When it comes to making more sustainable decisions, it can be hard to know where to begin.
For environmentalist Dr Tara Shine, though, you can start with your sliced pan.
“How could you stop throwing out bread?” she gives as an example of addressing food waste.
“Do you need to freeze half the loaf when you bring it in? Could you make it into breadcrumbs? Are you just buying too much bread?”
Dr Tara Shine in the Antarctic. \ Ann Charmantier-Lauriere
And it’s this down-to-earth approach that makes the environmental scientist and climate change activist the perfect ambassador for the Story Of Your Stuff competition.
Originally from Kilkenny, Tara explains that her father – a geography teacher – first sparked her interest “about how the world works”.
“Pointing out geological and glacial features, his curiosity about the world, a house full of National Geographics – I think they all contributed to my interest in science,” she explains.
This led Tara to study environmental science and, soon after, to travel the world.
“Got a one-way ticket to Bangkok and kept going for two years,” she smiles.
As it transpired, the early part of her career was spent in Mauritania in west Africa, which turns into a temporary wetland during heavy rainfall and is vital to local farmers who engage in mobile livestock rearing, which formed the basis of her PhD study.
Other highlights included working with The World Bank on pastoral risk management in Mongolia, acting as environment adviser with Irish Aid and, most recently, working as special adviser to the Mary Robinson Foundation- Climate Justice.
But closer to home – which today, is Kinsale – it was a conversation with a fellow sea swimmer Madeline Murray that sparked Tara’s quest to use her experience at a more local level: first, by setting-up “Plastic-Free Kinsale” to tackle single-use plastics and, most recently, “Change By Degrees”, a social enterprise founded by Tara and Madeline to help people make better choices when it comes to living more sustainably (see panel for tips).
Women in stemTara believes women have real power at household level when it comes to making more environmentally friendly decisions.
“But I think what I would like to see, too, is more women’s power and leadership being used to direct the policies and system changes,” she adds.
At present, however, less than 25% of those working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in Ireland are female. Why? For Tara, it’s partly the lack of visible role models.
“It’s easier to be what you can see,” she says.
For those who do enter the arena, however, the reason why female representation declines further up the career ladder “is pretty much mirrored in any other field”.
“And that comes down to when women need to take time out to have babies,” says Tara, explaining that even a year’s maternity leave can impact career progression.
“In that amount of time, your male colleague has written three papers and got one promotion, so he’s got ahead of you – and you may struggle to ever catch that back up again.”
Countering these challenges requires a multi-faceted approach reckons Tara, from providing more accessible childcare and changes to paternity leave and maternity leave, to further initiatives to encourage women in science.
Antarctica
Indeed, she recently participated in the Homeward Bound global leadership programme for female scientists, which included 21 days on a ship in Antarctica.
“It wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea because you are on a small ship with 80 women for a start,” says Tara of the voyage, during which they experienced 12-metre-high waves in the Drake Passage.
“But we were fine. I was fed every day, I didn’t have to cook or clean or anything, it was fantastic!” she laughs.
On board, the group took part in leadership training, team science projects and research centre visits – all to the backdrop of breathtaking beauty.
Everyday I decide with my kids to not drive to school and to walk, I do something positive about the future of Antarctica. I can make that connection
“When you’re confronted with the beauty of a pod of orcas or it’s the humpback whales breeching beside your tiny little zodiac boat, there’s no way you can’t be touched and quite overwhelmed by what nature is,” says Tara, who explains how important Antarctica is in keeping us “cool in the face of a warming planet”.
Which is why she wants to encourage people to take small steps that can collectively go a long way to protecting it.
“Everyday I decide with my kids to not drive to school and to walk, I do something positive about the future of Antarctica. I can make that connection,” she says.
“I need more people to join me though... then we can have a bigger impact.”
And no doubt this experience will feature in Tara’s keynote address at the Story Of Your Stuff final in UCD on 9 April.
Run by the EPA, the competition challenges second-level students to investigate the life cycle of an item they use every day and use their artistic talents to visually tell its environmental story.
For Tara, it’s a privilege to connect with young people, who she sees as passionate about climate change.
“They understand the absolute urgency of it,” says Tara, adding it’s the “grown-ups” who need to “catch-up”.
Yet, rather than become weighed down by the enormity of the challenge, Tara believes it’s important to bring “optimism and aspiration to the table”.
“It’s all part of the conversation on the future of work, on artificial intelligence, on more sensible ways of getting around from a to b, it’s about how to improve our wellness and mental health by getting outdoors and walking instead of getting in cars and jumping from building to building: it’s all tied up together,” she says.
“The world can be a much better place than this.”
Visit The Story of Your Stuff website and Tara's website for more.
Read more
Katherine's Country: the job of recycling
Waste not, want not: make a difference with plastic waste
When it comes to making more sustainable decisions, it can be hard to know where to begin.
For environmentalist Dr Tara Shine, though, you can start with your sliced pan.
“How could you stop throwing out bread?” she gives as an example of addressing food waste.
“Do you need to freeze half the loaf when you bring it in? Could you make it into breadcrumbs? Are you just buying too much bread?”
Dr Tara Shine in the Antarctic. \ Ann Charmantier-Lauriere
And it’s this down-to-earth approach that makes the environmental scientist and climate change activist the perfect ambassador for the Story Of Your Stuff competition.
Originally from Kilkenny, Tara explains that her father – a geography teacher – first sparked her interest “about how the world works”.
“Pointing out geological and glacial features, his curiosity about the world, a house full of National Geographics – I think they all contributed to my interest in science,” she explains.
This led Tara to study environmental science and, soon after, to travel the world.
“Got a one-way ticket to Bangkok and kept going for two years,” she smiles.
As it transpired, the early part of her career was spent in Mauritania in west Africa, which turns into a temporary wetland during heavy rainfall and is vital to local farmers who engage in mobile livestock rearing, which formed the basis of her PhD study.
Other highlights included working with The World Bank on pastoral risk management in Mongolia, acting as environment adviser with Irish Aid and, most recently, working as special adviser to the Mary Robinson Foundation- Climate Justice.
But closer to home – which today, is Kinsale – it was a conversation with a fellow sea swimmer Madeline Murray that sparked Tara’s quest to use her experience at a more local level: first, by setting-up “Plastic-Free Kinsale” to tackle single-use plastics and, most recently, “Change By Degrees”, a social enterprise founded by Tara and Madeline to help people make better choices when it comes to living more sustainably (see panel for tips).
Women in stemTara believes women have real power at household level when it comes to making more environmentally friendly decisions.
“But I think what I would like to see, too, is more women’s power and leadership being used to direct the policies and system changes,” she adds.
At present, however, less than 25% of those working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in Ireland are female. Why? For Tara, it’s partly the lack of visible role models.
“It’s easier to be what you can see,” she says.
For those who do enter the arena, however, the reason why female representation declines further up the career ladder “is pretty much mirrored in any other field”.
“And that comes down to when women need to take time out to have babies,” says Tara, explaining that even a year’s maternity leave can impact career progression.
“In that amount of time, your male colleague has written three papers and got one promotion, so he’s got ahead of you – and you may struggle to ever catch that back up again.”
Countering these challenges requires a multi-faceted approach reckons Tara, from providing more accessible childcare and changes to paternity leave and maternity leave, to further initiatives to encourage women in science.
Antarctica
Indeed, she recently participated in the Homeward Bound global leadership programme for female scientists, which included 21 days on a ship in Antarctica.
“It wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea because you are on a small ship with 80 women for a start,” says Tara of the voyage, during which they experienced 12-metre-high waves in the Drake Passage.
“But we were fine. I was fed every day, I didn’t have to cook or clean or anything, it was fantastic!” she laughs.
On board, the group took part in leadership training, team science projects and research centre visits – all to the backdrop of breathtaking beauty.
Everyday I decide with my kids to not drive to school and to walk, I do something positive about the future of Antarctica. I can make that connection
“When you’re confronted with the beauty of a pod of orcas or it’s the humpback whales breeching beside your tiny little zodiac boat, there’s no way you can’t be touched and quite overwhelmed by what nature is,” says Tara, who explains how important Antarctica is in keeping us “cool in the face of a warming planet”.
Which is why she wants to encourage people to take small steps that can collectively go a long way to protecting it.
“Everyday I decide with my kids to not drive to school and to walk, I do something positive about the future of Antarctica. I can make that connection,” she says.
“I need more people to join me though... then we can have a bigger impact.”
And no doubt this experience will feature in Tara’s keynote address at the Story Of Your Stuff final in UCD on 9 April.
Run by the EPA, the competition challenges second-level students to investigate the life cycle of an item they use every day and use their artistic talents to visually tell its environmental story.
For Tara, it’s a privilege to connect with young people, who she sees as passionate about climate change.
“They understand the absolute urgency of it,” says Tara, adding it’s the “grown-ups” who need to “catch-up”.
Yet, rather than become weighed down by the enormity of the challenge, Tara believes it’s important to bring “optimism and aspiration to the table”.
“It’s all part of the conversation on the future of work, on artificial intelligence, on more sensible ways of getting around from a to b, it’s about how to improve our wellness and mental health by getting outdoors and walking instead of getting in cars and jumping from building to building: it’s all tied up together,” she says.
“The world can be a much better place than this.”
Visit The Story of Your Stuff website and Tara's website for more.
Read more
Katherine's Country: the job of recycling
Waste not, want not: make a difference with plastic waste
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: