25 Years of Soil and Soul: an evening with Alastair McIntosh
Join us from 5.30pm for an optional informal CHE Christmas gathering with light festive refreshments and a warming cuppa, or at 6pm for the event proper.
“It is easy to feel helpless in the face of the torrent of information about environmental catastrophes the world over. In Soil and Soul, Scottish writer and campaigning academic Alastair McIntosh shows how it is still possible for individuals and communities to take on the might of corporate power and emerge victorious. […]This extraordinary book weaves together theology, mythology, economics, ecology, history, poetics and politics as the author journeys towards a radical new yet ancient philosophy of community, Spirit and place. His daring and imaginative responses to the destruction of the natural world make this an uplifting, inspirational and often richly humorous read.”
“This is a world-changing book, one of the most important I have ever read, which will transform our perception of ourselves, our history and our surroundings […] Make no claim to know the world if you have not read this book.”
George Monbiot, from the Foreword
As 2026 draws to a close, we mark 25 years since Alastair McIntosh’s book ‘Soil and Soul’ was first published. Join us for a cosy, convivial gathering in recognition of the occasion.
The book remains an important text to understand land reform, community ownership and cultural renewal in Scotland. For many of us at the Centre for Human Ecology, it was encountering Alastair’s book that served as one of our first contacts with this kind of ‘radical human ecology’.
A quarter of a century later, Scotland is a different place. What can the book say to us now: what’s changed, and what can the book continue to teach us about land reform, spirituality and activism in Scotland?
Alastair, who lives and writes in Govan, will join us for an evening of appreciation and conversation about the story of Soil and Soul. Come to share what the book has meant to you, and to hear about how it continues to inspire and encourage many today.
Location: the Billiard Room, 1st Floor, The Pearce Institute, (we regret that this room is not fully accessible as there is no step-free access)
