Earth Hour launches the Earth Garden at Blackrock Castle Obs

PRESS RELEASE

Earth Hour launches the Earth Garden at Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork Ireland.
Across the globe on March 28th up to 1 billion people are expected to take part in Earth Hour, and Cork will have a special opportunity to celebrate the event with music and stargazing at Blackrock Castle Observatory. Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia with 2.2 million homes and businesses turning their lights off for one hour. A year later the event had become a global sustainability movement with up to 100 million people across 35 countries participating. Up to 1 billion people will take part in Earth Hour 2009
For Earth Hour 2009 Blackrock Castle Observatory in association with Cork Food Web is holding an event of music and stargazing, making very special use of the dark conditions. Domestic, business and street lights in the area will be turned off between 8.30-9.30pm and, weather permitting; visitors can look at a much darker sky through the observatory’s telescopes. Entertainment will begin at 8.30pm and run though ‘til late, with a line-up of positive music that includes reggae from The Italics, dub from Green Monitor and soul and funk from Brian Deady, with inspiring visuals from Visual Jim Present of Wiggle. Earth Hour will also be the final celebration of the Globe at Night www.globe.gov/GaN/star count in the constellation Orion at the Observatory and is an event billed as A Dark Skies Awareness cornerstone for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 events at Blackrock Castle Observatory.
Refreshments will be available in the Castle Bar & Trattoria. Global actions from cities around the world during Earth Hour will be streamed onto the screens at Blackrock Castle Observatory’s award winning exhibition Cosmos at the Castle.
An entrance cover charge of €5 will be used to support Cork Food Web, a grassroots initiative bringing people together to create a network of community gardens, allotments, urban and rural farms and food parks all over Cork city and county. Proceeds will be used to help fund the Earth Garden at Blackrock Castle Observatory, a small community garden which will act as an educational tool and living workshop for visiting school and community groups and which will also produce food for the Trattoria, using biodynamic methods of planting which take account of the astronomical calendar.
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Contact
Clair McSweeney                                             Tel 021-4357917
Facilities Manager                                           clairmcsweeney@bco.ie
Blackrock Castle Observatory                        www.bco.ie

About Blackrock Castle Observatory

Cosmos at the Castle is a joint venture between Cork City Council and Cork Institute of Technology. The Castle now houses Ireland's foremost Astronomical Research Facility and a team of scientists working on new technologies for searching for planets around distant stars.

The state of the art exhibition highlights recent discoveries of extreme life forms on Earth and their implications for life in space and invites interactive debate on mankind's ultimate place in the Universe. A gallery of cinema sized, high-definition, digital video screens with proximity sensors allow visitors to interact with the process of the evolution of the entire Universe and of life on Earth.

Delve deep into space at the multi award-winning exhibition Cosmos at the Castle. Play the Comet Chaser game and send an email to space!
Research is in association with the Department of Applied Physics and Instrumentation, Cork Institute of Technology.

Hours:
Monday to Friday, 10 am to 5 pm;
Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays 11 am to 5 pm.
Admission: €6 adults, €4 concession, €16 family ticket

Message from John Baker of Earth Repair, consultant for creating the Blackrock Castle Observatory 'Earth Garden'

“Of all the bodies in the universe, only one - our home, planet Earth - is known to host the miracle of life. The 'Earth Garden' aims to celebrate and honour the vital relationship between the Earth and the Sun, as well as the influences of the moon, planets and stars.

As the stars helped our ancestors to navigate long journeys through dark nights, so today our imagination maps our way through times of uncertainty. As inhabitants of this planet, we are entirely dependent upon other forms of life for the fulfillment of our needs.

The Earth Garden is a place where we can come together to learn, through observation and practice, how to nurture necessary relationships with the Earth, and with the diversity of life with whom we share this home.

We look forward to meeting you there...
 Cork Food Web www.corkfoodweb.ning.com
Cork is biting back at the recession with a new web-started community which aims to get us outside working together to grow our own food. Cork Food Web imagines “a network of community gardens, allotments, urban and rural farms and food parks all over Cork city and county run independently by local communities and linked by the shared need to feed ourselves and mind our environment”. The website, at www.corkfoodweb.ning.com is a ‘social networking site’ so allows users to create their own profile, get to know each other and form groups. In just a few months of existence membership has grown to 144, with members from the city and all across Cork county forming online interest groups, exchanging information and skills and creating events together.