This week's Heritage & Habitat roundup
Get down and dirty
How can we expect children to appreciate the importance of saving rainforests if they have no concept of a forest and no experience of walking in the rain? So asks Carol Duffy of the Irish Preschool Play Association in an article in the current issue of Heritage Outlook.Duffy argues that, for many children, the opportunities to play with natural materials such as mud, grass, wood, stone or water are limited. She advises parents to sometimes let children get dirty, build dens, climb trees and dig in muck as an alternative to structured supervised play in playgrounds. See heritagecouncil.ie.
Living the greener life
Going Green: The Irish Guide to Living a Greener Life(Liberties Press) is a new handbook that introduces readers to environmental issues. Dedicating chapters to energy, waste and recycling, transport, water, air, building and planning, agriculture and food, and ecology and wildlife, Tony O'Brien addresses issues such as smart metering, carbon taxes, water pollution and sustainable development. Each chapter has a list of useful websites and tips on what you can do to live a greener life.
Big house blues
Destruction, restoration and consolidation are the themes of the eighth annual Historic Houses of Ireland conference at NUI Maynooth, in Co Kildare, on June 10th and 11th. Speakers include Eddie McParland on the Irish Landmark Trust, Brian Crowley on how modern architecture has helped the Pearse Museum unlock its history, and Allen Warren on the twilight of the ascendancy and the big house: a view from 2010.
The deadline for registration is next Friday, June 4th. For details, see historicirishhouses.ie, call 01-7086152 or e-mail cshihe@nuim.ie.
Ecoweb
Wildlandscape.com
Lorraire Foley promotes wild gardening, which is gardening that attracts butterflies, moths, insects, frogs and even hedgehogs. Her booklet, Medieval Plants of Trim, is also downloadable from the site.
