As we come towards the end of 2023, we are also bringing you the last episode of the current season of Ecolution.
This time out we visit the Oireachtas to witness the historic moment when the Children and Young People's Assembly on Biodiversity Loss presented their 58 recommendations to the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. True proof of the power we can wield when we work together.
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Over the course of this series, we've bigged up bats. We dove deep into Antarctic oceans and went with the flow in Irish rivers. We talked money, met children across the country getting involved in the climate discussion, and we had a bona fide legend on the show in Jane Goodall.
Making a podcast about the climate crisis is a bit like being on a roller coaster - there's lots of ups but there can be so many downs too with the news. But here on Ecolution we always try to keep things on the up, and we wanted to end on a high.
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More about the show
Last year saw Ireland's first ever Children and Young People's Assembly on Biodiversity loss come together. Designed with children and young people, the Assembly connected 35 randomly selected Members aged 7-17 from across Ireland to explore, discuss and create calls to action on how to protect and restore biodiversity in Ireland. We were lucky enough to do an episode all about it and we even got to visit the first weekend they held in Wicklow.
The culmination of those two weekends was the agreement on 58 recommendations made by attendees. They were generated by the whole assembly together. These have now been turned into an amazing educational resource with TRYBE and the MArei centre at UCC. You can find out more at cyp-biodiversity.ie.
This is an enormous achievement on its own. But the recommendations will have even greater influence. For the last episode of the season we visited the Oireachtas to witness the historic moment when 6 members of the Assembly, Niamh, Conor, Eleanor, Elsie, David and Oisin, presented their 58 recommendations to the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action.
True proof of the power we can wield when we work together. And tomorrow the Joint Oireachtas Committee will publish its report considering the recommendations of both the adults' Citizens' Assembly and the Children and Young People's Assembly.
And we spoke with Minister Malcolm Noonan about how that will work in securing greater security for biodiversity in Ireland.
Series Producer Nicky say: "We will be back with more Ecolution in the new year. I'd just like to say a huge thanks to our brain trust and every one of the people we've spoken to across this season. And today in particular to the assembly, plus Katie Reid and Diarmuid Torney who brought these brilliant young people together and let us follow the journey."
If you or your class would like to be part of Ecolution, we'd love to hear from you.
Email junior@rte.ie
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And, did you know that we have lots more RTÉjr Podcasts for young people of all ages?
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