We made it to our 10th Dublin anniversary... I can hear the whoop whoops playing out as you're reading this! The Christmas Cracker (now a household staple, right) was back in action after a prolonged Covid-era slumber and boy did you Clubbers have a ball, weaving in Christmas parties, re-uniting college buddies and hardened long term Clubbers (I'll try and get pin badges for the super-fans!). Tables sold out in quick order and we activated the waitlist - thank you all for such huge support for this and through the year.
"We are in a race between two very different futures, a future that could go completely to shit and be really horrible, or a future that could be beautiful, amazing and fantastic, and our part of human history will be deciding what future we want." Jonathan Foley
"Humanity thrived in the lemon and herb era... and we're moving to extra hot, and not everyone can handle extra hot." Matt Winning
Kicked off by our own Tom Popple (Founder of Climate Cocktail Club and BE IMPACTFUL) setting the scene for action and exploring what connection on climate could be and thanking the superb partners for their support in hosting the event KPMG and Erinn Innovation and our cocktail partners Irish Distillers and Ballintubbert House. Split across four segments the evening took us through comedy with Matt Winning (Comedian and Lecturer, UCL), science with Jonathan Foley (Executive Director, Project Drawdown), reimagining with Laura Costello (Head of Sustainability and Planet Services, Thinkhouse) and then closing on a Christmas quiz with Tom.
"At the moment, our story of a good life is one of more. Its more wealth, more power, more material abundance... and this story is taking us in the opposite direction to where we have to go." Laura Costello
"If we do not tackle climate change imminently and reduce emissions faster than we ever have and remove fossil fuels from our economy and society the future will be like the Kevin Costner film Waterworld... dogshit." Matt Winning
We opened with climate change scientist and comedian Matt Winning asking Must We, Can We, and Will We change on our approach to the climate crisis. Playing his first Irish gig and tackling some rowdy bar-stuck Clubbers, Matt superbly navigated the fear, urgency, complexity, science, counter-science, climate celebrities and more through his hour session on the Sugar Club stage.
Beautifully set up by Matt's framing of the climate science, Jonathan Foley took us on a compelling journey calling for action to address the significant drivers of global warming - fossil fuels and agriculture. But more than bashing the old enemy, Jon explored the opportunities, solutions and benefits of taking meaningful and urgent action. Recognising some headwinds in recent politics and changes in commitments, he emphasised the positive action undertaken and called for continued momentum. We imagined the future we want to have and how we may get there, whilst grounded ourselves in the challenges and obstacles we have to overcome, as well as emphasising proven solutions with immediate impact over new longer term technologies.
"Now is always better than new, and time always trumps technology. Always focus on the fastest solutions." Jonathan Foley
As if by magic Jon's call to imagine the future and make it happen, was led in practice by the reimagining of the Good Life by Laura Costello of Thinkhouse and Purpose Disruptors. This groundbreaking and industry remoulding initiative challenged the consumption-led status quo and worked within the advertising industry to put the marketing machine to work for the planet. Laura explored the challenge of overcoming the public's perception of advertising, which is seen as a distraction and something which gets in the way of people's activities, and using it as a force for positive messaging. Understanding that we are living in an era of information overload the project sought to reframe an approach, slowing the consumer down, using allocated advertising space for calm and reflection and reimagination, whether via radio, TV, online or other. A radical dive into an industry supercharged and blamed for exponential consumerism, Laura and the Good Life project, showed a beautiful and powerful alternative.
"How do we get a business industry to dream differently. What we started to do was getting people to close their eyes and having very different conversations about what we were trying to achieve with our work." Laura Costello
The final segment and a real challenge to the grey matter was the first Christmas Cracker pub quiz hosted (without the sequin jacket - next year, promise) by Tom. With top-class prizes on offer (Matt's signed book and a GIY hamper no less) the competition was rife and the rowdy Clubbers were soon heads down and scribblings away desperate to keep their answers squirreled away from the opposing table!
The event was expertly wrapped up with a closing standup and remarks by Matt as we moved to the bar and a fierce debate on the quiz answers ensued! Roll on the next Christmas Cracker I hear you cry... well let's look to the next four Dublin events for 2025 first!
Huge thank you to all the partners of the Climate Cocktail Club, without their sponsorship and support these events would not happen.
Official Cocktail Partner: Irish Distillers
Supporting Partners: ERINN Innovation, KPMG Ireland, Ballintubbert Gardens & House, and BE IMPACTFUL
The Climate Cocktail Club operates on a voluntary basis and needs the support of partners to ensure the events are a success - please support our future events and become a sponsor.
See you next time.
Tom
Climate Cocktail Club
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