This submission is made on behalf of UCC Green Campus. We welcome the opportunity to participate in Phase Two of the Marina Park development in Cork City and appreciate the effort that has been made to incorporate sustainability practices and accessibility concerns into this development. It is of utmost importance that the integrity of the existing green and blue spaces, and associated biodiversity, are protected, enhanced, and restored. The removal of trees should be minimised and any trees that must be removed in the development process need to be replaced. Given the accelerating global and national biodiversity crisis, no net loss of biodiversity must be achieved under this development. Furthermore, we want to stress the importance of only planting native species in the park. Our native species have immense ecological value as they provide essential ecosystem services to other flora and fauna and are best adapted to our local environment.

The 12th instalment of the UCC Green Campus podcast we talk to beekeeper and assistant to the Academic Secretary & Assistant Registrar, Gretta McCarthy.

Gretta begins the episode by telling us about what first inspired her get involved with beekeeping and how beekeeper Pat Keane influenced her journey. She goes on to speak about the importance of bees as pollinators, their essential role in our food production and ecosystems, giving a harrowing example of how in parts of China, people have to hand-pollinate trees due to severe declines in pollinator populations.

On July 9^th 2022, UCC Green Campus and Cork Environmental Forum ran the first event of our biodiversity coalition initiative entitled ‘Making Space for Nature in Cork City’.

The project has 2 distinct goals.

1. To deploy and test MS Teams as the platform for UCC's telephone infrastructure and support the Hybrid working model.
2. To collect feedback from staff on the deployment and use of the MS teams telecom platform.

An exploration of the efficacy of UCC as an outdoor classroom for promoting biodiversity and climate awareness in local primary school children

Great fun was had at the Green Campus E-Bike Show and Tell Event held recently on campus.

“Show and Tell”, a concept found mostly in a school settings is used to enhance communication methods through the practice of showing something to an audience and explaining how it is used. It is said to foster team building and camaraderie and encourages participation. It sounded exactly like that which we needed to share the benefits of E-Biking with the wider UCC staff community. And who better to help us communicate this message than our E- Bike Ambassadors (staff who are experienced E-bikers from their participation in the E-Bike trial project).

Stephan Koch, Commuter Plan Manager. As somewhat normal life has been back to Campus this semester UCC’s recent CampusCycleWeek (29^th March – 4^th April) saw the opening of two new bicycle parking areas on Main Campus, at the Student HUB and at the South Lodge.

On 30 May 2022, members of the UCC Community gathered on the Shteppes in the Student Hub for the launch of UCC’s brand-new Digital Badge course, Learning & Teaching With The SDGs. The event consisted of a speech by UCC President John O’Halloran who officially launched the Digital Badge, followed by presentation to attendees which outlined the rationale behind the course and provided an overview of the course contents.

It has been 3 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the humanitarian, geopolitical, food, energy, and security impacts of this invasion are having far-reaching consequences on our world.

Written by By Niamh Guiry.

How would you like the opportunity to trial an E-Bike on Campus? Are you interested but just unsure about venturing out on Cork roads! If so, why not come along to our “E-Bike Show and Tell Event”, next Tuesday 31 May 2022. We’ll be outside the Hub with the team from The Bike Shed, offering you the chance to cycle around campus on an electric bike. We’ll have a team of buddies available to cycle with you if you wish. Looking forward to seeing you there.