For media queries please contact:
The Riptide Movement:Brian Scally, 086 8132208, brian@milestonemanagement.ie
Clean Coasts Programme:Sinead McCoy, 087 1347950/01 400 2200, smccoy@eeu.antaisce.org

The Riptide Movement Plastic Oceans Web Series

The Riptide Movement’s Plastic Oceans is a three-part web series that hopes to add to the urgent and important debate about how to solve the global plastic crisis and the devastating effect it is having on our marine life. 

The Clean Coasts programme took the Riptide Movement along the incredible Irish coastline and met with some of Ireland’s leading marine biologists, researchers, campaigners and Clean Coasts volunteers to discover the real impacts of plastic in our oceans and what it means for the future of all life on our planet, including us. The Clean Coasts programme engages communities in the protection of Ireland’s beaches, seas and marine life and currently has over 650 volunteer groups working along our Irish coastline, carrying out beach cleans and coastal protection work.

The band also visit a number of locations leading the way in tackling plastic waste including University College Cork, a Green Campus awarded site, chatted with Amanda Byram at the launch of Sky Ocean Rescue in Ireland, and sat down with the Minister for Housing, Planning & Local Government Eoghan Murphy to see what actions the government are taking and what can be done to address the issue at policy level. Regarding wildlife, a visit to Ireland’s only seal sanctuary and a panel discussion with filmmaker Sophie Darlington highlights the impact our love of plastic is having on our marine animals.

The result is a web series aptly titled ‘The Riptide Movement’s Plastic Oceans’. Narrated by Jerry Fish, this web series highlights the extent of the plastic crisis in Ireland in an informative, artistic and engaging way, whilst also showcasing the small changes we can make to help stem the tide of single use plastics.

Talking about the web series and the bands’ collaboration with Clean Coasts, lead singer Malachy Tuohy said ‘We hope this web series and our music can help raise more awareness around one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Our reliance on single use plastics is destroying our oceans, a reality so poignantly highlighted by David Attenborough in Blue Planet 2. Through our web series we wanted to learn about the issue of plastic pollution here in Ireland and what small changes we can make to help stem the tide of single use plastics. Our oceans are drowning in plastic and it is not the legacy we want our generation to be remembered for’

Speaking about this web series Clean Coasts Manager Sinead McCoy said: Litter and particularly marine litter has a huge long term negative impact on our environment. Raising public awareness is incredibly important when it comes to reducing marine litter which we see washing up on our coastline on a daily basis. So, the Clean Coasts programme is delighted The Riptide Movement are using their influence to bring attention to not only the issue of marine litter but the incredible work being done by Clean Coasts groups and our Clean Coasts stakeholders.

For more information on how to get involved in Clean Coasts programme see cleancoasts.org

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Notes to the Editor:

Clean Coasts

Clean Coasts engages communities in the protection of Ireland’s beaches, seas and marine life. The programme is operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce and is currently funded by the Department of the Housing, Planning and Local Government, and Fáilte Ireland.

Clean Coasts is made up of two elements; Clean Coasts volunteering and the Green Coast Award. The Green Coast Award is an award for beaches that meet the excellent standard for water quality as set out in the revised Bathing Water Directive (EC 2006/7/EC) but may not have the necessary built infrastructure to achieve Blue Flag status. An important element of this award is that these beaches have a beach management plan in place and that the local community are engaged in this process.

The Clean Coasts volunteering effort engages communities in the protection and conservation of their local coastal environment. There are currently over 650 registered Clean Coasts groups in Ireland. There are a variety of group types such as community groups, residents’ associations, tidy towns groups, sports clubs, schools, businesses, universities etc. Clean Coasts organises hundreds of beach clean-ups annually mobilising thousands of volunteers, removing considerable quantities of marine litter from Ireland’s beaches and waterways.

 

The Riptide Movement

The Riptide Movement are four lifelong friends from Lucan about to release their first American-recorded album. There is an authenticity in everything they do. It permeates their sound and defines their approach. Having blown the Irish music scene wide open in 2014 with their Number One, gold-selling album ‘Getting Through’, a string of Top 10 singles and various sold-out headline tours, the four piece – comprising Malachy Tuohy (vocals, piano and guitar), John Dalton (guitar), Gerry McGarry (bass & harmonica) and Gar Byrne (drums & percussion) – are currently enjoying a successful spell in Germany – where the band’s latest album  Ghosts has just been released to superb reaction. The band look forward to returning to the USA, Canada and the UK in support of this album in 2018.  The band signed a global publishing deal with IMAGEM Music in 2017 this year, after they came to the attention of the company through the success of hit radio songs such as All Work Out, Elephant in The Room and most recently Changeling.