Water workshop:Contaminated water, blocked pipes, invasion of our lakes and rivers by aquatic species such as the freshwater shrimp.
These are just some of the health and environmental issues facing our water supplies and freshwaters, according to water quality expert Dr Frances Lucy from the department of environmental science at Sligo Institute of Technology. Dr Lucy will address a public scientific workshop on water quality in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone, on Wednesday, October 28th. The workshop, which is sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, is co-hosted by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US. Cost €95. To book a place at the workshop, e-mail lucy.frances@itsligo.ie.
Wild thoughts, wild places
"Certain thoughts might be possible only in certain places, such that when we lose those places, we are losing kinds of imagination as well." So says writer Robert Macfarlane in A Wilder Vein(Two Raven Press, £10.99), a new anthology of non-fiction that explores the relationship between people and the wild places of Britain and Ireland. It includes pieces on the geology of southern Scotland, the slob lands of Northern Ireland and the coasts of Donegal (right). Also new is The Sacred Universe– earth, spirituality and religion in the twenty-first century by Thomas Berry (Columbia University Press, £15.95). He explores issues such as how we can reclaim our place in the natural world.
Repak rewards
Congratulations to the hotels, schools, supermarkets and recycling facilities that won awards in this year’s Repak recycling awards, handed out on Thursday. Assumption Secondary School in Walkinstown, Dublin won the school award, principally for their planned website to help schools gain a Green Flag, Cashel Recycling Centre in Co Tipperary won the best civic amenity award and Louth County Council won the best local authority award. Shabra Recycling in Co Monaghan was noted as one of the few operators to process packaging waste to a final product while Quish’s SuperValu in Ballincollig, Cork had an 80 per cent recycling rate. The Citywest Hotel in Dublin and the Clarion Hotel in Cork won the best hotel award. See www.repak.ie.
ECOWEB
www.igs.ie
Check out the website of the Irish Georgian Society for information on forthcoming regional seminars on energy efficiency in historic houses, and on today’s tour of the medical buildings of Dublin. There’s also a database of craftspeople and conservationists.
