From l-r: Chris, Antonia, Justyn, Una, Bob, Mark and Lois
After a joyful six hours of travel by bus we arrived on the Saturday in time for some of the afternoon talks. There was a discussion between all branches on how to get involved in campaigns and what can work well when choosing to take on new projects. There is great potential for us to learn from each other, for example by what has worked well on another university campus.
Later in the day John Gormley, Environment Minister in the South, came and spoke to us all, noting the importance of looking forward and questioning where we will be in, for example, 2050. He emphasised that no one can dispute the fact that it is impossible to have ‘infinite growth on a finite planet’. For sustainability there is a need for ‘resource-ism’. Discussion was then opened to the floor and we had the valuable opportunity to ask the Minister questions, on areas from the new Programme for Government, the Lisbon Treaty, Copenhagen, Common Agricultural Policy, internal flights in Ireland and even a mention of Sammy Wilson!
This was followed by the election of the new National Executive Committee (NEC) for the following year – for the first time a Young Green from Northern Ireland was elected! Congratulations to QUB Co Chair Mark on winning the position of Campaigns Officer!Discussions continued long into the night, it was a great experience making contact with our fellow Young Greens, thank you to everyone from QUB who went down and to our fabulous hosts : )
Mark, newly elected to the NEC and ready to fight to improve Green Campaigns!
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