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ECO EYE

Ecologist Anja Murray, Eco Eye Series 16 Image Name: Ecologist Anja Murray, Eco Eye Series 16
Dr Lara Dungan, Eco Eye Series 16 Image Name: Dr Lara Dungan, Eco Eye Series 16
Duncan Stewart, Eco Eye Series 16 Image Name: Duncan Stewart, Eco Eye Series 16
Duncan Stewart, Eco Eye Series 16 Image Name: Duncan Stewart, Eco Eye Series 16
Dr Lara Dungan, Eco Eye Series 16 Image Name: Dr Lara Dungan, Eco Eye Series 16
Dr Lara Dungan, Eco Eye Series 16 Image Name: Dr Lara Dungan, Eco Eye Series 16
Ecologist Anja Murray, Eco Eye Series 16 Image Name: Ecologist Anja Murray, Eco Eye Series 16

Series 16, episode 2

‘Active Travel’ with Dr Lara Dungan

 

Dr Lara Dungan investigates how daily healthy activity has been engineered out of our lives and environments, increasing our waistlines. She also explores simple lifestyle choices which can get Irish citizens moving.

 

By 2030 Ireland will be the most obese country in the EU, according to the WHO.  This isn’t just a problem for our waistlines; it’s causing a crisis in our health system.  Many of the chronic diseases overburdening the health system today are a result of our sedentary lifestyles.

But what is it about the last 25 years that has turned us from one of the slimmest nations to one of the fattest and least active?

 

While sedentary work and personal lifestyle choices play a part, our environment has a bigger part to play than most people think.  Our new environment has made it more and more difficult to get around using our legs and feet. Now almost everything is geared towards the car. It’s become such an important part of our daily lives that we’re not getting the very basic minimum exercise we need in our daily lives to stay healthy.

 

With easy, unhealthy choices everywhere, what hope do we have to reverse the trends? Can we change our environment to create a healthier society?

 

On this journey Dr Lara Dungan explores why our society has turned its back on being active despite all the evidence available of what is required for a healthy society. She will delve deep into the reasons for this new direction and she will try to discover what we can do to change.

 

Eco Eye 16 Documentary Series – Synopsis

(9 x 25mins, Broadcast January 2018 RTE One, 6.30pm)

Series Synopsis

 

In the new season of Eco Eye, host Duncan Stewart is joined by ecologist Anja Murray and Dr Lara Dungan to explore critical environmental issues impacting Ireland and abroad. Featuring topics from air pollution to aquatic invasive species, this season documents pioneering research and community action in the fields of medicine, ecology, conservation and more. Filmed all across the country and further afield, it reveals the challenges that our native flora and fauna face today.