Interview with Susan Carstairs

Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) National Waste Strategy Coordinator

Unsustainable lifestyles was the number one ecological problem identified by Susan Carstairs. She spoke about materialist society contributing to us overconsuming natural resources and creating excess waste. As the waste strategy coordinator for SEPA, she knows a lot about waste in Scotland. She says that we need to move towards changing our actions and values to consume less and also to recycle and compost waste. Capitalist society has created wealth and alongside waste. She talked about the problem of exporting our waste to other less industrialized countries in which it is not properly recycled and the people working are underpaid and exploited.

Images that she spoke of are dumps, she talked about the dump near Fort William and also in Aviemore. The sollution comes from compost schemes, recycling centers and community gardens.

Interview with Dr. Gary Campbell

Dean of Faculty of Science & Technology, UHI

Dr. Gary Campbell had a slightly different perspective on my questions than previous interviewees. He identified climate change as being the biggest problem facing the world today but not specifically Scotland. He felt that in Scotland climate change may even have positive consequences, since warmer weather would be welcomed by many. He said that unless sea levels rose dramatically, Scotland did not have much to fear from climate change. When asked what he did feel was the biggest ecological problem in Scotland today, he spoke about loss of diversity. Many alpine and coastal species of plants, insects, birds and animals are endangered. When asked about solutions he talked about the importance of education, starting with the youngest children and continuing to university study. Images that he identified were the Ptarmigan and Capercaille as well as students engaged in learning about sustainability.