T. C. Smout
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748635139
- eISBN:
- 9780748651375
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748635139.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter examines the context of a movement, late, slow and incomplete though it may have been, to conserve the Highlands from depredation upon its scenery and ecology. The story touches upon ...
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This chapter examines the context of a movement, late, slow and incomplete though it may have been, to conserve the Highlands from depredation upon its scenery and ecology. The story touches upon more than may appear at first sight. It encapsulates a conflict that in rural areas over much of the western world is becoming critical at the end of the twentieth century, between growth — as envisaged in terms of income and employment generated by the traditional land uses of farming, fishing and forestry (the Highlands as private property) — and aesthetics — a way of looking at the Highlands as a place for recreation and preservation (the Highlands as heritage, a harmless-sounding word not far from the demon of public property).Less
This chapter examines the context of a movement, late, slow and incomplete though it may have been, to conserve the Highlands from depredation upon its scenery and ecology. The story touches upon more than may appear at first sight. It encapsulates a conflict that in rural areas over much of the western world is becoming critical at the end of the twentieth century, between growth — as envisaged in terms of income and employment generated by the traditional land uses of farming, fishing and forestry (the Highlands as private property) — and aesthetics — a way of looking at the Highlands as a place for recreation and preservation (the Highlands as heritage, a harmless-sounding word not far from the demon of public property).
