Leave No Trace Ireland attend Garden Party Cherishing our Biodiversity and Sustainability at Áras an Uachtaraín
Held June 2023, this event was hosted by President Michael D. Higgins and Sabina Higgins
Earlier this year, Leave No Trace Ireland were invited to a garden party at Áras an Uachtaraín, an event organised to recognise the importance of fostering a sustainable future for the citizens in Ireland and beyond. We were honoured to be invited and recognised for our work in promoting environmental stewardship in the outdoors.
On climate change and biodiversity loss, there is a clear, definitive and ineluctable ethical imperative to act. We must take more responsibly our role as stewards of the Earth, driven by the conviction that sustainability, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity conservation are not optional endeavours but moral imperatives.
Listening to Sabina Higgins deliver the president’s speech that day, we were hit with the poignancy of the messaging, and the powerful way it was written and spoken.
“The consequences of a flawed interconnection between ecology, economy, and society” spoke to our own mission of providing education for responsible outdoor recreation. We believe that through enabling connection between people and planet, we can foster the love that will inspire the protection our environment needs – hence our campaigns of #LoveThisPlace, to #LeaveNoTrace.
“Regardless of our individual roles, families, communities, or professions”, the necessary changes can only happen if it is done by all. For “as citizens, we possess a moral duty to contribute to this profound societal transformation, invoking our shared humanity to re-establish a harmonious relationship between ecology, ethics, economy, culture”. This recognition of ethics in the re-establishing of the complicated relationships between all aspects of life, is key in how we can mentally approach the changes we need to make.
Through the lens of our work in outdoor education, we at Leave No Trace Ireland believe through questioning, discussion, and education we can achieve positive societal and personal change. Our promotion and dissemination of the #7Principles is designed as an outdoor ethics education programme – to empower people to assess their connections and interactions with the environment, and dig into the ethics of what, how, and why we interact with our outdoor spaces.
We are working towards a time when everyone on the island of Ireland has a relationship with the environment, ecology, and culture that surrounds them, and is taking the necessary actions in their day-to-day lives to protect the world around them.
As I look around today, I welcome the fact that citizens are actively engaged in promoting a sustainable existence who embody our best hope for survival in a world characterized by harmony, peace, and coexistence with nature, nurturing a diverse ecosystem and a thriving planet.
We were privileged to be a part of this afternoon, and are looking forward to the witnessing and being part of future work in this sphere.
You can read the whole speech here, and we highly recommend it!
We have some #SimpleAction blog posts that might inspire change, or add new knowledge to your time outdoors!
