Horizons

Trinity Week: Energy and Sustainability is the theme of Trinity Week, a week-long series of free films, debates, conferences and workshops from Monday to Friday next in Trinity College Dublin.

The programme includes a public symposium on Wednesday, Low-Carbon Society: Waste Not, Want Not, in which experts will speak on sustainable transport, energy and waste. Mary Robinson will lead speakers from Oxfam, Irish Aid and TCD in a public debate on climate justice on Friday at the Environmental Footprints Symposium. There are also free self-guided biodiversity and science trails (using a new Science Safari podcast). See tcd.ie and e-mail trinityweek@tcd.ie to pre-register for events.

Climate change lectures

Business leaders, academics and the not-for-profit sector have come together to present a series of public lectures on climate change at University College Cork.

Over the next three Wednesdays at 8pm, experts will speak on how climate change will affect business strategy and the engineering challenges it brings. See theecologyfoundation.ie.

Can Europe lead the world on climate change? That is the question six members of the European Parliament will be faced with at Cultivate, Temple Bar, Dublin, on Thursday at 6pm, chaired by Friends of the Earth director, Oisín Coughlan.

Early birders

Birdwatchers will be rising early next Sunday to join in celebrations of the dawn chorus. This annual event, co-ordinated by Birdwatch Ireland, has been attracting growing numbers of amateur and professional birdwatchers to parks, country house estates and woodlands.

Events this year include the free dawn chorus meeting at 5am on Sunday, May 17th, in the Wicklow Mountains National Park, Upper Lake, Glendalough, Co Wicklow, and guided birdwatching walks from Longueville House Hotel in Mallow (with a full Irish breakfast afterwards) at 5.30am on Sunday May 17th (sold out) and Saturday, May 23rd. Tickets cost €50 adults/€25 children. Booking: 022-47156. See birdwatchireland.ie for a full schedule.

ECOWEB

worldmigratorybirdday.org

Check out the beautiful video of birds in transit on this website which encourages a worldwide celebration of migratory birds this weekend. The theme this year is man-made barriers to migration which include power lines, transmission masts and wind turbines.

sthompson@irishtimes.com