West Mayo communities celebrate green award
THE communities in Louisburgh, Clare Island, Lecanvey and Killeen are celebrating after scooping a top award for their environmental work.
At Mayo County Council’s Cathaoirleach’s Awards, the award for Green Community Group of the Year went to Climate Action Louisburgh Locality (CALL).
CALL chairperson Rosarie Tiernan spoke of the group’s delight at receiving the award from cathaoirleach Councillor Séamus Weir, saying: “We’ve worked really hard for the last two years and we felt we had a good chance of winning the prize but when we arrived at Breaffy and saw the extensive list of other Mayo groups nominated as well, we got nervous.
“There were some very active and deserving groups on the list and we had to pretend to be calm as we waited for the winner of our section to be announced, which didn’t occur until near the end of the evening.
“We were so relieved and pleased when the result was read out at last.”
CALL was founded in early 2021 arising from Mayo County Council’s challenge to local communities to set up decarbonising zones in their area.
The group’s locality stretches from Killary Harbour to Clew Bay and from Lecanvey to Clare Island.
The group includes representatives from many other community groups (such as the Irish Natura Hill Farmers’ Association and Community Futures) in the area and does everything to encourage equal participation by all members, while avoiding the development of hierarchies.
Members are encouraged to focus their own actions on what they are most interested in rather than everyone having to be involved in everything.
The objective of the group is to promote reduction of emissions and waste while facilitating biodiversity enhancement.
This approach has resulted in the spontaneous emergence of several sub-groups devoted to specific action areas as follows:
* Energy
* Carbon sequestration and biodiversity
* Local food production and the circular economy
* Transport
* Development of public awareness of climate change actions
The group’s strategies have worked well, resulting in a remarkable list of achievements in a short time.
These include the promotion and overseeing of a comprehensive programme to make many houses in the area highly energy efficient, resulting in big savings for homeowners; the planting of multiple plots of land in the area with mixed native tree species, 43 acres thus far and more to come; and the set-up of very active WhatsApp group Louisburgh Free Market, in which 200 members swop, share and give unwanted items for free within the Louisburgh-Clare Island, Killeen and Lecanvey area.