What I’ve been reading this week, 21 June 2019

One consequence of staying away from Twitter is that my to-be-read queue of articles is a lot smaller, but I’ve still picked up a number of interesting reads this week (largely via good old RSS, which has a better signal-to-noise ratio than Twitter). Enjoy.

Long-distance walking

Hiking in Finland – how to turn a hobby into a full-time occupation – this book extract from Jouni Laaksonen is a great intro to hiking in Finland. I can’t wait to read this book (it’s on my shelf right now).

TGO Challenge 2019 Day 1-4 – the first instalment in Sally Phillips’ TGO Challenge 2019 trip report.

Outdoors and environment

Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, via the CMD Arête – Mark and Edita climb Ben Nevis via its best walking route, and one of its best easy scrambles. They even get a view from the top!

What I’ve been reading online No.7 – an excellent round-up of links from Chris Townsend.

In search of oak woods – John Burns goes in search of Scotland’s wildwoods.

Field Notes: What does climate change mean for Scotland? – an excellent piece from the John Muir Trust.

Permafrost in Canadian Arctic thawing 70 years earlier than predicted – ‘Romanovsky told Reuters the scene reminded him of a bombardment.’

I’m upset: the ‘zero-waste’ people must be stopped – ‘It helps to be a conscious consumer, but government and policy is needed to facilitate major shifts to sustainable production systems, demand transparency, and hold industries accountable.’

Unfiled

Cathy O’Dowd: why I ghosted social media for a year – I’ve missed Cathy’s interesting blog posts and newsletters, but I have the greatest of respect for her message here. I think we will see more outdoorsy folk – writers and speakers like Cathy and ‘influencers’ alike – stepping away (or burning out) from the insane online ratrace over the coming years.

No input, no output – an interesting short piece on the relationship between creative input and output. I think about this subject often, because I’m easily overwhelmed by input, but at the same time I recognise its importance and value. I have come round to the view that an ideal creative state is to be receptive to limited input at limited intervals, with the ability to withdraw from all input in between (complete solitude). For me, this is the sweet spot.