Climate Conversations

On the second Wednesday of every month, Sustainable Skerries hosts an in-person event offering space for the conversations we all need to have about climate and biodiversity, and about our hopes, fears and ideas for the future.

Each month, we approach these issues from a different angle. Explore our previous Climate Conversations below and see what is coming up next.

You are welcome to simply drop in. Better still, sign up using the form linked with the next event, and we can send you an email reminder beforehand.

Everyone interested is welcome.

Next: 19 August 2026: Ardgillan and its Biodiversity

A Walk with Dominica McKevitt, Head Gardener, Ardgillan

The images of burning forests from so many places in Europe and elsewhere are hard to take. The consequences of climate change are becoming more and more noticeable. So how does a park like Ardgillan cope with the prolonged drought we have experienced here in Ireland?

That will be one of the topics explored during our Biodiversity Walk in Ardgillan on Wednesday, 19 August, with Head Gardener Dominica McKevitt. We will also look at how the park supports biodiversity and how its plants, habitats and wildlife are managed in a changing climate.

Meet at the compost toilets beside the upper car park at 7.30 pm. The walk is free, but please sign up using the link here or the QR code, so that we can contact you if there are any changes.

The walk is part of our monthly Skerries Climate Conversations series. In September, the focus will be Food & Climate, followed in October by Not Doom and Gloom: Why Climate Action Is Such a Positive Thing.

• Wed 19 Aug, 7.30 pm, Ardgillan Demesne
• Meet at the upper car park near the compost toilets

This is a free event, but if sign up here, we’ll send you an email reminder (and let you know if for any reason we need to cancel): August event sign-up

Wed 23 September 2026: Food and Climate

• Skerries Sailing Club, Wed 23 September, 7.30 pm

Wed 14 October 2026: Not All Doom and Gloom: Why Climate Action is Such a Positive Thing

• Skerries Sailing Club, Wed 14 October, 7.30 pm

Skerries Climate Conversations Look Back

That was Wed 15 July 2026: Pints for the Planet

Just a photo from our July Climate Conversation!

It was great to have such a good group for Pints for the Planet on Wednesday, 15 July, in spite of the beautiful weather and, indeed, the World Cup semi-finals.

We talked about a wide range of issues, and especially about what they mean for us here in Skerries: our weather, with its increasing extremes and bigger swings, and how we can cope better with both droughts and downpours; the fact that we can see what is happening to the climate and yet still find it difficult to connect the dots and take, or demand, action; the need for more biodiversity-friendly gardening; and for less consumption and more reuse.

And we talked about the joy of sustainability. Yes, the joy!

Living a more sustainable life is often framed negatively, in terms of what we have to give up. But perhaps that’s the wrong way of looking at it. What do we really value, and what could we gain by living more sustainably?

A healthier and safer town for ourselves and our families. A fairer and kinder society. More time to enjoy the things we love doing. Those are very different values from the ones that drive us to continually consume more things.

And, by the way, that will be the topic of our October Climate Conversation!

Before then, in August, we’ll take a walk through Ardgillan with Head Gardener Dominica McKevitt.

If you’d like to follow up on some of the things we discussed in July:

🌱 sustainableskerries.com/water
🌱 skerriesmillscommunitygarden.ie
🌱 bareacrefarm.ie