David Lorimer's guest today is Alastair McIntosh who has been described by BBC TV as “one of the world’s leading environmental campaigners.” A pioneer of modern land reform in Scotland, he helped bring the Isle of Eigg into community ownership. On the Isle of Harris he negotiated withdrawal of the world’s biggest cement company (Lafarge) from a devastating “superquarry” plan. He then served, unpaid to avoid conflicts of interest, on the company’s Sustainability Stakeholders Panel for 10 years to help further corporate social and environmental responsibility.

Alastair guest lectures on nonviolence at military staff colleges including, for over two decades, on some of the UK Defence Academy's most senior courses. His books include Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power, Spiritual Activism: Leadership as Service, Poacher’s Pilgrimage: an Island Journey, and Riders on the Storm (Birlinn 2020) which was long-listed for the Wainwright Prize in Global Conservation 2021. A Quaker with an interfaith outlook, focusing much of his work around spirituality, he lives in Glasgow with his wife, Véréne Nicolas. There he is a founding trustee of the GalGael Trust which works with poverty, community and human potential, and an honorary professor in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow.

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

scientificandmedical.net

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

www.AlastairMcIntosh.com

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/states-of-consciousness-charles-t-tart/1831348?ean=9780595151967

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/siddharta-an-indian-tale-herman-hesse/3317174?ean=9789386538208

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/memories-dreams-reflections-an-autobiography-carl-jung/13866?ean=9780006540274

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-color-purple-a-special-40th-anniversary-edition-of-the-pulitzer-prize-winning-novel-alice-walker/5980159?ean=9781474625586

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone