TIPT is a free environmental news service published by Friends of the Irish Environment weekly on Tuesdays. More than 13,000 stories from the last four years are searchable on our website, where comments can be posted on individual stories.
http://friendsoftheirishenvironment.net/ |
| Earth Hour 2009 'biggest grassroots marketing campaign ever' |
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 I noticed a very short piece at the end of a column in a newspaper in late 2006. "Earth Hour", it said. "The World Wildlife Fund". "Australia". The Sydney Bridge going dark for an hour. 2 million people turning off their lights. Weddings by candlelight. Bicycle powered rock concerts. I thought 'genius'. It turned out an aweful lot of people agreed, and last year Earth Hour began its spread around the world. This Earth Hour is the biggest grassroots marketing campaign the world has seen. With no ad budget, it relies on people to carry the message.
Shepard Fairey, the skateboarder artist who created the US Presidential Election 'Change, Progress, Hope' imagery for Barack Obama, has donated the artwork. "VOTE EARTH" it says, with the picture of a light switch. You can download it from our website.
Of course some people think Earth Hour is a really bad idea. Read more.
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| Media exaggerating oil spill off Irish coast |
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 Media reports are exaggerating the scope of an oil spill off the coast of Ireland, a Russian Navy spokesman said on Tuesday. Ireland's RTE channel reported on Monday that two Russian warships had spilled 12 tons of oil into the sea some 400 km (250 miles) off the coast of Ireland, probably while refueling. Other media said up to 400 tons could have been spilled.
"The nature and reasons for the possible pollution will be determined by experts only after a comprehensive probe," said Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo. "It is now absolutely clear that its scope does not correspond to media reports, it [the spill] is not catastrophic and poses no environmental threat to the shoreline." Read more. |
| Critical of failure to publish promised report on local government reform |
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 FAILURE to publish before Christmas, as promised, a White Paper on Local Government Reform has been strongly criticised. It has come from Mayor of Kinsale and former president of the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland (AMAI), Dermot Collins, who presided over a special debate on the subject at its 95th annual conference in Sligo in September.
"The AMAI, on behalf of town councils in Ireland, made major submissions on Local Government Reform before and after the publication of a Green Paper as well as holding numerous meetings and there was a clear understanding in a meeting with Minister John Gormley in November that I attended with representatives of other local authority organisations that a White Paper containing a list of specific proposals on reform, would be published before the end of 2008," he stated. Read more. |
| County Council throws down gauntlet' with its Local Builders Policy |
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DONEGAL County Council plan to forge ahead with the Local Builders Policy adopted last year in the Draft Variation of the County Development Plan. The controversial plan will give local builders planning permission to build two housing units in their area each year. It is believed to be the first policy of its kind in Ireland. The Local Builders Policy, which was formerly known as the Small Builders Policy, has met with opposition from the Department of Environment and Minister Eamonn Gormley. County Manager Mr Michael McLoone and the Council Executive have also advised against the policy. Read more. |
| State pays €2m for majority landholding on Great Blasket |
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 THE STATE has purchased the majority landholding on the Great Blasket Island, off the coast of Co Kerry, ending years of protracted and often fractious negotiations to acquire the island.
However, Peig Sayers's house and some tourist amenities will remain in private ownership.
Worries have been increasingly voiced about the dire condition of the island's old village, and the need to protect its rare wildlife and manage visitor numbers on the island, which has no proper pier, public toilet or facilities for the hundreds who are ferried to it daily in the summer. Read more. |
| Bankers move on two golf resorts |
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 Tulfarris House & Golf Resort, a 200 acre development in Co Wicklow, went into receivership late on Friday night, after Anglo Irish Bank moved to protect its lendings. The development is backed by property developer Paddy Kelly and his family. Anglo is owed about €25 million in relation to the project at Blessington Lakes.
Separately, AIB has appointed a receiver to the €50 million Blarney Golf Resort in Co Cork. The bank is owed about €20 million and appointed a receiver late last week. Both Tulfarris and Blarney are continuing to trade.
The honorary secretary at Tulfarris wrote to members yesterday confirming that Anglo had installed Michael McAteer, a partner with accountant Grant Thornton, as receiver over two companies linked with the project, Comfort Hotel Holdings and Tulfarris Golf Services.
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| 'I never suggested a national herd cull' - Gormley |
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 MINISTER for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley, has strenuously denied that he ever suggested that part of Ireland's cattle herd should be culled in order to meet our climate change obligations.
"The perception is false. I never said that," he told a Guild of Agricultural Journalists briefing this week.
"There was a belief that I would be out there with an AK47 culling the cattle herd. "Transport and agriculture are the largest contributors to emissions, but there is no inevitability around culling," he said. Read more. |
| War of words over club's lime trees |
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 A ROW has flared over plans by a top golf club to cut down old lime trees which date to the mid-1800s.
Killarney Golf and Fishing Club, on the shores of fabled Lough Léin, has obtained a felling licence from the Forestry Service to remove 18 of the 27 trees on its property at Mahoney's Point.
The trees, which form an avenue between the clubhouse and the lake, are being felled next week for health and safety reasons, according to the club.
However, conservationists and some club members are up in arms, claiming the trees could instead be pruned. Read more. |
| Organics - from boom to doom? |
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 Organic produce seemed like a great prospect a the beginning of last year but as we face into a very different-looking economy in 2009, will consumers continue to pay the premium for greener groceries? Well possibly, writes GILLIAN HAMILL.
THE QUESTION in the midst of the current credit crunch is 'will consumers still pay a premium for organic produce?' According to Bord Bia research released in October, 47% of all consumers would "definitely" or "probably" buy if a 10% premium is charged. But at higher premiums, research showed interest dropped off sharply. In the UK meanwhile, Mintel has found that organic food is slipping down consumers' ethical agenda. Nearly half of the UK's organics shoppers (48%) will consider reducing or giving up buying organic food altogether in 2009. Read more. |
| Slurry from dioxin feed still on farms |
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 IRELAND IS facing a major environmental problem from the million litres of dioxin-contaminated pig and cattle slurry from farms hit by the feed scare.
This dioxin-contaminated slurry cannot be legally spread on land.
It is still being held on farms where dioxin-laden waste food was fed to the thousands of animals caught up in the event.
Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), officials from the Department of Agriculture and the farmers involved are seeking a solution to the problem of how to dispose of the material. Read more. |
| Farmers will resist plans for bog cutting |
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FARMERS and landowners will resist attempts by the Minister for the Environment John Gormley to restrict the use of bogs for domestic use, according to IFA Connacht Vice President Michael Silke. ilke has accused the Minister for the Environment John Gormley of sending conflicting messages in relation to turf cutting restrictions on designated raised bogs. He added that Minister Gormley must not mislead people and stop trying to pretend that he has resolved the problem of turf cutting on designated bogs. Silke was speaking at a large meeting of farmers in Mountbellew, Co Galway who will be affected by the restriction. Read more. Read more. |
| Green campaign seeks North minister resignation |
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 The campaign by environmentalists to have a Northern Ireland minister sacked for banning a government climate-change advertising campaign gathered pace today.
Stormont environment minister Sammy Wilson has attracted the wrath of the green fraternity over his insistence mankind is not responsible for global warming.
An online petition - Fire Sammy Wilson - set up by the Green Party, attracted well over 500 signatories in the first 24 hours, according to the party. Read more.
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| Northern Ireland Water fined over sewage in river |
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Northern Ireland Water was fined today for polluting yet another river with raw sewage. This time they were up before Omagh Magistrates Court where they were fined £2,500 plus costs for the pollution of a tributary of the Drumragh River in Co Tyrone in October 2007. Read more. |
| Queen's surging forward to develop wave power station |
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 The search for large-scale electricity generation from wave power has been given a boost by Belfast academics. Queen's University and a leading marine energy company, Aquamarine Power, announced a new five year research partnership which will seek to develop the next generation hydro-electric wave power converter - in essence an off-shore power station. Read more. |
| Coal-fired power stations are death factories. Close them. |
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A year ago, I wrote to Gordon Brown asking him to place a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in Britain. I have asked the same of Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd and other leaders. The reason is this - coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet.
The climate is nearing tipping points. Changes are beginning to appear and there is a potential for explosive changes, effects that would be irreversible, if we do not rapidly slow fossil-fuel emissions over the next few decades. As Arctic sea ice melts, the darker ocean absorbs more sunlight and speeds melting. As the tundra melts, methane, a strong greenhouse gas, is released, causing more warming. As species are exterminated by shifting climate zones, ecosystems can collapse, destroying more species.
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| Wildlife risks paying price for economic gloom |
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 As unemployment surges in Iberia, new multi-billion road, rail and hydro projects are being presented by public administrations in Portugal and Spain as a panacea for job creation and economic growth.
Environmentalists worry the economic imperative will be used in defence of these crisis-busting projects to further erode already inadequate enforcement of EU nature protection legislation. This may have negative repercussions in Iberia and further afield. Read more.
Includes: How Well is the new 'Pilot' EU Environmental Complaints system working? |
| The push for biofuels adds to CO2 release |
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THE PUSH towards biofuels is accelerating carbon dioxide release, not reducing it. Pursuit of this technology was creating a huge "carbon debt" that would take centuries to clear. Biofuels such as ethanol derived from corn or sugarcane and biodiesel from oil palm were harming the situation because of changing agricultural practices, she said. This was particularly true for the tropics where rainforest was being cleared and burned to make way for agriculture. Read more. |
| Global warming 'underestimated' |
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The severity of global warming over the next century will be much worse than previously believed, a leading climate scientist has warned. Professor Chris Field, an author of a 2007 landmark report on climate change, said future temperatures "will be beyond anything" predicted. Prof Field said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had underestimated the rate of change. He said warming is likely to cause more environmental damage than forecast. Speaking at the American Science conference in Chicago, Prof Field said fresh data showed greenhouse gas emissions between 2000 and 2007 increased far more rapidly than expected. "We are basically looking now at a future climate that is beyond anything that we've considered seriously in climate policy," he said. Read more. |
| Bleak forecast on fishery stocks |
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Changing ocean temperatures and currents will force thousands of species to migrate polewards, including cod, herring, plaice and prawns. By 2050, US fishermen may see a 50% reduction in Atlantic cod populations. The predictions of "huge changes", published in the journal Fish and Fisheries, were presented at the AAAS annual meeting in Chicago. Marine biologists used computer models to forecast the future of 1,066 commercially important species from across the globe. Read more. | |
