PLANT Voices

Kaska presents a recording of Dawn Chorus from Tayport community garden. It was captured on the 3rd of May 2026 in celebration of the Garden’s 10th anniversary and International Dawn Chorus Day. While you are here you may also like to explore human stories from the garden in our PLANT Voices podcast archive.

This month brought pretty depressing climate news. The  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has brought out its report,  reviewing all the available science on the state of the climate. The  message was clearer than ever – we are in big trouble and we need to  take radical action, fast. It’s code red for humanity. This time it does not feel like just a theoretical scientific  argument – we are starting to see the evidence of the change around us.  Who can forget the footage from Australia, California or Greece which  have also been in the headlines over the last few years? Or the recent  droughts and floods in Fife. The IPCC’s message comes just in time to inform COP26 meeting taking  place in Glasgow. This conference of parties, is the 26th of the  international government summits where almost every country on earth  come together to agree on steps to take to tackle climate emergency.  Many believe this event is the world’s best last chance to get runaway  climate change under control. This is some big stuff to deal with! How do you tackle such reality as a parent – especially with young  children? How do you teach them about what’s coming? How do you remain  sane? Today I talk to two amazing mums, Anya from Big Dreams, Little Footprints and Jo from Wild Planet Explorers.  We explore their own journeys to sane parenting in the era of climate  emergency and share fab ideas for things every family can do as an  antidote to the barrage of the climate news. They tell us all about  their collaborative project – COP26 Climate Countdown – and how you can get involved. Interviews, production and editing: Kaska Hempel For the full list of resources see PLANT blog: https://tayportgarden.org/2021/08/25/22900/

Interviews, production and editing: Kaska Hempel In 2018 the UK threw away 9.5 million tonnes of food worth £13 billion. And that’s after it had left the farm gates. That’s such an incredible waste, which could have gone to feed many, many more people. Wasting so much food also feeds climate change. Globally, around a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, which contributes up to 10 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions. If food waste were a country, it would have the third-biggest carbon footprint after the USA and China. It produces more emissions than all commercial flights. Well today, we visit Tayport’s community fridge, which is helping to save and redistribute some of this perfectly good food locally, and which would otherwise end up in landfill. Thanks to many such initiatives across the country, food waste has already significantly reduced in the UK since 2007. Kaska talks to The Larick Centre’s Rosie Coutts and Fife Council’s Iain Anderson about the nitty gritty of how this partnership started last year, how the project has developed so far and where it’s going next. You also hear about the experiences of the fridge volunteers and a few of what appear to be very satisfied users. While projects such as community fridge are a great way of redistributing excess food from the retail sector, we have to remember the sector is only responsible for 3% of the total food wasted in the UK. Majority of the waste, a horrific 70%, happens in our homes! You can get some tips on avoiding this and saving a fair amount of money in the process on the Love Food, Hate Waste website. Resources Tayport Community Fridge Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/tayportcommunityfridge Statistics on food waste in the UK in 2018 from WRAP https://wrap.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/wasting-food-feeds-climate-change-food-waste-action-week-launches-help# FareShare https://fareshare.org.uk/ 70% of food is wasted in our homes - the Love food, hate waste has great ideas on how to reduce food waste at home. https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

With the start of the holidays we bring you creative inspiration for the summer -  full of planet friendly tales for the whole family. The episode was recorded at the Storytelling in the Garden which took place last Saturday at our Tayport Community Garden. It was one of the events we are putting on this year as a part of Climate Action Fife, Climate Friendly Gardens series to help everyone in Fife get involved in climate action. Today, I talk to the storyetller we met on the day, Owen Pilgrim, about his passion for sharing tales and myths, and how they can better connect us to each other, ourselves and to the places we live in. We also touch on how we can use them to draw others into taking action on climate change. We get to hear the story of the village of pots which Owen shared with us during the event - and some ideas on how you can share your very own story of care for the planet with others. Resources: Owen Pilgrim’s webpage: https://www.storypilgrim.co.uk/ Margaret Read MacDonald http://www.margaretreadmacdonald.com/index.cfm and her collection of environmental tales Earth Care https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/629047.Earth_Care Collections of British and Scottish environmental tales by Allison Galbraith https://www.voiceandstory.com/books Restorying the Earth podcast by Allette Willis focusing on how storytelling can help us develop more regenerative approach to the planet and ourselves. https://restoryingtheearth.com/ Restorying the Earth podcast Episode on how folk tales can get you heard in campaigning for climate action: https://restoryingtheearth.com/2021/05/27/podcast-climate-change-storytelling-from-town-to-legislature-with-judith-black/ Margaret Read telling the tale of Curupira (South American tale) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kD6xolpSJw Allison Galbraith telling the tale of Jack and the Dancing trees https://youtu.be/-47fsJLk-rg and Seal Island https://youtu.be/Duu0x7rT9Uc (Both Scottish tales)

Can keeping our garden lawns a bit longer really make a difference for our precious wildflowers and minibeasts which are disappearing from our wider landscapes? In this episode we are exploring this very question as well as the pleasures of rewilding our green spaces. Partners in Fife’s Climate Friendly Garden project talk about why and how they took part in Plantlife’s No Mow May campaign. And Kevin Frediani from Dundee University adds his botanical expertise. You will also hear snippets from our own Tayport Community Garden where we counted our lawn wildflowers for Plantlifes Ever Flower Counts last week to learn what effect No Mow May has had there. Resources: Plantlife’s No Mow May campaign https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/no-mow-may Plantlife’s Every Flower Counts citizen science project https://www.plantlife.org.uk/everyflowercounts/  2019-2020 results of Every Flower Counts - hinting at the possible impact of future climate change: Plantlife website: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/everyflowercounts/2020-results/ The Independent article https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mow-may-garden-lawn-wildflowers-b1840411.html  Video of Plantlife’s Trevor Dine’s talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPfePtmUH2g&t=1833s Climate Friendly Gardens project https://tayportgarden.org/2021/02/12/an-introduction-to-climate-friendly-gardens-project/  Climate Action Fife’s blog about No Mow May: https://www.climateactionfife.org.uk/no-mow-may-how-the-food-on-your-table-relies-on-the-grass-under-your-feet/ Recording from Kavin’s talk about rewilding your garden for Dundee Green Health Week May 2021 https://vimeo.com/549257368 Resources for rewilding Dundee/Tayport on Dundee Botanics page https://www.dundee.ac.uk/botanic/educate/rewilding-dundee/ Scotia Seeds https://www.scotiaseeds.co.uk/ 

Since the 1970s, every year on the 22nd of April, people around the world have been taking part in Earth Day to demonstrate their support for protecting life on our planet. So for this month’s episode we have decided to speak to Pinkie Maclure whose unusual art often explores how we humans have been affecting the places we all call home, and her personal responses to modern environmental issues. Before listening you may want to have a look at the pieces we discuss by following links in the episode notes below. Interview, production and editing: Kaska Hempel Resources Pinkie’s pieces discussed in the episode: Self-portrait dreaming of Portavadie https://www.pinkiemaclure.net/self-portrait-dreaming-of-portavadie Landfill tantrum https://www.pinkiemaclure.net/landfill-tantrum-stained-glass Fish and chips https://www.pinkiemaclure.net/fish-and-chips Black Friday and the ghosts of thrift https://www.pinkiemaclure.net/black-friday You can find Pinkie’s art at:  National Museum of Scotland, Environment section Kilmorack Gallery https://www.kilmorackgallery.co.uk/ An Tobar Art Centre, Mull - July exhibition https://www.comar.co.uk/  A part of Craftspace’s “We are Commoners” touring exhibition in England and Wales (virtual version coming soon): https://craftspace.co.uk/wearecommoners/ Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pinkie.maclure/ Video showing her studio and technique: https://youtu.be/OSSVGq_Z1Go Kathleen’s blog post about Earth Day: https://tayportgarden.org/2021/04/13/rekindling-awe-for-earth-day-2021/  Solastalgia explained on Climate Psychology Alliance website: https://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/handbook/484-what-is-solastalgia   Portavadie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portavadie 

You must have heard by now that COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, is coming to Glasgow in November. And decisions taken by world leaders at this meeting will determine the future of our planet as they plan their next steps in tackling climate change at a global level. So an incredibly important meeting! It's no surprise that many people in Scotland are v excited about it and many projects have sprung up to celebrate it and raise awareness of climate emergency and action ahead of this event Today we hear from a local young musician, Jo Stark,  about one such project - 100 days of green nevis challenge. She’s interviewed by a dynamic duo: regular field reporter Kathleen Gray is joined by Heather Young, who is a Community Education Student from Dundee University on placement with PLANT just now. Production: Kaska Hempel, Audio editing: John Wills Resources: Nevis Ensemble - Scotland’s Street orchestra https://nevisensemble.org/ Blogs about clothes taking on 100 days of green nevis challenge https://nevisensemble.org/news/ COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow  https://ukcop26.org/ Future Learn course - climate change the science  https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/climate-change-the-science Suzanna Stark found art: https://susannahstark.com/art/time-together Shamblestone on fb https://www.facebook.com/pg/shamblestone/ Tayport Climate Fest - Jan’s blog https://tayportgarden.org/2021/02/22/tayport-climate-festival/ Tayport Community Fridge https://tayportgarden.org/2021/03/24/behind-the-scenes-at-the-tayport-community-fridge/ Heather’s fast fashion blogs https://tayportgarden.org/author/heather/

As usual this February PLANT have joined the annual show the love campaign by Climate Coalition which encourages everyone to celebrate things we love and want to protect from climate emergency. So we thought it would be fitting that for our podcast this month we should talk about Tentsmuir - everyone’s favourite place here on Tayport’s doorstep. Hear Kathleen in conversation with Marijke Leith, new Tentsmuir NNR manager and Kaska talking to Tony Wilson, ex-countryside ranger in the area.  Resources: Tentsmuir NNR Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tentsmuirNNR NatureScot volunteering form: https://www.nature.scot/about-naturescot/volunteering-naturescot Virtual poetry walk around Tentsmuir with Beth McDonough on the 13th of March: https://stanzapoetry.org/festival/events/poetry-walk-0 Forvie NNR: https://www.nature.scot/enjoying-outdoors/scotlands-national-nature-reserves/forvie-national-nature-reserve NatureScot and Peatland restoration: https://www.nature.scot/climate-change/nature-based-solutions/peatland-action-project Tentsmuir on BBC's Autumnwatch 2020: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b0079t1p/autumnwatch Report on the talk by Prof Bob Duck regarding climate change effects on Tay estuary: https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/1058983/feature-rising-sea-levels-might-force-realignment-of-land-next-to-river-tay-says-dundee-professor/ New Adaptation Scotland report on climate change effects in Scotland: https://www.adaptationscotland.org.uk/news-events/stories/new-climate-projections-summary-scotland

In celebration of Veganuary, Kathleen interviews a couple of locals, Linda and Caley about their vegan diets and lifestyles. Here are their recommendations for further reading: Vegan Cookbooks The Scottish Vegan Cook Book by Jackie Jones Easy Vegan by Sue Quinn East - Meera Sodha Non-vegan cookbooks - easy to veganise Plenty - Yotam Ottelenghi (Vegetarian) Taste of India - Meera Sodha Fresh India - Meera Sodha Vegan Blogs The Little Blog of Vegan by Holly Jade RomyLondon UK thismuslimgirlbakes.com for the Pakistani curries and dahl (easy to veganise) Lazy Cat Kitchen  School Night Vegan  Cook Draw Feed on Instagram

World Soil Day celebrates the importance of our soils for healthy food, flood prevention, tackling climate and biodiversity emergencies. To mark the occasion and find out about how regenerating soils can help us fight climate change, we got together for a discussion of "Kiss the ground" documentary on 26th of November, 2020.  We were joined by three experts who provided local Scottish context to the material covered in the film:  - Peter Christopher, PLANT Community Gardener and horticulturists with over 30 years gardening experience, talked about how the regenerative methods can be applied at our Tayport Community Garden and in growing food at home. - Dr Jennifer Brown, a soil expert from Ecological Department of James Hutton Institute, provided a research perspective on how regenerative farming can be applied in Scottish and UK agriculture.  - David Aglen, Farm manager at Balbirnie farm in Fife spoke from the hand-on farming point of view on using regenerative agriculture methods on his farm. The discussion was lead by Kaska Hempel from PLANT and Helena Simmons, PLANT Carbon Conversation Facilitator and Community Gardener at the Ninewells Community Garden, and we were joined by over 30 participants from Fife, Dundee and beyond. This is an edited recording from the discussion on Zoom. Apologies for the variable sound quality - this was due to connection problems with a couple of the particpants.