The story of Old Crockern, the spirit of dartmoor, right through to the call to summon him, the protector of the moors, on January the 21st, 2023

Old Crockern, the spirit of Dartmoor

Happy Spring Equinox to those in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn Equinox to those in the Southern Hemisphere! The Schumacher and Dartington Alumni Community has an exciting new episode from the SS Small is Beautiful Podcast to share with you on this auspicious day, as it's also a new moon.

In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Emma Linford, who recently graduated with a Masters in Movement, Mind and Ecology from Schumacher College. Emma has been doing incredible work since completing her studies, including co-leading a land access campaign, The Stars are for Everyone, which specifically defends the right to wild camp in Dartmoor and longer term, for it to be an accessible and legal activity UK wide.   

Our conversation covered many topics, including our relationship with the rest of nature, the importance of storytelling and mythology in shifting the dominant worldview and the shaping of the Schumacher & Dartington Alumni Community. Emma is passionate about transforming the outdoor education paradigm. She believes that without access to land and outdoor education, humans cannot form a deep reverence for nature that would commit them to saving it. 

Emma also spoke about the need to unlearn our domestication and connect with our sentient bodies to awaken to the reality of our interconnectedness with nature. And that outdoor education has a huge opportunity in helping transform to this crisis by making a shift from a human-centric to an eco-centric narrative.  

We were accompanied by the beautiful music of Benjamin Cartel, whose song Starlight set the perfect tone for our conversation.

We hope you enjoy this episode and take the opportunity to listen to our other episodes. Stay tuned for more coming soon!

SS Small Is Beautiful ~ Episode #6 ~ w/ Emma Linford

Several years ago, Jon Moses realised that the stunning nature he could see from his house in rural Herefordshire was inaccessible to him. From the nearby riverbanks to the local oak woodlands, the countryside revealed itself to be a private fortress.

Now, as an organiser of the Right To Roam campaign, he's leading the call for free and fair access to land and water throughout England, via political advocacy and planned trespasses on private estates.

Jon tells Eleanor Penny about the traumatic history that separated commoners from the land, the dangers of a rural monoculture, and why the left needs to get comfortable with ideas about place and belonging.

Novara Audio: Radio For A Different Politics

Novara FM: Revenge of the Commoners w/ Jon Moses

The Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain reveals how landowners wreck the countryside, and how the public can restore it 

 'Brave and brilliant’ George Monbiot

‘Urgent and essential … should be required reading’ Caroline Lucas

For centuries we’ve been sold a lie: that you need to own the land to care for it.

Just 1% of the population own half of England, and this tiny landowning elite like to present themselves as the rightful custodians of the countryside. They’re even paid billions of pounds of public money to be good stewards. But what happens when they just don’t care?

A small number of landowners have laid waste to some of our most treasured landscapes, leaving our forests bare, our rivers polluted, our moorlands burned, and our fenlands drained. Here Guy Shrubsole journeys all over Britain to expose the damage done to our land, and meet the communities fighting back: the river guardians, small farmers and trespassing activists restoring our lost wildlife. Full of rage and hope, this is a bold vision for our nation’s wild places, and how we can treat them with the awe and attention they deserve.

It’s time to demand better for nature. We can start by replacing the lie of the land with a profound truth: that any of us can care for the countryside, regardless of whether you own it.

'The unjust impositions of historic land ownership blight all our lives – here Guy shows why’ Chris Packham

'Both dynamite and medicine' Amy-Jane Beer

The Lie of the Land: Who Really Cares for the Countryside?, By Guy Shrubsole, Read by Guy Shrubsole

hardcore, happy hardcore and more good music to stomp to :)

pure four on the floor

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New tracks tagged #right to roam