Easter Hours
Galway City Museum will open Sundays, 12pm – 5pm commencing Easter Sunday 5 April 2026.
exhibition
Earth Action
Blue Wall, Blackrock, courtesy of Chaosheng Zhang
‘Even a wounded world is feeding us, even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of joy and wonder. I choose joy over despair, not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the Earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.’ Robin Wall Kimmerer
Created by Melanie Lynch, Earth Action is an exhibition that inspires visitors to shift from climate anxiety to inspired action, highlighting how unsustainable consumption and climate pressures pose critical dangers for both people and nature.
Blending science-based calls for action, artworks by Róisín Coyle and Eugene McKeown, and inspiration from the Galway City Council climate team, the exhibit connects local stories such as Galway’s rising sea levels and local woodland initiatives to the wider movement for climate resilience.
Participants are invited to plant native trees, practice everyday actions to reduce emissions, engage in circular economy practices and support sustainable food systems. The exhibition promotes advocacy and collective responsibility and demonstrates how community initiatives can help shape a climate aware future for Galway.
Coole Park, courtesy of Adrian Moore
Plant Six Native Trees
Following the last Ice Age, 80% of ancient Ireland was covered by native woodlands. By Irish Independence in 1921, this had reduced to 1%, due to colonisation and agriculture. Now only 11% of Ireland is forested, with a national goal to reach 18% by 2050. You can help in this rewilding effort.
Irish – Canadian scientist Diana Beresford-Kroeger’s BioPlan proposes that if every person plants six trees, we can reverse climate change. Don’t worry if you don’t have a garden, HomeTree.ie can plant your trees for you, helping you support the rewilding of Ireland’s Atlantic rainforests.
Lorem Ips Lorems Lorem
In Galway, the Ballinderreen Kinvara Tree Gang adopted the Tiny Forest idea pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. These forests grow ten times faster and are thirty times more effective at absorbing CO2 than typical forests, enhancing biodiversity and attracting wildlife. Can you create a Tiny Forest with your local community?
Mending nets in the Claddagh. Source: Illustrated London News, 4 June 1870
Circular is the Way Forward
Since the Industrial Revolution, developed economies have operated with a linear growth model, exploiting natural resources for convenience. Now, countries like Ireland are embracing a circular economy – minimising waste, preserving resources, and promoting sustainability through closed loop systems.
The natural world offers us inspiration, where complex ecosystems have evolved over 3.8 billion years to waste nothing and recycle everything.
History also provides lessons. In Galway, the Claddagh fishing community practised principles central to today’s circular economy – resource sustainability, waste reduction and fostering interdependence.
Seagrass, courtesy of Ulysses Seagrass Project
Become a Water Hero
“When you breathe, remember that every second breath comes from the ocean. The ocean releases the most oxygen, the ocean is breathing for us, and this is a beautiful act of symbiosis”
Dr. Easkey Britton
Everything you consume flows through nature’s water systems. Be mindful – for your health and the health of the rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Replace bleach and chemical detergents with non-toxic, eco-friendly cleaners. A University of Plymouth study estimated that a 6kg wash releases about 700,000 microplastic fibres. Installing a washing machine microplastic filter, which can capture up to 90% of these fibres, protects local waterways.
Did you know that seagrass stores 35 times more carbon than tropical forests?
The Earth Action exhibition at Galway City Museum
Earth Pigments
Roisin Coyle is an artist living and working in Galway. In recent years she has been fascinated by collecting and working with natural earth pigments (also known as ochre) most of which are millions of years old. There is a meditative slowing down, when it comes to pigment making, which brings a deep engagement with the material of earth.
Each landscape has its own palette of colour. Each colour carries the memory of the place where it is collected. Every handful of earth contains around eight billion microorganisms, a vibrant archive of animals, plants, metal, fire, air, water.
The first evidence of ochre use in Ireland dates to 10,000 years ago. Ochre stained flint tools and an ochre crayon were among the finds of Ireland’s earliest known settlement, which are displayed in the Ulster Museum. It’s uncertain why the Mesolithic people used Ochre, it could have been either for practical or ritual reasons. The ochre pigments in the cabinet have been collected by Roisin around Ireland, France and the Canary Islands, including from the very recently erupted Cumbre Vieja Volcano in La Palma.
Sounds of Climate Change
The Sounds of Climate Change is an immersive audio-visual installation created by Engineer
and Acoustician Eugene McKeown, and commissioned by Galway City Council.
The installation invites visitors to experience the changing Irish and global environment
through sound — from MORE EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS to shifting seasons —
creating an evocative soundscape that connects the scientific reality of climate change with
our emotional and sensory experience of it.
Eugene McKeown is a Galway-based soundscape researcher and artist with a passion for listening, place, and environmental awareness. His work weaves field recordings and voiced
narratives into immersive listening experiences, inviting audiences to hear what daily life
drowns out.
Earth Action features artwork by Roisín Coyle and Eugene McKeown. The exhibition was created by Melanie Lynch, Director of Our Story.
Melanie Lynch is the Founder of HerStory and Our Story, a visionary communications consultancy in service to people and planet. She is an award-winning Irish storyteller, curator, and social innovator, with almost 20 years’ experience delivering world class communications and pioneering education programmes that open hearts and minds. In 2025 she was nominated to become a National Geographic Explorer, and she was awarded a Master’s degree in Design Thinking for Sustainability from the UCD Innovation Academy.