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At the Cloughjordan EcoVillage, North Tipperary
Permaculture is very much at the heart of the transition town movement. It is a holistic approach to the design of settlements and communities that looks at food , waste, housing, energy, water, education and employment and how these aspects of society can be provided for sustainably from within the local environment. It is great therefore to see a full Permaculture course being offered so near to Kilkenny in Cloughjordan. First off is an introductory talk and weekend Permaculture course, being held at the ecovillage and led by Graham Strouts in early June. The weekend will be followed by a full Permaculture Design course from the 21st to the 30th of August. More details below the fold.
Friends of the Earth will be in the Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford next Tuesday the 12th of May at 7.30pm as part of their road show of climate change talks happening around the country this spring. The talks are titled “The Big Ask: Can we stop climate change?” and are part of a nationwide tour . Friends of the Earth has teamed up with Gavin Harte, a high profile spokesperson on environmental and sustainability issues in Ireland and one of the co-founders of the eco-village project in Cloughjordan.
The Big Ask Tour is an exciting mix of photographs, video clips, and animations which documents the enormous influence human activity is having on our planet’s climate, the serious impacts these are likely to have on all of us, and most importantly what we can do about it.
For the full tour visit here. Admission to all of these events is free. Tea and coffee will be served afterwards.
Transition Carlow kicks off next week on 5th May with a mini-series of three events exploring the potential of the local community. The primary aim at this stage is to bring to the surface local people and organisations who might want to be part of Transition Carlow in order to develop community responses to the challenges of peak oil, climate change and economic uncertainty – as well as building a better future!
One in four mouthfuls of food are pollinated by bees. Einstein once famously calculated that if bees were eliminated from the planet we would have only 4 years to live! So, given their importance in the cycle of life and to raise awareness of the threats to bees, Michael Miklis of the Biodynamic Association (also an active Future Proof Kilkenny member) is organising a week of talks and workshops on bee keeping in late May.
FEASTA, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, have been ringing the alarm bell on Peak Oil for many years. With conferences such as “What will we eat when the oil runs out” and “Peak Oil: The End of Economic Growth?” they have never shied away from exposing the worst case scenarios and asking the really difficult questions. Whilst the speakers at the recent “Green New Deal” lecture spoke about restarting the economy on a green footing and that we have the technology to move to a “ZeroCarbonIreland”, FEASTA member David Korowicz’s comment was that it was too little, too late. The triple crunch of peak oil, climate instability and financial collapse has arrived. His view is that we will shortly be facing a national emergency and we need to get ready. Hence the title of their forthcoming conference – “The New Emergency“. Details below the fold. Continue Reading »