UCC has announced an evening B.Sc. degree course in environmental studies - the first of its kind in the Republic. Seven faculties and over 20 departments at UCC, as well as the two local authorities in Cork and the Environmental Protection Agency, have combined to make the course possible.
The chairman of the course committee is Irish Times science columnist Dr William Reville.
"Concern about the environment spills over into pessimism in many quarters. Fear is contagious and spreads much more easily than does confidence or reassurance. But I believe we can face the future confidently once we are prepared to do the right thing. The environment can be protected and we can deal with our environmental problems.
"However, we can only do this by thoroughly understanding the environment and how its component parts work and interact. And this is what we are about in launching this new degree in environmental studies," he said.
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Alderman Jim Corr, welcomed the course, which would involve local authorities for the first time.
The Rev Dr Brendan O'Mahony, UCC's deputy president, described the course as unique. "It is very appropriate that the environment should be the subject of such a multi disciplinary programme since there are so many facets to the environment and the human interaction with it that it is inconceivable that an in depth study of it could be approached in any other way.
It will be well worth waiting to see where and how the skills of the first batch of graduates are taken up.