Join us for Comhlámh’s First Wednesdays Autumn Series 2023 on ecological sustainability in partnership with the Maynooth University Department of International Development.
The series will offer some ‘ways in’ to think about this theme through the lens of place-specific projects happening on our island.
Join the conversation and register now!
The need to address the unsustainability and harm inherent in the systems we have built, becomes clearer by the day, with climate science and the precarious life conditions endured by so many telling us what we need to know. At the same time, harmful systems of production and consumption have no interest in slowing down and our dependence on them from here in Ireland can make the work of imagining and enacting alternatives very difficult.
Through this series, we want to provide space for those offering ways in, here on our island and to point to the role of critical thinking, imagination and connections between people and the planet in building sustainable futures.
Based on ideas of repair, care and justice, how do these projects take us beyond narrow conceptions of environmentalism and green solutionism? What do they pay attention to and why?
Join #FIRSTWEDS Autumn 2023 Series
Part 1 : Transforming Our Relationships with Nature – In Conversation With Eoghan Daltun, author of ‘An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey Into The Magic Of Rewilding’
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024, 6:00 PM
PLEASE NOTE THE NEW DATE
For our October event, we will be in conversation with Eoghan Daltun, An Post Irish Book Award winner 2022, who will share from his book ‘An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey Into the Magic of Rewilding’.
We invite you to join us for this crucial conversation to learn more about life pulsing back into ecosystems, and why finding a way in may mean taking a step back and doing nothing.
The event will be moderated by Dr Eilish Dillon, Head of the Department of International Development, Maynooth University.
MEET OUR SPEAKER
About Eoghan Daltun, Author
Eoghan Daltun is a sculpture conservator, a High Nature Value farmer and, above all, a rewilder. Originally from Dublin, since 2009 he has lived with his two sons, Liam and Seánie, on their 73-acre farm near Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula, West Cork. He is author of the best-selling and award-winning book ‘An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding’, published September 2022.
REGISTER NOW
Part 2 : Currents of Radical Care
Date: Wednesday, 1 November, 6:00 PM
For our #FirstWeds event in November we will bring together projects, rural and urban, which carry concern for place and people. In what is set to be convivial and eye-opening conversation, our guests Anthony Freeman O’Brien (‘Bee8 Urban Beekeeping’ and ‘In Our Shoes’ – Liberties, Dublin) and Karen Jeffares (Síolta Chroí – Monaghan) will talk about beekeeping, soil restoration and community building. How do their special place-based projects speak to the themes of repair, care and justice? And how do they resonate with you, wherever it is you may be living.
The event will be moderated by Patrick Marren, Lecturer & BA Programme Coordinator at the Department of International Development, Maynooth University.
MEET OUR SPEAKERS
Anthony Freeman O’Brien
Born and raised in Dublin’s Liberties, Anthony is a Beekeeper and social enterprise project manager with the Robert Emmet Community Development Project. Anthony currently manages the ‘In Our Shoes Inner City Walking Tours’ project and the ‘Bee8 Urban Beekeeping initiative’ which dates back to 2014.
Bee8 looks after multiple hives in the Dublin 8 area and offers free beekeeping courses and educational resources to the local community and schools.
Both Bee8 and In Our Shoes are working to change narratives around how we live in inner-city Dublin and to offer new and unique opportunities to disadvantaged communities.
Anthony is also a sculptor and has been longlisted for the 2023 RDS Visual Art Awards exhibition. His work will be exhibited along with 14 other longlisted artists in the West Wing Galleries at IMMA from December 8 2023 – March 3 2024.
Karen Jeffares
Karen Jeffares is the co-founder of Síolta Chroí, a non-for-profit co-operative established in 2020 and located in Carrickmacross, Co. Monagahan. Based on an area of just 1.6 acres, Síolta Chroí’s serves as a model for experimentation in land and community restoration. The work is organised around 3 pillars namely restoring eco-systems and community through education focused on regenerative cultures; exploring resilient and regenerative food systems; and carrying out ecosystem restoration work. Last year, they converted old farm buildings into a straw-bale education centre where they now run courses focused on ecosystem restoration and similar topics.
The Síolta Chroí team is made up of members with backgrounds in adult education, environmental activism, regenerative agriculture, social justice and peacebuilding. Karen’s own background is in human rights and peacebuilding. She worked for several years in Guatemala and Columbia alongside communities affected by violence and upon returning to Ireland in 2014, founded the Irish branch of Peace Brigades International. These days Karen describes herself as many things, including human rights activist, educator, mother-of-two, farmer. From Síolta Chroí in Carrickmacross she is also homeschooling her 6-year-old daughter and, with a collective of parents in the county, working towards setting up an independent Waldorf School for Co. Monaghan.
REGISTER NOW
EXPLORE PREVIOUS FIRST WEDNESDAYS
For over 20 years, Comhlámh’s First Wednesdays (#FirstWeds) series has provided a space to discuss and explore the linkages between local and global justice issues.
At each, contributors from across the Global South and Global North come together to inform, inspire and encourage the audience to develop a deeper awareness of our interdependent world. We invite you to explore previous First Wednesdays events