After more than a year exploring the complex relationship between rural Scottish communities, renewable energy and the need for a dramatic response to climate breakdown through The Power Shift: Investigating Scotland’s Green Energy Boom, The Scottish Beacon is launching a new environmental journalism network.

Despite the name, you don’t need to be a journalist to join. In fact, the whole point is to bring people working in different fields together.

Its aim is to cross-pollinate research and journalism, share skills and knowledge, and create opportunities for collaboration.

A series of free, public databases is helping artists across Scotland become more visible, connect with each other and access paid opportunities – while challenging who gets seen, commissioned and supported in the arts.

A free to use, free to search, free to be a part of, to benefit from a digital Yellow Pages – no subscription fee, never take a penny off you, totally voluntarily ran and totally voluntary to be a part of.

New research from the University of Aberdeen and Edinburgh Napier University has found that simple changes to the timing of conservation measures on farmland could significantly improve protection for some of the UK’s most rapidly declining wading bird species.

The study has implications for species including lapwing, oystercatcher, and curlew – birds that were once a familiar sight and sound across the British countryside, but whose populations have fallen sharply in recent decades.

New research from the University of Aberdeen and Edinburgh Napier University has found that simple changes to the timing of conservation measures on farmland could significantly improve protection for some of the UK’s most rapidly declining wading bird species.

The study has implications for species including lapwing, oystercatcher, and curlew – birds that were once a familiar sight and sound across the British countryside, but whose populations have fallen sharply in recent decades.

A new study will investigate how climate change could create disruption across Scotland’s critical infrastructure, helping organisations better understand risks to the services people depend on every day.

It’ll examine how problems affecting one infrastructure network can trigger much wider impacts elsewhere.

Believed to be one of the first studies of its kind in the world jointly commissioned by multiple infrastructure owners and operators, it will assess how climate-related disruption could spread across industries including transport, energy, water supply and communications.

It aims to help identify vulnerabilities that might otherwise be missed when risks to sectors are considered separately.

A new study will investigate how climate change could create disruption across Scotland’s critical infrastructure, helping organisations better understand risks to the services people depend on every day.

It’ll examine how problems affecting one infrastructure network can trigger much wider impacts elsewhere.

Believed to be one of the first studies of its kind in the world jointly commissioned by multiple infrastructure owners and operators, it will assess how climate-related disruption could spread across industries including transport, energy, water supply and communications.

It aims to help identify vulnerabilities that might otherwise be missed when risks to sectors are considered separately.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/43962425

The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam

And I mean every word of it

Alabama's gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Alabama's gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Can't you see it

Can't you feel it

It's all in the air

I can't stand the pressure much longer

Somebody say a prayer

Alabama's gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

This is a show tune

But the show hasn't been written for it, yet

Hound dogs on my trail

School children sitting in jail

Black cat cross my path

I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mine

We all gonna get it in due time

I don't belong here

I don't belong there

I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me

I tell you

Me and my people just about due

I've been there so I know

They keep on saying "Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble

"do it slow"

Washing the windows

"do it slow"

Picking the cotton

"do it slow"

You're just plain rotten

"do it slow"

You're too damn lazy

"do it slow"

The thinking's crazy

"do it slow"

Where am I going

What am I doing

I don't know

I don't know

Just try to do your very best

Stand up be counted with all the rest

For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

I made you thought I was kiddin'

Picket lines

School boy cots

They try to say it's a communist plot

All I want is equality

for my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these years

You told me to wash and clean my ears

And talk real fine just like a lady

And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies

You're all gonna die and die like flies

I don't trust you any more

You keep on saying "Go slow!"

"Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble

"do it slow"

Desegregation

"do it slow"

Mass participation

"do it slow"

Reunification

"do it slow"

Do things gradually

"do it slow"

But bring more tragedy

"do it slow"

Why don't you see it

Why don't you feel it

I don't know

I don't know

You don't have to live next to me

Just give me my equality

Everybody knows about Mississippi

Everybody knows about Alabama

Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

That's it!

Scientists have identified hundreds of genes that could help some European ash trees withstand the fungal disease that has ravaged woodland landscapes across Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Forest Research and partner organisations have produced the first pangenome of European ash, a genetic reference that captures DNA variation across multiple trees rather than relying on a single specimen.

Discover the extraordinary life of Margaret Harrison—the shipyard worker and devout Christian who co-founded the famous Faslane Peace Camp with her husband Bobby! From cycling across Britain spreading message of peace to choosing jail time over paying fines and protesting inside the House of Commons, learn how this unstoppable Dumbarton legend dedicated her life to global peace.

When we started writing our report on battery storage in Scotland we knew that there was a problem. We had heard from many community members that they were getting the go-ahead on greenbelt land, on woodland sites, and right next to heritage sites, including neolithic rock art. 


However we didn’t realise how bad the situation was until we started to look into it in detail. Our Battery Storage and Planning report found that planning permission for large battery storage installations (decisions for installations over 50MW are made by the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit - ECU) were always granted. A large BESS, up to that time, had never, ever been turned down. We found that decisions routinely disregarded National Planning Framework 4, including not incorporating planning conditions for biodiversity enhancement even when the local authority had requested them

ScotRail also continues to perform strongly compared with the railway across Great Britain, ranking highest amongst the large operators and scoring above the Great Britain average in 10 of the 11 measures included in the latest scorecard.

The train operator recorded almost 900,000 more passenger journeys in July 2026 than in 2025, with almost 8.5million journeys made across the month as people travelled to major events across the country.

Context for posting an article about a company: ScotRail is publicly owned, so these results show the advantages of public over private ownership. Trains run for public service rather than pure profit.