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Tag: #sustainability
Announcing the Green Ocean Foundation: A New Wave of Sustainability by Watermark Coffee
At Watermark Coffee, we believe that every great cup of coffee carries the potential to spark change. Beyond crafting the perfect roast, our mission has always been to leave a positive mark on our planet and in our communities. Today, we are proud to announce the launch of a transformative initiative that takes this vision to new heights: the Green Ocean Foundation.
Introducing the Green Ocean Foundation
The Green Ocean Foundation CLG is a newly incorporated ‘not for profit’ community based organisation that will manage and deliver marine environmental projects with local impact in Ireland. Its a bold step in addressing climate challenges through actionable, community-driven solutions. Building on Watermark Coffee’s sustainability legacy, this dedicated platform is designed to expand our efforts and protect the marine environment while inspiring individuals, businesses, and organisations to join forces for a better future.
The Foundation is founded on two core objectives:
- Restoring Marine Biodiversity: Utilising nature-based solutions to rebuild ecosystems, improve water quality, and sequester carbon.
- Raising Ocean Awareness: Educating and engaging communities to emphasise the ocean’s critical role in combating climate change through involvement in impactful initiatives.
Why “Green Ocean”?
The name “Green Ocean” reflects the interconnectedness of life, climate, and ecosystems. Recognising that meaningful climate action demands a collective effort far greater than what we can achieve alone, the Green Ocean Foundation aims to become a scalable platform for broader impact. It will serve as a hub for businesses, schools, and community groups to contribute to sustainable projects while amplifying their reach and effect.
This is more than an initiative; it’s a call to action for collaboration that turns individual contributions into waves of change.
What the Green Ocean Foundation Will Do
The Green Ocean Foundation will focus on four key areas to drive real and measurable change:
- Climate Action Projects
Our projects are designed to revitalise marine ecosystems through innovative, nature-based solutions. By focusing on rebuilding lost biodiversity, enhancing water quality, and increasing carbon capture, we aim to create thriving, resilient marine environments.
These initiatives are thoughtfully managed and delivered along Ireland’s coastline, ensuring a profound local impact while contributing to a significant global environmental dividend. Through these efforts, we strive to not only protect but also restore the vital ecosystems that underpin life on Earth.
- Education and Awareness
Creating lasting change begins with understanding. Through talks in schools, hands-on workshops, and participation in public events, the Foundation will equip the next generation with the knowledge and tools to become champions of sustainability.
- Community Collaboration
Collaboration is at the heart of our mission. The Foundation will work closely with local councils, businesses, and community organisations to co-design projects that bring tangible benefits to both people and the planet.
- Transparency and Impact Reporting
To ensure trust and accountability, all Foundation initiatives will be measured and publicly reported. This transparency will allow stakeholders to see the direct impact of their contributions and motivate ongoing participation.
How You Can Get Involved
The Green Ocean Foundation is a collective effort, and we invite everyone to play a part in shaping a sustainable future:
- Businesses: Partner with us on innovative projects that align with your values.
- Schools: Host an educational talk or involve students in our hands-on initiatives.
- Individuals: Volunteer your time at community events or support climate action campaigns.
- Organisations: Collaborate with us to create custom programmes addressing specific environmental challenges.
Together, we can transform small actions into big changes.
The Future Starts Now
The launch of the Green Ocean Foundation is more than a milestone—it’s the beginning of a movement. By coming together, we can create a future where sustainability is a shared responsibility and where every action contributes to protecting our planet for generations to come.
For more information on the Green Ocean Foundation and how you can get involved, visit GreenOceanFoundation.ie
Let’s make a difference!
Green Ocean Coffee – Become a volunteer
We are overwhelmed by the response that our Green Ocean Coffee projects are getting both from the media and the community. Philip Bromwell from RTE news, produced a really evocative piece on our project to re-introduce the native Irish oysters back into Dublin Bay; Philip captured the sentiment and intention of the project well. Have a look at the short video below.
Would you like to find out more or would like to get more involved? If so, we are running volunteer sessions (usually on a Friday afternoon at about 2:30 once a month). These sessions are being run with the Marine Ecology group which is part of the School of Biology & Environmental Science in UCD. Under the supervision of a Master’s student, we will be gathering data to evaluate the impact of the project and determining the health of the oysters. This involves measuring and weighing the oysters and inspecting them for overall health. We will also be examining the gardens to see if they have recruited any other marine ‘hitch hikers’ that like the company of our oysters. Before we return the gardens to the water, we will wipe any silt / bio film off the baskets to enable sea water to flow freely through the baskets. There will be no heavy lifting required and you will hopefully gain an appreciation of the potential that this project has in rebuilding nature and combating the negative impact of climate change.
To find out a bit more, please check out www.greenoceancoffee.ie or drop us a line on info@greenoceancoffee.ie
Gold, Silver and Bronze wins in this year’s Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards.
Watermark Coffee win a Gold, Silver and Bronze place in this year’s Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards.
Blas na hEireann is often described as the Oscars for the Irish Food Industry and included over 3000 submissions from a wide range of artisanal and specialist food producers.
Of the two categories for coffee (multi-origin and single origin categories), our Green Ocean Carrickwee won the Gold with a 1st place win for the multi origin coffee. The Green Ocean Dorinish, which is a single origin from the Mutwiri coffee plantation in Kenya, won the silver medal with a second place win, and our Woodland Tibradden, which is also a single origin from Kenya came in with a 3rd place win.
Speaking about the result, David Lawlor of Watermark Coffee said “We are really delighted that these wonderful coffees have performed so well. In a very competitive market, with a lot of contenders in the competition, winning 3 out of 6 possible coffee awards is a fantastic result.”
The Green Ocean Carrickwee blend is a medium roast of speciality grade arabica beans sourced from Central America, Brazil and Kenya. We designed this coffee recipe to reflect the increasing sophistication of Irish consumers but also to ensure it has maximum appeal. It is not a huge surprise that it received the coveted first place win.
The Dorinish single origin from the coffee estate of Charles Mutwiri is a medium light roast but the earthiness of the Kenyan coffee gives more body with a nuanced sophisticated citrus and herbal flavour.
The Woodland Tibradden single origin coffee from Mt Kenya is roasted to medium light. This speciality grade coffee has been a huge success since it was launched in 2022.
Producing fantastic coffee with a meaningful environmental purpose is the essence of what Green Ocean Coffee and Woodland Coffee stand for.
If you would like to find out more about these excellent coffees, or to arrange a coffee tasting for your business or office, then please let us know by calling 01 4666 000or dropping us an email on info@watermark.ie
How we reduced our electricity usage by over 50%
With 47% of Ireland’s electricity generation in October 2022 coming from wind generation (as reported by the Irish Times) it does seem as if we’re getting somewhere in moving away from our reliance on fossil fuels. This is truly fantastic news and hopefully we can improve on this in the months and years ahead.
At Watermark we believe that individual action is also essential in playing our part in tackling climate change and we are ardent advocates that every action makes a difference, no matter how small.
We installed solar panels on our warehouse roof in July 2021, the motivation for making this investment at the time was not to lower our reported carbon footprint, as we were already using green electricity from Airtricity. Nor was it financial, as the payback at the time was 8 years. The motivating rationale was to do with the sustainable concept of ‘additionality’. By installing solar panels, we are reducing our reliance on the national electricity grid allowing this green electricity to be used elsewhere in the economy reducing the requirement for fossil fuel to power electricity generation.
On our most recent Airtricity bill, we have reduced the electricity we used from the grid by 50.3% over the 6 months from April to October 2022 when compared to April to October 2021. This gives us great satisfaction. While this single reduction is insignificant in the overall scheme of COP and the Paris Agreement, imagine if most businesses in Ireland were able to achieve a similar reduction? It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination!
Moving to Solar Power Generation
Last July we installed solar panels on the roof of our office and warehouse in Citywest. With only 8 months of data so far (and most of this during the Autumn and Winter) we have generated almost 11 megawatts of electricity to power our operations. This equates to almost 5 tonnes of CO2 being avoided if we were using electricity from the grid and represents over 50% of our electricity needs for the period. We expect this to increase further as the Summer time approaches.
This is a small amount of C02 prevention in the global scheme of things but it’s a significant one for the individual or a small business like ours. We are very happy with it and pleased to have made the investment necessary.
We are continually looking at ways to make our business operations less damaging to our environment. Our Woodland Coffee initiative gives our customers the opportunity to make small decisions that have a real and lasting impact on climate change, would you like to make a difference with us?
#onesmallchange #woodlandcoffee
Moving to Solar Power
We are really excited about getting solar panels installed on our building here in Citywest. We are putting in 64 panels measuring 1.5 square meters each that will generate over 23,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. This is about 70% of our yearly usage. The electricity generated from the solar panels equates to a saving of about 9.8 tonnes of CO2 per year when compared to electricity generated using fossil fuels.
For the past number of years we have been sourcing our electricity from Airtricity, which is 100% wind generated electricity; so theoretically the installation of solar panels does not reduce our carbon footprint. It does however reduce the requirement to generate electricity from fossil fuels elsewhere on our island as our lower usage from the electricity grid reduces the dependence on fossil fuel power generation, that’s a thought that makes us very happy!
At Watermark, we are continually looking at ways as to how we can make better quality decisions to reduce our impact on our environment. Be it through our Woodland Coffee initiative, lowering the impact of waste from the coffee we sell or installing solar power. Each small decision makes a difference; Would you like to make a difference with us?
