| Welcome to the CEF Newsletter. This issue explores a subject that we've been tip-toeing round for some time, wondering how to approach, what new insight we might bring to the wall-to-wall coverage of 'politics' and 'the economy' and who best to do this. Three great articles for you have emerged from this.
The first, a superb commentary on the upcoming election and its global backdrop by David Korowicz of FEASTA (the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability). Some of you may remember David's superb and (unfortunately) prophetic presentation to CEF members at our plenary session on Sustainable Economics in June 2008. David's style and fresh perspective caught the eye, and we were delighted that he agreed to pen such a topical and pertinent update for us for this current issue.
Secondly a very timely book review submitted by an emerging East Cork blogger, Lucy Pearce, who digested and reviewed the new FEASTA publication 'Fleeing Vesuvius' for our benefit. Lucy's blog Dreaming Aloud has been nominated in two categories in the Irish Blog Awards 2011 for her fluent and insightful musings on natural parenting, living philosophy and domestic and community resilience.
Finally, a short article penned by yours truly inspired by our Global Action Plan programme and the experience of the many people we encounter finding new (and refinding old) ways of building sustainable lifestyles and livelihoods. It is not intended as a manual for self-sufficiency - merely as a helping hand for the majority of us starting from scratch. The full articles are hosted on our blog and are open to comments, so please feel free to contribute your thoughts. We know that some of you may have difficulty accessing our blog in the workplace, so PDF versions are provided for you to read in your lunch hour. ;-)
Next up will be a newsletter on 'Waste'. If that catches your imagination and you have a story, insight or piece of analysis to contribute, we would love to hear from you. Patrick Treacy,
Development Coordinator
patrick@cef.ie
22nd February 2011 |
| CEF Management Committee 2010-11 Michael Hobbs (Chair) Kieran McDonogh
(Vice-chair)
Bernie Connolly (Treasurer)
Anna Aherne (Hon Sec)
Ailish McGarry
Barry Hurley
Conor McManus
Darren McAdam-O'Connell
Helen Barrett
Jennifer Franklin
Martina Mercer
Mary Barrett
Tony Cain
Patrick Treacy (Development Coordinator)
| Shadowlands: Ireland Election 2011  As we go to the polls a UN Food and Agricultural Organisation index measuring the price of a basket of food commodities surpasses the 2008 record and oil prices flirt again with $100 a barrel. This is in the context of a battered world economy and a credit crisis that far from being resolved, has merely been displaced. Food and energy prices are pushing popular revolutions in the Middle-East, deposits are haemorrhaging from Irish banks, and debt re-structuring may be just around the corner.
Yet we are not in a crisis, but at the edge of one. Read More
(having trouble accessing our blog? Download the PDF instead.)
Book Review: Fleeing Vesuvius: Overcoming the risks of economic and environmental collapse. 
Fleeing Vesuvius is a book of its time, written by some of our brightest minds, for our people. Its stated aim "to arm its readers with the knowledge they need to develop new ways of doing things, instead of staggering from crisis to crisis" trying to patch up systems that are no longer viable. This, then, is a book of the moment, for the moment. It may hold many explanations for why we are where we are and what we might do about it. Read More
(having trouble accessing our blog? Download the PDF instead.)
2011 2010 was a year to challenge us. It began with the exceptional flooding of Cork fresh in our memories, proceeded to an unfamiliar freeze which paralysed services and shredded road surfaces, a swine flu pandemic, a biblical outpouring of volcanic ash, financial meltdown in peripheral EU states, an application by Ireland to the IMF/EU for a vast loan to keep the show on the road and the 4th in a grim sequence of austerity budgets passed by a government with a tiny majority in Dail Eireann. We then closed out the year amidst a return to prolonged icy conditions, water shortages and an early flu season!
So as 2011 takes shape and an election looming, who could be blamed for a sense of trepidation? Read More
(having trouble accessing our blog? Download the PDF instead.) CEF Members You will be receiving this newsletter as a result of being on our mailing list. Did you know you can also join CEF as a member? This brings all kinds of opportunities for getting involved in exciting work and meeting like-minded people. Our members come from across the different pillars of society and all have a common interest at heart, which is to foster sustainable development in Cork. |
