Published:
08 Jul 2008 - ‘Changing Climate, Changing
People’ an EEA photography exhibition by
Pulitzer Prize winner photojournalist John
McConnico, currently on display in Dublin,
was visited by Irish minister for the Environment
John Gormley today.
Commenting on the photographs,
which portray the impacts of climate change
on East Greenland, the Minister thanked
Mr McConnico and the EEA for their efforts
in raising the public awareness of environmental
change.
“I think we are all
aware that climate change is the biggest
single challenge of our time. It is real
and it is not going away. It will touch
the lives of every man, woman and child
in this country. I encourage people to attend
this excellent exhibition,” Mr Gormley said.
Mr McConnico visited
Tasiilaq, a town in East Greenland, in July
2007 to document the effects of climate
change on the Arctic scenery and the local
Inuit population living there. That summer
Tasiilaq recorded a temperature of 22 degrees
Celsius - the highest on record. Indeed,
the Arctic is experiencing some of the highest
increases in average temperatures globally
and the local Inuit populations are already
adapting to climate change.
The exhibition has been
displayed at the EEA offices in Copenhagen
since October last year. It has also travelled
to the headquarters of the European Commission
in Brussels. The current exhibition opened
on 23 June at the Office of Public Works
building in Dublin and may be visited until
11 July.
Address of the Office of Public Works: 51
St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
+ More
European Green Capital
Award: how green is your town?
Published: 09 Jul 2008
- How clean is the air in your city? Is
the local transport environmentally friendly?
What about noise pollution and the state
of the green areas? Four out of five Europeans
now live in cities and the environment in
urban areas is directly linked to our quality
of life.
Based on an idea put
forward by several European cities in 2006,
the European Commission has launched the
European Green Capital Award to reward cities
for their efforts to improve the urban environment
and move towards healthier and sustainable
living areas. From 2010 onwards, one European
city will be selected as the 'European Green
Capital of the year'. The award scheme is
still open for applications for 2010 and
2011.
The title will be given
to a city with a consistent record of high
environmental standards and a strong commitment
to further improvement. The winner should
also inspire other cities and promote best
practices.
How to apply?
The award scheme is open to applications
from the 27 EU Member States, candidate
countries (Turkey, Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia and Croatia) and European Economic
Area countries (Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein).
All cities with more than 200 000 inhabitants
are eligible to apply for the European Green
Capital Award. In the absence of such cities
in the country, the largest city is eligible
to apply.
Entries will be assessed
on the basis of 10 environmental criteria
including impact on climate change, local
transport, air quality, water consumption,
and waste and water treatment practices.
The deadline for applications for the first
two years of the award — 2010 and 2011 —
is 1 October 2008.
Applications may be
submitted online. After an initial selection
by an evaluation panel, three cities for
2010 and 2011 respectively will be invited
to submit a detailed application. The final
decision will be taken later this year by
a jury, which includes the European Environment
Agency.
Although the award does
not grant any specific financial reward,
all urban conglomerations in the EU may
receive grants from several programmes,
including.
