Courage, craic, cocktails and crowds of changemakers for Climate Carnival 2025

On 29–30 September, Ballintubbert Gardens and House in County Laois became something new entirely. Not a conference. Not a festival. A full-blown Climate Carnival – part radical teach-in, part wild garden party, all centred on one idea: bold, brave leadership for climate, nature and community.

For two packed days over 500 business, policy, activist and creative leaders tumbled into the organic gardens to do what Climate Cocktail Club does best – curate, connect and catalyse changemakers to take action, with a good measure of courage, craic and cocktails along the way.

None of this would have happened without the backing of Laois County Council as proud host sponsor. Their decision to welcome the first Climate Carnival to the county, and to weave it into a wider programme of climate action in Laois, set the tone: this was about community leadership as much as global expertise.

Alongside Laois County Council, we were thrilled to be powered by official partners Erinn Innovation, Diageo and BE IMPACTFUL, and lead partner Commonland – each bringing a different flavour of innovation, creativity, finance and landscape restoration to the mix. As well as our collaboration partners Wilderway, The Heritage Council, KPMG, Deloitte, Business for Biodiversity Ireland, Hubspot and Rowan; and broad range of hero supporters including the likes of Thinkhouse, Project Dandelion, SustainabilityExamples.com, Change by Degrees and many more.

Climate Dinner Club – every course a manifesto

The Carnival opened with a sold-out Climate Dinner Club in the pavilion on 29 September. Curated by GIY founder Mick Kelly, the menu was an edible lesson in regenerative agriculture, food empathy and zero waste hospitality.

Long tables filled with 180 changemakers as climate and nature titan Tony Juniper joined broadcaster and ecologist Anja Murray for a fireside conversation about a lifetime of campaigning, leadership and collaboration, and the themes of his book Just Earth: How a fairer world will save the planet.

Every dish told a story – from pulse-forward plates built around Irish grown ingredients, to vegetables sourced from regenerative farms. By the time Zoe Hayter's final notes faded and the last conversations drifted out into the darkened gardens, it was clear this was much more than a nice dinner. It was a working prototype of what future-fit hospitality could look and feel like.

A carnival that felt like an outrageous call to action

This Climate Carnival was never designed to be a passive sit-and-listen affair. It was pitched as an “outrageous call to action” and it delivered. Over one climate dinner and one full carnival day, more than eighty speakers and performers took to stages, lawns and hidden corners across five zones – Leadership, Landscapes, People Power, Future of Food and Exploration – with over thirty sessions in total.

The feeling?

- The urgency of a climate summit.

- The intimacy of a community gathering.

- The joyful chaos of a mini music festival in a secret garden.

One minute you were listening to a global leader dissect the politics of climate justice, the next you were listening to bold whistleblower, sketching a regenerative park with an artist, or debating ultra processed food with a legendary Irish chef. It was grounded, human and gloriously alive. Exactly how climate and nature conversations should feel.

From stages to soil – highlights from each zone

Leadership – courage, care and a little chaos

On the Leadership stage, the day opened with a powerful session on women leading on climate, convened through Project Dandelion and hosted by Dr Tara Shine. Global campaigner Dr Hafsat Abiola-Costello joined Irish and European climate leaders to explore what happens when women step into power not just as decision-makers but as movement builders.

Later, “the great listening” turned typical panel formats on their head, foregrounding youth and community voices and asking what it would mean if institutions truly listened before acting. Mental health, justice and the emotional toll of climate work ran through the climate, nature and health nexus conversation, making space for vulnerability as a form of leadership rather than a weakness.

As the light faded, the Leadership stage dialled up the mischief. A masterclass conversation with Blindboy, Hector Ó hÉochagáin and Tara Shine moved between absurdity and razor sharp critique – questioning everything from “landed gentry lawns” to how we get people to actually care about biodiversity. It was funny, furious and strangely hopeful.

Future of Food – from meat in the middle to food security

Curated by GIY, the Future of Food zone was a crash course in how our plates can either fuel breakdown or regeneration.

Sessions such as “Meat in the Middle – plants, animals and the future of food” tackled the false binaries of vegan versus farmer, asking instead how we design food systems that nourish people and planet.

Panels on young people, ultra processed foods and food education dug into how our current food environment is shaping bodies, behaviour and biodiversity. Elsewhere, a masterclass on the Irish famine and a climate changed planet offered a sobering historical lens on present day risk.

Out in the grounds, mushroom foraging walks and grow-your-own conversations made all of this tangible. You could hear a talk on food security with Darina Allen and Kitty Scully, then walk straight out to meet regenerative farmers from Laois and beyond who are experimenting with new business models and soil-first practices.

People Power – movements, lonely leaders and joyful resistance

People Power did exactly what it said on the tin. A session on mobilising for action looked at how campaigns, creative content and radical storytelling can turn casual audiences into committed allies. Elsewhere, “success and impact at SME scale” gave smaller businesses permission to see themselves as climate leaders, not just compliance followers.

A live “weaving” session led by Sarah Prosser invited participants to map their own roles in landscape change, drawing on the Four Returns framework championed by Commonland: return of inspiration, return of social capital, return of natural capital and return of financial capital.

Workshops on becoming an activist at work and exploring enabled emissions took the conversation from protest to action - led by the formidable Holly Alpine, challenging clubbers to recognise their power inside institutions, not only outside them.

Landscapes – four returns, many futures

Against the backdrop of Ballintubbert’s organic gardens – Ireland’s first certified organic ornamental gardens – the Landscapes zone asked what it really means to restore whole places rather than isolated plots.

Panels on financing nature at scale and restoration radicals brought together investors, scientists and landscape practitioners to explore how we move from pilot projects to whole watershed transformation.

Alongside the talk of soil and hedgerows there was a clear-eyed focus on how we actually pay for nature. The financing nature session pulled in impact investors, public funders and on-the-ground practitioners to unpack blended finance, patient capital and what it will really take to back long term restoration instead of short term extraction.

Ocean radicals crashed the party too, connecting Laois to kelp forests, coastal communities and marine protection, and reminding us that “landscape” does not stop at the shoreline.

Then the renewables crew took the mic, sharing expert perspectives from global power purchasing to community owned energy, grid headaches and the opportunity of a green economy. Together they painted a picture of landscapes where money, energy and ecosystems are all working in the same direction.

Music, art and performance – keeping the soul in the story

If the stages were the brain of the Carnival, the performers were the beating heart.

Across the two days we were held, challenged and delighted by an extraordinary line-up:

- Contemporary vocalist and troubadour Zoe Hayter, whose folky songs threaded energy, inspiration and resilience through the Climate Dinner Club.

- Local trad collective Lírnan, welcoming guests into the pavilion and later popping up around the gardens with tunes that felt like home.

- Liam Ó Maonlaí and Jerry Fish, bringing big musical energy as day turned to night and reminding everyone that joy is not an optional extra in movements for change.

- Comedian Diane O’Connor, who used stand up to skewer climate guilt, corporate greenwash and the awkwardness of trying to “live sustainably” in a very unsustainable world.

Spoken word from local grower and poet Jeremy Haworth and other artists wove through the Exploration zone, turning soil, rain and farm life into stories that lingered long after the applause.

Even the morning Polyvagal Inspired Yoga and Tribal Twerk session played its part – shaking off tension, grounding nervous systems and proving that climate carnivals can, in fact, involve dancing - thanks Muriel.

Exhibitions, side quests and garden encounters

From 09.00 on Carnival day the exhibition spaces were buzzing. Stands from local and national initiatives turned abstract ideas into things you could touch, question and sign up to. Business for Biodiversity Ireland shared tools for companies starting their nature positive journeys, while Irish Wildlife Trust took us on a journey through our native flora and fauna.

Erinn Innovation brought stories from peatland restoration projects and emerging Climate House concept for the midlands, situating Laois within a wider transformation of former extractive landscapes.

Graphic recorder and artist Eimear McNally invited people to add ideas to a living “regenerative park” map – a vision for a future nature and climate learning space in the region. Others stopped by to talk renewable energy, ocean literacy, community finance, or simply to grab a coffee and end up in a conversation they did not expect to have.

Between the stalls, the forest bathing paths, impact walks, water workshops and quiet corners for plotting, the real magic of the Carnival happened in the gaps – in the introductions made, the schemes hatched, the awkward questions asked of speakers long after their sessions had ended.

With huge thanks…

To Laois County Council, for backing something this ambitious and for championing climate and nature leadership across the county. To Erinn Innovation, Diageo and BE IMPACTFUL as our official innovation, cocktail and knowledge partners, and to Commonland as lead partner, for bringing the four returns vision for thriving landscapes into the Carnival’s DNA. To Ballintubbert Gardens and House, GIY and all our collaboration partners and exhibitors for opening their doors, gardens and minds.

And above all to every single person who showed up, spoke up, danced, listened, questioned, sang, engaged, laughed and plotted their next move.

The first Climate Carnival in Laois was never just about two days in September. It was a signal that bold, brave leadership is already emerging from this county and from communities across Ireland.

See you at the next one. Until then, keep stirring up action.