OUR WILD PLACES are suffering because of our collective ignorance. We are, as a nation, ecologically illiterate.
Most of us can point to a run-down urban landscape and identify the flaws. But far fewer look at a rural scene and see industrial-scale exploitation or monocrop deserts, or spot where the fertiliser runoff pours into the river. National treasures like the Lake District aren’t usually denounced as ravaged, denuded hills bitten to the quick.
We hillwalkers are guilty too – we flick through these pages for inspiration and ideas, a route
