Since the Highland Clearances, connection to the land and land-based living for the native, working classes of Scotland has been fenced off and criminalised, along with much of Highland culture, language, music and ways of living, similarly with The Tumblings in Ireland.

With the forced evictions from the land during the Clearances and the following period of industrialisation, the peoples of Scotland have become disconnected from the land and their own indigenous, land-based lifeways.

The same displaced Scots and their descendants in many cases then became part of the colonial projects in Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. - further displacing Indigenous peoples in these lands. This cycle leaves entire peoples with no sense of identity, self-worth, belonging or sense of stewardship to the land. This in turn leads us to forget our responsibiity to care for one another and nature, and allows for cultures that extract from nature in harmful industries that have led us to the ecological crises that the world and its land defenders face now. This also leads to multiple forms of deprivation, that many Scottish communities face today, such as mental and physical unwellness, social isolation, anxiety, addictions and more.