Skerries Climate Conversations: Green granny, green PTA, green emergency departments
Sustainable Skerries started a monthly series of evening events, always on the third Wednesday of every month.
The very first one took place on Wed 18th March in Skerries Library. The downstairs meeting room was filled to capacity when three local women shared their thoughts, ideas, and experiences.
Ernestine Woelger spoke about her life as a “green granny” to her two grandchildren, aged 3 and 1. Her motto could be: Reduce, Reuse, Repair; Nature and Garden.
Reducing what she buys is at the heart of her approach to a more sustainable life. Using the library instead of buying books; repurposing household items instead of buying toys. And reusing cloth nappies and cotton cloths instead of using throw-away nappies and baby wipes can make a huge difference, too – both financially and environmentally. Reusing old sheets and t-shirts for wipes is great, she says – you just need to wash them at 60 degrees.
Baby and children’s clothes can be shared locally through groups like Skerries Free Stuff on Facebook or the “Skerries Kids Preloved” WhatsApp group (contact sustskerries@gmail.com for details on the latter and we will put you in touch with Heidi, who runs it.)
There even is a baby carrier library in Skerries (contact us for that, too).
Old jumpers and t-shirts can be turned into cowls, scarves and more; torn garments can be mended – some even enjoy doing it in such a way that it’s easy to spot, e.g. darning socks with contrasting yarn. Talk about wearing your values on your sleeves (or feet)!
Cleaning with nature-friendly materials is a matter of course for her, too.
Ernestine even makes use of apple cores and apple peels. See the box below for her apple vinegar cleaner recipe!
But what gives her and her grandchildren most joy may be sharing time and food in and from the garden.
Whether it’s rhubarb, apples, raspberries, peas or any of the other edibles, caring for the plants and harvesting together is an experience that the grandchildren will carry with them into their lives.
Ernestine’s Cleaning Vinegar
Stuff a clean Killner jar with apple peels and apple cores.
Add 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Fill the jar up with water and close.
Leave to ferment, stirring occasionally.
The natural yeasts on the apple peels and cores will convert the sugars into very weak alcohol.
Once the mixture has started to bubble, the jar needs to be opened once a day to “burp” it.
When fermentation has stopped, remove the apple bits and fill the mixture into a clean jug.
Ernestine then adds citrus peels, rosemary, fir needles and lets the mixture steep until the vinegar smell is reduced.
She then strains the mixture and uses it as a spray on oven tops, worktops etc. She says that it’s very good on grease.
Eleni Vetsika has been involved with the Parent Teacher Association of Skerries Educate Together National School for many years now. She writes about Sustainability & the PTA:
In Skerries ETNS, we consciously took the decision to a) take up initiatives that would promote and encourage a more sustainable and circular logic and b) reimagine long-established initiatives in a greener way.
Take our Honesty Box: second hand children’s book sale. A simple and fun initiative that we now do on an annual basis that promotes reading, reusing, sharing and only paying what you can afford. The school community donates the children’s books they no longer want. We then display them in our hall -coinciding with world book day/week- where pupils, parents, guardians and teachers can visit and take away book(s) for a donation of their choice anonymously in the honesty box. Leftover books go to charity or other schools that might need them
We also run Halloween costume swap shops and festive jumper swap shops. Families are encouraged to bring along their old Halloween costumes and accessories in October and festive jumpers etc in December. They can just donate, or swap or just take/buy whatever they need. Good for the environment and the purse too especially as both Halloween and Xmas kids’ clothes are only worn a couple of times per year.
Togetherfest is our school fun day. In order to reduce purchasing little-used equipment, we asked the school community to lend us gazebos and sports equipment instead of buying new ones. We only invited crafters/traders to participate that have local and sustainable products. We held a nail station where all nail vanishes were old unwanted varnishes parents donated. We also had a used wet suit and sports shoes stall.
For our Love is Love bake sale (Valentine’s day), we use biodegradable gloves to handle the food and asked parents to send in an extra lunch box instead of using food bags for the children’s purchases. Also, we have zero waste: Our leftover cakes go to Feed Our Homeless, an outreach charity that works with the homeless in Dublin (North).
These are only some of the examples where Skerries ETNS PTA has been able to bring a sustainability note to our activities. This principle is also applied to enhancing and repairing the outdoors school areas and much more.
Having heard such engaging and interesting inputs on an individual and organisational level, Breda Naddy widened the focus once more, looking at “Greening emergency departments.”
Her talk highlighted the growing momentum behind sustainable healthcare in Ireland. The talk demonstrated how practical, staff-led changes can reduce energy use, waste and emissions without compromising patient care. The initiative shows that even in fast-paced clinical environments, small, targeted actions can deliver meaningful environmental impact.
Simple actions like better bin placement, switching from IV to oral medications where appropriate and reducing single-use plastics are delivering reductions in waste, emissions and costs.
We followed these three short inputs with a lively discussion about all the small things which we can do, which increase overall health, add to our enjoyment, are better financially and are also better for the environment, all while reducing the impact on the climate by having less CO2-equivalent inputs. Talk about quintuple wins!
If you’re interested in joining this ongoing series of “Skerries Climate Conversations,” follow us on Instagram and Facebook, subscribe to our email newsletter, join our WhatsApp “Chat4SustainableSkerries” group (contact sustskerries@gmail.com for both of those) and put the third Wednesday of every month into your diary now!
Our next few events are:
- Wed 15 April, 7-8.30 pm: Sustainable Gardening with Charlie and Marion Heasman. Free but strictly limited numbers, so you must sign up on our form. Location: Skerries Allotments.
- Wed 20 May: Songs of Hope. Bring your voice, bring an instrument, join the music.
Skerries Harps Clubhouse, from 7.30 pm. Doors open 7.15 pm. Free. Part of the Dublin Climate Action Week, with support from Fingal County Council. Lyrics and chords on the big screen: Send your song suggestions to sustskerries@gmail.com - Wed 17 June: Let’s celebrate the arrival of the Skerries Open Orchards signs with a Moving (possibly Rolling) Picnic. On your bike! Details to be agreed yet, but we are working on a cycle around all the open orchards, with picnic stops in 3 of them.
- Wed 15 July: tbc
- Wed 19 August: tbc
- Wed 16 September: tbc
- Wed 21 October: tbc
- Wed 18 November: tbc
- Wed 16 December: tbc
Sustainable Skerries 