Excerpt from independent.co.uk
“Everything good that has happened on Eigg since the community buyout has happened because of it,” says Stuart Paul McCarthy of Eigg Brewery, as he proudly shares Scotland’s first co-operative brewery.
“Everything good” includes becoming the world’s first green electricity self-sufficient island, and this year’s new An Laimhrig community hub. Welcome to the UK’s greenest isle, where they’re now welcoming visitors as “temporary residents”, rather than tourists.
Eigg’s renaissance over the last quarter of a century since the buyout belies a past blighted by tragedy and hardship. This wildscape of vaulting pitchstone lava mountain, sweeping Atlantic beach and savage coast is haunted by the baleful days of internecine clan warfare – in the Massacre Cave alone, 400 souls perished – and the disastrous 19th century Highland Clearances, when whole communities like Grulin were wiped off the map.
Had it not been for the community buyout in 1997, Eigg may just be bumbling along like many of the Hebrides, ruled by a succession of – at best – questionable landlords. Instead, under the stewardship of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust – and their subsidiaries Eigg Trading, Eigg Electric and Eigg Construction – the population is on the rise (solidly above 100), as people from all over the UK and further afield are drawn to Eigg’s community-driven way of life.
Island Innovation is a social enterprise and digital media company at the intersection of sustainable development and communications, offering specialised services across various sectors. We bring together the private sector, government, utilities, NGOs and universities to advance innovation for sustainability and prosperity in islands worldwide.
