Chapter 1: What is Éanna Ní Lamhna's connection to the Bloom festival?
Speaking of next Monday on RT Radio 1, Eanna Nilana will be presenting a special programme from Bloom because Eanna has a long association with Bloom. Her brother was one of the people behind establishing Bloom in 2007. But also this year, RT Radio 1 and Mooney Goes Wild has a bird balcony at Bloom. So do look out for it if you're in the gardens over the coming days. And speaking of...
of Éine na ní Leona. As you are probably aware, last week was National Biodiversity Week. It's a really important time that celebrates the amazing variety of life all around us, especially our native flora and fauna. It's about encouraging people of all ages to get out, to explore and to learn and to understand just how vital biodiversity is, not just for nature,
but for our own well-being and future. And nobody has been spreading that message more enthusiastically than our very own Eileen Elana, who's been travelling the length and breadth of the country, speaking to young and old alike.
Well, good morning, everybody. Good morning. It's great to be here in Carlow. Now, who have we got? Have we got St Callas? It's from Kilkenny. And have we got Carlow National School? And have we St Bridget's from Gowan? Very good. And do you all know about biodiversity? You know loads about it, do you? Well, you're going to know loads more when I'm finished talking to you.
And I'm glad to say that Annie Nelana joins us now. She's not in studio tonight. She's not at home. She's in Waterford.
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Chapter 2: What is the significance of National Biodiversity Week?
Hello, Derek. I am indeed. I was a busy person last week. It was National Biodiversity Week. And I was talking to the whole country, it would seem. I was in different parts of the country every day of the week. I was, in fact, in Carlow, unfortunately, from where that voice clip came from. I was talking to the schools in that area. The Southeastern Technological University had invited them in.
And there they were in front of me, holding on to my every word.
Anyway, just because National Biodiversity Week is over, it doesn't mean we should stop thinking about biodiversity and how important it is. So, Eanna, from your perspective, biodiversity, you've been in this game a long time. Tell us more.
Yes, indeed, I have been in this game a long time. And biodiversity, which is, of course, the great variety of plants and animals and the great variety of habitats where they live. That's what biodiversity is. It's exceedingly important. Now, I'm in the game a long time and I remember in the 1970s when I was starting out in this, we had twice as much biodiversity as we have now.
That doesn't mean that we've actually lost half our species. It just means the amount of things have gone down. We have fewer and fewer corn quakes. We have fewer and fewer curlews. Our habitats have changed because of the way we use our land. And as a result, we have polluted more of our waters. We have removed the resilience of our bogs.
And this is why it's very, very bad if the biodiversity decreases, because the places where they live has become unable to support them any longer. So by looking after our habitats, by making them
in a condition that more and more animals and plants can live there, it's making the whole area where we live, our whole environment, a much more healthy place for our plants and animals and as a consequence for ourselves as well.
Like you, Eanna, when I started teaching back in the 1970s, we never heard of the term biodiversity. The term wasn't actually on the syllabus. It was all about ecology. It was all about habitats. It was about what plants lived in the habitats, what animals lived in the habitats, how they interacted with each other.
Now, you're going out daily and you're meeting people and you're talking to them about biodiversity. What do they understand by that term?
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