Sneha Agarwal’s Post

I've spent an inspiring week in Ireland! 🌍 Firstly, I attended the Mary Robinson Climate & Nature Conference 2024, hosted by The Mary Robinson Centre and University of Galway. One key takeaway was the need to harness the energy and innovation of communities to drive global change. While in Ballina, Co. Mayo, I learned about community-led projects making a real difference. After the conference, I cherished some quality time with my Irish family in Galway. On the way there, I explored Ballycroy National Park and witnessed the stunning bogland in bloom, featuring Lousewort and Many Flowered Bog Cotton. The conservation of Ireland’s bogs is crucial for global biodiversity, climate change mitigation, water purification, and flood prevention. These intact bogs, which actively form peat, remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it long-term, playing a pivotal role in combating climate change. It's fascinating to note that Ireland is home to 8% of the world's blanket bogs. Preserving these ecosystems is a vital step towards a sustainable future. #ClimateChange #Biodiversity #Peatlands #Sustainability

Breathing Easy: New Zealand Achieves World-Leading Air Quality Standards Great news for the beautiful country! A recent report shows New Zealand is one of only seven countries to meet the World Health Organization's air quality standards. With a 4.3 μg/m³ score of fine particulate matter pollution (well below the WHO guideline of 5), New Zealand joins Iceland, Estonia and our neighbour Australia in the top ranks for clean air. Even better, Wellington takes the silver medal for world capital with the purest air (the Gold Medel is for San Juan in Puerto Rico)! This is a testament to our country's commitment to environmental protection. But there's always room for improvement. Let's keep striving for even cleaner air for a healthier New Zealand! #CleanAir #NZ #Wellington #WHO #Environment #Sustainability

When I travel, I like to wear green. It's more than just a color - it's a symbol of love, vitality, growth, wealth, balance, health, and youthfulness. From envy to hope, luck to peace, and rebirth to renewal, green encompasses a spectrum of meanings. What Does the Color Green Symbolize? The meaning of the color green depends on the shade and the cultural connotations. Some of the color meanings behind green include: Envy: Symbolized by the "green-eyed monster" in Shakespeare's Othello. ✔Illness: Green, especially yellow-green, connotes sickness or nausea, as seen in the phrase "green around the gills." ✔Hope: Inspires optimism and longing for better circumstances, as expressed in "greener pastures" and "grass is always greener." ✔Inexperience: "Greenhorn" implies lack of experience, stemming from the green of underripe fruit. ✔Luck: Associated with Ireland's lucky shamrock and St. Patrick's Day celebration. ✔Money: Dark green symbolizes wealth, particularly seen on the U.S. dollar bill. ✔Nature: Represents the natural world and environmental consciousness, with phrases like "going green" and "green thumb." ✔Peace: Olive or pale green signifies peace and harmony, originating from the olive branch. ✔Renewal: Linked to the rejuvenation of spring and new growth in plant life.

🌍💧 In a collaborative effort, Turismo de Portugal and Turismo do Algarve are calling on tourists to raise awareness of the importance of adopting good practices in the use of water during their holidays in the Algarve, promoting more sustainable tourism. The idea is to mobilise visitors to play an active role in conserving this vital resource, encouraging behaviour that can have positive long-term impacts. Water is crucial for the existence of natural ecosystems, the continuation of communities, and the development of economic activities. In the face of its scarcity and the urgency of the situation, tourism can make a significant contribution and play an important role on the road to a sustainable future for the planet. A standout element of this campaign is the introduction of six transparent suitcases filled with sea water at the airport baggage claim. These suitcases symbolize the daily water savings each tourist can achieve and transform the space into an educational zone with practical water-saving tips. This message reaches over 40,000 daily arrivals, inspiring a sustainable mindset for their holidays and beyond. This initiative is another step in the ‘It's Futourism’ movement, launched by Visit Portugal in 2024, calling on the tourists of the future to travel sustainably, responsibly, and authentically, ensuring a legacy of well-being for the next generations and the planet. Let's make every drop count! 💧🌍 #SustainableTourism #SaveWater #Algarve #VisitPortugal #visitalgarve #Portugal Find out more: https://lnkd.in/ec-2AN3k https://lnkd.in/ehKBKJtZ

With the passing of the #naturerestorationlaw, designed to set binding targets for restoring degraded ecosystems, you would think that the protection of recovering native species would be a priority, but the personal crusade of Ursula von der Leyen is set to seriously impact the population of this widely accepted keystone species, right across the EU. A huge blow for nature and a dangerous rise in autocracy at the highest level.

#WOLVESandEUDemocracy. I remember when coherence and consistency were the guiding principles of the internal work of the Commission, every single word was analysed and nothing was allowed to be published if not checked and rechecked against its scientific basis. Today we live in times where Ursula Van der Lyen, a EU citizen with the public role of being the President of the Commission, has been promoting an anti- science political initiative aiming at allowing the killing wolves ( one of our EU protected species) and therefore hampering the excellent EU legislation on wild species and depriving the EU citizens of the Nature they said ( very loudly and clearly) they want. Moreover by dowgrading the wolves protection ( and therefore allowing their killing) we will have more people with guns around. How is that happening? What happened to the Commission internal rigourous inter-service consultation? The Commission is supposed to be equipped with wide high level scientific competences preventing the publication of anti-science legislative proposals, clearly it is no longer the case. What is going wrong internally? The case of wolves is very worrying. What we should expect next? Transparency International Grégoire Dubois Kriton Arsenis European Environment Agency Zoltan Kun IUCN

🌍 𝗔𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗟 𝟮𝟮 𝗶𝘀 𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗗𝗔𝗬 🌍 Earth Day is a reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, encouraging us to come together and take action for a healthier planet and brighter future. You can read 📖 all about the action we take at Groundwork North Wales together with our volunteers and communities for a healthier planet and brighter future in our 2023 Impact Report https://shorturl.at/gBCE1

𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 While the world’s climate challenges can seem overwhelming, we can do so much to take better care of our planet on a local level. Consider your local beach. Australia has over 10,000 beaches, occupying 14,686 kilometres or 49.1% of the open coast. This national coastal zone serves both recreation and culture. Notably, sand dunes are important to coastal Indigenous people. As the Australia State of the Environment report notes, Australia’s “beaches and sand dunes are sensitive to current and future changes in atmospheric and ocean climate…” When our team of talented, passionate employees isn’t working to help our company achieve its goal of gigatonne-level methane reduction on a global level, many of them do their part locally. Last year, they helped plant trees in Bluff, New Zealand. This year, the following employees from our South Australia facility spearheaded a beach clean-up in honor of Earth Day: Robert Stack (site manager), Kristi Pearson, Hannah Fitzpatrick, Rebecca Axford, Shiven Marwah and Mathew Ellerington. Led by Robert, the group spent hours removing kilos of rubbish from Red Banks Beach in Arno Bay. The haul consisted of the types of human-generated products typically – and unfortunately – found on many beaches: plastic bags, broken glass, a used nappy/diaper, sharp steel rod, and ropes, string, and plastic floating in the tide. As the EPA says, “Any man-made solid material, including trash and litter, that ends up in the ocean is commonly referred to as ‘marine debris.’ Marine debris is a problem affecting beaches, coastal waters, estuaries, and oceans throughout the world.” We are grateful for our team member’s efforts to take on this important task that benefits their local community and the environment. And we encourage you to visit the EPA links below to learn more about the harms of marine debris – and what you can do to help. #marinehealth #BeachCleanUp #earthday #packyourtrash #southaustralia #marineestuaries

When institutions no longer are able to do what they are meant to do, it is time to transform. We cannot protect and restore nature by downgrading the protection status of keystone species. We cannot develop a #circulareconomy, nor a healthy landscape by decimating keystone species. #naturerestoration requires #maturation, #livingsystemsunderstanding and a new kind of #leadership. #coexistence and #coevolution are basic laws of life. #NI #naturalintelligence European Commission

Really important research just published by Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) today on the mental health impacts of exposure to poor air quality in an Irish context: https://lnkd.in/eh7wvzBv Air Quality has a great impact on our health. Action in response to this evidence is key - so what are we doing to improve air quality? 1. As emissions from cars impact greatly on air quality, Cork City Council has pedestrianised 17 streets in Cork City Centre declaring these streets a #CleanAirZone 2. Marica Cassarino Dean Venables are leading a Science Foundation Ireland Research project on influencing behaviour changes for better air quality #BEHAVI_AIR https://behaviair.org/ - we are actively supporting this research with a view to developing our understanding for more effective action on this complex environmental and health issue. Marica Cassarino and her team are listening to communities and developing resources for schools to highlight the health and air quality consequences of car engine idling for small children in particular at the school gate 3. We are working with the #ClimateHealthAlliance on a position paper making the case and advocating for support health through environmental action Peter Medway Fearghal Reidy Paul McGuirk Brian Ó Gallachóir O'Mullane, Monica Andy Phillips Helen Maher Gabrielle O'Keeffe