
Show Notes
Louise Lalor is a circular champion in Clonmel, Tipperary. She has set up a permanent Toy Swap Library in a hub called The Circular Square, where there's also regualr repair cafés and eco community events. The work she does is very inspiring and rightly won an award at the Circular.ie awards! Stay up to date with her on Instagram @louiselalor and find the repair cafés here @clonmelrepaircafe.
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[04:00] Louise introduces herself and the journey into climate action [09:00] How and why the toy library came about [15:05] How it works if people want to visit [15:50] How they sustain themselves financially [16:50] Advice for people setting up something like this in their own locality [19:10] How Louise incorporates climate action into her teaching practice. [22:10] Some of Louise’s favourite moments since starting the toy library [28:10] Where to find The Circular Square etc [29:30] Louise’s first hand account of the wildfires in Tipperary this Summer [34:40] Imagining the future
Also mentioned: Suircan Chous cottage Clonmel Picker Pals Toy Libraries Ireland Biodiversity In Schools Active hope by Joanna Macy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Book of Leaves
Kate Doyle is the founder of EcoKinly and current operator of the Cloth Nappy Library Ireland (who we had on the podcast before!). She isn't just trying to sell reusable nappies and menstruation profucts to people, but to normalise the habit in a variety of ways. It was such an interesting chat! Stay up to date with her on Instagram @ecokinly.
Ray Ó Foghlú is the Engagement and Education officer with the charity Hometree. He runs the farmer engagement side of the Illaun Farm-Forest Alliance so we delved into ways in which farmers can access supports to rewild their land in Ireland. We also chat about the art project Dinnseanachas they are currently running. You can donate to their work here or stay up to date with them on Instagram @hometreecharity.
Seán Ó Sullivan is the creator of the well known eco Irish notebook business, Badly Made Books, which has morphed into a new venture called Agus Arís. While a portion of this chat is about the need for sustainable printing practices, we delve a lot into the struggles of keeping a small business sustainable for the staff as well. Seán had so much great advice to share! You can stay up to date with his new venture on Instagram @and.agusaris.
Jeffrey Roe is the CEO of TOG which have been leading the way in cultivating skill sharing around making and repairing. They have been hosting repair cafés since 2014, so before many of us even knew of the term! Jeffrey also set up the brilliant Dublin Maker festival which we chat about as well. I've linked everything below but you can also stay up to date with TOG via Instagram @toghackerspace.
Cornucopia is Dublin's most well known plant based restaurant - no surprise when you learn they've been in business for 40 years this year! I got to chat to co-founer Deirdre McCafferty, and her daughter Dairine who is the current manager, about the history of the restaurant and the importance of community, tasty food and education. You can visit them on Wicklow Street in Dublin 7 days a week, or stay up to date with them on Instagram @cornucopia_restaurant. Deirdre recently released a memoir called The Cornucopia Story which you can get from Kennys or any good book shop!