*(L-R): Emma Sams, Caitlin Griffin, Donnacha McManus, Amy Custy, Clodagh Sully, James Sheppard. Photograph: Martin Connolly
Clare Youth Actionโs slogan is to make a difference and their latest video has certainly done that.
Todayโs world is one centred on social media, with all the clicks, likes, retweets and shares there is a tendency to bandy about the phrase โgone viralโ but thatโs exactly what happened when a video highlighting the negative consequences of plastic on the environment and its inhabitants was created by Clare Youth Action and subsequently shared by The Clare Echo. As of 8pm on Tuesday, it has reached an audience in excess of 7.6 million, had 2.7m views with over 104,000 shares.
For context, The Late Late Toy Show broadcast on RTร from London was the most watched programme on Irish television so far this year with a reach of 1.9 million people and an average audience of 1.3 million.
Six people both young and slightly older produced, directed and filmed the video. Amy Custy (14) is the self-professed โstarโ, freelance videographer James Sheppard (39) was the director where he was assisted by Caitlin Griffin (14), Donnacha McManus (14) was in charge of props, Clodagh Sully (20) was helping on the beach while Emma Sams (51) ensured everything was organised, the six travelled to The Clare Echo HQ to reflect on the videoโs remarkable success.
It was a group decision for the focus to be on plastic and according to Caitlin the main achievement is the message being received loud and clear, โItโs great to see the message is getting out there, plastic in the ocean is a real danger to animals, itโs great to see that people are seeing that videoโ.
With views in places as far as Brazil, Buenos Aires, Cardiff, Chile, California, Paraguay, Ecuador, Buenos Aires, Lima, Venezuela, Australia, Scotland and the UK, the video has gone global. โWe made a conscious decision for it to be a short visual so everyone could understand it,โ James said of the universal appreciation.
Prior to posting the video, Emma admits members of Clare Youth Action were wary of receiving a negative backlash on social media but their experience of the last few days has opened their eyes to the nicer side of the web. โWhatโs interesting is that the next weโre working on is bullying and we were talking about how negative social media can be and then this has turned it on its head and made them realise it can be really positive and that was really nice. They werenโt aiming at their peers, they didnโt want people in their school to see it because of the backlash you can get. We put it up on YouTube but you guys shared it and it went viral from The Clare Echoโ.
Months of planning went into the production such as deciding what to do, a beach clean, the creation of art through the rubbish collected and getting agreement from the entire group that they would be happy before the camera started rolling. โOne of the reasons why itโs so powerful, itโs because itโs a person and they transfer that to animals, there has been videos of animals in that situation for years going around, it really connects to people and theyโre saying itโs hard hitting and it needs to be dark to get the message home,โ Emma explained. Role reversal was vital to making an impact, James maintained โNo one was expecting a young girl to be struggling and thatโs the dark part of it which hit people, it doesnโt hit people when they see the birds and thatโs what we tried to doโ.
For Clodagh itโs a case of everything coming full circle, it was during her teenage years that she founded Clare Youth Action but it was in the past week while on placement at North Clare Family Resource Centre that the group recorded their greatest feat. โWhen we set up Clare Youth Action, me and a group of my friends four or five years ago we didnโt expect it to go anywhere, we were under eighteen so we couldnโt volunteer so we set up our own thing and we never thought it would grow as big as it has nowโ.
Further background on the foundation is provided by Emma, โThey have a lovely tag line for Clare Youth Action, making a difference in our community and good choices for ourselves, you started it because Ennistymon as well as other places has a particular drug and alcohol issue for young people and they could see that and didnโt want to see other people going down the same line, they wanted to find something more positive to do with their timeโ.
Some other projects they have completed include handing out 150 cookies around Ennistymon as a random act of kindness, highlighting issues affecting young people, it is an off shoot of the youth club that meets in the town but itโs for people that want to be more proactive as Donnacha illustrated, โWe meet every Thursday and every Monday to just talk about what we want to do next and if we want to do a movie on a specific topic to raise awareness. We come up with ideas, do props and put it togetherโ.
On average, five or six young people makeup the group, the intimate nature has strengthened the friendship between them but Caitlin points out more hands on deck would lead to going bigger and hopefully better. โI think itโs nice to have a small amount of people but you would be able to get a lot more done and do a lot more stuff with more peopleโ.
When she established the group, Clodagh never envisaged the highs of going global, โItโs really nice to see it is carried on to the younger people and theyโre doing a lot of different things, theyโve really branched out a lot more than we did, we did more fundraising and itโs really good to see it grow bigger. I hope to continue working with young people in the futureโ.
The younger crop have powered on with the group with McManus on his own initiative setting up a stall to run a fundraiser at a Christmas Market in 2017 while Amy refers to the work done by Roisin Garvey in primary and secondary schools around the county as helping to plant various ideas on how best to tackle plastic use. โShe talked about getting the cups and it was around that time we were talking about the plastic and she had a good few ideas on getting everyone to pay forty cent for the cups and shops giving discounts for using the cups instead of the plasticโ.
Part of Emmaโs job as a Family/Community Support Worker at the North Clare Resource Centre is to facilitate the Action Group, for her working with young people is very rewarding, Although James has educated them on the use of video equipment, he finds that he is also learning a lot from the secondary school students. โIt has taught me the insight they have that you wouldnโt really see. We didnโt have the social media when we grew up, there was a lot of hesitancy I found when we were trying to come up with it, they were nervous because it was going to go out on to a social network, it was difficult for me to understand it, Iโve always had the idea that nothing goes out unless everyone is happy. These young ones have a different perspective and itโs not as positive, it doesnโt go straight up they think of the consequences, Iโm glad Amy was brave enough to put herself out thereโ.
All six are adamant attitudes need to change regarding the use of plastic. Clodagh said, โA lot of it is wasted, people do need to be a little bit more aware of where it goes, they donโt think about it and need to realise it takes a long time for it to become biodegradeableโ, Emma commented, โStop using it, packaging is ridiculous, single use plastic is crazy the way it gets usedโ. โI think people need to be aware of how much theyโre using and where they get rid of it, they need to get rid of it in the right place,โ Amy suggested, James felt โThe Government needs to get into gear on it, theyโre not doing much, theyโre expecting everyone else to raise awareness, they should be changing policiesโ. Donnacha continued, โStop using plastic, if youโre using it donโt litter and throw it everywhere, put it in the bin,โ while Caitlin gave a local example of the effect, โI donโt think people realise like in Ennistymon there is the Falls and if I throw my rubbish on the ground, it can be carried into the ocean, I donโt think people realise thatโ.
Their next project will put bullying under the spotlight, co-founder of Clare Youth Action Clodagh stressed the positive impact being involved with the group can have for teenagers in the county. โItโs open to everyone so even if you feel youโre not talented in a certain area you can come along and thatโs what we always felt because some time in rural communities there is not a lot to do outside of sport and music so this is another thing to doโ.
