Cork teens produce inspiring podcast about climate change, social justice and life in general

ADULTS are well-versed in the dangers of technology. We navigate it with caution, tracking our children’s screen time, putting locks and timers on their devices.

But sometimes technology can be a good thing for young people.

Listening to The Sustainable Sleepover Club podcast, the brainchild of some seriously impressive Cork teenagers, I’d say technology can even be a great thing.

Amy O’Brien and Ayushi M, both 16, Carl Dwyer Murray, 17, and Eve Longeran and Gabby O’Keefe, both 18, met initially over Zoom. They had been brought together by Cork County Comhairle na nOg, one of the many youth organisations under the umbrella of the YMCA.

Facilitator TJ Hourihan instantly recognised their potential.

“It happened very organically. We had finished a session and I told everyone that I was turning off my camera to give them a break, to allow for much-needed social time. They ended up chatting about all the things they cared about. 

"They’re all just so informed and entertaining, it was clear they had something really special going on. So, they decided to turn it into a podcast.

“They record it every second Thursday. They do all the work; we just them with the equipment and help facilitate it. It was like a flower blossoming before our eyes. They are so ionate about climate change, social justice, and life in general. It’s wonderful to listen to them – truly inspiring.”

The bi-weekly podcasts certainly have a lovely organic feel. The ‘sleepover’ part was Eve’s idea because she wanted it to sound like a group of friends, chatting casually at a sleepover. But whilst this context is identifiably teenage, the content is not. It’s both informed and insightful.

The sustainability goals are at the heart of each episode, with each installment involving a deep dive into one of them, structured around an interview with a relevant guest.

Amy O’Brien acts as interviewer, out in the field, before returning to the group to mull it over, each member sharing their own thoughts, concerns and perspectives in that informal, chatty style.

You can almost imagine them curled up in their bedroom under duvets, the lights dimmed, the intellectual sparks flying. They’re figuring out the world together, carving out their individual identities over the course of each imagined ‘sleepover’.

Far from juvenile

The group have hosted some incredible guests on the show including Niall Muldoon, Ombudsman for Children, Geraldine Byrne Nason, the Irish Ambassador for the United Nations, and Asha Woodhouse, the first female UCC Student Union President in 18 years and a graduate from Environmental Science.

Meeting the Group

The group clearly appreciates TJ and co-facilitator Mark Healy, and all the work YMCA does, helping them with the technology, networking, and the graphic design for their Instagram page. The production of the podcast is seamless. This is very much a collaboration between young people and their facilitators, but their young voices, stripped of off-putting jargon, make it something different, genuinely compelling.

I popped online to interview the group just as they were finishing off a final bit of recording for an episode. I approached the interview with the idea I was about to meet children, copying what the grown-ups are doing – like kids playing dress-up. I could not have been more wrong.

They were mid-flow as I arrived, discussing the latest debate over the hybrid Leaving Cert. They were sharing their concerns about the inflated grades last year.

Amy joked that 2021 was just a year of ‘super geniuses,’ referring to the spike in students achieving full marks in the seminal exams.

They know their stuff – they cite statistics from recent reports, interweaving them with pertinent, well-articulated points about the broader system and its failings. They’re also not interested in easy answers, and they readily share their concerns about the hybrid model.

“We need to that this system came in during a crisis. It wasn’t planned. It came suddenly. 

"It was never the ideal and now it seems to be sticking around. This is the perfect time to reform the Leaving Cert but for some reason they’re not doing it.”

I’m struck by their knowledge and their insight and only wish it were shared by those in the Department of Education. I worry that I’m one of the ‘they’. Are us grown-ups doing as much as these young people to bring about change?

The group recall their favourite episode together. Eve’s special moment with red and green squirrels is mentioned.

Another highlight, Eve tells me, was chatting to Mitsi Jonell about her lived experience of climate change in the Philippines.

“It is so much more severe over there. You could just hear it in her voice.”

They also mention their interview with Henna Rai, an Indian/British activist who focuses on self-love and critiques the beauty standards set by a capitalist, colonial past. Rai tells people to ‘love themselves loudly’. The group is interested in all types of empowerment. I’m struck by their ion for the Irish language, Gabby in particular.

“I’m obsessed with Irish. It is so beautiful, but we don’t use it enough. We learn off answers for exams, but we really need to learn to understand. I think there’s a tragedy in that.”

They tell me that they want to listen to their interviewees to understand, not just to respond; they believe in empathy. They want to be a voice, not an echo. As a teacher I’m struck by how ill-equipped our current system is to adequately assess such sharp, deeply reflective minds.

Strong Bonds

Gabby tells me that the podcast was the best thing that could have happened for her.

“It was so reassuring to have a structure. I knew I was going to get to see these people, no matter what. It meant a lot.”

Amy chimes in, “So many people lost friends during the pandemic – I gained them.”

Eve remarks: “I never thought I could make true friends over zoom, but I absolutely did. As a group we share the same interests and values, and this experience was really uplifting for us all.”

Another huge highlight for the group was getting to meet in person last summer.

“We were so used to seeing each other in our Zoom squares. It is so hard to imagine that we were strangers not so long ago.

“It was really moving to see each other in reality, even outside and at a distance.”

Youth Perspective

I go away and listen to one of their earlier interviews, the one with Niall Muldoon, Ombudsman for Children. In it, he suggests that all politicians should listen to young people at least twice a week, as is the custom of Michel Barnier. I’m struck by how obvious and powerful an idea this is. If our current government is looking for young people, they need go no further than this podcast.

As Muldoon asserts: “Children tell you much more clearly and much more honestly what’s going on in the world.”

Honesty and clarity characterise the Sustainable Sleepover Club podcast. Whatever your age, I recommend it.

You can find the Sustainable Sleepover Club Podcast on Spotify.