In this episode of the Green Campus podcast, Ava O'Donnell (Greenshoots Communications Intern), interviews Dearbhla Richardson (Greenshoots Communications Intern, SU Environmental Representative and environmental activist) and Niamh Guiry (UCC PhD Candidate and environmental activist) about their experience at COP23. COP (Conference of the Parties) is a series of United Nations climate change conferences, which have been running since 1995. The purpose of these conferences is to review progress made by members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to combat climate change. COP is the primary decision-making body of the UNFCCC and includes representatives of all countries that are signatories (or ‘Parties’) to the UNFCCC.
In the 20th episode of ‘The Green Campus Podcast’ we talk to UCC’s Energy Manager Pat Mehigan. Pat talks about his role and responsibilities in relation to the energy infrastructure across our campus. He discusses where our energy comes from and how UCC’s energy consumption has changed in recent years in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing energy and climate crises. He moves on to discuss what changes are being implemented and what plans are in place to meet our 2030 and 2050 targets, including becoming a carbon neutral university by 2040. He finishes by discussing the need for systemic change across all areas of society and the importance of public engagement with our politicians to demand sustainable changes and climate action.
In the 19th installment of the Green campus podcast we talk to Student Support Administrator Natalie O’Byrne. Natalie talks about her role in the international office which has responsibility for the arrival of over four thousand students from 104 countries each year. Natalie moves on to talk about the swap shop where students can avail of household items left behind by international students. She talks about how it feeds into the circular economy and the positive reaction to its establishment by both students and staff. She finishes by talking about the challenges in setting it up, how it operates throughout the year and how to engage with the swap shop.
The 18th instalment of the Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to Professor Justin Holmes, the Professor of Nanochemistry in the School of Chemistry in UCC. Justin first talks about his early career in chemistry. He moves on to talk about his work in the Radical project, and EU funded research project to develop a brand-new way of detecting atmospheric radicals in real-time. He outlines the collaborative effort on the project alongside the challenges and progress of the project in creating a prototype. He moves on to talk about his work in another EU funded project, the Translate project that aims to develop a new nanofluidic platform technology to effectively convert waste heat to electricity. He finishes by talking about how these new technologies can assist in meeting our 2030 and 2050 energy targets.
The 17th installment of the UCC Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to Dr. Fionn Rogan, Senior Research Fellow in MaREI. Fionn begins by talking about how he first started working on issues of climate change and sustainability. He talks about a paper he co-authored ‘Improving energy savings from a residential policy: A new model to inform better retrofit decisions’. Fionn moves on to discuss how important retrofitting is and the sheer scale of change that is required to allow us to meet our 2030 and 2050 climate targets in Ireland. He talks about the CAPACITY Project and Imagining 2050 Project and finishes by discussing his role in coordinating and contributing to the Mock UCC COP26 event in October 2022.
Calum and Fiach talk about their role in the LIVE project down on the Iveragh peninsula. This project enables coastal communities to promote their natural and cultural assets and how to create opportunities for sustainable tourism. They talk about the rich environment of the Iveragh peninsula, the studies and surveys they carry out to produce different resources, and the community engagement in the region. They move on to talk about the reintroduction of a meadow at the Valentia Meteorological Observatory. They describe the conditions needed for a meadow, the results achieved in respect of the flower and fauna that inhabit the meadow, and how you can have your own meadow in your back garden. They finish by talking about how meadows and the live project feed into the national discussion on Ireland’s biodiversity. The LIVE project has been co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through its Ireland Wales Cooperation Programme.
The 15th installment of the UCC Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to UCC Student Union President Asha Woodhouse. Asha begins by talking about her background in Environmental Science and Environmental Law and how her family inspired her involvement with social justice issues and climate activism. She moves on to talk about her time on the UCC Environmental Society and UCC Green Campus, and the initiatives that she helped bring into UCC during her time on these committees. She talks about the challenges of Covid-19 and her experience working with staff and students through the UCCSU over the past year.
The 14th instalment of the UCC Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to author and Head of the UCC Visitors Centre, JP Quinn. JP begins by telling us about his own UCC journey, from starting as an undergraduate student to his role as Head of the Visitors Centre. JP tells us about his book ‘A Bee At UCC’, a children's book illustrated by Charlie Ruxton, which started as a Covid lockdown project and is now available in every library in Ireland. He talks about the importance of storytelling and how he tailored his books to engage with young readers and communicate the importance of bees and biodiversity. He also gives us a sneak peek into his second and upcoming book ‘A Tree At UCC’. Following on from this, JP discusses the importance of having open conversations with children about environmental issues, and the role that inclusion and communication plays in sustainability. He tells us about the different sustainable products and gifts available at the Visitors Centre including our very own UCC Honey (produced by UCC bees) and upcycled clocks. JP wraps up the episode by talking about the student-led sustainability initiatives in UCC and how our university is leading the way in this area.
The 13th instalment of the UCC Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to UCC lecturers Dr Angela Flynn (School of Nursing & Midwifery) and Dr Catherine Forde (School of Applied Social Studies). The podcast begins with a discussion around the connection between sustainability and healthcare and how a person's environment (home, transport options, socioeconomic status) influences their health and well-being. Catherine talks about her work with colleagues which aims to bring environmental perspectives into their disciplinary practices, referencing a module on social work and the environment that is delivered as part of the Masters of Social Work for the past two years, developed by Mary Hurley and Dr Fiachra Ó Suilleabháin. Following this, Angela discusses the issue of single use waste production in healthcare, particularly in recent years due to the Covid pandemic. Catherine moves on to talk about the response of students when integrating sustainability into her modules and programmes, and the importance of learning from students involved with environmental campaigns and groups. Next, the role of social workers as activists and agitators is explored alongside the rise in engagement with environmental education. Finally, Catherine and Angela finish the podcast by discussing how they’re working to equip educators with the necessary tools to integrate environmental education into their teachings.
The 12th instalment of the UCC Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to beekeeper and assistant to the Academic Secretary & Assistant Registrar, Gretta McCarthy. Gretta begins the episode by telling us about what first inspired her get involved with beekeeping and how beekeeper Pat Keane influenced her journey. She goes on to speak about the importance of bees as pollinators, their essential role in our food production and ecosystems, giving a harrowing example of how in parts of China, people have to hand-pollinate trees due to severe declines in pollinator populations. Next Gretta discusses what the everyday person can do to support pollinators such as rewilding and planting native species. She gives tips on how you could start beekeeping and the most common challenges people face when setting up hives. She finishes the episode by talking about the role that flora and fauna play in beekeeping and honey-production.
John talks about his early background living in Miami and the how the environmental degradation in the area started his interest in ecology. He outlines the history of the UN SDG goals and how these goals are a strategic plan towards sustainability. He talks about how research funding is looking for relationships between universities, communities and business partnerships. He goes through UCC’s connected curriculum and how the SDG toolkit he designed is directly supporting the connected curriculum in the sustainability element. He outlines how the toolkit works and how it enables educators to incorporate the SDGs into their teaching. He finishes by talking about the different challenges educators face in respect of funding and his hopes for the toolkit in the future.
Stephan talks about his role as UCC’s Commuter Plan Manager and his background as a transport planning engineer. He moves on to talk about being part of the transport mobility forum where he liaises with various transport authorities to promote sustainable transport. He talks about our existing commuter plan that runs to 2023 and the statistics on the travel habits of our students and staff. He moves on to our carbon footprint in relation to staff and student travel and how Covid impacted this and the opportunities that arose from the pandemic. He explains the various schemes in UCC from car-pooling to park and ride, electric bikes, and the bike to work scheme. He talks about the benefits of cycling and the need for education and infrastructure to support cycling. He finishes by talking about facilities available to cyclists on campus and the various cycle routes available around Cork City.
The 9th installment of the UCC Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to facilitator, coach, and celebrant Melanie O’Driscoll. Melanie begins by telling us about her journey from studying zoology to acting as a facilitator with The Green Step, and training as an interfaith minister. She moves on to talk about what eco-grief and climate anxiety means and how it can impact a person's well-being and tells us the importance of strong community links when tackling climate issues. She goes through what her ‘Self Care is Climate Care’ workshops entail, which are run monthly through UCC Green Campus. She talks about how she works to create shared experiences in this space to help people express their emotions and increase their climate resilience.
The 8th installment of the UCC Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to Dr. Hannah Daly, lecturer and researcher in energy, economy, environment and engineering systems in UCC. Hannah begins by telling us about her time studying in UCC and her experience as the Agency Lead on Energy Access and SDG7 collaboration in the International Energy Agency in Paris. She moves on to give us an overview of sustainable energy modeling systems and what these models work to achieve. She talks about the intensification of the agriculture industry in Ireland and the practical and societal difficulties associated with creating a sustainable agriculture model. She moves on to discuss the potential for district heating in Ireland and how that can play a role in a collective solution to decarbonising our heating systems. Hannah discusses LNG in Ireland and how we should be striving to transition away from natural gas as quickly as possible to sustainable energy and removing barriers to offshore wind and solar panels. She finishes by talking about the need to improve our public infrastructure to help create cleaner cities and improve sustainable transport methods.
Fáilte ar ais go dtí an Campus Glas podchraoladh! Welcome back to the Green Campus podcast! The 7th installment of the UCC Green Campus podcast is now available where we talk to climate activist, language student, and Gaeilgeoir, Síofra Nic Risteaird. Tá Seachtain na Gaeilge anseo, agus in onóir na hócáide, bímid ag caint faoin nasc idir ár dteanga agus an timpeallacht. In honour of Seachtain na Gaeilge, we’re discussing the connection between our language and the environment. During this episode, Síofra tells us about environmental communication and the role that Irish could play in communicating the importance of climate action. Finally, Síofra tells us about some of the resources that are available to people who want to start learning Irish or who want to find ways to practice their cúpla focail.
Annalisa talks about the benefits of nature for your attention, your stress levels and how it increases vitality. She moves on to how the Covid pandemic has affected people’s relationship with nature. She talks about collaboration with the University of Bologna to capture people’s relationships with nature and to capture ideas on new green spaces and how we can improve existing ones. She talks about the planning of green spaces and her involvement in Go Green Roots, an EU funded, and Irish based project looking at making green areas more accessible in European cities. She finishes by talking about “Success It’s in Our Nature”, an initiative between Annalisa, Graduate Attributes and Green Campus. It showcases all the ways students and staff can engage with nature on our campus to relieve stress at exam time, to enhance mental and physical health and wellbeing, enhance their academic and personal success and build their graduate attributes and values.
Gerard talks his early background and his role as Director of IT services. He outlines the carbon footprint of UCC’s IT infrastructure in relation to cloud services and data storage and the energy savings achieved. He talks about the circular economy and how IT recycles its hardware infrastructure both in donating to local charities and recycling the hardware with local organisations. He moves on to talk about what is being done to make IT services more energy efficient and how the Covid pandemic has impacted remote working in UCC. He then talks about how server virtualization is being used to lessen the impact of physical servers on campus by reducing the number of servers by up to 95%. He moves on to how sustainability factors into IT today and how strategic planning and sustainability are being incorporated into procurement practices and purchasing policy. He talks about how we use the Irish environment to cool our data centers. He finishes by talking about how we can use the data IT produces to design a better campus experience.
Timothy talks about how he first got interested in sustainability and the environment. He talks about his role in Enactas, using the power of entrepreneurial action. He moves on to talk about how precious plastics globally and in UCC are helping to reduce plastic waste, through recycling, biodegradable materials and zero waste lifestyles. He talks about how there is now a UCC precious plastics workshop to start making products from rulers to coasters. Following on from this Timothy talks about setting up ReFRAME where they will be reusing plastic to make skateboards, longboards and moving up to bicycles. He finishes by talking about making UCC a recycling hub and how education and community involvement is key to dealing with the problem of plastic waste.
3rd episode of ‘The Green Campus Podcast’ with UCC’s head gardener Jack Murphy. Jack talks about his early career, the various habitats in UCC, the sustainable practices employed by the UCC grounds team and much more.
The 2nd Green Campus podcast with UCC's Director of Buildings & Estates Mark Poland