A TEAM of seven students from Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna will be competing in the finals of the ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards (YEA).
On Thursday (May 8th), the finals will be held in the Convention Centre in Dublin. The project from the Lisdoonvarna students is highlighting the problem of plastic in our oceans and what people can do to reduce the problem.
There are a number of strands to the project, firstly they have developed a program for fifth and sixth class students in primary schools. They have also adapted this program to be used in junior classes in secondary schools.
They have also created a permanent display which will be erected in the town park. This display consists of metal fish filled with plastic that was collected on shores in North Clare. There will also an information panel which has three sections. The first section will have information about the problem of plastic in the oceans. The second section will contain photos of plastic on the shore and of microplastics that was found in mussels. The third section will be what people need to do to help reduce plastic going into the seas. They are also planning to do a beach cleanup before the end of term.
One of the awards at the finals of the Young Environmentalists Awards is the People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award gives the public a chance to vote for their favourite project from this year’s finalists. The link to the website to cast your vote is: https://ecounesco.ie/poll/young-environmentalist-awards-peoples-choice-awards-2025/?preview=true.
Members of the Clare public can vote for Lisdoonvarna’s students in the People’s Choice Award. The number of the Lisdoonvarna project is 20250139.
