Sinead O’Brien.

THE STORY

Meet Sinead, the creator of fictional seaweed farmer Mungo Murphy. Mungo Murphy and his rabbit Sushi bring to life the very real and the very brilliant work that Sinead and her mum Cindy do on their sustainable aquaculture farm in Galway - the only one of its kind in Europe.

"The great thing about aquaculture systems (the cultivation of oceanic species) is they don’t use fertilisers or expensive feed and they use saltwater, which we don’t drink"

Sinead jumped ship from her job as a lawyer to join Cindy (and Mungo) to grow abalone, seaweed and sea cucumbers in big land based tanks. They pump seawater from the sea into the tanks, the water is circulated using power from their onshore wind turbines creating the perfect environment for the ocean species to grow. The water is intermittently released back into the sea, cleaner than when it entered. The result is highly nutrient dense food grown and harvested in Galway, using clean energy, minimal inputs and little waste. A little bit of magic in Sinead’s fight for a food secure future!

THE WHY

It just makes sense, this is a sustainable way to produce food for the nation. It uses renewable sources of energy, has minimal input, is almost zero waste and provides nutritionally dense food.

THE CHALLENGE

I would love to see more people getting involved in unions. I think that there's a lot of power in a union or a collective of people to campaign for change.

THE HOPE

The willpower and patience that my mum has gives me hope.

THE INSPIRATION

PODCAST: Radiolab. Episode ‘Galápagos’.
BOOK: Naomi Klein, “This Changes Everything”.
DOCUMENTARY: Chasing Coral.

To find out more visit mungomurphyseaweed.com or or find them on Instagram @mungomurphyseaweed