Climate Change activists are this weekend converging at Kingsnorth, Kent, UK for the now annual week-long Climate Camp. Some will have walked or cycled as part of the Climate Caravan that spent the past week wending its way from Heathrow. This year's location has been chosen because it is the site of a planned new coal-fired power station, Britain's first in 30 years.
Camping for the climate
The camp's organisers, who are all volunteers, say the camp is a place for anyone who wants to take action on climate change; for anyone who's fed up with empty government rhetoric and corporate spin; for anyone who's worried that the small steps they're taking aren't enough to match the scale of the problem; and for anyone who's worried about our future and wants to do something about it.
It is just one of eight climate camps internationally. This weekend in the US the West Coast Convergence for Climate Action is taking place on an organic farm in Coburg, Oregon. Other affiliated camps are in Virginia and New York, Quebec, Russia, Germany, New Zealand, Denmark and Australia. See www.climatecamp.org.uk.
It's all happening at the bog
The reclaimed boglands at Lough Boora, near Kilcormac, Co Offaly, provide the perfect place for a summer daytrip. There's a choice of paths through rich meadows of wildflower, scrub and woodlands suitable for both an energetic walk or a leisurely stroll. Enjoy the lake teeming with wildfowl (there are lookout huts for more serious birdwatchers) or take a wander through the sculpture park. The park features large permanent works by artists inspired by the rich natural and industrial legacy of the boglands.
The latest sculpture, by Irish-American artist Patrick Dougherty, uses saplings, branches and twigs of willow interwoven through a grove of alder trees to create an twisting pathway with circular "rooms". See www.sculptureintheparklands.com
Human impact in the frame
The Environmental Science Association of Ireland invites entries from amateur photographers to participate in its photography competition. The theme is Human Impact on Nature in Ireland. Entries will be assessed on the basis of picture quality, composition and the appropriateness of the caption. Winning pictures will be published in The Local Planet magazine.
The closing date for entries is Friday September 26th, 2008. For entry forms and conditions see www.esaiweb.org
Saving the Shannon
Plans to pump Shannon water to Dublin are still on the cards despite opposition by angling, boat hire, tourism, environmental and community groups along the river. The Shannon Protection Alliance has responded to the latest step in the Strategic Environmental Assessment, which is now a requirement of all major infrastructural developments, with a 56-page report that details its concerns with the plan.
The Alliance claims 200 million litres of water are currently being lost from the city's system through leakages and that this is some 60 per cent of the volume of water Dublin City Council wishes to take from the Shannon. The Alliance claims international experience shows that large-scale abstraction of water from river systems worldwide has generally been followed by ecologically and socially destructive and irreversible consequences.
See www.shannonprotectionalliance.ie
ECOWEB
www.grist.org
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