Without legally enforceable definitions of terms like “recyclable”, “eco-friendly”, and “biodegradable” we will see a never ending stream of greenwashing advertising selling us the exact same product they have always sold us, with the veneer that this is more environmentally friendly. Environmentalism has risen to a prominent place in the public imagination, to the relief
For a few years now I’ve been half-begun on a project to help identify key strategic locations for woodland restoration. I’ve spoken about native Irish woodlands, their tiny fragmented remains, and have spent the month of October on my #Treetober threads talking about Ireland’s tree species. What I think is often missing in the conversation
Celebrate saving the less charismatic Write odes to plankton, snail and flies, Our love of birds and mammals may be automatic, But we struggle to value lichen in our lives. It’s harder to sing of fungi than of tigers, Hard to remember the worm in the earth, Diversity means algae as much as flowers So
I have always watched fires burn. As a child, playing with matches Older, piling the wood in the grate better than my dad Later as a circus performer until my knees got bad I have always stopped and watched Captured by the heat And the flicker bittersweet. The first time losing the Amazon made me
It’s relatively well known that before the arrival of humans, aproximately 9000 years ago Ireland was covered in mixed, broadleaf woodland. A huge amount of deforestation happened in the first few millennium as the human population became settled and these first Irish are often both credited and blamed for how the Irish landscape looks today,
When I was 12, nearly 13, I had a science project due; one of my first of secondary school. I loved forests so I decided to look at the effects of deforestation which led me to studies of Greenhouse Gases. It was 2004 and while people knew about “global warming”, it was not on the
‘Save the Bees’ – an ideal Instagram caption for wildflowers you’ve spotted by the side of the road. The phrase has taken on meme-like status over the last few years, both in the idealistic aesthetic sense and in more absurdist millennial humour. Surely everyone has had the joy of this GIF in their lives NY
The first thing you need to know about my ‘no single-use plastic’ January is that 100% I still used single-use plastics. I did not succeed in avoiding them entirely because there are just so many insidious sources of plastic in everyday life. I would have had to adopt #StopthePlasticTide as a full time job to
When I decided to stop using single use plastics this month I did not anticipate that brushing my teeth would be one of the most complicated parts of that challenge. Dentists tell us to change over toothbrushes every 3 months, that’s four a year for your life. Even assuming people don’t follow that advice strictly
There has been some controversy in my life recently from a source I would never have expected. Teabags. Those who know me know that the volume of tea I can drink on a given day in likely outside of safe levels but at least I always knew that my compost bin was healthy. Or not,
