Climate Ambassador Student from Tipperary Awarded Outstanding Achievement in 2020

This year has been like no other, and one educational programme that successfully transitioned online is the Climate Ambassador programme. Twelve awards for an Outstanding Achievement were presented to individuals and teams from across Ireland at the virtual Climate Ambassador Awards on Thursday 26th November 2020 for their work in communicating and taking action on climate change. Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan T.D., attended the awards and acknowledged the commitment of all Climate Ambassadors and their valuable work in communities across Ireland. Over the course of the year, Climate Ambassadors carried out 397 climate actions, directly engaging over 165,000 people, and also created 585 climate communications, reaching an estimated 1.9 million!

Aisling Moloney from Presentation Secondary School Thurles started her year as a Climate Ambassador with training in Dublin on January 31st. After that, she went home and planted some seeds, got her family involved in Earth Hour and hosted an Instagram live on Earth Day. She attended nearly every zoom organised by the Climate Ambassador Programme, learning about everything from fast fashion to biodiversity and permaculture. In September, she became Secretary of her Green Schools Committee, and together they reduced the teachers’ photocopy allowance and introduced a ban on foil containers in the cafeteria. She was involved in organising school screenings, making announcements on environmental care and participated in the Junk Kouture competition and fashion show. In October, Presentation Thurles were awarded the Green Flag for Biodiversity and for Climate Action Week the committee ran a poster competition for 1st years and a TY screening of ‘2040’. Aisling also created an inspiring IGTV over on the Climate Ambassador page for #ClimateActionWeek on all that her school has done and some future climate action plans. Earlier this month she also collected and distributed acorns to 400 students to plant: ‘from little acorns do mighty oaks grow’.

164 citizens from a wide range of backgrounds including secondary school students and teachers, university students, academics, farmers and businesspeople were all selected to be Climate Ambassadors in 2020. The programme, now in its third year, has gone from strength-to-strength with Climate Ambassadors gaining key skills and confidence to take action, and inspiring others to join them on their journey.

Climate Ambassadors are provided with training on climate science and communications and become part of a powerful network of committed individuals sharing their knowledge, learning from each other and building relationships. Throughout the year they are asked to undertake four key actions – two climate communications and two climate actions, though many individuals go over and above what is required.

The Awards are a celebration of the hard work that has taken place over the last year and the enormous effort and dedication that the Climate Ambassadors have shown throughout the process. To mark this, each Climate Ambassador received a certificate of recognition. In addition, twelve Outstanding Achievement Awards were presented to Climate Ambassadors based on the work they have carried out during the year.

CLIMATE AMBASSADOR AWARDS

The Climate Ambassador Programme is operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce and is funded by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. The programme trains and supports individuals to become climate leaders in their community and has trained over 400 Climate Ambassadors since 2018.

The Environmental Education Unit 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, GLOBE and Neat Streets.