Environmental Imperatives

Okay so let me clarify before I begin. I believe each of us should do our bit and our best to improve and protect our environment for future generations and try to reverse the damage done since the industrial revolution began.

I have written in the past on the Global situation and the absolute inefficacious efforts of small countries such as Ireland in the face of China opening the equivalent of 2 coal fired power stations a week etc. However we need to look closer to home and fix the leaks in our own roof first.

The EPA today issued a scathing condemnation of progress on environmental matters in Ireland and the amount of waste we are exporting and I commend the EPA for their strong stance. I would think the bottom of the school report card where the teacher puts their comments is saying “could do better”. Yes of course we can do better. However I do not believe that the blame lies at the door of the Irish consumer.

For example when you read the EPA report on things such as water quality following a recent news report of Ùisce Eireann staff being paid massive bonuses you begin to wonder who is setting the KPIs for these bonuses and if the bonuses have any relationship to water quality statistics.

When you look at the volume of food waste we continue to generate as a nation you begin to wonder how to force the food retailers to work with consumers on portion sizes, sell by dates etc  etc (of course it is in the financial interest of the food retailers  to sell as much as possible with as short a life span as possible, at as high a price as possible).

When you look at the replacement of locally sourced peat briquettes with imported replacements from far flung places you begin to question the absolute lack of joined up thinking on such matters.

We need to continue to push on all fronts but be realistic in what is achievable given the infrastructure of our nation.

It is not feasible for someone living in rural Galway for example to cycle 50 miles in the rain to work. It is often also not feasible for this person  to car pool or use public transport. The solution here might be tax incentives to new industries and employers to locate in rural locations and continued investment in road and rail infrastructure and rural airports.

Let’s get real and focus on achievables.

Let’s stop silly conversations about reducing cow farts but look at serious ways of reducing such methane emissions by financially incentivising to commercial reality projects such as the introduction of seaweed to ruminant’s diet which has been proven to help reduce methane emission.

Lets put our money into viable environmentally sound projects

And for God’s sake lets stop spending hundreds of thousands on bike sheds, canopies, flip flops and the like.