Author,
journalist,
lecturer,
tour guide,
​editor

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my website. It has, I must confess, been neglected for many months, but I am beginning to update it now, working backwards, as it were, in August 2021. Thank you for your patience Comments are always welcome, so please don't hesitate to contact me. 

News and Upcoming

• My first update since way before the pandemic!
• I am very excited to be re-entering the world of public engagement, and meeting old friends, courtesy of three events at the Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas. Details below, but for more do check out the festival's rich and varied programme.
• Tomorrow night, Friday 20, at 6pm: WHAT IS NATURE REALLY WORTH? New, science-based
  accounting systems reveal that nature is really worth much more than we usually think. But how can we build that insight into public policy
  and private actions? Paddy Woodworth and Catherine Farrell (of the INCASE project) discuss how we can use natural capital accounting to inform better decisions for people and planet. 
• On Saturday 21, at 3.05pm: THE FUTURE IS IN THE FIELDS: Paddy Woodworth, Lisa
  Fingleton and Hannah Quinn Mulligan talk ‘Creative Conservation on the Farm’ - about policies and practices which can keep Irish farmers happily on the land, while meeting increasingly urgent climate
  and biodiversity targets, and on the role the Arts can play in this
• On Sunday 22nd, at 3.40pm: TO PREVENT PANDEMICS, RESTORE DEGRADED
  LANDSCAPES: Paddy Woodworth and Barry McMahon talk about why epidemic diseases leap from animals to humans, and how the destruction of intact habitats is increasing the frequency and
  virulence of pandemics
• A big gap, which I'll fill in shortly, back to 2018:
  
• It was really interesting to participate in two symposia, just a few days apart, on how artists respond to environmental issues. One was the Olivier Cornet Gallery discussion on artists and climate change, the other was at Siamsa Tire, based around the artists of the INSITES/ÓN CEAPACH exhibition, who all engage not only with the environment, but with people who live and work in jobs often at the sharp end of environmental questions, like farming and turf extraction.
• I wrote about the issues behind these events in The Irish Times.
• The most challenging thing I've done recently was to participate in a panel reflecting on Brian Maguire's brilliantly disturbing show, 'War Changes its Address', at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which portrays the devastation caused by the wars in Syria. I was especially impressed with the remarkable contribution of Giath Taha, a Syrian photgrapher who documented revolutionary fighters in the city before the Islamists moved in (2012-14), and juxtaposed his images with anti-heroic quotations from George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. Brave work, and utterly heart-breaking.
• I am running for the position of Director-at-Large on the Board of the Society for Ecological Restoration. If you are a member of SER, you will have received voting papers via email, and you can vote until Feb 24. You can see my election statement here. (Update: I didn't get elected! Warm congratulations and best wishes to the two excellent candidates who did, Cristina Eisenberg and Vicky Temperton).
• The video of the LH PRISM Invasive Species Summit at New York Botanical Gardens, including my keynote presentation on the relationship between ecological restoration and the elimination of alien invasive plants, (see below), is now live here. 
• And following that presentation, Kim Eierman, the founder of EcoBeneficial, has done two podcasts with me on ecological restoration issues, the first of which can be heard here, and the second here.
• I spoke at a conference organised by Trinity Politics Society and DU Hispanic Society in November 2017:  "Catalonia in Context: Independence or Unity?" My theme is Trumping Democracy: How two nationalisms fuel Spain's Catalan crisis. Read More...
• How can the confrontation between Catalan and Spanish nationalists be peacefully resolved? And can ecological restoration deliver in the face of global change and the challenge of scaling up? Also, the magic of a marsh, a five-day field trip into Brazil's Pantanal, finding giant otters, pigmy kingfishers, and horned screamers...Most recent articles and blog
• I gave a keynote address at the LH PRISM Invasive Species Summit in New York Botanical Garden on Nov 3rd. My title was Removal is not (usually) enough! The vital role of ecological restoration in keeping landscapes free of invasive alien plants. I argued that, while current rates of global change are indeed very challenging, the keys to successful restoration and the permanent elimination of invasive plants are now in the hands of engaged communities -- as long as they can persuade their societies to commit sufficient resources to do the job properly. The event was very well attended, and there were great contributions from Kristy King, Art Gover, Jessica A.Schuler and Tate Bushell, with a very high level of discussion from the public. I was delighted, needless to say, that my book sold out on the day.   Read more
• I spoke at the symposium entitled "At the nexus of wetland restoration and climate adaptation: Trade-offs, targets, and trajectories" at the World Conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration on 28 August in Brazil.  Read more  
• I chaired the twin 'Big Ideas/Big Practice' symposia at the World Conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration on 29 August in Brazil.  Read more  

Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Hannah Hamilton for her patient help in designing this website, and Aaron Bennett of Pixilated Orange Design Studio for his sterling work on my previous site, and making the transition to this one so smooth.