By coincidence I happened to be in London on a visit at the time of the BREXIT referendum and the result – one that was a shock for many British people living in the capital city. In the past week since the vote, the implications for the environment and in particular the challenge on climate change have been commented on by environmental groups and by various commentators. The general view on these matters is one of concern about what will happen in the coming years.     

How some newspapers view the environmental impact of Brexit

With a few hours of voting remaining I emerged from London underground train station to see ominously dark skies, with torrential rain and fairly frequent flashes of lightening. ‘One of a few ‘remain’ canvassers sheltering at the entrance from the rain approached me but I quickly informed her that unfortunately I didn’t have a vote. 

Later that night, I switched off the TV after being reassured on hearing that Nigel Farage of UKIP had conceded that ‘Remain’ would shade it. Apparently he “unconceded” later.  Switching on the TV the next morning caused me to do a ‘double take’. Unbelievably, the banner across the TV screen ‘BBC forecasts Leave to Win’. While life in London continued as normal during the morning, none of the people I met indicated any welcome for the result. Some I felt did not seem comfortable about talking about it. Others commented on the fall of the value of the pound overnight and expressed varying degrees of disappointment. One person said, “we just have to live with it now and make the best of it”. On the ferry home on Saturday I was sitting near the ‘Bureau de Change’ – the people who were changing their Sterling to Euro were the ones who were complaining.

While the insular looking Brexit supporters see the result as a success for Britain the view from those who take a more global perspective is the opposite. The Environmental Pillar in Ireland claimed that Nigel Farage “wants to scrap pollution limits on power stations [in the UK]” and that Prime Minister hopeful Boris Johnson, who “is a climate change skeptic … may attempt to dismantle the UK’s interior legislation that commits them to making deep cuts in carbon emissions.”

All this would indicate that any chance that Britain might give leadership on saving future generations from climate chaos seems to be fading. On other elements many environmentalists feel that environmental protection driven by EU legislation has been beneficial. These include cleaning up sewage from the UK’s beaches, banning pesticides that harm bees, tackling acid rain, and the almost 50% of household waste that is now recycled is as a result of EU targets. They also believe that a Britain outside the EU will not have the same level of Government protection for biodiversity, habitats, water quality etc.

Apart from the shock of the result the other abiding memory of the BREXIT campaign period for many people was the killing of the MP Jo Cox. Jo was an unbelievably dedicated MP, campaigner. She has previously worked as a Development Worker. The radio interview given by her husband Brendan following her death conveyed the amazing commitment she has to people who were most need, be it in her constituency or in war torn parts of the world. Jo did not just talk the talk – she walked the walk. She worked overseas on the front line with refugees and others in need of emergency help. Jo understood not only the challenges that vulnerable people face on this planet – she also appreciated that many forms wildlife on our planet are also at risk, as evidenced by the photo. The world has lost a wonderful person.  Let’s hope many people will be inspired to carry on and intensify the campaigns and practical activities that she was involved in.

Jo Cox holding an ‘Earth Hour’ World Wildlife Fund board which read: I’m supporting a low carbon future to protect our wildlife and countryside.

Events in July can be found by clicking here

August events can be found by clicking here

Shattered Records Means Climate Action is Urgently Needed

Clogher Diocesan Event and Antrim Anti-Fracking Protest Highlight Issue

On Saturday last, people gathered in Monaghan to mark the first anniversary of the publication of the Pope’s encyclical on climate change, biodiversity loss and poverty ‘Laudato Si’. On the same day a group gathered at Woodburn in Antrim to celebrate the departure of fracking rigs that were exploring for oil in that area. Meantime we hear that greenhouse gasses that cause climate change are rising sharply. If climate chaos is to be avoided in the coming years, resolute action on the climate issue is now needed in every community.        

Pope Francis published the ‘Laudato Si’ encyclical in June 2015 but in the year that has passed the issues he highlighted have become even more urgent. This week we hear that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will exceed 400 ppm (parts per million) all of this year. The safe level is 350 ppm and we will be at 450ppm in twenty years. Global temperatures records have been shattered each month so far this year and extreme weather becoming more frequent. Sea levels are rising leading to the displacement of some island and coastal communities. These trends are likely to continue. The effects on biodiversity are significant. Last week the first confirmed extinction of a mammal due to climate change has been reported. The Great Barrier Reef’s only endemic mammal species the Bramble Cay melomys has been completely wiped-out.

CLOGHER EARTH DAY EVENT AT ST MACARTAN’S CATHEDRAL

The Clogher Diocesan Earth Day event in Monaghan on Saturday last involved a prayer service on the grounds of St Macartan’s Cathedral followed by a tree planting ceremony. Sr Nellie McLaughlin introduced the event by reminding everyone of the focus of the encyclical on the earth and on the poor. Nellie is author of a book entitled ‘Life’s Delicate Balance’ which is a response to the encyclical. The prayer service involved members of the Clogher Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Group who were the organisers of the event. There was also a musical contribution by Helena Connolly and Aoife McCooey, both of Clogher don Óige.

Bishop of Clogher, Liam MacDaid attended the event and spoke about the encyclical andreferred to the importance of its message of the need to care for our environment.  Following his address he planted a rowan tree close to the statue of St. Macartan, the patron saint of the Diocese. He said that the rowan was picked as it is a native Irish tree and it is mentioned in stories relating to St. Macartan.

Bishop Liam MacDaid speaking at the Clogher Earth Day event outside St Macartan’s Cathedral

Ecologist Billy Flynn speaking to Group beside a rowan tree that was planted at the Cathedral to mark Clogher Earth Day

The event concluded with a talk on the importance of biodiversity by Billy Flynn an ecologist. He referred to the fact that his own perspective on the work in the area of biodiversity has changed in recent years. Initially he would have just focused on the numbers and features of a particular species. Now he also values the animals and plants in their own right and the place that they have on our planet.

FRACKING EXPLORATION RIG DEPARTS FROM ANTRIM SITE

Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas and oil in the rock. At Woodburn near Carrickfergus the company Infrata had been drilling an exploratory well. A ‘Stop The Drill’ campaign has been protesting at the site for many months. The protestors included a number of environmental groups from across the island of Ireland. Mícheál Callaghan and Conan Connolly of Transition Monaghan recently joined the protest for a day.

The opposition to the drill was because of the potential adverse impact it would have on the water supply to nearby reservoirs and also for climate change reasons, i.e. to stop fossil fuels at their source.. Last week the drilling company decided to leave the site as no oil was found. James Orr, the Northern Ireland director of Friends of the Earth, said the “earth has spoken”. “Today is a time for celebration – this is fantastic news for the community, our water, our climate and our wellbeing,” he said. had previously attended the protest site a few weeks ago.

STAGGERING STATISTICS

• One billion people worldwide live on less than 2 US dollars (€1.77) a day
• 1% of the world’s population uses 30% of the world’s resources
• 3 million people have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 21.3 million refugees, over half of whom are under the 18 years of age. 34,000 people are forcibly displaced every day as a result of conflict or persecution
• 10 million people are stateless – they have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement.

The first two statistics above were given by Douglas Frantz of the OECD (Organisation for European Co-operation and Development) in an interview on RTE Radio One’s ‘This Week’ programme on Sunday, 19 June. The interview in full is available on RTE Radio Player. The other statistics were published by the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency to mark World Refugee Day 2016 on Monday last. For further details, see http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html. Both sets of statistics highlight the growing global issue of inequality which combined with the climate change issue will require considerable political leadership if they are to be tackled and the world is to be a better place in the coming decades.

Events in July can be found by clicking here.  August event can be found by clicking here

Recent and Upcoming Events and Campaigns Can Make a Difference

A number of groups at local and national level are making efforts to help address global challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation and global poverty.  This week we look at some recent and upcoming events both locally and nationally at which groups are highlighting these issues or undertaking practical actions.       

CLOGHER DIOCESAN EARTH DAY EVENT

This Saturday sees the first Clogher Diocesan Earth Day being marked at an event in St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre, Monaghan. The event from 2pm to 3.30pm is being held to mark the first anniversary of the Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical Laudato Si. ‘Caring for our Common Home’ is the theme of the encyclical and of the Monaghan event. The focus of the event will be on the issues of climate change, biodiversity loss and poverty. Short presentations will be given by Bishop Liam MacDaid, ecologist Billy Flynn and author Sr Nellie McLaughlin and will conclude with a tree planting ceremony at St Macartan’s Cathedral. All are welcome to the event which is being organised by Clogher Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Group (JPIC).  For further details tel 086 8130296.

OTHER LAUDATO SI ANNIVERSARY EVENTS

The Laudato Si encyclical was the focus of a recent seminar that I attended in Trinity College which was organised by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.   Speakers from Trocaire at the event said that the Pope’s encyclical has had a positive effect outside the Church on the discussion on climate change and it influenced the securing of the recent Paris Climate Agreement.  Liam Lysaght of the National Biodiversity Centre described the decline in Ireland’s biodiversity of birds, bees, plants etc in Ireland and the loss of habitats such as our unique raised bogs. He said that reports alone won’t solve the problem – we need to reconnect more closely with the natural world.  John Barry of Queen’s University Belfast said that facts on climate change and biodiversity loss are not convincing politicians and the public to treat them as urgent issues and so they don’t seek to reduce the consumption of goods and services that are causing the problem. He said that the arts have a role to play – stories, songs and film can touch people more emotionally than facts.

‘Laudato Si is the also the theme of the SMA Summer School that takes place in Dromantine Retreat and Conference Centre, Newry, from Saturday, 25 to Monday, 27 June.  See http://www.cori.ie/sma-summer-school-2016 for details.

CASTLEBLAYNEY SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITY AFFECTED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

Most drinking water sources in East Pokot, Kenya have dried up due to drought. (Photo: Bóthar Appeal)

Poverty is widespread worldwide but in some place the problems are added to by climate change and people’s lives are at serious risk. A range of groups based in Ireland undertake aid work or raise money for projects in these countries. Here in County Monaghan, groups like Blayney Blades in Castleblayney organise regular events to raise funds. The proceeds of the Castleblayney group’s June coffee morning of €1,100 went to the national charity Bóthar for their work in East Pokot in Kenya. The community of East Pokot is experiencing drought for almost three years, and this donation will allow them to develop a borehole to access clean water in order to survive.

 ACTIONS TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE

Having buildings and homes that are nearly zero energy or ‘passive’ is one way of helping to reduce emissions that are causing climate change. Owners of such buildings have the added benefit of very low monthly energy bills.

On Friday, 24 June, from 9am to 1pm the Centre for Renewable Energy & Sustainable Technologies (CREST) in Enniskillen will host a Passive House Open Day in the CREST Centre.   This building is one of the most energy efficient buildings in the UK and Ireland as it is Certified Passive House. For details see http://www.thecrestproject.com or email  barry.mccarron@swc.ac.uk or tel 048 6634 2301.

 CREST’S ‘passive’ building in Enniskillen

A broader international initiative on climate change is called CapGlobalCarbon. It is a proposal for non-governmental groups to create a new global system to (a) make sure the necessary reductions in total global carbon emissions are achieved and (b) do so in a way that reduces poverty and inequality. The system would operate as a back-up to the inter-governmental negotiations. This idea has been developed by members of international think tank Feasta including some from Ireland.

CapGlobalCarbon logo

Our global climate is on course for disaster. Feasta say that this is because the atmosphere is being treated as a dumping-ground for greenhouse gas emissions and there is no global regulator for keeping the vast majority of the world’s remaining fossil fuels in the ground.

Feasta recently held CapGlobalCarbon seminars in Dublin and Tipperary. They explained that to minimise the risks of irreversible climate change, CapGlobalCarbon aims to ensure that the aggregate global emissions from fossil fuels steadily decrease to zero. This would be achieved by a progressively tightening cap on fossil fuel extraction. Furthermore, revenues from the auction of extraction permits would benefit the lowest consumers of fossil fuels. This compensation could substantially alleviate poverty and reduce global inequality. By steadily and predictably reducing the global dependence on fossil fuels the process proposed by CapGlobalCarbon would also hasten a smooth transition to a zero-carbon economy.

The CapGlobalCarbon proposal is welcome but it needs political support at national and international level. For more details on CapGlobalCarbon see http://www.capglobalcarbon.org.

A list of June events can be found here

Bishop MacDaid & Clogher JPIC Group to Mark Year 1 of Pope’s ‘Laudato Si’

‘Caring for Our Common Home’ – the theme of Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical calling on all of us to address the climate and ecological crisis – will be the focus at a gathering commencing at 2pm on Saturday, 18 June at St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre, Monaghan and concluding with a tree planting ceremony at the Cathedral grounds. All are welcome to the event which is being organised by Clogher Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Group (JPIC)   

Bishop Liam MacDaid will be a speaker at the Clogher Diocesan Earth Day event

Bishop Liam MacDaid, ecologist Billy Flynn and author Nellie McLaughlin will be among those who will be speaking at the Clogher Earth Day Gathering. Coordinator of the JPIC Group Father Joseph McVeigh is hoping that the Clogher Earth Day will give renewed impetus in the Clogher Diocese to the message of the Pope in his Laudato Si encyclical concerning the link between the poverty in the world and environmental degradation and climate change. Last September Bishop MacDaid launched the Clogher Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Group. The steering committee has members from both the Catholic Church and Church of Ireland in the Clogher Diocese.

Ecologist Billy Flynn will be guest speaker

The guest speaker at the event on Saturday, 18 June will be ecologist Billy Flynn who will speak about the importance of biodiversity in County Monaghan and the plan for Monaghan to become a ‘Biodiversity Town’. Billy is a County Monaghan based environmental consultant who has been a judge on the National Tidy Towns Competition and he has a particular interest in environmental sustainability.

The Clogher Earth Day gathering will be chaired by Nellie McLaughlin who is an author and a member of the steering committee of Clogher JPIC.  Nellie’s is a Mercy Sister based in Donegal. Her most recent book ‘Life’s Delicate Balance’ is a response to Laudato Si’. In it she says that this is “the time when, individually and collectively, we endeavour to  take to heart the challenging yet encouraging message of Laudato Si and continue the dialogue, exploring our oneness in the mystery of the unfolding universe, our common home”.

Nellie McLaughlin will chair the Earth Day Gathering

The event on Saturday, 18 June will conclude with a walk from St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre in Monaghan to the grounds of St Macartan’s Cathedral. Bishop Liam MacDaid will plant two rowan trees there to mark the occasion of the first anniversary of the publication of Laudato Si.

Fr Joseph McVeigh, Coordinator of Clogher JPIC

The coordinator of Clogher JPIC Father Joseph McVeigh has said that would like to see people from all over the Diocese of Clogher attending the event. Following the event he says that the Clogher JPIC Group would like to see each Parish engaging in the work of promoting the message of Laudato Si at parish level and undertaking initiatives that respond to the issues of fossil fuel triggered climate change, declining biodiversity and global poverty.  Further information on the event is available by telephone 086 8130296.

A list of events on in June can be found here

The ocean is the heart of our planet. Like your heart pumping blood to every part of your body, the ocean pumps life to our planet and to every person on it.  To mark World Ocean Day on 8th June Michael Connolly of Transition Monaghan presents his perspective on the links between human activity, climate and our oceans and the future implications for everyone – including us in County Monaghan. 

The oceans are a very large part of the biosphere and the impact of the changes we are observing on Monaghan as with all parts of the planet will be long term and profound. Many studies going back decades show that the impact of human activities and side effects, i.e. acidification, fishing, stratification and plastics pollution are leading to the death of the oceans. Evidence suggests that all this combined this will mean a mass extinction event followed by one on land also, which will almost certainly include us the human species. So put bluntly in order that we bring about a worst case scenario we need do nothing at all – merely continue business as usual.
By way of explanation the climate shows signs of having reached the point of self-reinforcing. Evidence shows that more than half the Co2 entering the atmosphere is coming from natural sources in a positive feedback process unaccounted for in any Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment. The obvious implication is that climate change is likely to continue to accelerate regardless of what we do with fossil fuels – but the more fossil we burn the more extreme it will be. Given also that we will likely see a blue water event (ice free Arctic) in the next couple of years, abrupt climate change is here and will overwhelm our human systems. We are badly behind the curve both in our understanding of the state of the climate system and what we need to do about it. I realise that this will seem a very bleak view but it is important to realise that it is based on sound research by many hundreds of scientists and evidence from the paleontological record. This outcome is not inevitable and there are mitigations and adaptations that could if enacted hold the possibility of preventing this most profound of global tragedies.

The first mitigation is that we must designate most of the world’s coastal waters as marine reserves and declare them off limits to all forms of industrial activity including fishing. Secondly we need to declare a climate emergency and instigate a crash programme to cease fossil fuel burning in an effort slow the rate at which Co2 is building in the atmosphere and oceans.

Thirdly we need to divert most economic activity that is not related to primary food production systems to broad scale adoption programmes to mitigate the effects of abrupt climate change which data from the environment strongly suggest is here.

I’m aware of the vanishingly small chance that the world will adopt this strategy, trapped as we are in our delusions of omnipotence. Having said all this there exists another possibility whose odds of occurrence are impossible to calculate. This is the possibility of abrupt climate change collapsing the global food production systems which could in turn collapse industrial civilization and possibly save the oceans in the nick of time but at the cost of billions of lives as the earth’s human carrying capacity contracts and the reduction of remnants of humanity to a pre-industrial level of subsistence.

World Oceans Day on Wednesday, 8 June is a global day of ocean celebration and awareness raising of the importance of our oceans. This year’s theme is ‘Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet’ and it focuses on the prevention of plastic ocean pollution. See http://www.worldoceanday.org for details. In Ireland the only organised event to mark World Ocean Day is a family event on Sunday, 12 June which takes place in Galway Atlantaquaria in Salthill, Galway. It’s the world premiere of the animated film ‘Special Octonauts and Pelicans’. See http://www.nationalaquarium.ie/world-ocean-day.

Events in June can be found here

In recent weeks, tens of thousands of people have engaged in direct actions against the fossil fuel industry, globally. Two members of Transition Monaghan, Mícheál Callaghan and Conan Connolly took part in demonstrations in Wales and Dublin. Mícheál Callaghan discusses the importance of such actions.

Mícheál Callaghan (2^nd from left) and Conan Connolly (on extreme right) Transition Monaghan were part of a protest at the climate camp protest at Ffas – y Fran coal mine in Wales.

WE NEED TO KEEP IT IN THE GROUND!

We need to keep at least 80% of the known reserves of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas and peat) in the ground to avoid dangerous climate change. This means not exploiting new fossil fuels, and scaling down current production by mid – century. Last December, world leaders agreed to take action to limit temperature rises to two degrees. Unfortunately, this pledge is not being met with the necessary action. This is why climate activists are now using their bodies to stand in the way of fossil fuel projects, closing roads and occupying power plants, and sometimes getting arrested in the process.

DRILLING IN CO ANTRIM

An exploratory drill for oil and gas has begun at Woodburn Forest, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. The company Infrastracta received a petroleum license by default, under Permitted Development Rights. This allowed them to begin the drill, without needing full planning permission, nor consulting members of the local community. This is despite the Aarhus Convention, which requires participation in decision making on environmental matters. A local campaign called ‘Stop The Drill’ has called for the license to be revoked due to new concerns over the chemical mix in drilling 2000 feet below the ground. Furthermore, Stop the Drill is extremely concerned about potential pollution of the water supply, as the drill site is only a few hundred metres away from a reservoir which supplies water to 130,000 people in the Greater Belfast Area.

Last weekend a collection of environmental groups staged a demonstration outside the Sinn Féin shop in Dublin, calling for the Party to do more on the issue. The message was that despite them having anti – fracking policies, they have been relatively silent on this issue in Stormont, and should use their position as the second largest party to do all they can to halt the drill.

Protest outside the Sinn Féin offices in Dublin calling for a more proactive approach by Sinn Féin politicians against fracking in Antrim. Group includes Chrissie Walker (2^nd from left) and Mícheál Callaghan (3^rd from left), both of Transition Monaghan.

FFOS – Y FRAN MINE, WALES

At the start of May, Conan Connolly and I camped on unsheltered hillside, outside Merthy Tydfill in south Wales, next to the largest open cast coal mine in the UK. We joined about 400 other people at a climate camp, where we met with members of the local community opposed to the mine, and discussed the benefits of community owned renewable energy as a cleaner alternative to coal mining. On the last day of the camp, about 300 of us occupied and shut down the coal mine. The mining company wishes to expand the mine, which already represents a destructive abyss on the landscape. That morning, we awoke to the sound of police helicopters overhead, a reminder that what we were about to do was illegal. However, like an increasing number of activists, we felt it was justified as we can no longer support inaction on climate, when we only have such a small window left in which to act. Once in the mine, we unrolled a large red banner across the mine, symbolising a red line of two degrees for the climate, which cannot be crossed. The action gained national and international media coverage, and nobody was arrested on the day.

We weren’t there to protest against the individual mine workers themselves, who simply want to earn a living and have a good life like everyone else. We were there to remind governments that it is their duty to live up to the Paris agreement, invest in community renewable energy, and do all they can to ensure that future generations can have a decent life on a stable planet. Until that happens, direct action will only escalate. We have a small window of opportunity to show our leaders that this is a political issue, and it is one that we demand they act on. Let’s be the generation that uses this historic opportunity to show our future grandchildren that we did all the we could to give them a better world.

For more information on the campaign against drilling at Woodburn see: http://www.stopthedrillcampaign.com

A list of events on in June can be found here

Many species of our wildlife such as the butterfly and the bumblebee are suffering a decline in numbers. As part of an effort to conserve our biodiversity, Monaghan Tidy Towns Network and the National Biodiversity Data Centre are inviting people to a FREE practical workshop on identifying the various species of butterfly and bumblebee we have in the county. It will also cover how to record sightings of these insects. The workshop will take place in Ballybay Wetlands Centre on Saturday, 28 May (10am-4pm).

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When we think of a fine summer’s day in Ireland, the hum of bumblebees and the fluttering of butterflies probably spring to mind. Unfortunately today there are fewer bumblebees and butterflies in Ireland than in past decades with some species having become extinct and others heading in that direction.  Undertaking surveys and taking action to improve the habitats of these insects is crucially important to the future survival of at least some of these species.

It’s not just bees and butterflies that are at risk. A report released by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, London last week warns that 20% of plant species are becoming extinct. A concept that would be new to many people, the ‘sixth mass extinction’ is now being discussed by scientists. It suggests that we humans are pushing our shared planet towards a mass extinction of species. There have been five preceding mass extinctions on earth – but this is different because we humans would be the driving force behind it. Some people call it ‘ecocide’. There is hope on all fronts however – there is still time to do something about it.

Almost a year ago, Pope Francis published the ‘Laudato Si’ encyclical to acclaim from many quarters. It condemned the contribution of humanity to climate change and thoughtless behaviour in terms of disrespecting and destructing nature and biodiversity. It encouraged humans to look after what we have left for future generations.

Ballybay Workshop Details

The upcoming workshop in Ballybay is a local effort to look after the butterflies and bumblebees that are left on our little section of the planet.  At the Ballybay workshop, Dr Tomás Murray of the National Biodiversity Data Centre will introduce participants to the biology and the species of Irish bumblebees and butterflies. He will then provide training on how to monitor both groups of pollinators according to international standards. Participants will get to spend a few hours in the field honing their identification skills, for both butterflies and bumblebees and practice the process of recording information for the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s butterfly and bumblebee monitoring schemes.

Nets and other equipment will be provided to participants for use on the day and some will be for sale. Colour identification guides will be given to participants to take home. The day is being organised by Monaghan Tidy Towns Network and sponsored by Monaghan County Council. While the workshop is mainly aimed at adults who wish to participate in the various monitoring schemes run by the National Biodiversity Data Centre, children over 12 are also welcome. Priority will be given to booking from members of Tidy Towns groups. Book by contacting Fionnuala Mulligan on 047 73720 or email fmulligan@monaghancoco.ie. Details at https://tidytownsnetworkmonaghan.wordpress.com.

Ballybay Wetlands Centre is the venue for Biodiversity workshop

Promoting and Protecting Biodiversity

There is a particular focus at this time in promoting biodiversity. The Wild Cities’ series on RTÉ has been has been widely praised. Biodiversity Week is actually taking place this week (14 – 22 May). As part of the week many events are taking place nationwide. See listings at http://www.biodiversityweek.ie. The National Biodiversity Data Centre will launch a ‘5,000 biodiversity records challenge’ running from tomorrow Friday, 20 to Sunday. 22 May. See http://records.biodiversityireland.ie. In County Monaghan there has already been a bat walk and talk in Inniskeen, and this Saturday the Tidy Towns Group there is organising a ‘Mayfly and Insects on the River’ event. See details on Noticeboard below.

Tidy Towns groups have been encouraged to apply for the Tidy Towns Pollinator Award. The closing date is tomorrow, but it’s expected that it will be available again next year. For Tidy Towns Group and other groups interested in wildlife, a useful ‘Local Community Actions to Help Pollinators’ was published recently on the Biodiversity Ireland website. Other websites of interest are http://www.noticenature.ie and  the website of the Monaghan Town biodiversity project http://www.monaghantownbiodiversity.com.

As individuals, whether we have a large farm or small garden we all have a role to play in conserving wildlife. Planting a wildflower strip means we are taking a good first step. It means that we can get enjoyment from the hum of bumblebees and the fluttering of butterflies  – wonders of nature on our doorstep.

May events can be found here

June events can be found here

On Thursday evening, 5 May, Naomi Klein, one of the world’s leading climate and social activists delivered an inspiring talk at the RDS, Dublin entitled ‘How Climate Change is going to change everything (for the worse – or the better)’.  Jennifer Mc Aree of Transition Monaghan went along and reports on the event. Mícheál Callaghan, also of Transition Monaghan attended the event (which formed part of Dublin’s International Literature Festival).

Naomi (right) signs a copy of her book for Jennifer.

Naomi Klein is a best-selling author and activist, devoted to spreading the messages of climate change and social injustice through writing books and newspaper articles, making films and giving speeches around the globe. Her latest book, ‘This Changes Everything’ challenges capitalism in its current unyielding and ravenous form. In it, she urges people to take back power for their communities by lobbying politicians, exposing multinational corporations and staging peaceful protests on issues related to climate change and social inequality. The book has been a worldwide success and has since been made into a documentary.

RTÉ presenter Áine Lawlor introduced Naomi, who gave an impassioned speech on global warming, the current failure to address it collectively as a human race and the many solutions out there that could have immediate effect – if we would only take action. She spoke about last December’s COP21 (the Paris Climate talks) and the positive and negative outcomes that emerged from it. While it is seen as being the most ambitious and promising climate pact to date, it is non-binding and signatory nations are left to their own devices in terms of what actions to take.

Naomi alluded to our Taoiseach making vague promises in Paris to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and then returning home to facilitate increased emissions by pushing agendas like doubling our livestock herd under the ‘Food Harvest 2020’ plan. The Paris Climate Pact is not nearly enough if we are to keep temperatures from rising to below 2 degrees Celsius; there is little hope of achieving the ideal target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, which would secure the survival of vulnerable island nations.

Naomi acknowledged that most other countries were also guilty of being non-committal after the climate talks, including her native Canada. She referred to Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada which is currently being ravaged by wildfires that have this year arrived 1-2 months earlier than usual. Ironically, many of the 80,000 or more people that have been forced to evacuate Fort McMurray work in the oil industry to feed the insatiable appetite for cheap, convenient energy.

Naomi advised that wartime measures are required right now to come anywhere close to halting global warming. We must divest from fossil fuels immediately and invest in clean, renewable energy. This would support communities globally, including Ireland. She wittily mentioned Deputy Danny Healy-Rae’s Dáil speech last week. The Deputy in claiming that current climate change is not manmade was rejecting the evidence of thousands of scientists.

The message from Naomi Klein was that the longer we delay climate action the worse the problem will get. With regard to our newly formed Government, the good news is that a Department of Climate Change now exists.  Its challenge is to tackle Ireland’s big emissions problem.

Naomi’s talk was followed by thoughtful questions from Áine Lawlor and members of the audience. The scary possibility of Donald Trump becoming the next US President arose, but Klein stressed that even if Hillary Clinton edges him out, she will still have to be pressurised to make tough decisions to fight rising greenhouse gas emissions. Overall it was a worthwhile, inspiring evening, topped off nicely when Naomi signed my copy of ‘This Changes Everything’. If only the new Cabinet could have been present to see her speak.

For a list of event in May, please click here.  For June events click here