From St Joseph’s School: Dylan Enright, Kiernan Daly, Dara Gorman, Lorcan Murphy and Nojus Radzunis with a presentation on their project ‘Plastic Plague’.

St Joseph’s students make environmental award finals

Brian O'Loughlin

Published: Thu 21 May 2020, 9:34 AM

ECO-UNESCO have announced that four youth projects from Westmeath have reached the final of this year’s Young Environmentalist Awards.

Almost 500 applications were received, a record number despite the Covid-19 interruptions.

ECO-UNESCO will be announcing the winners on May 21 on YouTube live and social media platforms.

The Young Environmentalist Awards (YEA) recognises and rewards young people aged 10-18 who have taken environmental action and created projects that will help solve environmental issues.

The event has more than 4,000 participants each year. Although schools are closed during this time, young people are continuing their environmental projects at home.

Some of the Westmeath finalist projects include the Plastic Plague from St Joseph’s Secondary School, Sensory Garden from Moate Community School and Flood Assist from Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar.

The teams working on them have been investigating the effects of global warming on floods in Ireland and creating an alert system for people living in areas that are prone to flooding.

Elaine Nevin, director of ECO-UNESCO, said: “We are delighted at the quality of applications this year and we can’t wait to announce this year’s winners.

“Young people are still taking eco action and continuing their projects at home, despite the pandemic.

“In light of this, we are holding ‘ECO Week’ to celebrate the young people who are enthusiastic about making an environmental difference.”

An event that usually brings schools and community groups together from all over Ireland to showcase their projects, will now be a week-long celebration while Covid-19 restrictions are in place.

ECO Week 2020 will be on May 18-22 and will include environmental workshops, wellbeing activities, talks, and challenges for young people, alongside the YEA Winner announcements.

The theme of ECO Week 2020 is ‘Food, Fitness, Fashion and your Future’.

The aim of ECO Week to celebrate the achievements of young activists, to allow young people to explore career opportunities in environmentalism and to educate them on a range of environmental topics.