Join Kilkenny's Climate Hero Challenge on Earth Day and help win national competition

Kilkenny Sustainable Energy Community are organising an Earth Day event on Saturday, April 22, and invite everyone to come along and learn about saving energy, saving on consumption and saving money.

The event will also coincide with the launch of a national campaign to find Irelands Climate Heroes.

A Sustainable Energy Community is any community that comes together to take action in changing the way their community thinks about energy. The Kilkenny City group was formed as part of the work of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful and their first event this year will take place in McDonagh Junction on Saturday between 12 and 3pm and will consist of information stands on actions we can take to reduce consumption, tips on saving energy and upcycling fashion.

There will be 10-minute talks over the three hours and people can dip in and out as they wish. It is planned as a family friendly and inclusive event.

The Climate Heroes challenge is an opportunity for civil society groups to highlight their power to make a change. It is the first national climate competition for community groups in Ireland, inviting organisations to compete against teams in other organisations, to reduce CO2 as much as possible.

The aim of the competition is to show how each person can use simple and effective measures to reduce their own climate footprint on a daily basis - both at home, in their free time and at work. All participating groups receive a final report detailing the amount of greenhouse gas they have saved.

The day will start with the launch of the Kilkenny Climate Heroes Challenge by Minister of State Malcolm Noonan at noon. The Climate Heroes Challenge is a web based challenge where registered teams of between five and 20 people log the activities they do each day that save energy consumption.

These actions are given a CO2 value and all the actions by every member of the team is logged to make up a team total. The winning teams are the ones that save the most CO2 over a 14 week period. All you have to do, is one team member registers the team and they will get a code for their team. Members can log their actions each day over a 14 day period starting on April 22 – World Earth Day.

“We are delighted to partner with South East Energy Agency through our SEC mentor Therese Curran who has helped us organise this event, and it is great to get the support of Kilkenny County Councils Climate Action Team," said Chairperson of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful Maria Dollard.

"We will be launching the Climate Heroes Challenge. It is also great way for civil society and community groups to see how everything they do matters. Its fun and educational and builds team spirit.”

Registering a team and taking part will help Keep Kilkenny Beautiful and all other Kilkenny Tidy Towns groups in the county, gain points for the Super Valu Tidy Towns competition running later this year.

KKB is encouraging all residents groups to get involved this year and all residents groups will have received an email from Kilkenny County Council Environment Awareness Officer. Register as soon as you can and lets start logging those actions to reduce CO2 emissions.