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After accusations of Temple Bar's homophobia, Senator David Norris
launches the 'Convergence 2001' EarthWeek festival there. A full article linking
to this will be the cover story of May GCN, out on 25/4. We are painting
the area pink and green, with a celebration of diversity and positive directions
for action on many fronts. Senator Norris is launching the festival on the 17th April, and events begin the 21st.
Check out the web site for a schedule:
www.convergence01.org
World Wide EarthWeek Comes Home to Dublin
Dublin's cultural quarter, Temple Bar, will host week long Earth Week festival.
The celebration is on from the 21st of April to the 29th of April,
inclusive. Senator Norris will launch EarthWeek on Tuesday the 17th of April
at 12:00 noon, at festival headquarters at # 5 Cow's (close to civic offices).
Titled Convergence, the festival brings together an array of positive ideas,
projects, and initiatives that promote social justice and encourage a more
ecologically sustainable way of life. Over the week, Convergence will feature a film and new media festival, three exhibitions, international
keynote speakers, theatre, music, arts, and multimedia performances and over
20 workshops.
EarthWeek Festival in Temple Bar
1).In Somalia 2000 people will walk into the sea; in Israel polluted beaches
will be cleaned up and in Ireland there will be a week-long festival.
These and thousands of events like them are being organised to mark Earth
Week 2001, which takes place from April 21st to April 29th across the globe.
2). Earth Week 2001 gives everyone the opportunity to learn more about the
Earth and the abuse that it is suffering as well as what can be done to counter that abuse. Earth Day 2000 was the largest environmental event
in history. More than 5,000 organisations in 184 countries took part, with
an estimated 500 million participants. Celebrities such as Bernardo
Bertolucci and Leonardo Di Caprio endorsed the events, with the latter acting as
chairman of Earth Fair 2000. Of the global warming phenomenon Di Caprio says, "There is a global emergency going on. The Earth is heating up,
and everyone's future is at risk. Please join us in sending a strong
message to our governments that now is the time for action to prevent violent
changes in our climate."
3). In Ireland Earth Week will be celebrated with a festival called
Convergence co-ordinated by Sustainable Ireland various partners and staged
in Dublin’s cultural quarter. The festival will include exhibitions, theatre, music and multimedia as well as film and new media
performances and four conferences. Some conference themes being explored include ‘debt
and globalisation’ and ‘green building and eco-design’. The present foot
and mouth disease crisis, coming fast on the heels of the BSE crisis barely
past in illustrates why sustainable, sensible and healthy alternatives are
needed to the current, profit-driven, systems of food production. Check out
the 'Food Crises' Stall at Temple Bar Square on April 21st and do your bit
to protect the planet.
3). Earth Week comes at an apt time as world leaders recoil from George W.
Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocols on industrial emissions. One of the
main thrusts of this global campaign is to help to realise some of the principles of Agenda 21, agreed by world leaders at the Rio Earth
Summit of 1992. International NGOs are lending their weight to the campaign.
Amnesty International is running its 'Just Earth' campaign to fight
environmental and human rights abuses linked to fossil fuel extraction projects
world-wide, and Global Vision is planning to release and broadcast a series
of multi-media information packages to inform all sections of society, from
schoolchildren to corporate executives, of the dangers the planet
faces.
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