The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Meeting our sustainable development goals
Weekly updates on local environmental issues in Kerry. This week’s column is penned by CDr Anita McKeown, C0DesRes.
THIS week’s column is a brief introduction to a two-year project, CoDesRes – one of a growing number of projects that are using the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a basis for engaging with some of the critical issues of our time.
Over two years, the CoDesRes team, marine biologists, artists, engineers and ecologists will focus on four SDGs specifically: SDG 4 – Quality Education; SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities; SDG 14 – Life Below Water; and SDG 15 – Life on Land within educational and community contexts from Kells to Castlecove.
Adopted by world leaders in September 2015, the 17 SDGs are a unique call to global action on promoting prosperity while protecting the planet through an interconnected approach that integrates social inclusion, environmental protection and economic growth.
As one of six Environmental Protection Agency-funded projects, CoDesRes aims to develop practical methods to localise the SDGs and contribute towards achieving Ireland’s commitment to the SDG 2030 agenda.
CoDesRes uses a place-based systemic design process developed and trialled over eight years, 2008 to 2015, in three distinct geo-political situations: Dublin, London and New Mexico. A place-based systemic approach offers tangible methods to explore and understand global problems through local concerns. The CoDesRes process enables increased understanding of a system and buildx resilience by facilitating effective interventions. Currently, CoDesRes has three projects: the development and delivery of a STEAM curriculum and two community projects, Storybank and Waste2Taste.
STEAM is a pedagogical approach that integrates Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Maths. To date the focus has been on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). However, since 2010, the necessity of including the arts has gained in popularity. The team are currently working within Transition Year in Coláiste na Sceilge to trial interdisciplinary learning activities devised around SDGs 11, 14 and 15 and will be working closely with teachers to develop a companion programme of professional development.
Storybank, stories of the past told today for the people of tomorrow, seeks to gather the knowledge of making and mending that exists on the Iveragh Peninsula. It is founded on the premise that sustainable practices are not new and communities hold knowledge that will be important for some of the issues that we may face in the future. By merging this knowledge with contemporary technologies across different disciplines, Storybank hopes to contribute to more resilient and sustainable practices.
CoDesRes’s final project, Waste2Taste – in partnership with Cahersiveen Tidy Towns, uses the process of developing an edible, medicinal sculpture trail – reclaims underused or undervalued spaces.
By integrating low-maintenance native planting and augmented reality, the trail shares the story of natural and cultural heritage of the Iveragh Peninsula.
To find out more you can visit www.codesres. ie or to get involved email: codesres@gmail.com or call (083) 365 9355.