On this edition of Enviro:

• Deirdre Lane talked on the phone to the Enviro team about Earth Hour, and the Zero Waste Festival which took place on the 25th. February and the Cottage Market Newbridge which she helps to organise and which takes place in the Town Hall Main Street Newbridge on the first Saturday of each month 10.00am-2.00pm. She also mentioned Shamrock Spring.
• Interview in studio with Howth poet Michael Connaughton who read some of his work. Michael has published many works and events and is organising a music and poetry evening Thursday 5th. April 7-11 pm in Columbanus Hall Howth Village.
• NEWS ITEMS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: We talked and listed many environmental issues:
  • Fair Trade fortnight February26-March 11th.
  • DAILY Telegraph article 24/2/18 on the importance of dandelions
  • “We are facing an ocean Armageddon” report on marine pollution and the plague of plastics in our oceans- Detailed report in the Irish Daily Mail report 24/2/18
  • “Incalculable damage has been done by drainage works in Dublin’s Phoenix Park to breeding populations of frogs and newts, the Herpetological Society of Ireland has said (Irish Times report 20/2/18)
  • China is building the world’s first carbon neutral forest city-report in Daily Express 13/2/18
  • Hedgehog numbers have halved in Rural England since 2000. Report in the Guardian newspaper February 7 2018
  • Esmond Bradley Martin who worked undercover, posing as a buyer to expose the smuggling cartels of rhino horns and elephants tusks and their international trafficking routes between Africa and south-east Asia was murdered recently –report in the Daily Telegraph 10/2/18
  • Comment on George Monbiot’s claim that “Fishing and pesticides are a bigger threat than global warming”. He claims that industrial fishing all over the planet is now causing systemic ecological collapse” He also points out that “Modern farming practices including the widespread use of pesticides is threatening food production”(Guardian Newspaper).
    • Presenter Producer: John Haughton: panellist Joe Dunne: Studio guest Michael Connaughton, phone interview Deirdre Lane.

We played some John Denver songs including the’ Flower that Shattered the Stone’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmWgiB07mZU and the Larry Page Orchestra version of George Harrison’s song ‘Give Me Love’ CD ‘The Larry Page Orchestra John Paul George and Ringo’