Roz Purcell launches Love this Place
Now in its fifth year, the ‘Love This Place’ Public Awareness Campaign was recently launched by Roz Purcell, of Hike Life and other core partners such as Fáilte Ireland, the National Parks & Wildlife Service, Sport Ireland, Coillte, the OPW and Waterways Ireland. In time for the busy summer months, this initiative led by Leave No Trace Ireland (LNT) will run throughout June, July and August. These months witness the highest numbers of visitors to the outdoor environment.
“As an avid outdoor enthusiast, I am honoured to join once again with Leave No Trace Ireland in championing the Love This Place Campaign. Together, we can ensure the longevity of our natural treasures by adopting mindful behaviours during our outdoor adventures. Let’s make a collective promise to love and protect our cherished landscapes.” – Roz Purcell, presenter, broadcaster, content creator and founder of The Hike Life
Love This Place
Love This Place 2024 campaign invites individuals and their communities to join in a collective national effort to protect, respect and care for Wicklow’s beautiful outdoor spaces and deep wealth of biodiversity and natural outdoor heritage from its beaches, to the uplands, community green spaces and its rivers and streams.
Launching the 2024 ‘Love This Place’ campaign, Maura Kiely, Chief Executive of Leave No Trace Ireland, emphasized the campaign’s educational focus in cultivating care and respect for each other and the natural environment through responsible outdoor activities and behaviours. She said the ‘Love This Place’ campaign also supports the objectives of the National Outdoor Recreation strategy from Comhairle na Tuaithe: ‘Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors Strategy’ which seeks the development of a caring and responsible national outdoor recreation sector.
Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace is Ireland’s only outdoor ethics programme, which promotes the responsible use of the outdoors. In collaboration with its partners, the 2024 ‘Love This Place’ Public Awareness Campaign is urging the public to enjoy Ireland’s outdoor spaces. Author, outdoor enthusiast and founder of the Hike Life, Roz Purcell, is once again supporting this important awareness campaign. Wicklow County Council along with other Local Authorities will be helping to make this campaign a success.
The campaign will focus in on three collective goals that include simple actions for people to enjoy the outdoor spaces more responsibly:
- Stick to the Path
- Be a Responsible Dog Owner
- Keep Ireland Litter-Free
Love Arklow, Leave no Trace
With Arklow benefitting from so many beautiful outdoor spaces, the Love this Place Campaign is a welcome campaign to encourage everyone to Love this Place. With our hard working Tidy Towns and Coast Care groups working double time to ensure the town and its environs are kept clean and inviting for visitors and locals alike, it’s a great reminder to Leave no Trace. Whether you are enjoying Glenart Woods, Hiding Out at Clogga Beach or headed to the Mausoleum Pyramid or taking a wander around The Duck Pond, we can all make a difference by ensuring we leave no trace of our visit.
Research shows that some 2.7 million visitors to Ireland from overseas markets took part in outdoor activities and 64% of Irish people participated in land-based recreation activities whilst on holiday in Ireland.
Cathaoirleach of Wicklow County Council, Cllr. Aoife Flynn Kennedy said “We are asking everyone to take one or two simple actions that support responsible enjoyment of Wicklow’s outdoors and reinforce the environmental stewardship that all of us share.”
“The protection and restoration of nature is more important now than ever, and public awareness has never been higher. Through education and environmental knowledge-sharing, Leave No Trace empowers people to take action and make a change in their communities”. – Emer O’Gorman, Chief Executive of Wicklow County Council
