When a group of TY students decided to make a film about cultural diversity, they learnt a lot about their own community, writes PETER McGUIRE

LAST DECEMBER, as the world’s politicians met in Copenhagen to hammer out a deal on climate change, fifth-year students Kevin Quinn and Eoin Brennan joined a wave of protesters in Dublin who surged from the Department of the Environment to the Department of the Taoiseach on Merrion Street.

Kevin and Eoin’s engagement with environmental issues began when they became involved in Eco-Unesco, an environmental education organisation that encourages young people to become active citizens in their own communities.

“Our teacher told us about Eco-Unesco and we started coming after school,” Eoin explains. “Youth for Sustainable Development [YSD] was a 12-week programme of activities, events and education. It’s followed by an action programme where you do something to make a difference.”

Other YSD groups have run recycling campaigns in their school, planted seeds in urban locations, and run gardening days in their local area.

Kevin, Alan and a number of other students were looking for something different, so they brainstormed to develop ideas.

“One of the group wanted to go to Antarctica and film the penguins, but the budget was never going to stretch that far,” Kevin laughs. “Eventually we decided to produce a documentary, or what we called an ‘eco-mentary’ about cultural diversity.”

At first glance, cultural diversity seems somewhat off-topic for an organisation focused on sustainable development. But the organisation promotes a view that sustainable biodiversity and cultural diversity are closely inter-connected, while the students were keen to highlight how conflict can lead to violence, war, and environmental degradation.

In addition, they wanted to explore how different cultures take different approaches to the world around them.

“We met a man called Erik, who had lived in Ireland, Ghana, Poland, and the UK,” says Eoin. “He explained how ploughing in Ghana is primarily done by hand. We also met a representative from Pavee Point, and spoke to two teens from Muslim Youth Ireland who spoke of the differences – and similarities – between our cultures. One of the most interesting interviews was with a young man from the Roma community, who spoke of his difficulties accessing work and education both in Ireland and Romania.”

THE GROUP HADvery little experience of making a film or using video equipment, so Eco-Unesco hooked them up with Karl Argue, a film-maker from Reel Drama.

“It was difficult to put the film together,” Kevin admits. “We’d made a two-minute ad during Transition Year but this was very different: we operated the cameras and boom mikes ourself, while everyone tried out different roles, from production to sound, music and script.”

One of the biggest challenges was taking the camera to the street and asking members of the public for their views on cultural diversity.

“We asked people how they were affected by cultural diversity in Ireland,” Kevin recalls. “Most people didn’t have a problem with it, although one Irish man was quite prejudiced, complaining about everything from how foreigners behave in the post office to the way they cook.”

The students are entering their film into the Fresh Film Festival, and they hope to stay involved in Eco-Unesco. The organisation has developed a peer education initiative which enables students with experience of environmental issues to teach incoming groups.

“Eco-Unesco’s Youth for Sustainable Development programme prepares and supports young people become peer educators to work with their peers to explore sustainable development, how it relates to them and to young people in the developing world,” explains Elaine Nevin, National Director of Eco-Unesco. “We are delighted to see this youth-led ‘eco-mentary’ initiative emerge after just 12 weeks of our development education programme.”

Eco-Unesco runs a wide variety of programmes aimed at supporting young people in Transition Year. They include the Young Environmentalist Awards, the Eco-Unesco Clubs programme, Transition Year work placement opportunities, membership, educational workshops and resources. Eco-Unesco will soon begin a series of specialist youth workshops and programmes at its new venue, The Greenhouse, 17 St Andrew Street, Dublin 2. Check out ecounesco.ie for more details.

YSD is funded by Irish Aid, while the “eco-mentary” was funded by the Léargas Youth in Action Programme