December 4th Green Drinks - Green Christmas

This month the Irish Wildlife Trust Dublin Branch Green Drinks heard about green, ethical, sustainable and wildlife friendly gifts and options for Christmas, and even had a chance to purchase some of the items. Who says it aint easy being Green?

First Ursula from Klee Paper told us about their 100% recycled and Irish made wrapping paper, cards and toys. Kleepaper source the material for their products from waste or buy locally or through fairtrade. As well as Christmas gifts, Kleepaper make a range of paper, envelopes, notebooks, pads and wooden products like rulers and pencils. All of their products are certified by Blue Angel, European Eco-label, or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). One of Kleepaper's customers, Natasha was also on hand to tell us about her range of homemade Christmas Star decorations made from hawthorn twigs sourced in County Meath.

Next Kaethe Burt O'Dea from the LIFE project talked about LifeLine Soaps and give us a brief project update. The soaps are made from high quality leftover cooking oil, and contains scented herbs locally grown from compost or foraged from the locality (like rosehips). Finally Andreas Birk from www.carbonstory.org spoke about the CarbonStory project which is all about how people can offset their carbon footprint. The project works by calculating the carbon footprint of each member and allowing them to buy credits by contributing to an environmental project - either renewable energy, carbon capture, reforestation or greater energy efficiency projects. Food for thought and a different Christmas gift.

Games from Kleepaper

15th November Dublin Branch Pub Quiz!

The Dublin Branch of IWT held a pub quiz on the 15th November last at the Lombard pub, right next to Pearse Street station. There was a fantastic turnout on the night with over twenty tables - so competition was fierce! Topics ranged from science to entertainment to geography, to match the quote with the famous person, and the penalty for sneaky googling on the mobile phone was €5, so brainpower only could be used. Along with free food there were cool spot prizes throughout the night (like free Starbucks coffee) for knowing important stuff, like the names of all the Bond Girls, or who wrote the theme music for Father Ted! There was also a raffle for more cool things (we got a few singular donations) and the winning team got loads of food and drink to help them stock up for Christmas! A great night was had all round and an amazing total of €860 was earned for the IWT! Well done to organizers Kate and Debbi!

11th November Killiney Strand Walk

On Sunday 11th November about 30 people from Dublin IWT turned out on a crisp November day to join marine and wetland expert Tim Clabon for a strand walk on Killiney beach. Tim first showed the group how the seaweed oar wrack can cling tightly onto the smallest rock, using a kind of adhesive and a network of tiny roots. He also showed the group several species of crab, including velvet swimming crab, edible crab and porcelain crab. Other creatures encountered were leaf worms, and a gunnel - a kind of eel-like fish. Tim also found a dead sponge, cracking it open to show the gooey, decaying middle complete with tiny worms. Some of the adults were less than impressed by this, but the kids loved it! A dead dogfish, complete with aroma, completed the day. The dogfish is a member of the shark family, and the resemblance can be seen in its shape. The group then returned to the DART station, considerably better informed, and a few new members were signed up - so a good day all round!

Tim showing how oar wrack clings to rocks 

Tim with velvet swimming crab

Tim with sponge

Dead dogfish. Dogfish is a kind of shark