Green Foundation Ireland
OUR MOST RECENT EVENT:
TALK
“What is a Pocket Forest
and Why Do We Need Them?”
Weds 20 Sep 2023 – 19:00 to 20:00 (Irish time)
BY ZOOM: Log-on details will be issued nearer the time to those who register.
Pocket Forests is an award-winning social enterprise working to reconnect people living in urban areas with nature. A large part of its focus is on marginalised communities.
They plant native Irish trees and shrubs in small spaces making pockets of high density forests in urban environments together with the local community.
OUR GUEST SPEAKER:
One of the Pocket Forests team will make this presentation.
The team is made up of Catherine Cleary, Ashe Conrad-Jones and Amy van den Broek.
You can check out more details, including how to book, here
UPDATES:
CAN AGRICULTURE AND REDUCED EMISSIONS COEXIST?
Meet the pioneer farmers who are leading the way
by Sylvia Thompson, The Irish Times
In this article in The Irish Times on 22 July 2023, Sylvia Thompson examines an initiative involving 23 farmers aims to show how a balance between agriculture and the environment can be struck. She visits the farm of Donie and Colette Reegan with Doug McMillan, the project manager of Farm Carbon European Innovation Partnership. This initiative aims to develop and showcase new methods of farming peatlands while reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), enhancing biodiversity and improving water quality.
You can read the article here
Farmers Donie and Colette Reegan with
Doug McMillan Project Manager Farm Carbon EIP
at one of the new ponds on the
wetland farm in Shinrone, Co Offaly.
Photograph: John D Kelly
HONORARY FREEDOM OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN
Awarded to: Duncan Stewart and Greta Thunberg
On 21 June 2023, two environmental activists – DUNCAN STEWART and GRETA THUNBERG – were awarded the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin, the highest honour that can be bestowed by Dublin City.
Duncan, a director and former chair of Green Foundation Ireland, has been a leading Irish advocate for environmental issues for over 40 years. A champion for environmental issues, sustainable energy and architectural conservation since his student days, for the past two decades Duncan has also been a popular television personality in Ireland. Duncan’s Eco Eye series was driven by his interests in the protection of Ireland’s environment and enhancement of biodiversity. It was Ireland’s longest running environmental series and one of the most popular shows on Irish television – there were twenty-one series in total and all available episodes can be found on our website, courtesy of Duncan.
Greta, from Sweden, is the world’s most prominent global climate campaigner of our time. She has worked to address the problem of climate change and, at the age of 15 in 2018, founded the movement known as Fridays for Future (also called School Strike for Climate), which gained worldwide attention and inspired school students across the globe to participate.
You can view our video here
CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY ON BIODIVERSITY LOSS
Submission by Green Foundation Ireland
In September 2022 Green Foundation Ireland made a submission to the Citizens’ Assembly on the topic “How the State can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss”.
The Citizens’ Assembly is a body comprising the Chairperson and 99 citizens, randomly selected to be broadly representative of the Irish electorate, established to consider some of the most important issues facing Ireland’s future.
We would like to thank COLIN STAFFORD-JOHNSON and FIONN KEELEY for allowing us to use their videos as part of our submission.
You can read our submission here
WHAT WE DO
Green Foundation Ireland hosts seminars, workshops and conferences to demonstrate how practical action can create systems change in both education for sustainability, and work towards a green economy and society. We work on local and Island of Ireland projects and with partners in Scotland, England and Wales, and the European mainland.
RESOURCES FOR ECOLOGICAL EDUCATION
In association with Green European Foundation, GFI publishes eco literature, both online and hardcopy, and circulates the European Green Journal. All available episodes of the Eco Eye programmes, hosted by GFI’s Director and former Chair Duncan Stewart, are available courtesy of Duncan. All of the above can be found in the Resources Section of our website.
Would you like to receive info and news about our future events and activities?
VALUES AND VISION
GFI has a vision of ecology that values the life of all creatures on our planetary home and is embodied in practical action for a sustainable life for all.
We encourage participation by people and communities in finding practical local responses to intractable problems.
We tell stories of resilience and change in the face of adversity, based on good science and community action.
MEMBERSHIPS and AFFILIATIONS
GFI is a member of the Irish Environmental Network – www.ien.ie
GFI is a member of the Environmental Pillar – www.environmentalpillar.ie
GFI is affiliated to the Green European Foundation – www.gef.eu
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
GFI thanks the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications for the funding it receives through the Irish Environmental Network.
GFI also acknowledges the support of the European Parliament through funding for projects agreed with Green European Foundation.
