November Newsletter

Greetings Earth Friend! We hope you had a pleasant November! This newsletter is a round-up of Young Friends of the Earth’s activities and campaigns this November, along with any upcoming events and news for December.      

Our next meeting will be a campaign meeting in Comhlámh from 6-8pm on Tuesday December 19th. We will reconvene on January 9th, and we will have a training on Debt & Tax Justice on January 16th, from 6-9pm in Comhlámh, with the Debt and Development Coalition Ireland.

COP23

The big news for the international Climate Change movement this month was COP23 in Bonn, Germany. Sure enough, three members of Young Friends of the Earth Ireland headed on over to get their voices heard; it wouldn’t do to pull a no-show for COP23! Our very own Ciara describes her experience here: 

"In early November, a group of us took the trip to the COP 23 negotiations in Bonn. While the negotiations themselves lasted two weeks, for those of us without conference passes the important dates were the weekend of action before the COP started. We stayed in a hostel organised by BUND (FOE Germany) with members of YFOE from Germany, Austria and Scotland. At the hostel, BUND organised an 'Action Campus' where we could take workshops on effective creative protest and direct actions. The pinnacle of the weekend was the People's Climate March, which took place on 4th November. Before the march we met up with YFOE Europe and other groups for a 'world café', where we discussed the problems young people and those from the global South have in gaining access to the COP negotiations. Then we all headed to the Münsterplatz in Bonn city centre for the march. It took the 25,000 marchers over three hours to travel the 1.2km to the stage where the closing speeches took place. However, we didn't tire, as the atmosphere was kept alive by a playlist of angry German rap, impromtu speeches by activists who'd travelled from around the world to be in Bonn, and the constant chanting of phrases such as "What do we want? --Climate Justice" and "Hey, ho fossil fuels have got to go!". The colours and props were a sight to behold - groups from around the world came with their banners, BUND had organised giant inflatable planet earths and carbon bubbles, and half-way through the march was joined by a cycling protest that had started in Cologne. The march ended with speeches and poems from eco-activists from the Philippines, the Maldives, Peru, the US and Germany. In the evenings there were panel discussions organised by Demand Climate Justice, which was a great opportunity to hear interesting perspectives from people from the global south. Many were angry at the lack of action from the world's wealthiest nations - and rightly so - and it was very valuable to hear their stories first-hand. On the 5th some of the Irish contingent were out storming a coal mine with Ende Gelände (and they only got a little bit arrested!). All in all it was an incredible experience. It was sobering and sometimes overwhelming to hear the depth of the problems that climate change is already causing for the world's poorest peoples, and how much worse that is set to get. However, standing in solidarity with, and getting to know, such incredible, passionate people from all over the world filled us with hope that none of us are alone in this, and that change is coming soon."

Erasmus+ Project

This month, from November 4^th to November 11^th, YFoE had the pleasure of hosting Sampson Williams from the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) in Liberia in Africa. This was the third and final part of YFoE Europe’s Erasmus+ Exchange project. The first two parts saw two of our members heading overseas (Meaghan visited Liberia last June for the first leg and Aidan went to Brussels for the second part of the exchange to meet with representatives of all of the partner countries). The SDI, Liberia’s equivalent of Friends of the Earth, has spent a lot of the past 2 years resisting corporate land-grabbing and ensuring the correct spending of community development funds; Sampson had a lot to share with us!

His schedule was pretty full; he saw a fair bit of Dublin, visited Galway, met a good few of our members, attended, and spoke at, several events about climate justice and came along to one of our weekly meetings, which was fantastic (see picture)! By the end of the seven days he was here, he reported that he was, "the best kind of tired"! Now, he was supposed to be in the country for a total of ten days but VISA issues with entering the EU meant new flights had to be arranged! This was highly frustrating for him and us but also served as a powerful reminder of the types of global injustices this project, and others like it, are trying to correct. It also did nothing to dampen his spirits. Ultimately, it was a really rewarding and informative experience for him and a great demonstration of solidarity and knowledge-sharing for us and our friends in Liberia!

New Members Meeting

We welcomed yet more new members into the activism fold on Tuesday, November 7^th, when we held our second official New Member’s Meeting. It had been arranged for the previous week but it was unanimously decided that October 31^st was not such a great day to have it! The two YFoE Aidos (Aidan and Aideen) facilitated the meeting and, after an initial warm-up game of musical chairs with Irish trad music totally shattered any ice there might have been, the tone was set for what was a very fun meeting! Afterwards, most, if not all, of those who came along, went out for drinks and food somewhere closeby. We were very happy with the turn out. These meetings are designed to give new people a taste of what we are about, what sorts of people are involved, how to get more involved and what sorts of roles there are available. Of course, we make an effort to ensure that everyone’s particular skillsets are put to their best use. The idea is that we will have one of these meetings once every 6 weeks but, of course, this varies with circumstances e.g. the Christmas season. The next New Member’s meeting is set to happen in early to mid-January; we will keep you posted on an exact date!

Tree Planting Plans

On to the planting of native trees! With their first official meeting on Wednesday the 8^th of November in Comhlámh, this month also heralded the formation of this year’s Tree-planting subgroup! This initiative, Trees on the Land, in which a few of our members were involved last year, has had a hugely successful pilot phase over the last four years with over 730,000 native trees planted, and it is back again this year to continue to expand the green belt across the island. Trees on the Land is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to, eventually, bring our native woodlands back into being with continuous cover woodland. How does it work? Trees on the Land supply bundles of mixed sapling trees for very low prices. Volunteers then scout out their local areas for appropriate sites to plant the trees and seek out permission from the land-owners. When the trees are bought and approved locations are identified, we pick a day in the new year and get planting! The next planting day will February 10^th, 2018. It’s magical to imagine that, within our lifetimes, we might have had a hand in planting a new forest! You can read more here https://www.treesontheland.com/ 

If you want to get involved, email us at youngfoe@foe.ie or message us on FaceBook.

Christmas Tree Decorating in Bray!

On November 28^th, rather than our usual meeting in Comhlámh, we decided that it would be more fun to decorate a Christmas tree with sustainable decorations that we made ourselves...and it was! Some of the group met up on the Sunday prior for some recycled arts and crafts where they used a bunch of old stuff, some of it from the Rediscovery Centre and some of it from our own recycling, to make Christmas decorations. Creativity was the name of the game; we had baubles made of CDs and paper plates, letters to Santa written on paper that was destined for the shredder and tinsel made from empty crisp packets! Armed with this inventory, six of us headed to Christchurch in Bray on a cold Winter’s eve to decorate what was, for many of us, our first Christmas tree of the season. Cara Augustenborg, the prominent climate lecturer, writer, activist, as well as FoE’s Head of Science & Communications, accompanied us as she is a Bray local. This was part of a lovely local project whereby any organisation, team or group of any sort could claim a tree to decorate in Christchurch Bray; there was an impressive range of styles to be seen, each with its own theme. Ours was sustainability and we were pleased with the final product (see photo). Afterwards, we grabbed some food and toasted a pleasant evening! Overall, an experience which was both fun and eye-opening (seriously, who looks at a CD and thinks: Christmas decoration?).

Good news for Bridgefoot Street Community Garden!

 And finally, things have taken a turn for the better with Bridgefoot St Community Garden, where several YFoE members are regular gardeners; it will continue into the new year! The gardeners and community members, who have turned this area from a vacant lot into a thriving ecosystem, productive garden and healing community space in just 3 years, were basically told by the DCC to please leave as this land was needed for the ‘Greening The Liberties’ project. While it is a worthy project, this was unwelcome news and far too sudden to give the gardeners and community time to adjust. However, there was a strong response from everyone for whom the garden is something very special. There was great solidarity shown through some hard online campaigning on social media and various local news platforms and redoubled efforts to make meaningful contact with the DCC... and it seems to be working! The new arrangement is that the lease for the garden can be renewed on a monthly basis meaning that, crucially, there is time to assess the available options. It is not quite a win but it is definitely better than a loss!

Have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year :)

Young FoE (newsletter compiled by Aidan Ring)

Quote of the month;

Ciara’s Dad: ‘If you don’t turn off the lights, it won’t snow!’