Climate Conversations

In this episode of climate conversations we journey down to the Beara peninsula in West Cork to meet Eoghan Daltun and explore his Atlantic rainforest! Eoghan is a sculptor, conservationist and author of the superb book 'An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: a personal journey into the magic of rewilding'

As we meander through the tangled explosion of life in a rainforest, we discuss the factors that prevent this wonderful and natural Irish habitat from existing across the country, Eoghan's personal journey of rewilding his farm, the concept of farming for nature, the Irish political landscape with regards to nature and what listeners can do to bring more nature into their lives!

In this episode IDE member and GP, David O’Connell, talks to Dingle GP, Dr. Peadar O’Fionnain about his path into local climate activism and his current campaign to be elected as Kerry’s first Green member of the county council. 

They discuss a range of issues - how the process of seeking election has led to a richer engagement with local community; the unique potential of the local doctor to promote change;  the sometimes conflicted role of medicine in relation to a green agenda; the importance of community and interdependence; and some of the successes achieved on the Dingle peninsula.

Do you ever feel a little frustrated we aren't seeing the shift to sustainable transport in Ireland that we need? Ever wonder... what is the plan? We talked to John and Martin and Aoife Fleming from the Dept of Transport to ask just these questions. You might be suprised to hear just how much is planned, how much is happening and how much has been done already!

For context see below the national climate action plan

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/7bd8c-climate-action-plan-2023/

See also the national sustainable mobility policy

848df-national-sustainable-mobility-policy

And finally see link to something mentioned in the conversation, the national sustainable mobility forum in Athlone.

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/0d8cd-national-sustainable-mobility-forum-19-20-april-2023/

Athlone already has an electrified bus service and there are 35 Pathfinder programmes in total.

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/143e3-pathfinder-programme/

One final take-away. The policies aren't enough, we also need community engagement to see past local barriers and make them a reality.

Enjoy this episode and please share!

Niamh NiChonghaile is an occupational therapist working with Mental Health Ireland and is the National Woodlands and Nature Project Lead. It is a role every bit as exciting and interesting as you might imagine! Please do see the below links to see how to get involved in your county. Listen in to hear more about what the program entails. Also, see below some of the literature discussed in the episode. We hope you enjoy this inspiring converation.

https://www.mentalhealthireland.ie/woodlandsforhealth/

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177186

https://esthersternberg.com/books-publications/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916518774400?journalCode=eaba

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/17043718_View_Through_a_Window_May_Influence_Recovery_from_Surgery

https://elemental.medium.com/how-soft-fascination-helps-restore-your-tired-brain-27669cd0be9d

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-019-00118-6

You would be forgiven for missing it, but just last week (June 2023) the states largest employer, and one of the largest organisations in Europe, launched their strategy to decarbonise by 2050. Their ambition? "The HSE is committed to achieving net-zero emissions no later than 2050, delivering healthcare which is environmentally and socially sustainable" You can read the 41 page document 👉

https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/healthbusinessservices/national-health-sustainability-office/climate-change-and-health/hse-climate-action-strategy-2023-50.pdf

however we felt it might be easier to digest it over a conversation. We were delighted to be joined by Dr Philip Crowley, who is the national director of strategy and research for the HSE. Philip was instrumental in bringing the HSE CLimate Action strategy into existence. To distill the strategy further we were joined by Irish Doctors for the Environment (IDE) committee members Dr Ana Rakovac, Dr Rachel McCann, Dr Sandra Green, Dr Sean Owens and Dr Ola Nordrum for a panel discussion on what this means for Irish healthcare going forward.

You can read IDE 's statement on the strategy here 👉https://twitter.com/IrishDocsEnv/status/1670717315858432000?s=20

You can read more about the road to Net Zero here 👉 https://healthcareclimateaction.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/Health%20Care%20Without%20Harm_Health%20Care%20Decarbonization_Road%20Map.pdf (especially technical terms such as scope 1,2 and 3 on page 16)

And you can find out more about IDE at https://ide.ie/ please do sign up for the newsletter and to see how you can get involved.

Prof Pete Lunn is the founder and head of the ESRI’s Behavioural Research Unit (BRU). As a behavioural economist, he holds degrees in Philosophy & Psychology, Neuroscience and Economics. His primary research interest is how people make judgements and decisions that affect environmental, financial and health outcomes. Pete joined Irish Doctors for the Environment for a terrific chat to tell us about his work and how we can make more informed decisions that will have significant beneficial impacts on our environment.

Dr Eoin Galavan is a clinical psychologist, working in adult mental health services for many years. He is a supervising psychologist and lecturer with the Doctorates in Clinical and Counselling Psychology, TCD, and a Charted Psychologist and Associate Fellow with the Psychological Society of Ireland.

Today we have a wide ranging conversation about some of the cognitive traps, pitfalls and indeed opportunities in how we think about climate change. There was so much to cover, there is definitely scope for a part 2!

See below for some of the links mentioned by Eoin:

Special-Interest-Group-for-Addressing-Climate-and-Environmental-Emergency

Bystander effect https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/01/07/how-the-bystander-effect-can-explain-inaction-towards-global-warming/#:~:text=In%20other%20words%2C%20we%20are,situations%2C%20such%20as%20global%20warming.

Pluralistic ignorance and underestimating others level of concern: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32412-y

PAIN (Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert) https://medium.com/the-ascent/why-some-people-cannot-believe-in-the-science-of-climate-change-31c45b626b6b#:~:text=PAIN%20is%20an%20acronym%20for,threat%20must%20be%20Abrupt%2C%20disruptive.

Wolfgang Blau on journalism https://wblau.medium.com/climate-change-journalisms-greatest-challenge-2bb59bfb38b8

Aldrich on social capital (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764214550299)

Prevalence of climate anxiety https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00278-3/fulltext

Britt Way Generation Dread https://www.brittwray.com/gen-dread

Joana Macy Active Hope https://www.activehope.info

Nina Sommerfelt-Pettersen is a Norwegian doctor currently working as a GP in the north of Norway. Fond of skiing, climbing, hiking she also works as a volunteer for "DNT ung" (The Norwegian Trekking Associations youth group). She has volunteered for DNT ung since 2014 - taking courses to become a hiking leader, leading and organising activities and eventually being a board member in the youths´national board in DNT. We discuss all things outdoors, health and well being and compare how Ireland could learn from our Scandinavian counterparts.

Pocket Forests are a group that aim to reconnect people with nature. They make forests in small spaces, with their own special method of growing small biodiverse forests in urban areas. They run education workshops to rejuvenate soil and grow native trees, shrubs and woodland flowers to bring a forest ecosystem to your community. In short they help people create and care for their pocket forests, in the environments that often need it the most. Catherine is an award-winning writer, author and food critic who is concerned how our industrial food system has depleted nature and habitats for wildlife. She believes planting trees is something we can all do to help create ecosystems on our doorsteps and bring beauty into our cities. Check out www.pocketforests.ie to learn more or follow on twitter at @pocketforests

Many thanks to all of our guests on our second season of Climate Conversations. There are so many highlights and takeaways from our eclectic range of guests...from the streets of Glasgow at COP26 to the green fields of Galway, from collapsing Swiss glaciers to healthcare's own egregious carbon footprint, from advocacy abroad to advocacy at home. Special thanks to Ian Lumley, Dr Sinead Walsh, Kenneth Keavey, Randal Plunkett, Dr James Dixon, Professor Hannah Daly and Naomi Sheehan for their time, their expertise and most importantly their fine conversation. Irish Doctors for the Environment are looking forward to lots more in 2023 and hope you will continue to listen, share and most importantly to get involved. Here is to a successful and sustainable 2023.