Is Green a Load of Bull? New Green Magazine to Launch in April

Is Green a Load of Bull? New Green Magazine to Launch in April

09 March 2009

About six months ago publisher Brian Coogan made a decision to start questioning all things Green....He was on his way home from a visit to the Dáil where he had met with a senior Green Party politician.  Brian had come to one of Ireland's leading "Green" figures to get feedback on his proposed new title "Green Ireland" which is scheduled to launch in April, to discuss issues that would be key to this new magazine.  What he found on his visit both annoyed and disturbed him.  Instead of having an informed meeting where Green Issues could be discussed, he felt he just met another power hungry, politically motivated party beating to a different drum.

Although the meeting was prearranged, the "Green" politician spent at most 10 minutes with Brian in a corridor, with constant interruptions as the politician networked with various other politicians and journalists.There was absolutely no interest from this high ranking Green politician in the Green Magazine and the important issues that Brian wanted to champion. He was more interested in what support Brian and the title would give his party representatives in the forthcoming European Elections! 

However,the politician unknowingly really did Brian a huge favour,as a new philosophy for the magazine was born, with a conviction that had been reinforced by this inept meeting.  Where he thought he would get guidance and support - the meeting actually created even more questions,convincing Brian even more than ever that there was a need for a new Green Title in Ireland.Instead of taking and accepting the Green Party stand on issues,the magazine will challenge and question them.

The Green agenda is often driven by political and financial opportunism and there is a need to be able to recognise and separate this from genuine initiatives that will benefit our environment. This is the reason why Brian added the all important question mark after the word "Green" in the title. Brian's philosophy for the magazine is very clear as is his view as to who will be reading Green Ireland.

 "Green is no longer the domain of the fashion-challenged, granola-crunching wearer of sandals, but of ordinary people who have a genuine concern for the environment, without it being at the expense of political and financial opportunism that will only cost us in our personal and business lives.  Green Ireland will act as a funnel for change offering a no-nonsense approach to creating a Greener Ireland and will challenge and evaluate "Green" issues as well as working through all the jargon behind the initiatives, grants and new innovations.

After his "enlightened" experience with the Green Party,Brian decided that one of the main articles for the first issue of the magazine would be to question the Green Party and their effectiveness in Government. It will include an honest and frank interview with controversial Green Party TD for Dublin Mid-West, Paul Gogarty. "We're going to be talking to him about the credibility of the Green Party, we'll ask him what has been happening to all their good plans and we'll find out if "dancing with the devil" will spell the end of the Greens. We'll also be talking to other politicians at local and government level to get a feel for what the other parties think has become of the Greens."  

The senior Green politician might now wish that he had spent more time with Brian and his requests for input into the magazine, but he will have to wait like everyone else to find out just how challenging this new title will be,when Green Ireland magazine is launched at the Energy Show in Dublin at the end of April,.    Watch this space!