Enviro: 19th August 2019

admin August 21, 2019

On this edition of Enviro:

From the Bayside Writers Group, Paul Wickham joins as discussion about carbon miles and why produce grown locally should be used rather than transporting produces many miles and the same applying to trade. We also explained that listeners could get involved in gardening and the utilisation of a rotation system in the garden and how this would work and help to avoid the use of fertilisers and pesticides. We also mentioned how if the listener has no land that he or she could grow herbs which need little or no space. They can be grown in pots. We mentioned how one herb Oregano was able to provide a nectar source for up to 5o bees during the summer.

The team also the following news items:

Peace Forest Ireland tree planting 24^th. August
Forest Friends Ireland Animal Welfare Week –see Forest Friends Ireland Facebook for details
Levels of Nitrogen dioxide in Dublin exceed the EU limits.
Extinction rates Ireland- 14% of animals and plants and 30 species of bees face extinction. The government spend of one billion Euros appears to be largely ineffectual and may be badly designed and managed. A GLAS scheme aimed at farmers shows big variations in take-up. Sheep farmers 52% dairy farmers 13%, also with big regional variations.
Sunday Independent letter of the week “EU’s trade deal disaster” by Margaret Walshe
Air pollution kills nine million people each year twice as many as had been previously believed-study-Professor Joel Kaufman of the University of Washington US
Nuclear weapons treaties: Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from a key bilateral nuclear weapons treaty with Russia and earlier pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal. He has announced that he will increase the US nuclear arsenal.
The US Senate failed to pass legislation blocking the sale of 8.1 billion Dollars (7.26 billion Euros) worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (Irish Independent report 31/7/19)
Chickens reared by companies supplying Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Aldi are apparently collapsing under their own weight and may be spending their final days in pain because they are bred to grow too quickly, undercover footage obtained by ‘The Times ‘suggests including farms in Lincolnshire and Devon. –The Times newspaper August 10 2019
Soils in different parts of the world for example South Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the former Soviet Union, India are becoming deficient in essential constituents such as zinc, iron protein and key vitamins 9 Samuel Myers principal research scientist at the Harvard University Chan School of Public Health and director of the Planetary Health Alliance.
Television naturalist(Spring watch) Chris Packenham has described the high speed HS2 rail scheme as an “environmental catastrophe” The route from London to Manchester and Leeds and beyond will devastate more than 100 wildlife rich ancient woodlands and encourage air travel by providing quick links to Heathrow. (Daily Express July 30 2019)