Projects
Projects
Cé muid féin agus ár gcuspóirí
50 years growing and developing
50 years growing and developing
Projects
Turais Samhraidh Ógras
Turais Samhraidh Ógras
Climate Justice Fund
'Climate Justice' is a term used to frame global warming as an ethical and political issue, rather than focusing solely on environmental or physical aspects
Ógras was delighted to be awarded a grant from the Youth Climate Justice Fund, run by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, for the first time in 2020. Former Minister Katherine Zappone said the grant would support youth organisations focused on highlighting the issues surrounding Climate Justice. Ógras did a lot of fun and interesting work to use the grant to make a significant impact, and to provide a useful and meaningful education to our young members so that they they may address this issue and be empowered to make a positive difference to the environment to the world and to humanity!
Designing Ógras: an Domhan! Climate Justice Image (above)
After a successful Climate Justice Project in 2020, Ógras wanted to create an image to represent Climate Justice that encapsulated the complicated concept and everything that we and our members had learned, to send a message about the difficult reality of the issue as well as inspire hope that we can do something about it. To do this, we of course turned to the people who could tell that story best - our members. We arranged some workshops for a few clubs where we could discuss the topic and what they'd learned last year some more, ask what stuck with them and tell them about this idea we had to make an image, and then we asked them to make some art that showed us what the concept of Climate Justice meant to them. We gathered the art and then worked with designer Eoghan Fearon again (after having worked with him on our information leaflet about Ecobricks for our Climate Justice Project 2020, and more) to create an image inspired by the members' art. We feel that this image represents the harsh reality of the world we live in and the unfair struggle for
Climate Justice, the horrific and scary situation we find ourselves in that affects so many people and animals and that threatens our entire world... But it also represents unity, hope, inspiration, courage and the acknowledgement that we must work together to help those suffering, to help all inhabitants of our planet! Ógras hopes this image inspires hope and change, and that each and every one of its viewers see that we can rise to this challenge together, for a better tomorrow.
We are so proud of the resulting design (top of page), which we believe says so much on the complicated and harrowing subject with truth, respect and faith in humanity to work together towards change.
Ógras: an Domhan! - Video on Climate Justice
“Climate Justice is very important to young people. We only have one planet and all of us, young and old, in Ireland and around the world, have to work together to protect its future, our collective future.”
Alison Gilliland,
Lord Mayor of Dublin
about the Ógras: an Domhan! video
In keeping with the message and vision of 'hope through working together' Ógras wanted to tell the personal stories of people around the world through the eyes of our young members and leaders. One reason of course that we were inspired by this idea was the fact that there were not many Irish language resources on climate justice available, but also the fact that there were no Irish language videos about it, and further again still the fact that there were no bilingual videos (at least that we could find) offering the personal perspectives and experiences of people all around the world - so we thought we should make it available ourselves! We worked with MÓC2 to put together a video of our members, leaders and contacts here in Ireland with personal stories about climate change and justice, and we reached out to a number of overseas groups for their international and diverse input on the subject and the various ways in which the issue of climate change is affecting people today - and the ways in which we can and should address them.
​Ógras: an Domhan -
Climate Justice Debate Competition
For our 2021 Climate Justice Project Ógras wanted to focus on conversation, exploration, research, curiosity and personal investment in the cause, and we thought that a perfect way to bring these things together with communication and language skills would be to organise debate competitions for some of the clubs! This part of the Climate Justice Project provided an excellent opportunity for young Ógras members to discuss and receive training on topics related to climate justice and climate change and information about same, as well as to promote formal debating skills among young people, through Irish.
A voucher will be awarded to the winners of Ógras: an Domhan, and the winning school will receive a trophy!
Debates are a great way to have important conversations in an open way that takes into account all the details and all sides, and this discussion can be started in the Ógras club through the competition, but it does not stop there - when the young people gain the research and speech skills they can use, develop and practice them at school, at home, online, in public and beyond! So, Ógras did not want to confine the debate to just their debate teams; the class, club, family and school should be involved in the discussion in the form of research, debate, quizzes and more - and the themes of Climate Justice should be central to it all along the way.
Ógras: An Domhan Debate Competition Rules
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Students aged 12-15 or from 1st to 3rd year at school will take part in the competition.
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Three speakers on each team, with one extra representative just in case someone is missing or ill.
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The captain speaks for the motion first (Team A) and then the opposing captain speaks against the motion (Team B).
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Then speaker 2A and speaker 2B, and then speaker 3A and 3B.
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Everyone is allowed to speak for 3 minutes.
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The captain will be given one minute at the end of the debate to summarize. Captain B first, and captain A to finish.
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The bell rings after two minutes so that the speaker knows they have one more minute to finish
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There will be no marks awarded for any points made after the three minutes.
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The Debate will be entirely in Irish and marks will be deducted if the speakers use more than one word in any other language.
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One team from a Gaelcholáiste only will be approved in 2021.
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There will be no charge in 2021.
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There will be a prize for First and Second place.
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The teams will have the motion two days in advance and get the side of the motion (for or against) a few hours in advance.
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All speakers will be recorded (video & audio) and all speakers will be required to give permission to use this recording online.
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In 2021 there will be a strong emphasis on Covid safety as set out in Ógras's Covid 19 Policy.
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Potential Topics for Debates​
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Mearfhaisean (Fast Fashion)
Anás míosta (Period Poverty)
Gender / Disability / Sexuality / Race
Extinction (humanity / animals / plants etc.)
Use or Resources (deforestation / water / cotton / oil / CO2 etc.)
Workers' Rights
Lots more possibilities!! ​
Some links to help with research:
www.ecounesco.ie/youth-climate-justice-challenge/
www.mrfcj.org/principles-of-climate-justice/
www.trocaire.org/campaigns/climate-justice
Examples for Motions:
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"The duty to resolve the climate crisis lies in the hands of each individual."
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"The system for travel needs to change from top to bottom."
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"The housing crisis is more important than the climate crisis."
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"The answer to climate change is in our trees."
Download the Debate Entry Form here
Download the Debate Rules here
This project was delivered with the support of the Youth Climate Justice Fund from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
