The heritage organisation has dismissed the campaign as ’empty PR’, while the semi-state company continues to extract peat on an industrial scale, in what An Taisce’s Climate Change Committee spokesperson John Gibbons describes as ‘one of the least sustainable and most environmentally unfriendly industries on the face of the planet’.
This is the time of year birds are at their loudest. During this relatively brief window from early April until the end of May birds are on the move. The summer brings about an influx of birds from the south moving into Ireland. Here is a selection of common Irish birds along with the their own distinctive bird songs. Information for this article was provided by the Bird Watch Ireland website.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today released 2015 figures on composting and AD of biodegradable waste in Ireland. The quantity of biodegradable waste that was sent for composting or Anaerobic Digestion (AD) increased in 2015 by 11% since 2013, but 22% of brown-bin waste was exported to Northern Ireland.
Harvesting seaweed and the selling of rights to harvest it has become an issue in Ireland in recent years. In 2014 the right to harvest seaweed on the west coast was sold by an Irish seaweed company to a Canadian multinational. The impact of seaweed harvesting and the concerns and challenges Read more…
Image Credit: Larry Doherty April 28th, 2016 While most people use Sunday mornings to lie in and catch up on sleep, this Sunday people all around the world will be setting their alarms for 5am. As dawn breaks this Sunday, Ireland will join the rest of the world in celebrating International Dawn Read more…
Biomass is often described as a clean, renewable fuel and a greener alternative to coal and other fossil fuels for producing electricity. But recent studies have shown that many forms of biomass especially from forests produce higher carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels. In particular, a growing body of peer-reviewed, scientific studies shows that burning wood from whole trees in power plants to produce electricity can increase carbon emissions relative to fossil fuels for many decades—anywhere from 35 to 100 years. This time period is significant: climate policy imperatives require dramatic short-term reductions in greenhouse gases, and these emissions will persist in the atmosphere well past the time when significant reductions are needed.
26th April, 2016 A proposal by Fine Gael Councillor Paddy Smyth to reconfigure parking arrangements to improve cycling safety in Dublin’s Georgian quarter and Fingal County Council’s motion to establish a Cycling and Walking Officer post suggest that cyclist needs are being taken more seriously. In a video on the Read more…
26th April, 2016 Putting a price on water encourages people to conserve it – that goes without saying. But the reduction in water use that comes from a charge could make the cost of providing water substantially cheaper overall – saving Irish taxpayers millions. That is the finding of Green Budget Read more…
The ESB, National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS), Cork County Council and Inland Fisheries Ireland are exploring options to potentially save a rare river forest in County Cork.
The Gearagh, near Macroom , County Cork, was controversially flooded 60 years ago to provide water for the hydroelectric dams at Inniscarra and Carrigadrohid.
22nd April, 2016 Ireland’s hen harrier numbers have fallen by one third since 2000, a shocking new study has found. Despite serious efforts to protect this incredible and rare species the population has continued to fall. Several factors are to blame for the decline including the intensification of agriculture, dense Read more…
