Horizons

Don't forget your tent More than 5,000 non-biodegradable tents and nearly as many sleeping bags are abandoned each year at Irish music festivals, according to Stop Climate Chaos (SCC), the coalition of Irish development, environment, youth and faith groups.

The environmental group has issued top tips on how to be a green festival-goer, which include bringing your tent and sleeping bag home with you after the festival, using recycling bins and leaving no litter. This weekend, SCC campaigners will be at the Oxegen festival in Co Kildare. Throughout the weekend, they will explain what Ireland needs to do to combat climate change. See www.stopclimatechaos.ie.

Strategic speeches

Members of the public are invited to hear views on the National Strategy for Sustainable Development at two regional conferences next week. The first, which is for Munster and south Connacht, will take place at University College Cork on Monday at 9am. The second, aimed at people from Galway to Donegal, will take place at 9am on Wednesday at the Institute of Technology (IT) Sligo. Both conferences will feature speakers from industry, community and environmental organisations. They are organised by IT Sligo in partnership with the UCC law department on behalf of Comhar, the Sustainable Development Council, which advises the Government on all issues of sustainable development. It is necessary to register in advance on 071-9155414 or e-mail ewing.michael@itsligo.ie.

Putting the house in order

Housing developers seeking funding for sustainable energy houses through Sustainable Energy Ireland's (SEI) House of Tomorrow scheme will now have to ensure that the houses they build are 60 per cent more efficient (up from 40 per cent) than houses built under normal building regulations. This increased energy efficiency requirement was announced by Eamon Ryan, the Minister for Energy and Natural Resources at the fifth anniversary of SEI last week. The House of Tomorrow scheme has funded more than 5,000 energy-efficient houses to date. Another SEI scheme, the Low Income Housing Programme, has retrofitted 12,000 houses with energy-efficient features such as insulation. Meanwhile, more than 16,000 householders have applied for grants towards the cost of installing renewable heat technologies under the Greener House programme. "Encouraging energy efficiency and the use of renewables in the domestic sector is a cornerstone of Government policies to develop a more sustainable energy economy," said Ryan.

See www.sei.ie.

Kids get bogged down

The Bog of Allen Nature Centre in Lullymore, Rathangan, Co Kildare is holding a summer camp for seven- to 13-year-olds from 10am to 1pm, July 30th to August 3rd. Fully supervised by experienced tutors, the camp will include pond-dipping, a woodland creepy-crawlies hunt, nature crafts and a bog party. More details on 045-860133, www.ipcc.ie.

Horizons@irish-times.ie

EcoWeb

www.liveearth.org

Two billion people are expected to attend the Live Earth concerts in eight cities - London, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Hamburg and Johannesburg - today. Find out more about the origins and environmental messages behind the SOS movement on this official site.