Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action
Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed)
Ois?n:
I will address Senator Boylan's question on what we need to do to get people interested in and passionate about biodiversity. It comes down to education. If we educate people on biodiversity, they will become more passionate naturally. They will automatically become more curious about it. Also, we could enact call to action No. 2, which states, "Provide biodiversity education outside of schools (i.e. community learning, on TV, social media, cartoons, comedy and podcasts) for people of all ages."
If it is just learned in schools, children will probably just forget about it. After tests and assignments, people will forget about the topic, but if it is on TV and they are seeing it everywhere, they will naturally just remember it. There are multiple educational shows and podcasts, such as Ecolution on RTÉJr, which is a podcast about biodiversity, climate change and so on. That is only one thing. We need to see more of that in the entertainment industry.