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Actions to Avoid Climate Catastrophe A Focus At Largest Forum for Environment Research in Ireland Next Week at IT Carlow

10/04/2019

Actions to Avoid Climate Catastrophe A Focus At  Largest Forum for Environment Research in Ireland Next Week at IT CarlowEngagement for Climate Action is the theme of the largest forum for environment research in Ireland – the 29th Irish Environmental Researchers’ Colloquium (Environ) – that will be hosted by Institute of Technology Carlow next week (15th-17th April).

Leading climate scientists Prof Victoria Thoresen who holds the UNESCO Chair for Education about Sustainable Lifestyles at Inland Norway University, Prof Erik Meers from the Department of Green Chemistry, Ghent University, Belgium and Dr Frank McGovern, the EPA’s Chief Climate Scientist are amongst the headliners.

And following last year’s landmark report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this year’s Environ will feature more public events and participation than at any previous Environ colloquium in a nod to the public engagement required to address the potential disasters brought by climate change.

Prof. Thoresen’s plenary presentation next Tuesday will discuss why dealing with climate change requires large scale, fundamental change at all levels. Dr McGovern’s plenary talk is entitled: “Climate Change: Science, Policy, Action” while Prof Meers will discuss nutrients recovered from wastewater streams for production of mineral fertilisers.

The inaugural Carlow Sustainability Festival, the first of its kind in Ireland and which forms part of Environ 2019, will take place at Delta Sensory Gardens, Carlow next Monday, with a family-friendly programme of how-to events, displays and workshops around living more sustainably. The festival is free to all attendees and tickets are available through Eventbrite.

Environ 2019 will also include a public event next Monday (8pm)  at IT Carlow’s Haughton Building that will be a discussion between environmental experts and the public on how we can all help to individually and collectively mitigate climate change. KCLR broadcaster Sue Nunn will facilitate the event. Speakers include: Cllr Malcolm Noonan (Green Party), Dr John McNamara (Bord Na Mona), Ms Mindy O'Brien (Voice Ireland), Mr Eddie Punch (ICSA), Mr Thomas Ryan (IFA), Dr Janette Davies (IT Carlow), and Ms Martina Moyne (IT Carlow), who is a lecturer in sustainable design.

The event is expected to attract participants from all walks of community, whilst the wider conference will attract mostly academic researchers, environmental industry and state agencies.

Other public events scheduled as part of Environ 2019 include a field trip by the river Barrow facilitated by Eco Trails founder and ex-Green party TD Mary White. Environ will also feature a unique artist exhibit that originated from a spider plant on top the famous Green Peace vessel Rainbow Warrior, as part of a Bachelor of Arts project on the Institute of Technology Carlow Wexford campus. The artist is Mr Ciaran O’Brien and the project is under the supervision of Brian Garvey.

Environ 2019 convener Dr Thomaé Kakouli-Duarte, who is Director of enviroCORE at Institute of Technology Carlow said, “We are all on this planet together. We wanted this year’s Environ to be unique by putting to practice its overarching theme of “Engagement for Climate Action”, and thus we created the opportunities for the local community to engage in the event”.