Green Foundation Ireland
OUR MOST RECENT EVENT:
TALK
“PONDS FOR FARMS AND COMMUNITIES, Step by Step”
Mon 23 Jan 2023 – 19:00 to 20:00 (Irish time)
BY ZOOM: Log-on details will be issued nearer the time to those who register.
This talk will give an overview of pond design and construction to help landowners and local communities create new ponds. Ponds provide valuable habitat for wildlife as well as beautiful areas to walk near and watch nature.
We will explore siting, sizing, shape, edge slope, depth and aftercare; looking at the steps needed to get from discussing the initial idea through to design, construction and finish.
OUR GUEST SPEAKER: Féidhlim Harty, environmental consultant, educator and writer.
You can check out more details, including how to book, here
UPDATES:
Reconnecting with Böll – An Irish Journey
Edited by John Gormley
At a meeting in Germany between John Gormley (former Minister for the Environment) and Jan Philipp Albrecht (the incoming President of the Heinrich Böll Foundation), they discussed the possibility of collaboration with Green Foundation Ireland. The Heinrich Böll Foundation is a member of the Green European Foundation.
John suggested a visit to Ireland to re-establish the Irish connection with the Heinrich Böll Foundation and this took place from 12-15 September 2022, along with René Böll (the son of Heinrich) and GFI’s Tommy Simpson. Following on from this visit, a book Reconnecting with Böll – An Irish Journey, edited by John, was published in December 2022.
You can find out more about our book here.
THE LETTER
A Message for our Earth
In 2015, Pope Francis wrote Laudato Si’ (The Letter), an encyclical letter about the environmental crisis to every single person in the world. A few years later, four voices that have gone unheard in global conversations have been invited to an unprecedented dialogue with the Pope. Hailing from Senegal, the Amazon, India, and Hawai’i, they bring perspective and solutions from the poor, the indigenous, the youth, and wildlife into a conversation with Pope Francis himself. This film follows their journey to Rome and the extraordinary experiences that took place there, and is packed with powerfully moving personal stories alongside the latest information about the planetary crisis and the toll it is taking on nature and people.
The Irish premiere of The Letter – A Message for our Earth, was launched by President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin on 1 December 2022.
The Letter has already had over eight million views on YouTube. The screening at Arás an Uachtaráin formally kicks off a series of community screenings of The Letter, supported by Trócaire.
The film can be viewed free online here;
you can read an article by Kevin O’Sullivan in The Irish Times here;
and more information can be found here www.theletterfilm.org.
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
Photo by: FÉIDHLIM HARTY
FH Wetland Systems
Pictured at the Irish premiere of the new climate change movie The Letter – A Message for our Earth at Áras an Uachtaráin are: director Nicolas Brown, Lorna Gold of the Laudato Si’ Movement, Sabina Higgins and President Michael D Higgins.
Photograph: Mark Stedman/Stedman Photography
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. 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.
