PRESS RELEASE - Climate and Biodiversity Initiative Urgent

Monday 29th April - Wicklow County Council discussed Wicklow County Council's Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.  Cllr Tom Fortune speaking with the media says this is all happening in parallel with the amazing efforts by Wicklow youth in the recent Global Climate strike on march 15th, which urged politicians and people in general to start acting.

Two students Shona Edge and Molly Gordon Boles, two 17-year old climate activists from Temple Carrig School in Greystones, Co. Wicklow,  who are members of school action climate network have been working towards raising awareness and urgent action against climate change.

Cllr Fortune recently spoke with Molly and was very impressed. Molly says  Shona , herself and many others have been inspired by Inspired by Greta Thunberg to raise their voices . Despite not being of voting age - Molly and Shona were invited to present their concerns to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action, with four other schools from around Ireland. Representative of the global climate-themed student protests which have taken place across the country, Molly delivered an inspiring speech penned by herself and Shona.  Echoing one of the main taglines of the school strike movement, Molly told the Committee that "We need every single human to recognise that this is an emergency and to do this we need to declare one." (https://www.newstalk.com/news/students-climate-action-842406)

Utilising social media, they have set up twitter and Instagram pages, @globalwarninggreystones, where they share statistics, incentives and reasons to act. After attending the March 15th global student strike for climate change in Dublin, the pair met with like-minded climate activists and global citizens from each of the four provinces in Ireland and discussed the urgency of this issue.
After attending a talk at Temple Carrig School with environmental scientist Dr Cara Augustenbourg, Shona met with Dr Augustenbourg to discuss what their school could do to combat climate change. In school, both Molly and Shona are active members of the Action on Climate Change (ACE) committee and they have both presented on climate activism to the entire school assembly.
Shona and Molly are delighted to be invited to attend the presentation of Wicklow County Council's Draft Climate Action Plan.

Cllr Fortune invited Molly and Shona to the Wicklow County Council meeting on Monday last to experience how a council meeting is run and to listen to the presentation of the Draft Wicklow County Council Climate Change Adaption strategy.

Shona says "With their close relationship with the community, Local Authorities can play a key role in addressing climate change. They can react faster and more effectively to local climate events than many other government agencies - as seen in extreme weather events"

Molly says "Councillors and the Local Authorities have a critical role to play in using their local knowledge of the environment and working in partnership to make lasting climate action to create a safe future for generations to come" Molly Gordon Boles  

Cllr Fortune welcomes Wicklow County Council's draft policy and says Molly and Shona, their school and other schools in county Wicklow should review what Wicklow County Council are proposing and make submissions. Molly and Shona met with the CEO and Chairperson of Wicklow County Council on their visit to county buildings.

Cllr Tom Fortune

Busy canvass this evening. Thanks to everyone for your interaction and courtesy. #TheVoiceOfReason #LE19

Busy Canvass with Joanna. Thanks to everyone for your courtesy when we called. What beautiful weather. #TheVoiceOfReson #LE19

Great day canvasing. Met some wonderful and welcoming people. Thank you for your time. #TheVoiceOfReason #LE19