Location: The Chapel
Free, booking required. Book here. 

Keynote presentation by Jon Alexander 
Followed by a panel discussion with Easkey Britton, Seán McCabe (Bohemians FC), and Aisling McCarthy.  Hosted by Aoife Barry

What if solving the climate crisis isn’t about lone heroes, but about coming together, building trust, and finding strength in each other? Our opening talk at Earth Rising invites us to imagine a different kind of future – one built on connection, care, and shared action. 

The evening will open with a keynote presentation from author Jon Alexander. We live in a moment of deep crisis but also huge opportunity. If we can step into a bigger story of ourselves as citizens, not just consumers; if we can come together and commit to the places we live and love; and if we can open up our institutions, the future could yet be bright. 

Following John’s presentation, he will be joined for a panel discussion by 

• Seán McCabe – Head of Climate Justice & Sustainability, Bohemians FC 

• Aisling McCarthy – founder of AllAboutFolk 

• Easkey Britton – surfer, ecologist, and author 

• Hosted by journalist and author Aoife Barry 

After the talk, stay for a warm, sociable close to the evening with delicious Palestinian food from The Great Oven, drinks from Hennessy, and music by Donal Dineen. 

Free and open to all – come join the conversation. 

Location: The Chapel
Free, booking required. Book here. 

Fast fashion is fast waste. But what if we could break it down and grow something better in its place? 

This conversation explores the fashion industry through the lens of breakdown and transformation. What might emerge from the collapse of fast fashion systems? Taking inspiration from the composting theme in our Staying with the Trouble exhibition, we’ll dig into textile reuse, the politics of waste, and the creative potential of circular and slow fashion approaches. 

Joining the conversation: 

• Sarah O’Neill – fashion designer (ZeroWaster)
• Caitríona Rogerson – producer, Textile Mountain
• Zeda – upcycling icon and founder of The Art of Styling
• Mark Sweeney, Donated Goods Strategy Manager, Oxfam
• Hosted by DJ and columnist Fionnuala Moran 

The event will also feature a mini fashion show curated by Zeda, showcasing stylish looks created entirely from thrifted clothing, offering practical inspiration for dressing with creativity and conscience. 

Join designers, makers, and storytellers as they unpick the fast fashion mindset and explore new ways of dressing that honour time, ecology, and community. Because what we choose to wear can help shape the kind of world we want to grow. 

Location: The Chapel
Free, booking required. Book here. 

Featuring speakers, Florence Williams, Easkey Britton, Brendan Dunford, Sabrina Dekker. Hosted by Rosalind Skillen

How does spending time in nature change the way we think and feel? And what happens when we forget that we share the world with countless other living things – even the ones we can’t see? 

We are delighted to welcome science journalist Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix, who will discuss the latest research on why being in nature is good for human health, wellbeing, communities, and creativity. She draws from neuroscience, environmental psychology, cognition studies, epidemiology, and medicine around the world.  Learn why our current epidemic disconnection from nature threatens our psyches and our communities and what we can do about it.

Florence’s talk will be followed by a lively panel discussion exploring how nature shapes our minds and what we lose when we become disconnected from it. As cities grow and digital lives expand, can we rewild not just our landscapes but also our habits, cultures, and everyday spaces? 

Joining the conversation are 

• Easkey Britton – surfer, ecologist, and author 

• Brendan Dunford – founder of BurrenBeo 

• Dr Sabrina Dekker – Dublin Regional Climate Action Co-ordinator
  Hosted by journalist Rosalind Skillen 

Come along for a discussion that asks how we can make room for the critters, within us and around us, and why doing so might just change how we live, work, and care for the planet. 

Location: Greenhouse Stage
Free, Drop-in

3 x 15 minutes talks about birds with Marie Louise Heffernan 

1. Feeling Aukward(auks being a common name for Guillemots/razorbills/puffins)
2. Winging it
3. Feathering their nests

Marie Louise Heffernan is an experienced environmental consultant and Director of Aster Environmental Consultants Limited. With over 30 years of expertise in ecology, biodiversity planning, and marine assessments, she specializes in the Habitats Directive, ornithology, and fisheries.

Location: Greenhouse Stage
Free, drop-in

In conversation, Alannah and Marie Louise will explore how art can work together with science, as well as the importance of balancing biodiversity action with climate action. Interface’s work exploring art & ecology /land & sea 

Marie Louise Heffernan is an experienced environmental consultant and Director of Aster Environmental Consultants Limited. With over 30 years of expertise in ecology, biodiversity planning, and marine assessments, she specializes in the Habitats Directive, ornithology, and fisheries. 

Alannah Robins is a visual artist with an international interdisciplinary practice, with a love of nature at its heart. She is the founder and artistic director of Interface which has developed a strong reputation for its programming of arts which explore and interrogate ecological crises. 

Location: The Chapel
Free, booking required. Book here. 

Artist john gerrard will present recent art works both on and offline in this lecture which fundamentally asks: how to respond artistically and at scale to a global ecological and cultural polycrisis, now? And how, if at all, should contemporary mediums of computer, simulation, network, LED and web browsers operate and function in these responses? 

john gerrard (b. Tipperary. Ireland 1974) is regarded as a key figure in the development of simulation within contemporary art. Recent exhibitions include Surrender (Flag) at Hayward Gallery, London. Western Flag at Dark Mofo, Tasmania. Flare for Onassis Foundation, Greece. Corn Work at Galway International Arts Festival, travelling to Gwangju Biennial, South Korea. Gerrard’s work is in the collections of Tate, London; MoMA, New York; SFMOMA, San Francisco; LACMA, Los Angeles, IMMA, Dublin 

Location: Johnson Room 
Free, booking required. Book here. 

As part of the Dinnseanchas project, storyteller Aindrais de Staic met with members of the upland’s communities along the western seaboard from Ballybofey to Ballydehob.  

Join Aindrais for an intimate session of scealtí cois tine as he explores the sustainable wisdom buried deep in the dinnseanchas. 

Andrais de Staic is part of the Dinnseanchas project. Dinnseanchas is one of four projects selected from a national open call for Earth Rising 2025.

Location: Lecture Room
Free, booking required. Book here.

The Cailleach, our deepest lore of place and most mysterious deity, requires that we look deeply at the stories shaping our world and choices. This talk looks at why transformation to a more regenerative society is not just about planting more trees but also requires a shift in perspective, mindset, and belief.  

From the end of the last ice age right through to today’s world, Dinnseanchas’ researcher Jennifer Ahern will bring you on a journey across time, exploring some of the stories embedded in the Irish landscape through the eyes of the Cailleach. Looking at what lore and lessons they might hold in relation to the current Metacrisis. 

Jennifer Ahern is part of the Dinnseanchas project. Dinnseanchas is one of four projects selected from a national open call for Earth Rising 2025. 

Location: Lecture Room
Free, booking required. Book here.

Inspiring conversation with ecologist Dr Joanne O Brien, artist Lisa Fingleton, Rena Blake, Sean Cullhane and the Brilliant Ballybunion community collaborators. Showcasing the strength of collaboration between people, communities and nature. Celebrating collective effort and shared ideas.  

 We will share learning over the previous two years of our Creative Climate Action Project and will particularly focus on new Ballybunion Nature Group (Ring Plover Conservation) and Ballybunion Bean Festival.  

This festival took place in August and focused on our relationship with the bean, ‘boldly going when no one has bean before’ to explore a more climatarian and plant based diet.  

Location: The Chapel
Free, booking required. Book here.

What happens when artists, activists, and communities come together to imagine new ways of living, creating, and caring? 

This panel brings together the four commissioned projects from Earth Rising’s national open call, each offering a unique and inspiring approach to building connection with land, with community, and with the more-than-human world. While diverse in form and theme, these projects share a common goal: to create kin and cultivate more caring, resilient, and imaginative futures. 

Hosted by Lisa Fitzsimons, Head of Strategy and Sustainability at IMMA, the panel will feature: 

• Lisa Fingleton – What If We Were Brilliant? Brilliant Ballybunion 
• Grace Wells – Dinnseanchas – Envisioning the Uplands, Hometree & collaborators 
• Alannah Robins – Bearing Witness | Holding Space | Making Injury Visible, Interface Inagh 
• Samuel Arnold Keane – Skate + Forage 

 From humpback whales to wild herbs, upland rituals to offshore resistance, join us for a rich and hopeful conversation about creative climate action, rural innovation, and the power of place-based storytelling. 

Location: The Chapel
Free, booking required. Book here.

In the face of planetary crisis, what if we imagined a different way forward? 

Conceived as a hopeful and grounded space for reflection at the end of the festival, this closing panel doesn’t shy away from the scale of the challenges we face. Instead, it invites us to explore bold alternatives to the dominant logic of extraction and acceleration. 

Together, we’ll consider how post-growth thinking, climate justice, and new definitions of prosperity and resilience can help us navigate the real-world tensions between breakdown, transition, and transformation. 

Drawing inspiration from the Sowing Worlds theme in IMMA’s Staying with the Trouble exhibition, this conversation brings together creative thinkers, and changemakers to explore how imagination, storytelling, and creativity can help shape better futures. It’s about what happens when we plant seeds, of ideas, of action, of community, and how they might take root in surprising ways. 

This final gathering is a space to reflect, reconnect, and carry the spirit of the festival forward – with honesty, courage, and care. 

 Panellists include: 

• Professor John Barry – Queen’s University Belfast 
• Ali Sheridan – Chair, Just Transition Commission 
• Matt Smith – CEO Hometree 
• Laura Costello – Purpose Disruptors Ireland 
• Moderated by Fran McNulty, RTE Primetime 
• All welcome. Come join a vital conversation about what might grow next.