On the Deep Wealth of this Nation Scotland

Series Title: On the Deep Wealth of this Nation
Timeline: 2018
Exhibitions:

“Scotland is uniquely placed among industrialised nations to lead on the carbon issue: low population, access to land, clean air, water and forests for intense carbon sequestration, substantial scientific research and supportive communities of interest prepared to undertake action”

Video file

Newton Harrison Feb 2018

The Deep Wealth of This Nation, Scotland is an original vision to see how one small country can mobilize as a nation to be the first industrialised country to move past the carbon cycle and become the first nation to give more to the global environment, which the Harrisons call the Life Web, than it consumes. This vision, informed by an interdisciplinary network of contributors hosted in ongoing discussions, takes form as a poem. This poem transcends political and social boundaries and encourages the possibility of collective action at all levels in society.

In this way the work suggests a dialogue between place, poem and future possibilities. It invites us to consider the future through a revaluing process that imagines several fundamental commons that we share: Water, Forest, Air and Topsoil. Finally, Deep Wealthalso suggests a commons of Mind. This last hints at the processes employed to arrive at the meta-level in poetics and philosophy, the work on the ground initiating interdisciplinary discussions with, amongst others, scientists, farmers, planners and foragers. These movements in between different perspectives gather together voices and an active citizens’ network that contribute to these first sketches and are ongoing.