We are only now grasping the extent of plastic waste littering our beautiful beaches
Cows on the island sometimes have to undergo surgery after ingesting plastic waste
This year’s Fort William Mountain Festival kicks off on Wednesday and runs until the weekend, and as always one of the highlights will be the film competition night, held at the Nevis Centre on Thursday, where the winners of the festival’s various film awards will be screened before an audience of craggy connoisseurs. There are some particularly weird and wonderful activities represented in this year’s selection, notably backcountry ice skating in Alaska (that is, heading off into the Alaskan wilderness looking for naturally occurring skating rinks to play on) and under-ice freediving, as practised by world record-holder Johanna Nordblad of Finland, who, in 2015, dived for 50 metres under frozen Lake Päijänne wearing nothing but a swimsuit and mask (because wetsuits are for wimps.)
In terms of local interest, however, look no further than adventurer and campaigner Cal Major, who circumnavigated the Isle of Skye last summer on a stand-up paddle board – that is, a large, stable surfboard propelled from a standing position using a single-bladed paddle.
The purpose of Major’s 400-odd mile expedition was to draw attention to the amount of plastic now floating around in our oceans – and washing up on our beaches – and part of the point of choosing Skye was to show that, even in areas that we might classify as pristine wilderness, plastic waste is still a major problem.
Typically when we think of marine plastic and its harmful effects on animals, we tend to think of creatures that actually live in the sea – seals or dolphins tangled up in plastic bags or fishing nets, as featured on TV. As Major’s film shows, however, when plastic waste washes up on our beaches it can affect all kinds of animals – not just the ones that typically feature in environmental campaigns.
One night during her Skye odyssey, Major set up camp on a remote, rocky beach – a place littered with all kinds of plastic rubbish, in spite of being miles away from the nearest town. When she woke up in the morning, she discovered that she had been joined by an assortment of cows and sheep, and that one of the cows had decided to have a go at eating a bit of old fishing net which had become entangled with plastic bags and other detritus. The net had become lodged in the cow’s throat, and for 20 minutes or so, Major watched as it tried to chew through the rope, to no avail.
A vet by trade, she knew better than to panic the animal by trying to pull the net out herself, and she was getting ready to paddle offshore in order to get a mobile phone signal and call for help when finally the cow managed to “eructate” (ie. belch) the net back up. Still, as she pointed out in a subsequent blog post, “How long before she finds more plastic to eat, or her calf does, or the next cow does, or the next sheep?” Subsequent conversations with local farmers confirmed that cows on the island sometimes have to undergo surgery after ingesting plastic waste.
Major’s next big project as part of her Paddle Against Plastic campaign is a monumental Land’s End to John O’groats stand-up-paddle, some of it by sea and some of it via inland waterways, including the Union Canal. In the meantime, she and director James Appleton will be at the Nevis Centre on Thursday to pick up the John Muir Trust Wild Places Film Prize and to give a Q&A after a screening of their film.
Other filmmakers collecting awards on Thursday include Cale Green and Paxson Woelber, recipients of the Best Short Film Award for the aforementioned backcountry ice skating extravaganza, Wild Ice ;Ben Page, winner of Best Exploration and Adventure Film for The Frozen
Road, which records his experience of riding a bike through the Canadian Arctic; and Hugo Clouzeau, winner of Best Mountain Sports Film for his film Why, about kayaking in Iceland.
Among this year’s other festival highlights are an exhibition of work by the outstanding landscape photographer Dougie Cunningham; an appearance from runner Lowri Morgan – one of only six people ever to complete the 350-mile, nonstop Arctic Ultra footrace; and a “Climbers’ Summit,” in which leading Scottish climbers Dave Macleod and Robbie Phillips will host film screenings, offer tips and address some of the burning issues facing climbers today (including “to bolt, or not to bolt?”). The festival will also see the writer and broadcaster Cameron Mcneish take his rightful place among the pantheon of Scottish mountain greats, as he picks up the 2018 Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture.