Keep it clean

We're just nearing the end of Keep Scotland Beautiful's annual Spring Clean which has been running from 13th March to 24th April, so we were pleased to be able to get out this week and do our bit. We joined a team of young people from Parent Action for Safe Play in Kirkshaws in Coatbridge to clear up the area around their centre and their playpark, and as you can see from the picture we were able to collect a substantial amount of rubbish. This has been part of a wider project supported by the local Health Improvement team to raise awareness of the problems caused to the environment by tobacco and vape waste. The young people have been hearing about the damage that cigarette butts and plastic waste from vapes is doing to nature; from chemicals that leach into the ground from both cigarette filters and vape liquid, to the plastics that are mistaken for food by animals and eaten, and as a result end up in our water and our food.

Keep Scotland Beautiful's report "How clean are our streets? 2024/25" showed that smoking related materials were by far the most common litter type, making up 41% of litter counted. In 2024/25 vaping related litter was counted separately and made up 2.3% of all items counted – almost half of the count of the well-established fast food related litter. On 1 June 2025 single-use vapes were banned across the UK. Despite this change people are not reporting a meaningful drop in the perceived frequency of vape litter since 2024. 59% of people were still seeing vape litter often or somewhat often - although this was higher amongst younger people. 51% of people reported seeing vapes more often. Polling for this report was conducted less than three months after the ban on sales of single-use vapes. So the fact people are still seeing them could be a delayed response in perception or just that single-use vapes are still in circulation. A more worrying scenario would be that reusable vapes are being discarded in the same way as disposable ones. Let's hope not. Remember that the batteries in vapes can cause fires and so they should always be disposed of correctly - either in a recycling bin in the shop where they were bought or at a council refuse site.

Parent Action for Safe Play aren't just tackling environmental problems such as litter, they have a Growing Greener project where they take a "from seed to plate" approach, growing vegetables that they then bring into the kitchen and cook with, and most recently they've had local young people working with an artist through a Climate Change in the Community grant to explore the types of spaces will be needed in their park in the face of climate change that will allow them to continue to play, learn and socialise. There's an exhibition coming up later this month so keep an eye on the PASP facebook page. To read more about them in their 30th birthday year, check out this great feature on Greenspace Scotland's website.

Staying with the subject of climate change for a moment, and thinking about the language that we use to describe it. I recently attended a webinar What happens when we change the language of climate change and repair? with The Sensory Trust, as part of their Collective Climate Repair project. Even the name of their project gives an idea of the different approach they're taking, and the webinar was a real insight into what it means to adapt the language of climate repair, why new British Sign Language signs are so important and how they are being made and used. I don't think I had ever considered that BSL has to change and adapt the same way spoken English does, or what is involved, so it was fascinating to hear that there is a team of Deaf scientists and linguists leading transformational developments in how BSL language can respond to topics like climate science and environmental repair. I love that the overall project is looking at ways to cool and calm the climate, words that are not usually associated with the generally more heated and fraught discussions about climate change. I recommend checking out the links above and signing up for future webinars.

I've learnt a couple of very useful things from the ParkBathe newsletter recently. As a quick recap, ParkBathe is a form of forest bathing adapted for an urban park setting. And forest bathing - or Shinrin Yoku as it's known in Japan where it was invented, is a slow walk in a forest, using your senses to connect with the sound, smell and feel of nature, and can have enormous benefits for wellbeing. So when their newsletter arrived with the headline: "Japan gave us the 10,000 steps myth. They also gave us the antidote." I was amused and a little smug. While I admit to being a slave to the 10,000 steps myth, I am aware that it is just a myth - one that was started, and clearly very successfully I might add, by a pedometer company! However what I did not know until our ParkBathe friends told us, is that the number was chosen because the Japanese kanji character for 10,000 万 resembles a person walking. While 10,000 steps can be beneficial, research shows that only 7,000 steps is associated with clinically meaningful improvements in health outcomes. So perhaps you could trade in some of those extra steps for the 100 or so that are taken on a very slow ParkBathe! Their next newsletter also arrived with an attention grabbing headline: Science says one slow walk in the park beats 200 photos of it. In 2014 some research established a "photo-taking-impairment effect" - that taking a photo of something hinders our memory of it rather than enhancing it, and further research has followed which confirms this effect. However it still seems unclear why this happens. One theory is that we're outsourcing our memories to our camera, another is that when we get the camera out, we disengage from the subject of the photo. Of course these days, our camera is also often our phone, which can introduce another whole level of distraction. The first research on this effect showed that zooming in reduced the effect somewhat, so perhaps looking closely helps. Our automatic reaction these days is often to pull out the phone to snap a quick picture, but on a ParkBathe walk, participants are encourage people to resist the urge. To keep your attention focused on whatever has caught your attention. If you want to take a photograph, come back to it later. Having just bought a book on mindful photography, this definitely isn't a blanket ban on taking photographs - more to misquote a Zen proverb "when walking in nature, walk in nature, when taking photographs, take photographs". We don't currently have any Lanarkshire ParkBathe sessions in the diary, but we're in the process of arranging some and you'll find dates here. If you have a group that would like to experience a ParkBathe walk, please do get in touch, we'd be happy to organise one for you.

Now a couple of links to tools and information that might be of interest. Firstly from Natural England, Healthy Outdoors, a guide for measuring health outcomes when evaluating outdoor interventions, developed to help make the case for the natural environment and how it impacts the health of the population, to enable us to measure those effects and strengthen the case for equity focused investment and ensure that places and spaces are designed to improve health for everyone. Secondly, Nature for Health - a resource hub for healthcare sites, from the NHS Forest and the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. It brings together practical resources to support healthcare sites in developing green space projects to be more accessible to patients and staff, while supporting nature recovery. All resources are free and suitable for use across healthcare settings. There is also a free course Nature and Healthcare available which explores the relationship between nature, human health and the healthcare sector and how the sector can work to help nature thrive.

Blossom Watch 2026 is fully underway now - officially and unofficially. Every day I'm checking the cherry trees in our local park. This morning just a hint of pink as the buds start to open. Driving south last weekend was taking a step forward in time, as blossom and leaves became more prevalent the further we travelled, and then back north again to await the inevitable, whilst hoping for minimal wind and rain until the magic has truly happened! You can even livestream blossom from The Alnwick Garden in Northumberland which has the largest collection of 'Taihaku' - the great white cherry - in the world. It is always a long awaited spectacle when all 329 Taihaku Cherry Trees erupt into bloom, so check them out online. Now is a good time to explore your local neighbourhood and pick out your favourite trees in time to watch them bloom, but as well as taking a picture of them, make sure to also take the time to really experience them. And make a note of where to find your favourites again next year! Only two weeks now until Beltane or May Day, marking the beginning of summer or the peak of spring - depending on your beliefs! All times of year are good, but this one always seems particularly fleeting with the the blossom, so enjoy it while it's here.