Carlow native Eamon O'Hara at an eco-restoration project in the medieval centre of Cahors in France. Photograph: Thibaut Souperbie/Medialot
“I have always had this strong urge around environmental conservation,” says Co Carlow native Eamon O’Hara. He’s speaking from his Lot Valley home in one of France’s most sparsely populated departments scattered with historic forests and medieval villages.
O’Hara moved here with his wife and two children more than 15 years ago from Brussels to a village near Cahors, and wrote a book about his family’s adventure.
Swapping a busy city life at the heart of the EU bubble for la belle vie in rural France at first sounds counterintuitive for someone setting up a Europe-wide organisation, but in many ways it matches the ecological and community focus of Ecolise.
O’Hara formally co-founded the European network in 2014.
Continue Reading on The Irish Times
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.