“People like you don’t understand the countryside.” It’s a sentence that ends conversations before they even begin.
When it comes to disagreements on complex issues such as hunting, farming, rural tradition or rewilding, most of us don’t start with facts – we start with identity.
Town or country. Left or right. Tradition or change.
Lines get drawn. Sides get chosen and suddenly, it’s not about the issue anymore. It’s about Us and Them.
In this episode, we step beyond tribal labels, past the lazy assumptions, and into the conversations we’ve stopped having. Because maybe the real problem isn’t “people like you.” It’s that we’ve forgotten how to listen.
Additional info
At the Edge is an independent media platform that takes a deep dive into our relationship with wild nature, exploring pathways that allow us to live well with wildlife.
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This episode of At The Edge was produced in partnership with Adventurous Audio, and kindly supported by Ballintean Mountain Lodge.
Useful links
Watch the RSPB film “The Return”, a celebration of white-tailed eagles (or ‘sea eagles’.)
Learn about the Sea Eagle Management Scheme in Scotland.
Learn about the reintroduction of sea eagles to southern England.
Learn more abut the work of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.
Learn about Tom Fry’s research on attitudes towards sea eagles.
Thanks in this episode go to Alice Bacon, Lewis Pate and Ewan Miles of Nature Scotland. Thanks too to the many people who have offered their views on this subject.
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