Biodiversity is for everyone

Biodiversity is for everyone and everyone has a role to play in its protection was the key message from a special Science Week event that took place in Athlone last week.

The event was focused on the science of biodiversity and how science can help us understand the world around us.

The main speaker at the event was well-known broadcaster Eanna Ní Lamhna, a familiar voice for nature.

She took the audience on an engaging tour through Ireland’s biodiversity and audience members young and older had a lot of questions, including what people can do on an individual level to protect biodiversity.

The enthusiasm of the audience in protecting biodiversity was very evident.

In her wide-ranging talk, Eanna Ní Lamhna covered everything from herons to moths and lots in between. The event also included some poetry from a Science Week publication Curious Words, edited by Niamh Boyce.

Tadhg Carey and Shelley Corcoran read a poem at the event and like all of the poems in the pamphlet, they brought a fresh understanding into how we understand the world around us.

This event also included an art exhibition by well-known wildlife artist Lorna Farrell, whose wildlife portraits are distinct for their effective and evocative portrayal of a range of loved animals such as foxes, ravens, kingfisher and deer.

This exhibition runs for two weeks in the Atrium of Athlone Library.

Science Week is a national celebration of science in Ireland and is supported by Research Ireland.

Midlands Science provides a wide range of free science outreach activities in the midlands all year around and more details can be found on www.midlandsscience.ie