If you’re in Ireland, no doubt you will have seen the heart-breaking scenes on Lough Neagh at this stage. If not, have a look here:
I’m beginning to realise that I need to focus on one particular practice in relation to the ecological emergency, and that it’s got to be related to water. Therefore, I’m interested in organising a local water-related event to focus on water quality here in Kilworth. Would we be able to do several events, and coordinate them? You in your place, me in mine?
Just outside the village where I live, we have a beautiful river, called the Douglas (it means black-green, or dark green, probably because it always ran through the woods) running through the local Glensheskin Woods. This river supports trout, heron, dippers, grey wagtails, deer, badgers, foxes, and multiple plants and animals indigenous to the area. It’s also subject to the invasion of species that take over niches of native plants and animals to the detriment of the native flora and fauna, but there are instances where adaptation of both invasives and natives can take place, albeit this takes time. A citizen-science approach is useful here.
This is one layer of a many-layered philosophical (and yogic) approach to extending the sense of self beyond the human.
One level is just taking an interest in what’s around. Do you have local expertise? Do you know a local expert?
I’d be very interested in focusing on what we could do to identify existing plants and animals, learning more about their habitats, and discussing what we might do to help them in the event that extreme weather events become more common. Can we think about what we might do about flooding, perhaps? Are there species that we could think about introducing — say, beavers — that might help to mitigate the effects of floods, by creating swamp areas?
A second step is finding out what we can do to lobby for water quality improvements. The Blackwater flows through Fermoy town and is an enormously important river for the whole of North Cork.
