92% of the English land is off limits.
Think about that for a minute.
The Right to Roam Movement is something which I'm embarrassed to say took some time to properly surface in my consciousness. This is despite reading The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes (you can find a short review on LoveReading), and being well aware of the case down in Dartmoor, where a landowner lost an appeal from Dartmoor National Park to allow wild camping on his land. But he is now appealing the appeal. If he wins the appeal, that's it. No more counter-appeals. The case is being decided at the Supreme Court on October 8th. There is a corresponding protest outside at 11am.
It's a big moment.
I think I was slow to it because the laws are different in Scotland, which is where I have always wild camped, and living in London it's easy to think that this is someone else's problem to sort out. But it's the mental health argument that tipped the balance and made me realise I had to engage with the situation.
I don't think it's disputable that there is a mental health crisis and that it is particularly virulent amongst younger people. Technology is outpacing our ability to adapt to it. Devices and AI are replacing human interactions. Nature is further and further away, not just from our skin, but from our primal brain. That bit of us that needs it is crying out for it, but we can't hear it for the noise of modern living. We're over-civilised.
Parents reading this will be familiar with those efforts to get kids to go camping, turn off the phones, lie on their backs, look at the stars, chill, disconnect, reconnect, be... It's important, it really is, and you can only go and do it on 8% of England's green and pleasant land. Here's another stat - more than 50% of English land is owned by 1% of the population. Fine, if enough of them are open to visitors. But if we're penned into 8% of the landscape, surely something is going to give?
8%? Really?
https://lnkd.in/eT-a6whM
Thank you so much for your support!