The Offaly Challenge
"Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we won’t replace fossil fuels with clean energy based on the events of a single week, either. But the important thing to remember is that, once they happen, clean energy victories are irreversible. No one will tear down wind farms because they are nostalgic for fracking in our watersheds. And nobody will pull down their solar panels because they miss having mercury in their tuna or asthma inhalers for their kids. Because once we leave fossil fuels behind, we are never going back."
What Can We Do?
The planet is in crisis both from global warming and the rapid biodiversity and species loss that scientists are calling the 6th Great Extinction. EVERYTHING is changing and it feels overwhelming. Is it an impossible task?
90% of global CO2 emissions comes from the burning of fossil fuels, so we have to stop using fossil fuels and replace them with renewable forms of energy in order to achieve the target of zero CO2 emissions by 2050. This is happening but we are going to have to speed progress up a bit!
Do you think it is possible to completely transform Offaly into Ireland’s first carbon neutral County by 2050? At Green Offaly, not only do we think it is possible but we also believe that it will be the best thing to happen to our County since we were All Ireland Champions, but we are going to need a slightly bigger team, approximately a 77,000 strong Team!
| The Task Ahead | |
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1. |
Change all of our energy use into Renewably Sourced Energy by 2050. |
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2. |
Revolutionise our Transport Infrastructure - private and public. |
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3.
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Change our behaviour as Consumers down to what we eat and where we shop. |
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4.
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Support our Farmers and Local Growers as they help us in our journey towards food and energy sustainability.
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5. |
Create a vibrant Local Economy which eradicates waste at source. |
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6. |
Restore and increase our local biodiversity. |
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7. |
Embrace and support Community Owned Everything! |
There’s no denying that it is a huge task! There is also the question of who is going to pay for it all! There are no easy answers – this has never been done before! However we strongly believe that the Communities of Offaly can directly benefit from this transition and that is why we are here!
If we break down the task into small achievable steps made by each Town and Village, then we can start to make real progress. If 77,000 of us come together, the many actions taken, small or large, do add up to something significant. And if we do it in a way that benefits us as Communities (community owned energy, diversifying income for farmers, increased eco tourism, rejuvenated main streets, increased local employment), the changes will be to our ultimate benefit. It won’t happen overnight but it can happen over the next 30 years. Get ready to lead from the centre!