Declan Waugh, chartered environmentalist and environmental scientist was honoured at the 2008 Cork Environmental Forum awards ceremony, which was held in December. Declan, who lives in Bandon but hails from Skibbereen, received the award for outstanding individual contribution to the environment for 2008 for his work in Climate Change.
Senator Dan Boyle, in addressing those at the ceremony, spoke of the significance of the Partnership for Change initiative established by Declan in 2008 and the hugely successful international conference which he organised for Cork City, which included some of the most renowned and acclaimed scientific experts in the world on climate change.
Michael Hobbs of the Cork Environmental Forum nominated Declan for his outstanding achievement in organising the exceptional climate change conference and said that the work undertaken by Declan, which was entirely on a voluntary basis was equal to that of ten people. In addition to organising the conference Declan procured sponsorship for secondary school students from twenty schools in Cork county and city to attend the conference. Pupils from schools in Bandon and Clonakilty were included. Moreover, one hundred university students from eight third level colleges across Ireland also participated under the sponsorship programme. Declan also visited secondary schools across West Cork to give educational climate change presentations to students during the year.
On receiving the award Declan stated “that one of my interests outside of the environment is history and photography and that each of the 31 speakers who contributed to the conference received framed photographic prints of historical sites in West |Cork”. He mentioned how the world’s most distinguished climate scientist Dr James Hansen, Director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, had contacted him to say that the only picture hanging in his personal study is the one presented to him of West Cork from Partnership for Change. Declan remarked that “when one reflects on the history of the past two centuries what stands out for me is that in the 19th century humanity managed to remove the shackles of slavery, in the 20th century humanity removed the shackles of colonialism and how now in the 21st century we are at the centre of the greatest challenge facing humanity, one that requires us to remove the shackles of excess consumerism and unsustainable development ”. Declan also noted how “in the last century the world faced three World Wars: World War One, the Second World War and the Cold War, and how this century we face another world war, one of truly global scale, where each of us individually must wage war with ourselves and our unsustainable lifestyles. This personal battle will decide the future of humanity.”
Declan accepted the award on behalf of all speakers who gave freely of their time to the Climate Change Conference and in particular on behalf of the students and delegates who attended the event. The award, he believes, recognises the unique initiative of Partnership for Change, how we can dare to hope that humanity can tackle climate change and in doing so, provide humanity with a different future. In closing Declan noted that at this historic and exciting moment, society needs strong political leadership and in part a new generation of politicians motivated by sustainable development to help solve the ecological crisis we now face.
Presentations given at the conference including recorded video presentations are now available to download and view at www. partnershipforchange.ie
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment