Caring for Cinderella – Perceptions and experiences of peatland restoration in Scotland

In this paper, we look at people's engagement with peatlands and peatland restoration in Scotland through the lens of care. Care is an elementary aspect of how we relate to each other and the world around us. Our results highlight the importance of personal experiences and relationships and embodied learning in fostering and defining care. The results also point to difficult questions about what it means to care well and the factors influencing people's capacity to care. While focusing on care thus does not automatically resolve or overcome conflicts or barriers, it acknowledges that even those that have different views may care and it can help legitimize emotional and personal experiences and attachments. Our study also showed that uncertainty and lack of knowledge can open up spaces of opportunity if they are openly acknowledged, for example, through appropriate structures (e.g. in the form of flexible funding schemes) which allow for the co-creation of knowledge and caring practices between experts, lay people and non-human others through experimental practices, experiences and reflection. Given the accelerating and severe changes currently happening in the biosphere, a focus on care seems more important than ever before.