Greening Ireland: From Pocket Forests to Native Woodlands With Catherine Cleary

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Catherine Cleary, author, journalist, and the CEO & Co-founder of Pocket Forests. Having authored and co-authored 4 books and been a Restaurant Critic for the Irish Times for more than 10 years, Catherine has now turned her attention to nature, climate action and greening Ireland. In 2020, Catherine embarked on two projects: one, to establish a social enterprise planting mini forests in community areas, and the other, to plant her own native woodland across 40 acres of land. Pocket Forests is a social enterprise bringing nature into towns and cities around Ireland by creating pockets of native trees and shrubs within communities. In this episode of the Constructive Voices podcast, we explore the work of Pocket Forests in the urban greening of Ireland and their role in reconnecting our communities with nature. We also discuss Catherine’s personal journey in creating her own native woodland, The Forest Midwife documentary, and the attitudes of landowners towards planting forests. Image courtesy of Catherine Cleary “The forest is the root of all life; it is the womb that revives our biological instincts, that deepens our intelligence and increases our sensitivity as human beings” Akira Miyawaki [1] Forestry in Ireland Although 80% of the country was once covered in forests,