Glanworth pupil adds her voice to Citizen’s Assembly
In October 2022, Ireland held its first Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, and Glanworth’s Esther Lennon was one of 35 young people selected to be part of the assembly.
The 10-year old pupil of Glanworth NS is an enthusiastic and well-informed young ecologist, and ultimately was one of the six-strong committee who presented the Assembly’s findings to the adults’ Citizens’ Assembly in November last year.
The messages of the young people’s Assembly were condensed to six key messages, of which Esther’s was the first: ‘We must treat the earth like a member of the family or a friend’.
Ms Lennon met TheAvondhu with her mother Kate for an interview on the banks of the Blackwater in Fermoy this week to talk about the Assembly process, and in a wider sense, the human impact on nature. While the selection process was randomised, Esther’s interest in nature and biodiversity comes, in part, from working in her grandfather Tomás O’Sullivan’s garden, where he transformed a field into a rich healthy habitat and planted apple trees, eventually fostering such a diverse landscape that a bog-loving tree sprouted organically in the habitat.
Mr O’Sullivan passed away two years ago, but his family continue to work on the garden are in the process of rewilding.
Esther says her love of nature is innate too: “I was the only one in school not scared to move the spiders!”
“The planet is a person. Would we hurt a person we love?”
This analogy is one she returns to time and again throughout the conversation. Referring to the widespread destruction of forests, Esther says we wouldn’t starve a family member, but in supporting products and companies that do, we’re starving a chimpanzee, for instance.
Furthermore, the actions humans take against the environment are far too often selfish: “It’s always about the humans!”, and not the animals or plants we share the planet with.
‘BUY LESS, OR BUY MORE SUSTAINABLY’
In terms of actions, Ms Lennon is pragmatic. For instance, while she respects the choices and philosophy of veganism, she herself believes that meat can be consumed, but in a more sustainable manner or less frequently. In other aspects too, like the use of palm oil, she believes that the consumer holds the power.
“People blame it (biodiversity loss) on the big companies, but it’s us - we vote with our money. If we support these companies, we’re saying ‘yes’. Some small companies are more sustainable”
What we don’t do can be as important as what we do, too.
“It doesn’t have to be all about planting trees; buy less, or buy more sustainably. Or do small things, like leaving the dandelions alone too - they’re just as important.”
Pointing at the wall in front of the Fermoy Community Centre, mum Kate supports her daughter.
“Moss is a natural carbon sink. While it needs to be removed from paths, so people don’t slip, does it need to be removed from walls?”
On the theme of ‘letting things be’, Esther also embraces the beauty and importance of ‘dead’ things, like trees or leaves, that are so quickly moved for aesthetic purposes.
“Every dead thing isn’t bad; it’s part of the cycle”.
LIP SERVICE?
During the Assembly process, the children and young people spent time in Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Wicklow, and in the Killarney House and Gardens where Esther spoke with Minister Malcolm Noonan on her ideas. While she felt that he listened, she is passionate that the government does not simply pay ‘lip service’ to the views of the younger generation.
“We worked hard, and it put a lot of effort in, and a lot of money was spent when we stayed in these beautiful places.”
A national Biodiversity Emergency was declared by the State in 2019, and in the Report on the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss published early this month. The chair of the assembly, Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháín, described the frightening and stark state of rivers, species, peatlands, and woodlands in Ireland: “Future generations will rightly judge us on what we did, or did not do, to address a global crisis.”
The report was published at the beginning of April, and includes 159 recommendations for the government to take - “take prompt, decisive, and urgent action”. Of these, the State “is urged to take into account the recommendations from the Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss… and continue to engage with children and young people on the environment.”