject drawing on Jamie's superb Digital Explorer materials.

Campfire Questions with Graham Game

We grabbed Graham Game, friend of the foundation and a professional environmentalist, for a quickfire round of questions further to Wednesday night’s ‘Climate Change and Essex - Winner or Loser?’ debate:

• What are the most urgent issues facing Essex?

Essex is on the front line as far as the effects of climate change are concerned, and with our long and incredibly fragile coastline, it's sea level rise and then flooding that I'm probably most concerned about, but the face of agriculture is changing too.

We are facing a 2 - 6 degree celsius rise in temperatures, and an increase of up to 20% in winter rainfall. It's also predicted that water levels in the Thames Estuary could rise as much as 86 cm by the 2080's, while there could be a fall of up to 60% in soil moisture levels during summer.

Our rich biodiversity here in Essex is really taking a hammering as our seasons change their patterns due to climate change.

So what are we doing? Building thousands of new homes on flood plains in the Thames Estuary, turning thousands of acres of arable land over to growing non-food crops & looking to almost double our airport capacity.

• What can our local readers do to make a difference?

Here's where I take many people out of their comfort zones: I passionately believe that far too much emphasis is being placed on mitigation & nowhere near enough action is being taken to prepare & adapt for the inevitable effects of climate change here in Essex & the UK.

There simply isn't the time to play around with greenwash. With 1.32 billion Chinese, 1.12 billion Indians & 300 million Americans all hell-bent at achieving economic growth through polluting technologies, even if every one of us 60 million Brits reduced our carbon footprints it would be merely a drop in the ocean.

Set an example? To who? Yes, let's continue to push for sustainable lifestyles, but the real work to be done is adapt to survive. No more building new homes on flood plains. More coastal realignment schemes, more renewable power schemes, but most importantly we need some strong direction & leadership at the top. Finally, don't get sucked in by the Carbon Offset mindset - if you want to salve your conscience when you take your next cheap flight, give £20.00 to The Wilderness Foundation instead.

• Give us a couple of top autumn reads that’ll broaden our mind

Jay Griffiths' book 'Wild' will transport you up the Amazon for some amazing encounters with indigenous shamen, while my friend Jon Symes' superb little book 'Your Planet Needs You' is just inspirational - even for a seasoned old cynic like me!

Thanks Graham! - Graham's website can be found here: greenfuturesconsultancy.com/

Last but not least, here are a few further resources:

• RSA Ted Happold Memorial Lecture: Adapting to a changing coastline in East Anglia - Full lecture and Q&A session (21MB) / Lecture text (PDF)
• OU OpenLearn Module: Managing coastal environments (U216_1): "Coastal environments are by their nature ever-changing. This unit looks at the example of the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England, describing how the current state of the estuary came to be."
• Notes from the 2006 Chelmsford Challenge: 'Environment vs. Development'

Jay Griffiths - Wild: An elemental journey

In this book, out in May but available for pre-order through the Wilderness Bookstore, Jay Griffiths describes an extraordinary odyssey, courageous and sometimes dangerous, to wildernesses of earth and ice, water and fire.

It is a poetic consideration of the tender connection between human society and wild lands, "Wild" is by turns funny, touching and harrowing. It is also a journey into that greatest of uncharted lands - wild mind - as Griffiths explores the words and meanings which shape our ideas and our experience of our own wildness. Part travelogue, part manifesto, this is a one-of-a-kind book from a one-of-a-kind author.

We are working with the Gaia Foundation on setting up an event focusing on this book - Keep an eye on this space.