Westport Eco-Congregation ran a very successful ‘Clean Coasts’ talk in Westport Town Hall on Monday 17th September. Up to 80 people attended on the night when speakers included Beckey Finn Britton from An Taisce Clean Coasts, Eithne Larkin from Leave no Trace, Fergal O’Dowd from GMIT and Louise Hastings from Keep our Beaches Clean Louisburgh. Louise outlined the power of social media in gathering local volunteers to clean up the beaches in Louisburgh after she witnessed appalling litter on Old Beach during the heat wave in late June. This one-off litter pick event became a regular event over the summer months. Her talk inspired all present to take further action to keep our beaches clean.
Following on from this Westport Eco-Congregation along with local volunteers carried out a clean-up in the Rosbeg area on Saturday 22nd. It was great to report that there was a minimal amount of rubbish to collect. Westport Eco-Congregation thanks all the volunteers and to Mayo Co Council for sponsoring their events.
The photo shows members of Westport Eco-Congregation with the speakers of the ‘Towards Cleaner Coast for Mayo’.
Since the publication of Pope Francis’ Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ to remind us the Earth is our Common Home, St.Mary’s and Holy Trinity communities in Westport have come together to form Westport Eco-Congregation, to promote awareness of our environment. Their vision is to see churches throughout Ireland adopt an eco-approach to worship, lifestyle, property and finance management, community outreach and contact with the developing world.