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Tag: Green Supply Chain

Happy National Biodiversity Week!

Posted on 21/05/2024 - 5:01 pm by

As we begin to leave behind the wetter, colder months of the year, many of us are now beginning to venture outside once more, becoming closer to the natural world around us. The bees are busy back at work pollinating, the Hawthorn trees are now in full bloom and the main Salmon run is underway in many of our rivers.  It’s a great time of year to be an ecologist! 

Wildlife, nature  or,  as it is most often called today, biodiversity, is the variety of life that lives on this planet. Biodiversity provides us with so many benefits, known as  ecosystem services, that we often overlook. Where would we be if it were not for the pollinators doing the hard work to ensure we have abundant supplies of food?  How long would we last if it were not for the plants that produce the oxygen we breathe?  (how long can you hold your breath?) Every day biodiversity provides us so many services that we often take for granted. 

It is important that as a society we take a moment now and then to tip our hats to biodiversity and reflect on all it gives us. This week is the perfect opportunity to do just this as National Biodiversity Week is upon us. Kicking off on the 17th May, the programme runs until the 26th May with a schedule jam packed with free and exciting events all across the country aiming to bring you closer to nature.

Clicked by our Senior Sustainability and Biodiversity Expert and Ecologist – Yosef Dvores

As I read through the list of events, I am reminded of many of the courses I have been involved with creating and delivering with Veri Connect over the years. As we all reflect on nature this week. I am taking a moment to reflect on how fortunate I have been to be able to do what I love, teaching people about nature.   

This is always a busy time  of year for us at Veri Connect as we gear up to deliver biodiversity courses to communities all across the country. My role as a trainer started a few years ago with a water biodiversity course we ran in Connemara with the help of Forum Connemara and LAWPRO. That course was a huge success where we trained 220 community members in relation to water biodiversity and water quality. It laid the foundations for the many courses that were to follow. Since then we have grown as a team and have gone on to work on some amazing projects. 

We have worked with 19 Leader companies across the country delivering training to communities in relation to  sustainability, terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity, invasive species management and seed saving. We worked on a first of its kind project called Wild Work which trained 1000 online users and 600 blended learners (in person and online) in Cavan, West Limerick,  and South and West Cork. This hugely ambitious project trained participants in biodiversity ,citizen science, wellbeing and community engagement through experiential learning. In 2023  we adapted this style of experiential training for 5th and 6th class students in schools across county Cork.   

In response to growing climate change concerns, we created our own Lantra accredited course Climate Action 101 which was designed to help businesses understand the various environmental challenges we face today and guide them to take actions that will have real impact. It has been a great success so far with businesses such as Red Mills, CF Pharma, Danske Bank, New Park hotel all passing through the programme. We have also worked with the Local Authorities nation-wide to deliver training to outdoor staff on Climate Action. In recent times we have worked with ESB to develop and deliver their Advanced Sustainability program to train their staff, 6000 users online and 300 leadership team members, in topics like Climate Change literacy, sustainability in the workplace, circular economy, sustainable procurement and supply chain. 

VeriConnect’s Senior Sustainability Expert and Ecologist with (then) Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the launch of one of our flagship projects WildWork

Those are just some of the big projects we have had the pleasure of working on over the last few years and we are still helping our clients to push the boundaries with new course concepts such as the very popular rainwater harvesting course which drew big crowds in Louth earlier this year or the upcoming course working with Churches in DLR who have asked parishes to set aside 30% of their land for rewilding and other environmental projects aimed at supporting biodiversity. It has been a great journey over this last few years and I can’t wait to see where we end up next.

If you would like our help to get your projects up and running, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. You can also check out our training hub to see what kind of training we offer. If you would like to learn more about events running during national biodiversity week check out this link here

Resources https://biodiversityweek.ie

Celebrate Earth Day – VeriConnect’s Two Cents

Posted on 22/04/2024 - 5:02 pm by

April 22nd marks the 54th Earth Day, a day to celebrate the beautiful planet we live on and nurture advocacy for ways to protect the natural environment.

In the 54 years since the first Earth Day in 1970, the world has taken huge strides to protect the environment. Amongst many others, some examples include:

  • Banning DDT after Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is thought to be a catalyst of the environmental movement, making public the undeniable link between pollution and human and environmental well-being. 
  • Recycling has become the norm in many countries.
  • The world came together to fix the hole in the ozone layer.
  • Toxic lead is taken out of leaded gas.
  • Conservation and protection of habitats has become more common.
  • Climate Change was acknowledged and then the Paris Agreement went into effect.
  • New generations of activism are taking a stand.
  • In Ireland specifically, we have environmental roadmaps such as the National Climate Action Plan and the National Biodiversity Action Plan.

“In nearly every aspect, human beings have altered the environment to benefit one single species and disregard the estimated 8.7million other species on the planet. “

While there is a lot to celebrate, with decades of hard work done by environmentalists around the globe, there is also a lot left to do! Humans have continued to expand into once natural areas which leaves less room for all the other living things we share our planet with. Furthermore, pollution from this continuous expansion deteriorates the environment that is left behind. 

Earth Day demands that we acknowledge our impact on this planet. Our species has undeniably changed the face of this planet and all that live on it. In nearly every aspect, human beings have altered the environment to benefit one single species and disregard the estimated 8.7million other species on the planet. These two facts say almost all that needs to be said about humans impact on the planet:

  • Livestock makeup 62% of the world’s mammal biomass, humans account for 34%. All the wild mammals on the earth only account for 4%!
  • Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture, meaning virtually half of the planet is used to feed humans.

Not to mention the climate change that we have caused, which will lead to the biggest impact of all unless we change our ways…. With no time to spare. 

This year’s Earth Day theme is Planet VS Plastic  which is unwavering in its commitment to end plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60% reduction in the production of ALL plastics by 2040.

Plastic production is currently at 380 million tons per year. In the previous decade, more plastic has been produced than in the entire 20th century with industry plans to grow explosively for the indefinite future. 

In 2023, More than 500 billion plastic bags (one million bags per minute!) were produced worldwide. A lot of these bags are used for maybe a few minutes (maybe thrown out instantly), and then pollute the environment for hundreds of years. Furthermore, they remain as microplastics in every niche of life on the planet.

Fast Fashion is an enormous part of plastic pollution, by producing over 100 billion garments a year. 70% of articles are made from crude oil, which pollutes the environment with microfibers. Nearly 85% of fast fashion ends up in landfills or incinerators, with only 1% being recycled.  

Plastic pollution is known to have blighted virtually all of the environment at this stage, including our own hearts, livers and bowels. It is a long time coming, but today is the day we can stand together and work towards a world with less plastic pollution.

In the 54 years since the 1st Earth Day, we have seen enormous progress for the environment, most of which would have been completely unheard of. We need to keep the momentum going! Try these simple but effective ways to minimize plastic waste:

Do not forget to get your Social Media Toolkit by earthday.org!

Why will companies need to invest in Micro Credentials in Sustainability?

Posted on 15/01/2024 - 5:01 pm by

Meeting two Ministers for the launch of our clients programmes on the seven year anniversary of Veri Connect meant it was not such a Blue Monday for me this week!

Minister Simon Harris and Minister Neil Redmond launched 24 micro- credentials including 2 of our team’s work on Sustainable Supply Chain and Green Procurement & Lean Practice and Tools which for Sustainable Business. 

Mary Lyon’s team under Noreen Fitzpatrick saw the need for these Micro Credentials and their work was launched today. 

What are Micro Credentials?

Micro-qualifications are short, part-time accredited training programmes, and they have been developed under the Skills to Advance initiative.

And more to the point –

Why will companies need to invest in these micro credentials ?

Climate now is a competitive issue in value chains for all businesses. Both in public procurement where up to 30% of tender responses may be judged on sustainability credentials or for Business to consumers who are constantly differentiating by buying greener. 

Listed Companies, Banks and insurance will immediately also be affected by the now Live ESRD regulations. In essence this means measuring a company’s effect on Climate Change, Pollution, Water, Biodiversity, and Circular Economy . 

But even small companies like our own who are part of the Supply chain to these from 1st of January this year now have to start their sustainability journey if they want to work in the supply chain to these buyers.

Who will deliver these programmes?

Our team recently delivered the SOLAS Train the Trainer for the  programmes to a number of trainers in the ETB sector in the field. Through the contracted training network we hope to be part of the teams that roll out these important programmes in 2024 via Skills to Advance in the 16 ETB’s across the country.

Our team currently deliver training for the 6000 plus ESB staff on Sustainability and Climate Action, as well as leading on some of the countries largest Biodiversity programmes in the local development sector. 

So not such a Blue Monday for Dr. Amanda Greer and our team of ecologists and technologist at Veri Connect!