Cyclist.ie and Dublin Cycling Campaign were more than happy to support Stop Climate Chaos’ photo call held at the Famine Memorial monument on Dublin’s river quays yesterday (Saturday 12 Nov 2022), with many of our members taking part. 

The event was organised by the Stop Climate Chaos (SCC) coalition, of which Cyclist.ie is a member, as a response to the An Taoiseach’s COP27 speech and as a call on the Government to up its game at the COP27 Climate Talks. 

The photo stunt comprised staff, volunteers and supporters of the environmental, overseas development and civil society organisations making up SCC – along with activists from additional grassroots climate action and migrant rights groups.

At the event, the activists stood shoulder to shoulder with each of the six Irish Famine Memorial statues, holding signs calling on the Irish Government to stand with five named countries that are suffering from climate change exacerbated hunger crises and other severe climate impacts. A variety of visual props were used to remember Ireland’s own history of famine, and to make a plea to the Irish Government to make amends for the harm that Ireland’s own climate emissions are causing to poor countries.

The issue of “Loss and Damage Finance” – namely finance to help countries deal with the most severe climate impacts  (e.g. the current climate change exacerbated drought in the Horn of Africa where someone is dying every 48 seconds from hunger) – has become one of the hottest issues at the COP27 UN Climate Talks and is getting increasing levels of media attention. Poor countries that are suffering most from climate losses and damages, despite having done least to cause them, are calling for the establishment of a special “Loss and Damage Finance Facility” at COP27 to help them deal with this devastation.

Cyclist.ie’s own vision of transport in Ireland is one in which everyday mobility is not dependent on continually pumping additional CO2 into the atmosphere and exacerbating the problems created from using fossil energy sources for so many other parts of our lives. For more on Cyclist.ie’s strategy, see here. 

Credit for the photo above to Stop Climate Chaos / Friends of the Earth.

Note that the Irish Times covered this event on Monday 14 Nov 2022 – see here.