Sustainability

It seems like sustainability is on everywhere nowadays… news headlines, advertisements, speeches and plenty of other places.  And this is a good thing, because we all need to change the way we work and live to ensure our community and the environment can thrive– now and in the future!

But what is sustainability?!?!

How would you explain sustainability?

For most of us, it’s both familiar and possibly just a bit overwhelming and complicated.  Take a minute to think about how you would describe sustainability… even google “what is sustainability?” and see what you find!

When Clarecastle really started to focus seriously on sustainability in 2017, most people were thinking about going green.  That meant trying to reduce packaging (especially plastic) and doing our best to reuse and recycle materials.  Our annual regatta festival officially went green for the first time in 2017.  We have continuously learned and evolved, expanding our knowledge, action and engagement while including everyone as part of the solution to a better, sustainable community and planet. 

But sustainability is much more than just recycling, and we’ve been on a long journey of learning, doing, adapting and engaging everyone in the community to make a positive impact on our transition to a sustainable, circular community.  And our journey continues!

Why don’t you join us?!  We suggest starting by watching this short video (less than 4 minutes) from our friends at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation explaining the circular economy, which is at the heart of what a sustainable community is all about

SDGs in Action

As a part of our goal of increasing awareness, understanding and action to achieve the SDGs, we’ve launched the advocacy campaign Someone Doing Good to spotlight outstanding work in the community that contributes positively to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Check out our short videos below which show the vibrant positive impact happening in our community, which also directly and positively drive sustainable development!

We’d like to acknowledge and thank Clare County Council and the Clare Local Area Grant Scheme 2024 for funding support to produce our videos.  Visit www.visitclare.ie and www.discoverireland.ie for more on sustainable tourism  #VisitClare #FailteIreland

Episode 1

Martin McNamara
Clarecastle Resident & Local Beekeeper

Episode 2

Ellen Quinn  and Alex Falco
Hurst Botanicals

Episode 3

Karen Foley
Environmental Awareness Officer,
Clare County Council

Episode 4

Joe Deasy
Centra Clarecastle

Episode 5

Ashling Cullen 
Cash for Clobber Programme Coordinator

Episode 6

Clarecastle Men’s Shed

Episode 7

Clarecastle Day Care Centre

Episode 8

Clarecastle Sports Complex– Squash and Handball

Everyone is talking about ENERGY!

Stay tuned for energy in the spotlight.

It’s been a hot topic and will only gain in importance – and concern! But the energy transition underway is not only change that’s desperately required.

It also holds enormous opportunities, including at the community level.

For a teaser, tune in to this short film (38 mins) from our friends at Patagonia.

Learning More

There are SO MANY resources available that it’s hard to know where to begin and what’s really useful.  An important reminder about sustainability is that it’s really about the system and all the parts of the system working well together.  And fortunately, there are many organisations with expertise and resources here to help that we can all plug into.

We’ve listed some of our recommendations below and encourage you to explore and use what you find useful.  We’d also like to hear any recommendations that you have so that we can share with others.

And here is a very extensive list of additional resources that the Tidy Towns team compiled and shared:

Useful websites Householders/Community

Useful websites specifically for Businesses

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