People
30 January 2012
There seems to be a lot of chat about the impact of introducing a higher lower threshold for income tax. That £10,000 policy or maybe policy that Nick Clegg has being going on about this week. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has a few things to say about the impact that this might have on people on lower incomes.
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Did you know that the coastlines of Scotland – if straightened out and represented by a single line of seashells – would stretch from here to Indonesia? If you replace seashells by gulls’ skulls, stranded flip-flops or deep-fried chocolate eggs they would stretch just the same distance – all the way to Indonesia. What I can’t tell you is where in Scotland the stretch commences and where in Indonesia it finishes, but we can all agree it’s a fair muckle distance. It reminds me of what the American writer and wit Dorothy Parker once said: If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be surprised. If all the staff of Scottish Natural Heritage were … fan mussels they would form the largest known population of fan mussels in UK waters. 
Just last week an article appeared on Sustainable Scotland on a favourite theme – the benefits to our mental and physical health of walking, especially in the great green outdoors, but round and round a big shopping centre if that’s all that’s available. However I might have to revise my whole attitude to walking – and I do a fair bit myself. We have been told that walking releases the “feel good” hormones – endorphin, serotonin and dopamine – which is de-stressing, cheering us up and making us more positive. 
An internet search into the history of solar power generation lead me to some interesting anecdotes from history that tell us a lot about economic short-termism, the political nature of technological advances and Anglo-French relations..
Or it’s a walk in the shopping centre but you’ll have to walk for longer! Walking has many benefits for our physical and mental health, especially walking outdoors and even more especially in the green outdoors. And if we’re substituting our walking for some of our car or bus travel we’ll be helping reduce carbon emissions as well. That’s all familiar stuff and we’ve pushed it here on Sustainable Scotland. Here I wish to talk about research which shows that walking actually leads to growth in the size of the brain and provides a cushion that protects from dementia.