Loop Head - Wins National Climate Ambassador Award
‘Awareness to Action’ on Loop Head wins ‘National Climate Ambassador Award’
The ‘Awareness to Action’ program was designed by Sharmila, An Taisce Climate Ambassador for Clare, to deliver the important ‘sustainability’ message, by engaging and empowering young people, to explore and connect the dots between all our individual lifestyles, and their wider environmental impacts. She was facilitated in doing so by Community Development Group ‘Loop Head Together CLG’.
Not only did the young people of Loop Head collaborate with energy and confidence on this ‘Awareness to Action’ Program, but Sharmila’s roll out of the program across the peninsula earned her, one of the An Taisce National Awards for Outstanding Achievement as part of her Climate Ambassador role for 2024.
Sharmila is grateful for the recognition and said… “This truly belongs to the community, everyone who joined hands on this collective journey. Awareness to Action is a generational grassroots engagement. It brought together partners nationwide out of their comfort zones, united purely by their passion to safeguard our young ones in their environment and spotlight their voice for future Loop Head. It was inspiring and enjoyable to connect with the honesty, enthusiasm and courage of the children, with the warm welcome of their nurturing teachers and principals. Together, we created a hugely impactful and fun adventure, I hope all our budding Loop Head climate champions are busily converting their great ideas into action in 2025 in their schools, communities, homes! “
The program content included a variety of environmental topics, that had been researched and developed as part of her 2024 UL academic projects and with BT Young Scientist students from around the country.
The program took the format of presentations, interactive games, exploratory workshops, hands on demonstrations, mind maps, group discussions and surveys.
Participating schools on the Loop Head Peninsula were TY Students from Kilkee Community College, and 5th and 6th class students from Kilkee National School, Doonaha National School and Kilbaha National School.
Sharmila, who is a mom herself and rearing her family here, said of the program, “It broadly aspired to enable the Loop Head younger generation to take ownership and leadership locally of facing their climate challenged futures together and setting and achieving sustainability goals”.
Participation in the program also helped the schools uphold their Green Flag status, and was hoped would help to inspire students to take up Climate Studies as an option subject in the Leaving Cert (an option that DoE is introducing on the 2025 curriculum).
Some of the researched topics that the young people learned about were ‘Solutions to Plastic Pollution’, Renewable Energy’, ‘Climate Policies’, and ‘Flooding’. Through games and interactive sessions, the young people learned about ‘the causes and effects of climate change’ and ways to get involved in being part of the solution.
The key objectives of the program were to inform the students on the basic technical concepts of climate change, to help them understand the timeline of climate change, to prompt lateral thinking in envisioning potential future scenarios, address any anxiety around climate and share strategies to be more eco-resilient, to motivate them towards working together in their micro communities.
Program Stakeholders:
An Taisce, LHT Community Development Group, Kemmy Business School and Dept of Geography at University of Limerick, Project Mobilise (Active Hope program), Global Action Plan, Kilkee Primary, Doonaha Primary, Kilbaha Primary, Kilkee Secondary, POBALSCOIL INBHEAR SCEINE (Kenmare, Kerry), LORETO SECONDARY (Fermoy, Cork), ATHLONE COMMUNITY COLLEGE (Athlone, Westmeath), ST. MARY'S HIGH SCHOOL (Midleton, Cork), GAELCHOLAISTE LUIMNIGH (Limerick)
The Climate Ambassador Programme is operated by An Taisce and is funded by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications under the National Dialogue on Climate Action. The programme has trained and supported 1,171 individuals to become Climate Ambassadors volunteering in their community since 2018.
An Taisce operates all FEE programmes in Ireland – (Green-Schools, Green-Campus, Blue Flag, LEAF, YRE) along with national education and awareness-raising programmes such National Spring Clean, Clean Coasts, IBAL, Climate Ambassador, and GLOBE.
Sharmila Bano, Climate Ambassador Clare, Conor Anderson (Dept of Environment, Climate and Communications) and Gráinne Ryan, Climate Action Programme Manager (An Taisce)