Throughout 2006 the Cultivate Centre for sustainable living and learning in Dublin will focus on raising awareness about how we can respond to peak oil and climate change. Over the year the centre will facilitate an exploration into the actions that can be taken at an individual, community, national and international level to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel.

Cultivate is developing a course and an accompanying CD ROM entitled ‘Powering Down – Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change’. This resource will help citizens and community groups to develop energy literacy, give access to the tools and solutions, and build confidence to make positive change.

Convergence 11 - Sustainable Living Festival
'Learning to Live With Less Fossil Fuels'

April 19th to 23rd 2006

‘Learning To Live With Less Fossil Fuels’ is the title of the eleventh Convergence festival that takes place from the 19th to the 23rd of April. Following on from the success of four festivals last year Cultivate hosts this five-day event as part of their programme for 2006.

The event will open on Wednesday the 19th with a lecture entitled ‘Responding To Climate Change and Peak Oil’ by British economist Dr. David Fleming. Fleming is an independent writer in the fields of energy, environment, economics, society and culture and has recently published “Energy and the Common Purpose�. The book describes a 21st century rationing system which he calls Tradable Energy Quotas or TEQs, which take the concept of rationing and bring it up to date combining modern technology and the need for drastic cuts in energy consumption.

July 27th, 2005. North Tipperary county council has given the green light to Ireland's leading eco-village project by awarding a decision to grant planning permission for our innovative plans in Cloughjordan.

The news comes hot on the heels of our purchase this week of a 67-acre farm adjoining the North Tipperary village.

"North Tipperary county council's decision is fantastic and marks the second major milestone in the project's development this week as we have just closed the land deal for the farm in Cloughjordan," says Johnny Connolly, chairperson of Sustainable Projects Ireland Ltd.

Urban Permaculture Workshop
Facilitated by Sarah Pugh from England. (Bristol Permaculture Group)

10th and 11th september
Mallow, Cork, Ireland
Cost €60 for 2 days

Sarah has been practicing permaculture for overe 10 years, and teaching introductory and full-time courses for the past 6 years. She teaches urban permaculture with Patrick Whitefield, and specialises in community work. She has been involved in setting up community gardens in Bristol.

This course would be of great interest to community workers, students and professional permaculture and gardening enthusiasts, environmentalists and teachers.