The 4th Year Green Schools group attended a biodiversity talk and walk in the Botanical Gardens last Friday.
As part of the Green Schools module, we visited the Botanical Gardens on the 2nd of May 2025. We attended a guided tour by Mathew, who spoke to us about biodiversity.
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. It is essential for sustaining the natural living systems, or ecosystems, that provide us with food, clean water, fuel, health, wealth and other services we take for granted in our everyday lives.
The way humans use the land and sea has dramatically reduced Ireland’s natural ecosystems.
Our once-native oak forests, which covered 80% of the country, have been reduced to just 1% today. The sea around us is seriously overfished, many of our rivers are polluted and most of our boglands have been damaged through afforestation with non-native conifers.
Bees and other insects are struggling because there are so few flowers in the landscape, particularly on farmland. We learned that 120 species of plants and animals have already gone extinct in Ireland. We saw first-hand a tropical plant that is now extinct in the wild and survives in only five botanical gardens across the world. We also saw the inside of a real banana that has not been modified for consumers. The seeds are like black, hard stones — too difficult to digest!
We loved connecting with nature, from watching the squirrels to admiring the beautiful wildflowers and orchids.
I am really happy that our class had this opportunity to go on this trip, as we learned so much about the environment and how important it is to take care of it.
Regards,
Lily Rose
