Nature Magic

Today Mary is talking to Elaine Butler. Elaine runs the website Living Lightly in Ireland. This website is a sustainable living guide with all the information needed to live a greener life; from where to shop, to what to cook.

She has been featured in the Irish Times, The Irish Independent, and on Radio 1, RTE and Virgin Media.

https://livinglightlyinireland.com

For second hand clothes try Depop
https://www.depop.com/

Welcome back to Nature Magic after our winter hibernation!

Today Mary is talking to Lisa Tully. Lisa is professional animal healer & communicator She has an international practice working with all kinds of species.
Lisa travelled to Mongolia to study shamanic healing for animals. During her studies she learnt to identify the root causes behind any mental, emotional, physical or spiritual challenges animal companions may be facing & she creates holistic programs to heal them. With a science background she understands both sides of the coin and collaborates with homeopathic vets when needed. By communicating directly with animals of all kinds she gives them a voice, thus, deepening our human understanding of their essential nature, needs and messages. Working through photos or in person her work reaches any animal anywhere.


www.animalhealing.ie

www.horsehealing.ie

Social media @animalhealinglisatully

Recommended book: Wild Health by Cindy Engel

The nature magic podcast is taking a short break - We wish you all a very happy holidays and for the final episode of 2021

Today Mary is reading a short story that she wrote based on real life events.
Thank you for all the support spreading a positive voice for nature from Ireland-

See you in 2022!

Contact Mary Bermingham at
[email protected]

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Support the Nature Magic Podcast at
https://www.patreon.com/naturemagic

Show website
www.naturemagic.ie

Today Mary is talking to Conor Ruane.
Conor is a Community Water Officer with the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) covering Galway and South Roscommon. Conor works with voluntary groups to support projects focusing on the protection of rivers, lakes, coastal, and groundwater. Conor previously worked as a freshwater ecologist carrying out ecological surveys and river restoration works.

More Information on LAWPRO; https://lawaters.ie/
The Draft River Basin Management Plan; https://drbmp-vcr.ie/
Funding for community groups; https://lawaters.ie/funding/
Conor’s Twitter; https://twitter.com/ruane22
LAWPRO Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LAWPROteam
LAWPRO Twitter; https://twitter.com/watersprogramme?lang=en

Recommended books

Wilding
By: Isabella Tree


Contact Conor Ruane at
[email protected]

Contact Mary Bermingham at
[email protected]

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Support the Nature Magic Podcast at
https://www.patreon.com/naturemagic

Show website
www.naturemagic.ie

Today Mary is talking to Nancy Striniste, as part of our mini series of nature educators. Nancy has a lot of amazing advice to offer. She is Director of East Coast Programs for Green Schoolyards America; and founder and principal designer at EarlySpace. Nancy has a unique background as both a landscape designer and an early childhood educator and she has worked with schools, childcare centers, municipalities and organizations across America to create beautiful, sustainably designed natural play and learning spaces.

Nancy is the author of Nature Play at Home: Creating Outdoor Spaces that Connect Children to the Natural World. She teaches at Antioch University New England in their Nature-based Early Childhood Education Graduate Program, serves on the Nature Play Work Group of the Maryland Partnership for Children and Nature, and on the Leadership Team of NoVA Outside.

Recommended books:
Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation by Sharon Danks

Schools That Heal: Design with Mental Health in Mind by Claire Latané

How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers by Arden Buckin- Sporer and Rachel Kathleen Pringle. (that one is out of print but available used online)

The websites mentioned are
GreenSchoolyards.org

The National Outdoor Learning Library can be found at https://www.greenschoolyards.org/covid-learn-outside

Contact Nancy at www.earlyspace.com

Contact Mary Bermingham at
[email protected]

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Support the Nature Magic Podcast at
https://www.patreon.com/naturemagic

Show website
www.naturemagic.ie

Today Mary is speaking to Wildlife warrior Matilda. Matilda moved from Australia to Ireland a couple of years ago. Matilda is a conservationist and activist and we became aquainted two years ago when she was running a fundraiser for wildlife aged 6
She is part of the Australian zoo wildlife warrior programme.

The vision of the programme is that people, wildlife and habitat survive and prosper without being detrimental to the existence of each other.

Their mission is to be the most effective wildlife conservation organisation in the world through the delivery of outstanding outcome-based programs and projects, inclusive of humanity.

Matilda was inspired by seeing Steve Irwin on TV and when she visited the Australian zoo that he founded.

She has a facebook page Wildlife Warrior Matilda and runs fun events in her area including litter picking days.

We all have this innate love for nature and wildlife but somewhere along the way life distracts us. Matilda is on the podcast today to remind you how we should all be caring for our fellow creatures.

Recommended book

Santa Koala
by Colin Buchanan

Check out the Australia Zoo
https://wildlifewarriors.org.au


Contact Wildlife Warrior Matilda at
https://www.facebook.com/wildlifewarriormatilda

Contact Mary Bermingham at
[email protected]

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Support the Nature Magic Podcast at
https://www.patreon.com/naturemagic

Show website
www.naturemagic.ie

Today Mary is talking to Nikita Zimov, director of Pleistocene park. Nikita is a Russian scientist at the cutting edge of the fight against climate change. Nikita and his father Sergey have been resurrecting an Ice Age biome since 1998.
Pleistocene Park is a major initiative that includes an attempt to restore the mammoth steppe ecosystem, which was dominant in the Arctic in the late Pleistocene era. The initiative requires replacement of the current unproductive northern ecosystems by highly productive pastures which have both a high animal density and a high rate of biocycling. (Biocycling is the cycle through which energy and essential substances are transferred among species)
Grazing ecosystems in the Arctic promote climate cooling through series of ecological effects.

Experiments with animal reintroductions were begun in 1988 including 8 major herbivore species: reindeer, Yakutian horse, moose, bison, musk ox, yak, Kalmykian cow and sheep.
It will soon hopefully welcome the genetically cloned Woolly Mammoth that is predicted to be born in the next six years.

This project has the capacity to spread across the Arctic region and reduce worldwide carbon emissions by up to 20%. We have much to thank these tough resilient scientists who started and have been running Pleistocene Park with no recognition until very recently. Suddenly everyones heads are turned in their direction and the world is looking at their important work and their life’s quest to save this planet.

Nikita Zimov is the Director of Pleistocene Park, a nature reserve on the Kolyma River south of Chersky in the Sakha Republic, Russia, in northeastern Siberia. In the early 2000s, Nikita attended one of Russia’s top science high schools, in Novosibirsk, and then stayed there at the state university for undergraduate and master’s degrees in math and computer modeling.

Nikita grew up on the research station and returned to the Arctic after graduation to contribute to the scientific discoveries and development of the Pleistocene Park. The park is a scientific experiment on reconstruction of grazing ecosystems in the Arctic and mitigating climate change. It was originally found by Sergey Zimov, Nikita’s father, in 1988. The aim of the project and Zimov’s work is to research the climatic effects of the expected changes in the ecosystem as it relates to permafrost melting.

Contact Nikita and check out the project at
https://pleistocenepark.ru

Recommended book
39 Ways to save the planet
By:Tom Heap

Contact Mary Bermingham at
[email protected]

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Support the Nature Magic Podcast at
https://www.patreon.com/naturemagic

Show website
www.naturemagic.ie
We would like to thank Professor Martin Bunzl for sponsoring this episode
Find his new book
Thinking While Walking
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-while-Walking-Reflections-Pacific/dp/0578882221
www.mbunzl.com

Today Mary is talking to Professor Martin Bunzl. Martin taught Philosophy at Rutgers University in New Jersey for 40 years Much of his work has revolved around the nature of scientific knowledge and in his new book Thinking While Walking reflections on the pacific quest trail….. He delves into difficult topics such as these.

•Millions of trees along the trail are being destroyed by beetles. If we have a duty of respect to nature, why does that respect not extend to the beetles?
•We have rights, and perhaps other animals do as well, but does nature itself have rights? If not, how do we ground our duty to respect it?
•We have inherited a distinction between the natural and the “man-made”. How does that affect how we think about nature and our relationship to it?
It was a lot of fun discussing nature and ethics with Martin and I am sure you will enjoy trying to figure out these mind riddles that will inhabit your thinking for days after the conversation…

Check out Professor Bunzl's book
'Thinking While Walking, reflections on the Pacific Crest Trail' at
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0949J8939

Contact Professor Martin Bunzl at
www.mbunzl.com

Recommended books

A Theory of Justice
By: John Rawls

Naming and Necessity
By: Saul Kripke

An Inconvenient Truth
By:Al Gore

Contact Mary Bermingham at
[email protected]

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Support the Nature Magic Podcast at
https://www.patreon.com/naturemagic

Show website
www.naturemagic.ie

Today Mary is talking to Joe Slattery. Joe is an Experienced Addiction counsellor and coordinator of the NorthStar Family Support Project, a community based project in Limerick , Joe is a specialist in-dealing with issues of substance abuse with adolescents and their families.
Joe is the Irish network coordinator and advanced certified in the EAGALA model of Equine Assisted Counselling and CEO of JS Equine Assisted Therapies.
Joe is a public speaker/educator in the area of drug abuse and disadvantage and the important role horses can play in supporting people to heal from emotional and physical distress.
He is TEDx talk is well worth a watch- Joe shares his own experience of growing up in a socially deprived area of Ireland and how horses helped him cope in that environment.

Contact Joe at
https://jsequinetherapies.ie/

Watch Joe's Tedx talk here
https://www.ted.com/talks/joe_slattery_how_horses_can_help_us_to_find_the_answers_from_within

Watch Joe on the Tommy Tiernan Show on the RTE player

Check out the Eagle method on You Tube
https://www.youtube.com/user/EAGALAVideos

Recommended book
Transforming Therapy Through Horses (Eagala method)
By:Lynn Thomas, Mark Little and Brenda Dammann

This episode is sponsored by Martin Bunzl
Check out Martin's new book
Thinking While Walking - Reflections while walking the Pacific Crest Trail
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-while-Walking-Reflections-Pacific/dp/0578882221

Today Mary is talking to Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany Castle, in County Meath.
The Plunkett family motto is:
Make Haste Slowly
and through Randal’s dedication to rewild the estate he is at the forefront of the battle to fight the biodiversity crisis. The ancient slow growing trees are the backbone to the project that leaves 750 acres to nature. A charismatic figure, Randal is a film director and movie maker and as he said himself ‘a bit of a goth’ His latest movie:
The Green Sea
is available to rent on Sky and You Tube now. It is appropriate to his character that his favourite tree is the Yew, typically found in graveyards. His love for heavy metal music and an inate anger at injustice creates a force to be reckoned with. He is holding up the flag amongst an army of eco warriors to fight against the destruction of nature and our planet.

Connect with Randal at
[email protected]

Check out Dunsany Estate on Facebook and Instagram
Check out Randal Plunkett on Facebook and Instagram

Rent The Green Sea on You Tube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNg3ISYG5Jk

Recommended book
Rewilding by Isabella Tree

Check out Burren Nature Sanctuary at
www.burrennaturesanctuary.ie

Check out the Burren Nature Sanctuary café and shop lease at
https://www.daft.ie/commercial-properties-for-rent/kinvara-galway

Nature Magic Website
www.naturemagic.ie