Douglas Ireland

Tag: Paisley

  • An Act of Digital Citizenship: Why I’m Still Donating to Wikipedia

    The email arrived today, right on schedule. It was from the Wikimedia Foundation, kindly reminding me that I had donated £5 last year and asking if I would consider renewing my support.
    My immediate, gut reaction was to hesitate. “Do I still use Wikipedia that much?” I asked myself. And if I’m being honest, the answer is no.


    My habits have changed. Like many people, when I want to know something now, I don’t open a new tab and type “wikipedia.org”. I open a chat with an AI. I ask my question in plain language and get a synthesized, conversational answer in seconds. It’s an incredible technology that has seamlessly integrated itself into my workflow.
    So, why donate to the encyclopedia I seem to have replaced?


    I was about to archive the email when I stopped and thought about the process more deeply. Where does this helpful AI get its information? How does it know the history of Paisley, the principles of thermodynamics, or the discography of my favourite band?
    Of course, it learns from a vast corpus of data scraped from the internet. A massive, foundational pillar of that data is Wikipedia. It’s perhaps the most significant single source of structured human knowledge online.


    That’s when it clicked. Wikipedia is no longer just a website I visit. It has become a fundamental piece of our shared digital commons.
    It’s like Barshaw Park for the internet.

    “Barshaw Park: the Peace Garden” by Lairich Rig is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

    It’s a vast, open space, built and tended to by a global community of volunteers. It is free for everyone to enter. It doesn’t plaster its beautiful landscapes with ads or charge an entry fee. Its purpose isn’t to make a profit, but simply to exist for the public good.


    My AI is like a fantastic personal tour guide. I can ask it anything about the park’s history or features, and it will instantly give me a brilliant, summarised tour. But that guide doesn’t build the paths, tend the gardens, or pick up the litter. The community does that.


    And like any public space, if it is neglected, it will fall into disrepair. The paths will crack, the gardens will become overgrown, and misinformation will spread like graffiti. If the commons degrades, the quality of every service that relies on it, including the AI I now find so useful, degrades too.


    That’s why I went back to that email and renewed my £5 donation.
    I don’t see it as paying for a product I no longer use. I see it as an act of digital citizenship. I’m chipping in for the park’s upkeep. It’s a tiny contribution to help maintain this incredible non-commercial, human-curated resource in an online world that is becoming more automated and commercialised by the day.


    By supporting Wikipedia, we are all helping to ensure that a neutral, verifiable source of knowledge remains healthy. We are funding the digital gardeners. We’re ensuring this public park remains a vital counterbalance to the noise and potential biases of the wider web.


    So, while I may ask an AI for my facts these days, I know that my donation helps ensure the park my ‘tour guide’ relies on remains a beautiful, trustworthy, and essential place for all of us. It’s a small investment in the health of the internet itself.


    If you also believe in that mission, perhaps you’ll consider joining me. Donate to Wikipedia here

  • Heat, Rain, and Uncertainty: Scotland’s New Climate Reality

    It’s 26 °C in Paisley, and that’s no anomaly. Scotland is heating up, and what once felt like a rare summer treat is now creeping into the forecast more and more. Let’s look at the science, the impact, and what comes next.

    1. From Temperate to Toasty
    Our recent decade, from 2010 to 2019, was about 0.7 °C hotter than the historical average. All of Scotland’s ten warmest years have happened since 1997. Climate projections suggest that by the middle of the century, Scottish summers could be 3 to 4 °C warmer than what we used to call normal. (source)

    2. Weather on Overdrive
    We’re seeing more heatwaves, like July 12 when the mercury hit 32.2 °C in parts of the west.(source) At the same time, weather patterns are shifting. Winters are getting wetter, and summers are bouncing between drought and sudden downpours. (source) It’s less predictable, and more extreme.

    3. High Stakes for Health and Nature
    Heat-related deaths in Scotland are expected to rise, with numbers potentially tripling by 2050. Wildfire risk is up, and Scotland has already seen dozens of incidents this year alone. Meanwhile, our rivers are warming too. Salmon are struggling to survive in water that’s too hot, and conservation projects are scrambling to cool things down, like planting trees along riverbanks for shade. (source)

    4. Scotland’s Climate Challenge
    Scotland is doing well on clean energy. We already generate more electricity from renewables than we use. The target is to reach net-zero emissions by 2045. (source) But clean energy isn’t enough on its own. We also need to adapt. That means making buildings easier to cool, managing our water better, and planting more greenery in towns and cities. It’ll take serious investment and smart decisions.

    Scorching days in Paisley aren’t seasonal glitches. They’re part of a bigger shift in our climate. The good news is we still have a say in what happens next. By acting now, through policy, infrastructure, and daily choices, we can make sure Scotland is ready for whatever the weather brings.