Wild Atlantic Impact takes Galway by Storm...

Wild Atlantic Impact. Galway #3, Fr. Burke Park, Galway City. 26 June, 2026.

Blog written by Co-host & Curator Melanie Lynch.

The West of Ireland is a liminal space where magic happens, where soil meets salt, where ancient ways meet new ambition, where the finest scientists and storytellers converge, and where Europe faces America across the wildest ocean on earth.

Recently, we were stoked to partner with Galway City Council and Milestone Inventive as part of their ‘Climate Inspirations Festival’ for our second major Climate Cocktail Club event in Galway City which took place at Father Burke Park, a beautiful leafy oasis amid Galway City’s vibrant energy. Together we gathered to spark radical collaboration at the edge of Europe. 

After the prophetic thunder storm quelled and it was safe to return to the circus tent, Craig Ferguson and Tadgh Murphy kicked off the event with some mellifluous trad music.

Guests and attendees arrived to a welcoming space rapidly filling with conversation, laughter and enjoyed perfectly curated, bespoke gin cocktails generously sponsored and served up by the brilliant team at Ahascragh Distillery. Solaris Tea (BCorp) complimented the drinks offering with ‘Summer Sips on the rocks’ from their Botanical Bar made with 100% organic, whole leaf botanical and zero artificial ingredients. Kinnegar Beer an independent Irish brewery drew attendees to enjoy their exceptional range of handcrafted Irish Beers and Living Things provided a refreshing burst of flavour with their range of vibrant sodas.

A real highlight was being able to sample fresh Galway Bay Oysters, expertly served up by Diarmuid from Kelly Oysters alongside Nóirín from Cuan Beo, who later told us about the amazing work that they do working on projects such as Native Oyster Restoration, Water Quality, Community Engagement & protecting Coastal Heritage 

Louise French from the Climate Cocktail Club welcomed the 200+ guests and Javier Santoyo shared some exciting news about the new CCC Galway Collective. 

At the first Climate Cocktail Club event in Galway last year we talked about building a bold movement for environmental action from the West that would ripple from the heart of Galway across Ireland and the world. Galway has the perfect cocktail of storytellers, climate and nature entrepreneurs, companies of different sizes and professionals in energy, life sciences, med-tech and health, activists and policy advocates, culture creators, and scientists. We have the Marine Institute, the Ryan Institute of the University of Galway and the Marine and Freshwater Research Centre of ATU, and the best storytellers in the world. And as it was shown on the night, fuelled by the Atlantic, we have the energy to make serious magic. The new Galway Collective will build a community to realise this vision. 

Melanie Lynch, our co-host, curator, and Founder of OurStory, shared some spectacular photographs from the Borneo x Ireland Cultural Exchange that will be exhibited in Galway Arts Centre for the Baboró International Festival for Children this October. In these polarising times when racism is on the rise and the Far Right is poisoning hearts, Melanie decided to respond with radical collaboration, to forge an unusual friendship between the Irish people and the Dayak tribe of Borneo who are guardians of the oldest rainforest in the world -  twice as old as the Amazon - and home to 140 million years of awe-inspiring biodiversity, including 3000 species of native trees, 2000 species of orchid, and of course, the Orangutan!

“United in our love for the forest, we are empowering environmental education, celebrating our cultures, and regenerating our ecosystems. In the spirit of reciprocity, we are sharing Indigenous wisdom and sustainable solutions. Our dream is to inspire other countries to forge genuine friendships with Indigenous cultures, to support each other to heal the earth, to learn from Indigenous wisdom and the kinship worldview that unravels the Anthropocene, deconstructs colonial ideologies, and cultivates a sustainable future for all.”

We were blessed to have some very special First Nations guests all the way from Turtle Island. Casey Camp Horinek joined us with her daughter Julia and Shannon Biggs. Together they co-founded Movement Rights.

Casey Camp Horinek is a Mother, Actress, Activist, and Environmental Ambassador for the Ponca Tribe of what is now Oklahoma. While serving on the Ponca Business Committee, Casey led her community to become the first tribe to recognise the Rights of Nature in tribal law in America. Casey is the Co-founder and Chairwoman of Movement Rights and she serves as the chair of the Indigenous Council for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.

Casey enthralled us with a masterclass in Indigenous wisdom and approaches to power, law, and community. She shared the Kinship Worldview, inviting us into a reciprocal relationship with nature and all life on this Earth. 

Melanie shared some BIG news about the Irish Rights of Nature campaign which is building momentum behind the scenes. Melanie ran HerStory’s successful campaign to make Brigid’s Day Ireland’s first national holiday in honour of a woman and our Celtic Goddess. Now she’s  excited to apply this learning for the Rights of Nature. This Summer Melanie will brief a magical collective of poets, musicians and artists to become ambassadors for their local ecosystems, to give voice to the rivers, mountains, lakes, and oceans, and all the more than human beings that live there. Ireland’s campaign is part of the European Coalition to bring the Rights of Nature to EU level through a European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) that’s launching this September with a 2 year strategy to empower the European movement. Watch this space!

Next Melanie had a fireside chat with Ireland’s David Attenborough. Naturalist Eoin Warner is a wildlife documentary presenter - in English and Gaeilge - and he has presented some of Ireland’s most award-winning nature documentaries in recent years. Ireland’s Wild Islands won one of the most prestigious documentary film awards in the world, beating the BBC and National Geographic. This spectacular series was produced by Crossing the Line Productions based in Mayo. Honestly the talent we have on the West coast!!

When you feel awe, the default mode in your brain is deactivated: it’s the opposite of flight or fight physiology. Sparking AWE is a smart strategy if you want to inspire action and energise people to regenerate Ireland’s ecosystems.

The great naturalist and philosopher John Moriarty shared some prescient words: “Unless there’s wildness around you, something terrible happens to the wildness inside you. And if the wildness inside of you dies, I think you are finished.” Eoin shared some enchanting film clips from his new series Wild Conamara; featuring the basking sharks’ mating ritual, the enigmatic belted beauty moth, and the stoat: “the panther of the Irish forest.”

"I think it's a deep consolation to know that spiders dream, that monkeys tease predators, that dolphins have accents, that lions can be scared silly by a lone mongoose, that otters hold hands, and ants bury their dead. That there isn’t their life and our life. Nor your life and my life. That it's just one teetering and endless thread and all of us, all of us, are entangled with it as deep as entanglement goes.” - Kate Forster

And when you thought the night couldn’t get any better, Alice Ward took to the stage. Alice is the Creative Director of Sea Pea Films. An award-winning filmmaker and water photographer, she is recognised as a leading voice in women’s surfing and ocean-focused storytelling. 

“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible” and Alice is doing just that. She shared the spellbinding creative process behind her short film Salt. Then she revealed some haunting insights about her new feature film The Salmon of Knowledge which is currently in production. Alice has adopted the MOTH model and she is giving copyright to the rivers and salmon who co-created her new film. And a percentage of the film’s profits will be reinvested back into these ecosystems. 

Next up it was Sinéad Grimes who melted every heart with her brilliant Dúlra Project. What makes Dúlra magic is their collaborative, community based approach, working closely with local landowners, volunteers, and relevant authorities to maximise impact. Dúlra, which translates as "Nature" in Irish, aims to address the serious issue of controlling the spread of Rhododendron Ponticum in the ecologically sensitive areas (SACs) in Connemara and South Mayo. Back in 2022 Dúlra investigated the use of biochar to deal with the problem of rhododendron brash and built a mobile biochar unit based on a design from America. It was the first of its kind in Ireland. They successfully made biochar from the rhododendron brash!

Then it was time for our Wild leaders roundtable co-hosted by Finn Delaney  with Luana Jungmann and Gareth McAllister in the hot seats, with Cuan Beo and the Marine Institute chiming in from the audience. 

Gareth shared the inspiration behind Ahascragh Distillery which he founded with his wife Michelle. He revealed how previous business ventures in China gave him a taste for innovative renewable energy technology. Ahascragh is Ireland’s first Eco-Distillery and winner of the “Innovative deployment of renewable energy” SEAI energy award in 2023. Located in County Galway, Ahascragh Distillery operates from a restored 19th century mill, producing zero energy emissions whiskey and gin through renewable energy (wind, solar) and high temperature heat pumps with advanced thermal storage. They produce environmentally responsible whiskey and gin with dedication to quality, sustainability and authenticity. Ahascragh Distillery’s range of products include award winning Clan Colla, UAIS and Xin Gin.

"In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught." - Baba Dioum

Luana talked about her leadership role as a Climate Action Officer with An Taisce, empowering the delivery of the National Climate Change Action & Awareness Programme in Galway. A dreamer who delivers, In 2019 Luana founded an education and marine conservation charity called CuriOcean which focuses on raising awareness and engaging with local communities. This October, the CuriOcean team is bringing her dream to life by creating an ocean festival in Galway called Sáile (Saltwater in Irish). This will be a community-led festival that will feature interactive workshops, panels of discussions around challenges and solutions for marine conservation, local artists, a sustainable food court and showcase an Irish marine documentary.

Luana said; “The Climate Cocktail Club was an amazing event that brought local communities together to connect, share ideas, and celebrate the great work being done in Galway and by the Ponca community. Melanie and Finn were unbelievable hosts, I already can't wait for the next event!”

And we can’t resist sharing some Indigenous philosophy on leadership from Robin Wall Kimmerer: “If citizenship is a matter of shared beliefs, then I believe in the democracy of species. If citizenship means an oath of loyalty to a leader, then I choose the leadership of the trees. If good citizens agree to uphold the laws of the nation, then I choose natural law; the law of reciprocity, of regeneration, of mutual flourishing.”

We wrapped the night with a Climate Céili hosted by the legendary Galway Céili Club - the cure for Mondays, Winter and Climate Anxiety - followed by the after party at the iconic Roisín Dúbh. 

Huge thanks to our partners: GALWAY CITY COUNCIL, GALWAY CLIMATE INSPIRATIONS FESTIVAL, THINKHOUSE, KPMG, BE IMPACTFUL, OUR STORY, SDCL, Western Development Commission, Sustainabilityexamples.com, B Lab Ireland, Resolve Partners, Natural Capital Ireland, Galway Céili Club, AHASCRAGH DISTILLERY, SOLARIS TEA, LIVING THINGS SODA, KINNEGAR BREWING, and AIR PLANTS IRELAND. Without your support these events don't happen.

The Impact Coalition is now forming. If you want to be part of what comes next, join the coalition and save the date for the Climate Carnival on 15th & 16th September.