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international / environment Friday September 20, 2019 00:43 by 1 of indy
An earlier version of this article was written but unpublished back in 2008 and it has now been revised and published to take account of various changes since then. The case is made for the provision of free public transport in every major town and city worldwide for a multitude of reasons. It has always been a good idea and should have been done a long time ago, but now with three major issues of our time; resource depletion, including oil, pollution and the climate crisis; they make it imperative that we move to such a system, both to conserve dwindling supplies of cheap energy, to reduce the use of vast mineral resources to make hundreds of millions of cars and to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions because climate change is happening faster than expected.
Are buses the future instead of the electric car? Heresy?
The Earth's climate has turned out to be more sensitive and complex than anticipated as evidenced by the recent dramatic record breaking summer ice melts in the Arcticc1 in 2007, 2008, 2012 and basically every year since then. With such a large change in the albedo or reflectivity over a huge area of the Arctic, this signifies the jump into positive feedback of the climate system, although it is not the only positive feedback. Combined with preliminary reports that frozen methane is beginning to be released from the Arctic sea floor and tundra and given that methane is 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas, it is clear we are probably at the point of things running out of control. Emissions need to be cut drastically, starting about 20 years ago. 
Maybe global warming is happening after all ....
Arctic sea ice, going going,..gone? Moving to free and well-designed public transport allows society to deal with these problems in the least disruptive manner and to do so in the most equitable way and it would increase the shared sense of everyone working together to cope with what are essentially going to be permanent problems. Free public transport is not the full solution but is definitely an important first step. Switching to public transport has the potential to achieve large scale reductions in fuel use and it can be done immediately without further research or perfection of any technology. The current status quo plan to replace all the petrol and diesel fuelled cars with electric ones still leaves us with the problem of massive resource usage, a replacement of oil wars for lithium wars, traffic congestion, deaths from air pollution , high accident rates and actually high energy use. It does not matter if the heavily promoted so called solution of producing millions of electric cars is run on renewable energy because it would require vastly more wind farms, solar farms and whatever else compared to a transport solution based on highly efficient, globally deployed free public transport system which would only require a fraction of energy and resources of a car based one.
dublin / environment Monday September 18, 2017 23:25 by Save The Hellfire & Masseys
 2 comments (last - friday january 05, 2018 23:28)
Aerial view of Hellfire and remains of passage tombs in front
Monday the 24th of September at 5pm is the deadline for making submissions to An Bord Pleanála on the South Dublin County Council & Coillte plans for what is known as the Dublin Mountains Project for the Hellfire Club & Masseys Wood nearby. The plan is one dreamed up by the council and will cost € 19 million of taxpayer money i.e. collected property tax etc for what is basically a bit of a white-elephant project that will damage the environment, limit public access and charge a fee for what is now free and is expected to run at a loss for at least first 3 years, but yet the private contractors running it will be "insulated" from losses. In essence the project will put an valuable amenity that is in public hands effectively into private hands and give them a license to milk the public forever on it. If this gets through, it will be replicated all over the country in that arrogant and greed driven way we are all familiar with from the Celtic Tiger days and again today. Related Links: Public Meeting: Save Hellfire Club and Massey's Wood in Dublin Mts | SaveTheHellfire.com | Friends of Massey's Wood Facebook
national / environment Monday September 08, 2014 14:06 by Alan Hall
9 comments (last - friday october 24, 2014 13:27)
Proposed Poolbeg incinerator.
Corruption and incompetence rule in certain corridors of Dublin City Council. Coventa the company which somehow won the tender (despite not being a party to the bidding) and Dublin City Council have pushed the cost up to nearly €100 million for the land. Council Manager Owen Keegan said not one cent of the €96 million that has already been spent will be clawed back if the plan doesn't go ahead. Despite also as extra €36 million in extra costs many Councillors state that this whole thing has nothing to do with mad ideas from Bertie Ahern. Even if it does not go ahead it will still cost €600 million, and obviously this is the best interests of every else abroad who likes to sabotage Irish planning and make a few million doing so. Renewable energy is the future but not for the old school chums of yesteryear.
Related Links:
update 02/10/2014: Stop The Poolbeg Incinerator - Protest March To Dail - Weds 22nd Oct |
international / environment Wednesday March 19, 2014 21:53 by T
16 comments (last - saturday february 05, 2022 17:10)
It was three years on March 11th since the triple nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011. This article attempts to try and give an picture of the situation today and to show that the accident is still an active event that will take many decades to cleanup and it is anything but over. Remembering What HappenedIt is three years since the accident on March 11th 2011 at the Fukushima power station complex. There has been surprisingly little coverage of it in the mainstream media compared to the Chernobyl accident in 1986 at the time. As most people know, the accident was a result of an earthquake which caused the tsunami which flooded the Fukushima site and knocked out the backup diesel generators used for cooling the plants and that is how the story goes. The first report many people heard was that they were using sea-water to cool the reactors. This in itself was frightening because sea-water and cooling of nuclear reactors should not be in the same sentence, ever and it can only mean one thing -the situation is desperate, everything has failed and since sea-water would destroy the reactor vessel and fuel rods it means its the very last resort at trying to stop a meltdown.
Related Links:
The explosive truth behind Fukushima's meltdown |
Fukushima Investigation: “Within one day complete meltdown and melt through occurred” — “There is no way that gov’t did not know this” (VIDEO) |
Worse than Chernobyl: The inner threat of Fukushima crisis |
Fukushima Diary |
FukushimaOnTheGlobe.com |
SafeCast.org -radiation maps |
Hatrick Penry - Plume Gate |
Fukushima Emergency what can we do? |
Fukushima meltdown appears to have sickened American infants |
Unexpected Mortality Increase in United States Follows Arrival of the Radioactive Plume From Fukushima. Is There A Correlation? |
Canada and U.S. cut back radiation reporting |
The Truth About Radiation and the Fukushima Meltdowns |
Cryptome Photos Series of Fukushima |
There is no way to stop Fukushima radioactive water leaking into the Pacific |
ENE News on Japan Nuclear Accident |
Toxic Tokyo Cesium Air Danger - Japan Burn Radioactive Debris - Arnie Gundersen Interview. Oct 2011 |
Plume models from ASR Ltd of radiactive cloud from Fukushima |
Global Atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides from the Fukushima-Daichii nuclear power plant |
National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission |
national / environment Thursday November 14, 2013 22:47 by Fracking watch
4 comments (last - tuesday january 28, 2014 17:41)
Licensed fracking areas in Leitrim, Cavan & Fermanagh
The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sponsoring an invite only fracking workshop in London this Friday 15th Nov 2013 as part of its long term plan to introduce fracking in Ireland. It has already commissioned research to help 'determine best practice guidelines to regulate the shale gas industry in Ireland' (all their own words). There is no hint here fracking will NOT be allowed whatever the findings. This same body though is immune from prosecution under Irish law (See Box 1 below) making a mockery of it's regulatory role.
Related Links:
Indymedia Fracking page |
We are Awake, Informed and We are Saying No to Fracking |
Global Frackdown2 Day - Sat Oct 19th 2013 -Events in Carrick-on-Shannon, Drumshambo, Cahir and Clonmel |
Farmers tell G8 leaders: We support Farming not Fracking |
Fracking In Fermanagh. What could it mean? |
Fracking debris considered too radioactive even for waste site |
Statement from some of No Fracking Ireland on EPA 'consultation' process which ended today. | Twelve Canadians – Fracking: Experiments in Sacrifice Zones - Fear & Loathing in Canadian Frackland |
ShaleBubble.org -Explains the Ponzi dynamics of the Fracking industry
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Thu 28 Nov, 10:45
This month was designated as a Chemtrails awareness month and therefore it is an appropriate time to visit this controversial topic. The story of chemtrails goes back awhile but it appears they really ramped up in the early 2000s. The key argument is around the difference between a contrail which is a water vapor trail caused by jet engines at high altitude and represent the rapid cooling of the ater vapor in tiny ice crystals that quickly evaporate again as opposed to chemtrails which do not disappear and linger in the sky for hours. The proponents say these are fine dust particles intentionally realized. The skeptics simply say these long lasting trails are simply contrails. However this does not stack up and on any day you can simply look up and find aircraft with short contrails that disappear quite quickly and at the same time see chemtrails that linger across the sky. The real controversy is over what are chemtrails made of and what is their purpose. More on this in the article referenced below. Another key observation can be made through the use of the rather now famous website https://www.flightradar24.com/ which tracks and displays nearly all civilian aircraft over the entire world. This works because each plane has a transponder which emits key data about the aircraft height, speed, position, origin and destination and other data. You can buy a relatively cheap receiver that can pick these up at least 100 miles away and it is the linkage of all these hobbyist and professional receivers linked into the internet that send all the data for all the planes to a central server for display on the website. On any day when an aircraft flies over your house, you can go to the website and easily find the plane and details about it. BUT you will find that for aircraft emitting the long lasting trails -i.e. chemtrails -they never show up on FlightRadar24. This would suggest that they are military or covert. And the reason is simple, they don't want people tracing back where they came from. For regular aircraft in the sky with short contrails, you can easily find them on FlightRadar24 So now it is on to a selection of previous stories covering Chemtrails. The whole area is filled with lots of confusing and conflicting theories and information and undoubtedly some of it is there to misdirect and discredit any serious investigation. But one should always start off from the observations and work from there. And that is something you can do by standing outside and taking notice.
Ennis Data Centre’s 66 gas generators ‘threat to Local Health’ – expert
Clare County Council Decision to Approve 66 Diesel Generators for Data Centre 'Threatens Ennis Residents Health' Ennis Data Centre and Gas Plant ‘totally unsustainable’ ‘The plans to build one of the largest data centres in the country here in Ennis brings with it an additional threat to the health of people here as the plans include a gas burning plant that will only make the air quality here worse than it already is, leading to asthma and other respiratory problems.’ Despite the concerns of local residents, multiple environmental groups, as well as Eirgrid , Clare county council has made the abhorrent decision to give planning permission to an unknown company (Art Data Centres Ltd.) to construct a data centre on the Tulla Rd, Ennis which will consume as much electricity as 200,000 homes and emit 657,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
Video urges Bord na Mona to ‘do better’ on bog restoration
Legal first: European Court of Justice must decide if ministers broke law with unsustainable fishing limits
INVITE TO VIRTUAL EU WIDE PESTICIDES PRESS CONFERENCE TOMORROW MORNING AT 9 AM
JUDICIAL REVIEW CLAIMS ALTERNATIVE PLAN TO €10M DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR NEVER ASSESSED
Irish High Court hears EU overfishing challenge Court hears failure to end overfishing breaches Common Fisheries Policy European fishing quotas are being challenged before the Irish High Court this week after Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) lodged a Judicial Review in June 2020. According to the conservation charity, ‘setting unsustainable fishing quotas goes against the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, which contained a legal obligation to end overfishing by 2020. Yet the national regulations implement EU quotas which are consistently above the scientific recommendations.’
Two hundred countries finalized an agreement during COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland to limit global warming. In 2009, developed countries promised $100 billion of annual climate funding to developing countries by 2020. According to the OECD, funding estimates will not be met before 2023. The agreement expresses regret about the missed finance target and calls for increasing support for developing countries.
Ingested fluoride, neither a nutrient nor essential, is ineffective at reducing tooth decay and is harmful to health. Yet, it is added to drinking water. But modern science proves fluoride gets into the brain, where it was never inteneded, which is lilnked to kids lower IQ
Objection claims prospecting company failed to liaise with Leitrim farmers and landowners An objection to the granting of prospecting licenses to Flintridge Resources Ltd in County Leitrim includes 12 letters from potentially affected farmers and landowners claiming that there ‘has been no liaison’, let alone the ‘full consideration and close liaison with relevant landowners and regulatory authorities’ required by the Department’s Guidance for Good Environmental Practice in Mineral Exploration.
SALMON FARM’S 80,000 MORTALITIES ‘PARTLY CAUSE BY FARMS THEMSELVES’
Less than half the number of signatures required from Ireland [1] to join in a European Citizens' Initiative on controlling pesticides have been gathered with less than one month left to meet the quota.
Handbook on Marine Protection Areas published as audiobook
Opponents to Bantry Bay Fish Farm ‘Gutted’
Call on GAA to quantify pesticides use for International Bee Day
Ireland's position on bee mortality permitted by pesticides questioned.
High Court quashes last 8 of Bord na Mona’s ‘ghost’ planning applications
The climate change movement remain tight-lipped when it suits them.
Call on public to support EU ‘Citizens Initiative’ on pesticides facing ‘strong political headwinds’
PRESS RELEASE - Friends of the Irish Environment - 15 January 2021
Call for change in Coillte Principal Objects as illegal felling video released
State refuses release of 2020 images recording ongoing turf cutting on protected raised bogs
The environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment has called on Taoiseach Micheal Martin to clarify the Irish government's position in relation to efforts to allow the EU to subsidize nuclear power plants. According to a document seen by Friends of the Irish environment, several countries, including France, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, want the EU to allow subsidies to nuclear plants in return for backing a higher EU 2030 climate target. However, other countries including Luxembourg and Austria, are rejecting these plans. The position of the Irish government is not clear.
Atlantic Bays stripped of wild fish to eat lice off farmed salmon
Call for Covid-19 ‘track and trace’ for rhododendron
The spread of rhododendron across Ireland’s countryside has been likened to Covid-19 by an environmental charity, Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE]. FIE have called for a ‘track and trace’ programme to be put in place to control the increasing spread of this ‘beautiful and picturesque death warrant’.
Twelve years after losing their original case against the planning permission for a LNG terminal on the Shannon River, Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] today received a High Court order quashing An Bord Pleanala’s grant of permission and awarding costs in their favour. The proposed terminal was due to process Liquid Natural Gas [LNG] from the USA for consumption in Ireland and to be distributed throughout the EU.
High Court to hear challenge against unsustainable fishing in Ireland and the EU The Irish High Court granted leave today to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] to apply for a Judicial Review aimed at challenging the EU Regulation setting 2020 fishing quotas under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) because of its failure to meet a legally defined deadline of ending overfishing in all stocks by 2020.
This news update from Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment contains update on: The High Court Case EPA Licence Novartis Commercial Incinerator Application Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy
Call on Minister to control private companies as Bord Na Mona quits peat bedding sector Action comes two years after environmental complaint Two years after calling on the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, to exercise his powers under the legislation to stop Teagasc, the Farm Advisory Service, and Bord na Mona from promoting the use of deep peat for bedding in animal housing, Bord na Mona has announced that it is exiting the peat bedding market. The extent of the practice came to light on field trips conducted by Friends of the Irish Environment in the summer of 2018. It coincided with Bord na Mona and Teagasc beginning to market peat as an alternative to straw after the poor harvests led to shortages of straw. The company entered the market in 2017, having reportedly appointed a team to manage sales and grow the market in the wake of reduced use of peat for power generation. more >> |
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