Successful Climate Action Week in Fingal including Mini Climate Festival in Millennium Park

Last week Fingal County Councils Climate Action Team ran a number of online and in person events across Fingal as part of the wider Dublin Climate Action Week (DCAW).

The flagship event of the week was on Saturday when the Environmental Awareness & Climate Action Team hosted a ‘Mini Climate Action Festival’ in Millennium Park Blanchardstown. It was a fun day with great public attendance. The festival included messaging around Carbon footprints, Sustainable living, Active Travel, Circular Fashion, Reuse & Repair, and Food Waste and showcased several actions that people can take to reduce their impact on the environment. These included sustainable fashion tips from Circular Fashion expert Carrie Ann Moran and people could buy pre-loved clothes, shoes and accessories. Craig Benton explained composting and food waste systems and there was a tour of the community garden. The Fingal Instruments Project showcased instruments which have been handed in at our recycling centres, then cleaned and repaired ready for ReUse.  Music was played on them all day and several people played instruments and joined in. Twenty musical instruments were given away at the festival and some of the happy recipients are pictured here.

The Fingal Climate Action Team showcased sustainable and climate-friendly household products. Fingal Active Travel did some trips around the park on the Trishaw and gave out 400 high vis vests to safe-cyclists of all ages. The Rediscovery Centre had cycle-mechanics on site all day to repair bikes free of charge. There was a steady flow of people all day getting their brakes, gears and tyres fixed! The event was a huge success, made great by the beautiful weather and highlighted the ways anyone can contribute to Climate Action by changing behaviour including using sustainable transport and household items, eliminating single-use products, reducing food and landscape waste and choosing to buy pre-loved items, thereby keeping items in cycle for longer. 

On Tuesday morning Fingal’s Biodiversity Officer Hans Visser, along with Melissa Jeuken the goat herder ran two walk and talk events at Howth head to show off the amazing work the Old Irish Goats are doing in efforts to manage wildfires on Howth Head. Kevin Vallely from Fingal’s Environment Department also ran an introductory workshop on Weather Observation as a follow up to Fingal County Council supporting schools with the provision of rain gauges and weather stations.

An online panel discussion on ‘Women in Sustainability’ was run on Wednesday evening with a wide-ranging panel across all industries. Panellists included Pat Kane of Reuzi, Aoibheann O’Brien from FoodCloud, Mindy O’Brien from VOICE Ireland and Sorcha Kavanagh from the Conscious Cup Campaign & REPAK. Those who missed the event will be able to watch the event recording at a later date at www.dublinclimatechange.ie.

On Thursday afternoon a walk and talk event on ‘Urban Planning & Nature Based Surface Water Management’ was delivered by representatives from P&SI Forward Planning section. The event was well attended with staff from across the DLA’s and members of the public, and an engaging discussion followed a very informative walk-through local housing estates demonstrating various approaches to surface water management.

The Active Travel Team launched the ‘Fresh Air Friday’ initiative in Balbriggan, encouraging the public to choose to walk, scoot or cycle to work and school. The team also organised a ‘Cycling Without Age’ cycle on Saturday morning in Millennium Park.

Dublin Climate Action Week was organised and delivered by the partnership of Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin City Council, Codema – Dublin’s Energy Agency and the Dublin Climate Action Regional Office (CARO). The goal of the week was to showcase the ongoing efforts, ambitions and the collaborative approach that the four Dublin local authorities have been taking in addressing climate action and making the Dublin region more climate resilient.