Climate Conversations

In this episode of Climate Conversations, former and current Operations Officers of Irish Doctors for the Environment, Dr Ola Løkken Nordrum and Orlagh Gaynor, come together to discuss the power of storytelling in shaping climate action. Orlagh shares a climate fiction story she wrote for a live storytelling event, offering a glimpse of a hopeful future that could be realised if our leaders took b...

In this episode of Climate Conversations we discuss all things sustainability in healthcare with three international leaders in the field: Dr John Bonning, past president of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, Dr Rosa McNamara - Clinical Lead for the National Clinical Programme for Emergency Medicine in Ireland and Dr Ola Nordrum, HSE Healthcare sustainability fellow and past Operatio...

Professor Karyn Morrissey, Co-author of the Lancet Commissions Countdown on Climate Change and Human Health since 2016, sits down with IDE's Dr Lisa McNamee to talk about why an economist is interested in climate change. Karyn is Professor in Environment and Marine, at the University of Galway. She is an economist and econometrician by training who uses her skillset to study the economic drive...

Dr Niamh Shaw is an explorer, scientist, performer and European Space Agency education champion. She talks to IDE's Dr Lisa McNamee about how the lessons from spaceflight and Antarctica can teach us about sustainability on Earth and about her inspiring, squiggly career to date.

This month on Climate Conversations we have a special episode: emergency medicine doctors Callum and Johnny work on resuscitating not just one patient, but the entire planetary ecosystem. Planet Earth has come to the Emergency Department in a critical condition and there's no time to waste. With dangerous levels of air pollution, rising global temperatures, escalating extreme weather events, t...

Paul Handrick from The Bee Sanctuary of Ireland is a fantastic wildlife and wild spaces advocate, a genuinely nice person and a prolific tweeter/public educator on Irish bees and wildlife. The Bee Sanctuary is truly unique, the only one in the world. You can find out more at: https://savingbees.ie You can follow his work at twitter: https://twitter.com/the_beeguy?lang=en You can read about his jou...

Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI), in collaboration with the HSE and the Irish College of GPs, is running a GreenTech in healthcare call for innovative products and services that promote environmental sustainability in primary and secondary healthcare. GreenTech in healthcare represents a growing movement within the global health industry to adopt environmentally sustainable technologies and pr...

Baby Feeding Law Group Ireland (BFLGI) is a volunteer organisation that advocates the protection of the right to good health of all infants, young children, mothers, parents, and families by addressing practices that commercialise infant and young child feeding, threaten breastfeeding and undermine good health. You can find out more about the Baby Feeding Law Group Ireland at their website: ⁠⁠http...

Alan is a retired psychiatrist living in Tipperary. He is the secretary of Hedgerows Ireland and believes that our hedgerows have never been more important as we face urgent and mounting climate and biodiversity challenges. His group is allied to a range of other stakeholders, including farmers, beekeepers and birdwatchers who share a common interest in these vital landscape features.  For more in...

How does sheltered housing, private nursing home care and single handed GP practice relate to climate change? Can keeping care in the community, endorsing general practice with schemes to retain GPs rural areas and on islands be a form of carbon capture? Is the model of care described here the missing link in the perennial trolley crisis and demographic cliff edge we face as we head towards 2050?...

In this episode of climate conversations we journey down to the Beara peninsula in West Cork to meet Eoghan Daltun and explore his Atlantic rainforest! Eoghan is a sculptor, conservationist and author of the superb book 'An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: a personal journey into the magic of rewilding' As we meander through the tangled explosion of life in a rainforest, we discuss the factors t...

In this episode IDE member and GP, David O’Connell, talks to Dingle GP, Dr. Peadar O’Fionnain about his path into local climate activism and his current campaign to be elected as Kerry’s first Green member of the county council.  They discuss a range of issues - how the process of seeking election has led to a richer engagement with local community; the unique potential of the local doctor to prom...

Do you ever feel a little frustrated we aren't seeing the shift to sustainable transport in Ireland that we need? Ever wonder... what is the plan ? We talked to John and Martin and Aoife Fleming from the Dept of Transport to ask just these questions. You might be suprised to hear just how much is planned, how much is happening and how much has been done already! For context see below the natio...

Niamh NiChonghaile is an occupational therapist working with Mental Health Ireland and is the National Woodlands and Nature Project Lead. It is a role every bit as exciting and interesting as you might imagine! Please do see the below links to see how to get involved in your county. Listen in to hear more about what the program entails. Also, see below some of the literature discussed in the episo...

You would be forgiven for missing it, but just last week (June 2023) the states largest employer, and one of the largest organisations in Europe, launched their strategy to decarbonise by 2050. Their ambition? "The HSE is committed to achieving net-zero emissions no later than 2050, delivering healthcare which is environmentally and socially sustainable" You can read the 41 page document...

Prof Pete Lunn is the founder and head of the ESRI’s Behavioural Research Unit (BRU). As a behavioural economist, he holds degrees in Philosophy & Psychology, Neuroscience and Economics. His primary research interest is how people make judgements and decisions that affect environmental, financial and health outcomes. Pete joined Irish Doctors for the Environment for a terrific chat to tell us...

Dr Eoin Galavan is a clinical psychologist, working in adult mental health services for many years. He is a supervising psychologist and lecturer with the Doctorates in Clinical and Counselling Psychology, TCD, and a Charted Psychologist and Associate Fellow with the Psychological Society of Ireland. Today we have a wide ranging conversation about some of the cognitive traps, pitfalls and indeed o...

Nina Sommerfelt-Pettersen is a Norwegian doctor currently working as a GP in the north of Norway. Fond of skiing, climbing, hiking she also works as a volunteer for "DNT ung" (The Norwegian Trekking Associations youth group). She has volunteered for DNT ung since 2014 - taking courses to become a hiking leader, leading and organising activities and eventually being a board member in the...

Pocket Forests are a group that aim to reconnect people with nature. They make forests in small spaces, with their own special method of growing small biodiverse forests in urban areas. They run education workshops to rejuvenate soil and grow native trees, shrubs and woodland flowers to bring a forest ecosystem to your community. In short they help people create and care for their pocket forests,...

Many thanks to all of our guests on our second season of Climate Conversations. There are so many highlights and takeaways from our eclectic range of guests...from the streets of Glasgow at COP26 to the green fields of Galway, from collapsing Swiss glaciers to healthcare's own egregious carbon footprint, from advocacy abroad to advocacy at home. Special thanks to Ian Lumley, Dr Sinead Walsh, Kenne...

Naomi Sheehan is a sustainable development scientist, environmental campaigner, climate advisor and social activist. Naomi has over twenty years of experience in Business Development, Corporate Transformation Programs, Humanitarian Operations & Government Policy Strategy. She then left the world of business to retrain in Sustainable Development and is now a member of Scientist Rebellion. With...

For the final episode of season two we are delighted to be hosting Professor Hannah Daly on the podcast. Hannah is a professor in sustainable energy and energy systems modelling at UCC, before which she worked at the International Energy Agency. Hannah's research and lectures focus on modelling and developing sustainable pathways for the energy system, encompassing energy access, climate change an...

The climate and biodiversity crises are increasingly being recognised as one of the major threats to human health and wellbeing, driving much of humanities efforts to decarbonise our economies. Yet the healthcare sector is an enormous source of greenhouse gas emissions and waste, with some estimates calculating that if the global healthcare sector was a country, it would be the fifth largest emitt...

In this episode we sit down with Randal Plunkett, owner of the beautiful Dunsany Estate, home to Ireland's largest rewilding project. Since 2014 Randall has been allowing the 1600 acre estate to rewild: by stopping the grazing of cattle or sheep and the growing of crops, nature is given space to flourish and functioning ecosystems are restored. As a result he has seen a huge increase in the popula...

In this months episode Sean and Callum head to the beautiful Green Earth Organics farm in Galway to chat to owner Kenneth Keavey about sustainable farming. Kenneth and his team of over 40 staff grow a variety of delicious organic vegetables, which they deliver to subscribers around Ireland. We discuss the benefits and challenges of organic farming, the importance of soil health, the challenges veg...