Clean Coasts Monthly Catch-up – April 2020

In March, in light of government announcements, we asked our volunteers to suspend all clean-ups activities. 

This was to ensure the safety of all volunteers and avoid risks related to Covid-19 coming from being in contact with other people, but also touching surfaces and litter without the appropriate precautions. 

However, we are still asking volunteers to refrain from doing beach cleans because of problems related to litter disposal: during these challenging times, also local authorities are experiencing an increased workload, and arranging litter disposal for a specific clean up, would just create extra and unnecessary work for them. What we want to avoid is bags full of litter abandoned on the beach or on the side of a road. 

We are all in this together and soon we will be able to get out there and do our part for the coast and the environment. In the meantime, stay home and stay safe!

While the official deadline for the applications for the Clean Coasts Grants 2020 has officially passed, don’t worry! You still have time to submit your application until May 5th.

Grants are available to all groups that have been registered with Clean Coasts for the past 3 months, for coastal projects, equipment, insurance or events.

To find out more and apply, visit our website.

Join us and Dr Tom Doyle for a 30 minute Zoom talk and conversation about Ireland’s jellyfish. Learn to distinguish between the different types such as the lion’s mane, the compass and the Portuguese man o war. Learn about their sting, their jelly bits and their unusual life cycle. And learn about the important roles that they play in our coastal seas. Once the talk is over Tom will answer all your jellyfish questions.  

Tom is a marine biologist and lecturer in zoology at University College Cork. He has studied jellyfish for 17 years and is now a world leading expert in his field. 

Reserve your ticket below.

Clean Coasts will be hosting 2 online Roadshows in May. Dates, times and detail will be announced in the coming days, so keep an eye on the event page on our website or check out our Facebook Event page. 

Roadshows are a series of free events for coastal communities that are a mix of talks and workshops covering topics such as biodiversity, dune systems, marine litter, wildlife, sustainable developments, work by local groups and organisations.

To mark Earth Day, on Wednesday, 22nd April, we hosted a screening of “The Story of Plastic”. 

Through this documentary, we took a look at the man-made crisis of plastic pollution and the worldwide effect it has on the health of our planet and the people who inhabit it.

While these images may have illustrated the situation as a catastrophe, all our volunteers and friends at Clean Coasts know that individual and collective actions have been making an enormous difference and that, despite these challenging times, there are still things we can do, including rethinking our plastic and general consumption patterns. 

On Friday 24th April. we also hosted a lunchtime online discussion about some of the important questions this documentary has raised. 
 

We are featuring short videos showcasing people’s 2km stretch. As we can’t travel around our beautiful country right now we are asking people to share their 2km with us, so we can experience each other’s journeys.

If you’d like to take a short video/image of your 2km please post on social media, tagging @CleanCoasts on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter and using the hashtag #My2Km.

As we are forced to take a break and stay home, we joined forces with other Environmental Education Unit programmes to come up with some environmental friendly activities to keep busy during these days. 

We shared tips on how to make natural cleaning products and toiletries, as well as how to make natural dyes to give an old piece of clothing a new life.

If you have missed these, take a look at our social media to find out more.