Nairn Book & Arts Festival

Prof Blackmore, Regius Keeper of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh will speak about his motivation for writing Gardening the Earth: Gateways to a Sustainable Future,  an optimistic perspective on tackling the great environmental challenges of our time.  Drawing inspiration from great Scots including Patrick Geddes and John Muir, the book looks at how humans have shaped the Earth over thousands of years, and why today’s challenges are different from anything in the past. No part of our planet is an absolute wilderness and we should therefore take care for the planet like gardeners,  replacing inadequate, short-term responses with meaningful, long-term solutions based on an understanding of the fundamental importance of plants in the ecology of our planet.