We are thrilled to be featured on RTE’s Ear to the Ground, produced by Indiepics on Thursday 23 January. We had been plotting and scheming with the Ear to the Ground producer, Paula Williams, over the previous 18 months trying to get all the moving parts lined up. We had a couple of false starts along the way with bad weather, high water temperature to name but a few, but we got there eventually. Paula is a whirlwind of energy, enthusiasm with a real inspirational ‘make it happen’ attitude. A joy to work with!
We filmed the piece in 4 locations (our garage at home, Dun Laoghaire Marina, Fenit Pier, Co Kerry and Howth Yacht Club). Early one October morning we assembled in Tralee Bay Oyster Co-op alongside the Ear to the Ground presenter, Ella McSweeney, the manager of the Co-Op, Denis O’Shea, Paula and the Ear to the Ground production team, Marguerite and myself. We were there to explain why we were in Tralee, what biosecurity involved and what we hope to achieve with the Green Ocean project. After much oyster scrubbing, 3 days of depuration in artificial sea water tanks to further clean the oysters on the inside, we brought the oysters to Howth Yacht Club where we were helped by Aideen, Kevin of Howth Yacht Club and their team of members to deploy the oysters in their new Dublin homes.
While being involved in the production was a lot of fun, the value of being featured is significant. The objective of the story is to demonstrate to the viewer that climate action is possible by ordinary people coming together with an idea and driving that idea to a conclusion. To many people, the ocean is a bit on an enigma, its blue, its cold, fish come from it, but that its. I hope that our opportunity to tell the Green Ocean story will inform the viewer on how important our coastal seas are in counteracting climate change while also improving marine biodiversity and the health and livelihoods for communities living around the coast. But the main message is…our oysters are Climate Heroes!
I am really confident that our project will bring about our desire to see the native Irish oyster re-established in more Irish coastal waters, but what really gives great satisfaction is knowing that our story will inspire others, both young and old to see the ocean differently and perhaps start a project of their own!
Thank you Paula, Daisy, Ella, Denis, Alan, Nessa, Grace, Aideen, Paola, Kevin, Paal, Michael, Neil and of course, Marguerite for scrubbing those oysters and putting up with it all!
David