Climate Conversations

In this episode IDE members Dr. Callum Swift and Dr. Margaret Brennan chat to physicist, climate scientist and author Dr. Paul Behrens about the changes humanity need to make in order to meet the goal of limiting earths warming to 1.5 degrees. We discuss his remarkable book 'The Best of Times, the Worst of Times: Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science', and Paul takes us through the five broad changes that he has laid out:

3. Three large changes in food systems: shifting diets, reducing waste, and improved food-production technologies. The ultimate aim would be to decrease the impacts and the amount of land needed while continuing to improve yields

4. The implementation of regulation and policy that we know will help to reduce emissions but can be politically difficult: frequent flyer levies, banning petrol vehicles in urban areas, large scale building retrofit schemes and afforestation

5. The replacement of GDP as a measure of societies success with something that contains a broader conception of value - to measure the importance of the environment and society as intrinsic values rather than converted into commodified monetary amounts. A universal basic income and universal basic services will be needed

This month Pádraic Fogarty leads us headfirst into some untamed nature, hidden in plain sight in Dublin!  As editor of the Irish Wildlife magazine, author of the book 'Whittled away: Irelands vanishing nature' and the new Irish Wildlife Trust podcast 'Shaping New Mountains', Pádraic is one of Irelands leading environmentalists. We take a stroll through an oasis of birds and butterflies along the Tolka river, discussing the need for a revolution in our collective value systems with regards to our relationship with the natural world, the key role of education in catalysing this, the joy of exploring wild places, farming practices as both a driver and solution to the biodiversity crisis, problems with the subsidy systems and natural capital concepts, the inequality of access to green spaces, how to rewild your back garden and Pádraic's vision for the future in Ireland. 

In this episode IDE members Sean Owens and Callum Swift are joined by Dr. Clare Watson, a passionate academic and campaigner who has a long history of environmental and social activism. Her background was in social work, since then she has co-authored a book ‘Campaigns, and how to win them’, and written a blog entitled ‘Chasing Hubcaps’ which looks at the influence of human psychology behaviour in peoples reaction to climate change. She completed her PhD at the Marei institute at UCC which looked at the community response to climate change and intersections of behaviour, and she is currently involved with community energy projects in Kerry.

On this episode IDE member Dr Vincent Wall has an engaging and broad reaching conversation with Robert Burns, director of infrastructure, sustainable mobility and climate change at Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.  

In this episode we are delighted to be joined by Isabella Tree, conservationist and author of the award-winning book “Wilding; the return of nature to a British Farm”. The spectacular results of her rewilding experiment on the 3,500 acre Knepp farm offer a window into possible solutions to many of todays most critical problems: carbon sequestration, soil restoration, crop pollination, flood mitigation, water purification, animal welfare and human health. 

We discuss the joy of reconnecting with nature, the challenges many farmers face in the current system, the incredible number of rare species that have surprised conservationists and made Knepp their home, the changing public perception of rewilding, shifting baseline syndrome, the importance of soil health, then benefits of regenerative agriculture, how to rewild on a back garden scale, Isabella's vision for the future and much more!

Welcome to Conversations with Irish Doctors for the Environment, where we talk to inspirational people from all walks of life who share a deep commitment to their communities and the natural world that sustains them. By striving to make a positive change to the world, however small, our guests offer a vision of reclaimed agency and hope that combats cynicism and despair and provides a glimpse of a future that we can look forward to. 

In this episode we talk to some of the founders of Irish Doctors for the Environment about planetary health, the intersection between climate change and health, the benefits of positive action and some of IDE's work so far. For more visit www.IDE.ie