Go Green Ireland Green Solutions to the Emerald Isle's Environmental Problems

WHAT

Global Warming - Fact or Fiction? Why risk it?

What are environmental problems? You may have heard of the main headline in the last couple of weeks - the global food crisis, as well as the more commonly mentioned - global warming, as if you needed reminding!

Although these are both important, there are other issues that also contribute to the Earth's changing equilibrium. I shall mention just a few on this introductory page, and hope to fill in the details on other pages.

Loss of habitat - not just tropical rainforest in South America, but peat bogs, marsh and reedbeds are a small selection in evidence in Ireland. Apart from the actual habitat disappearing, we are fragmenting continuous areas by building new roads and housing and out of town shopping developments. This reduces wildlife's range, and limits reproductive and feeding capabilities, leading to local extinction.

Unsustainable resource usage - this is an unfortunate result of the Celtic Tiger. We are now fully paid-up members of the throwaway society, thanks to chain stores and supermarkets. We buy produce from the other side of the world when we could get something equally as good, if not better, from an Irish source.

Energy wasting - from taking the children to school, when it's a 15 minute walk, to heating our homes without insulation, and tumble drying the laundry when you could use a washing line on a fine day. There are other energy-wasting scenarios, such as leaving TV's and PC's on permanently, and of course the  old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs.

Transport is a big issue in this country. We don't have our own oil, so we have to import it. Most households have at least one vehicle, and public transport is limited. Unfairly, aviation fuel carries no tax, so this is effectively a subsidy for flights, limiting other modes of transport's ability to compete.

WHY

Why should we change the way we live our lives? In Ireland, as in most developed countries, our lifestyles are unsustainable. There's only one Earth, and plundering its resources cannot last forever. Our waste products are often toxic to both ourselves and many other species, contaminating land, water and air. One of the latest discoveries is the amount of plastic particulates in the oceans, and this has been blamed for many ocean dwelling species developing  'new' illnesses.

One thing the development of our country has brought us is the benefit of choice, from where we work, to what we buy, and where to shop. These choices can make a difference. Ireland is now a country of technology and pharmaceutical companies rather than heavy industry. We don't make cars or washing machines, nor do we have coal mines or steel works. We don't pollute with this heavy industry - instead we buy from countries such as China - they have the environmental problems that Europe had 40 to 50 years ago. We have exported our pollution, as well as our waste and poor child and elderly health issues. It may seem that we are helping developing countries by providing a marketplace for their goods. This may be true in some cases, but in others the workers are being exploited, and work long hours in often dangerous conditions to produce low-cost products.

6.8 billion humans populate the world - over a billion of them in China. But, we are not alone as a species on Earth. We share it with at least 1.8 million species (plus many not even named or seen at this stage) - we rely on them, and they rely on us. Ecosystems have built up over decades, centuries, millions of years in some cases. I have children, grown up now, but I wouldn't like them to miss out on seeing birds of prey, salmon in the rivers, and peat bogs. Other species are endangered, and need our help to prevent the Sixth Mass Extinction going any further. (The last 5 mass extinctions wiped out more than 85% of the species on the planet each time).

Helping the environment means in many situations you will be better off. Plan your trips in the car so that you combine them into one journey to serve more than one purpose, and you save fuel costs, tyres, servicing, and money! Reducing what you buy - plan a menu for the week - and you won't throw as much out, so saving on waste disposal costs too! If you can work from home rather than going into an office - you'll save transport costs, you won't be polluting the air, or contributing to traffic congestion, and you'll be able to spend more time at home. You can have a lie in, or have breakfast with the family before they go to school - less stress and better health.

Health is something we need to protect, and that of our children. Environmental and safety laws in developing countries can be in some cases non-existent, in others ineffective or not enforced, leading to Irish imports being of low quality, in some cases even dangerous. Toys, as well as toothpaste, tyres, fish & seafood, even medicine have been recalled (from China once again). Although China is closing down companies, arresting people and even sentencing some to death in extreme situations (a drug was passed as safe by scientists even though people had died in trials) there is a long way to go.

Ireland does have export industries that need your support. Farmers provide not only food for export, but look after the land so tourists can enjoy the landscape and its wildlife. We can help them by buying local, seasonal produce, giving them a fairer price than they can get from supermarkets, and encouraging the new generation to want to inherit their parents' farms, and turning around the decline in rural populations.

Even if we make changes now that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there are already changes to our climate here in Ireland that we have to deal with, such as higher temperatures (yes, honestly), water shortages and contamination, and more intense and frequent storms (we know about them in 2008), resulting in more property, infrastructure and crop damage, as well as health and welfare problems.

HOW

We will provide information and links to other sites with information on things you can do to directly help reduce our abuse of the Earth's resouces, but more than that, improve your lifestyle and reduce the financial burden along with it.

Fresh Herbs add flavour and vitamins

Organic gardening is a perfect example - no longer is there a carbon burden on shipping your food from some distant location on the planet. If it can be grown successfully in your garden, then it is probably more flavoursome, less polluted with chemical fertilisers and pesticides, fresher and therefore more beneficial in terms of vitamins and minerals and far more tasty, due to the freshness of your home grown produce. You may have noticed the phrase 'food security' in the news recently. Growing your own will mean you can have at least some fresh produce at a reasonable cost. Permaculture is a term that really means 'sensible gardening' whereby plants are grown to mutually support each other, and discourage pests at the same time, without the need for unnecessary (petro-chemical based, therefore expensive) chemicals.

Cooking. Reduce the amount of chemicals in your food and therefore in its waste, by using home grown herbs to flavour the food, rather than using sauces, full of sugar, salt and chemicals, to disguise the natural flavour of your food. You may not have the time or inclination to become self sufficient in terms of vegetables, or may not have a garden, but a window box can grow a good supply of fragrant and flavoursome additives for your food.

Wind and Sun Energy - free to collect

Solar Power and Wind generated electricity. This is a more complex arena and whilst the benefits to the environment are definitely measurable, for the implementation of the system to be cost effective, it has to be planned more thoroughly. Using Solar Panels and Wind Turbines, you can capture wasted Earth resources to store the power in a bank of batteries and use that power for use around the house for lighting and powering household equipment.

Renewable Energy Sources. Many Irish properties have a boiler house, burning oil-based fuels. These can be replaced easily and cost effectively, using available grants, with renewable alternative boilers, such as wood pellet burners. The fuel required by these burners works out at about half the cost of burning oil and a quarter of the cost to produce the same amount of heat using electricity (that was researched in 2007 - I can only suggest the savings are even greater in 2008). Renewable Energy Sources include any product which can be re-created to bind carbon into its body content. These include any kind of fast growing wood, sugar beet and even waste dairy by-products are becoming a popular source of energy, being a major constituent of some Bio Fuels. Even used cooking oil can be processed to make fuel suitable for trucks. I'm not convinced about running vehicles on biofuels though. The only consequence I can foresee is rising food prices and malnutrition in poorer families (not just Africa or Mexico, but Ireland)

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All this waste?

Re-use of resources such as glass, metals, paper and plastics to name a few, reduces the energy (and water in many cases) by recycling rather than manufacture from virgin materials. Plus, it reduces the requirement to plunder our environment by sourcing additional raw materials to produce goods for our consumption.

Composting kitchen and garden waste is a simple procedure of collecting all your waste food and garden waste, placing in a simple to construct compost area, and in 2 to 6 months you will have a rich source of organic nutrients to add to your soil, improving your flowers, plants and vegetable areas.

The main benefit is the reduction of this waste going into landfills where it can potentially leach into local water supplies, provide food for pests such as rats and mice and require huge areas of otherwise useful land to be wasted on storing this rubbish that could otherwise be employed to the benefit of your soil. It also reduces the carbon emissions from the vehicles transporting all this waste to the landfills.

Reduction in waste. Once you start sorting your waste, it will become apparent to you how much unneccessary waste you are generating. How much food are you throwing away each day? Are you buying more food than you require and then having to throw it out once it has past its best? Or is it simply that you are cooking more than your family requires for each meal? Reducing this can lead to real savings on your weekly shopping budget, that isn't apparent to you now, but once you appreciate the contents of your waste, you have a better understanding of your consumption and requirements.

Rainwater Collection

Rain Water - Water is not a commodity that is in short supply in Ireland with our weather :o). But there are times when we do get dry spells. Only 3% of the water on our planet is freshwater. The remainder is in the oceans as saltwater. Of this 3%, 70% is locked in ice-caps and glaciers. Many houses rely on local wells for water and drawing too much can lower the local water table and have knock-on effects we never realise further down the water chain. Using rainwater butts, you can collect water for use in the garden and in the house for toilets and other (non-drinking) uses. There are 'rainwater-harvesting' systems available now that treat rainwater so it becomes usable as drinking water (potable). Currently, only Irish businesses have their mains water metered, but this may change as our weather patterns change (April 2007 was the dryest and sunniest in recorded history). Metering may spread to private households. Installing rainwater harvesting systems in new-build properties will reduce potential future costs and increase water security.

The perfect log cabin construction

Using renewable materials like wood, recycled bricks and tiles will all contribute towards a unique design and environmentally friendly construction. Avoiding concrete will reduce significantly the carbon footprint - there are other building materials with better credentials.

Insulation is the best way to reduce the energy requirement of a building. This may be retrofit to old buildings, but is far easier, and cheaper, to do it at the construction phase.

Only build as big a house as you need for most of the year - 5 bedrooms when you don't intend running a B&B and only have a small family means that you need extra materials and energy during the life of the property.

Lighting - Turning lights off that aren't needed, such as on the drive and outside the house, in rooms where no one is using them, is the simplest and most cost effective. Using low energy bulbs both reduces the amount of electricity, and because they also last much longer, reduces the amount of energy required to produce them and also less waste products.

Shopping - Insist on local produce when you shop. Look at the country of origin of the produce and if there is a choice choose local. The benefits are manyfold.

• It supports your local producers, thereby injecting more money into the local economy, so benefits you and your neighbours. More local jobs etc.
• Local produce also requires less fuel to reach your shopping basket, thereby reducing carbon emissions, requires less transport infrastructure, reducing the traffic and therefore congestion, congestion reduces the efficiency of fuel consumption.
• Buying local produce as against out of season imported fresh produce also has an effect on the balance of trade. Lower imports means more money stays in the Irish economy, enabling Irish producers to draw on those funds to improve our export opportunities, thereby benefitting all Irish people with a more vibrant economy.

Transport - Currently in Ireland, due to the lack of public transport connections, rural inhabitants at least must have access to private vehicles to get to shops, schools and work. The road taxation system as it stands seems to encourage the purchase of 'commercial' vehicles, even if there's no need to own one. Whatever you drive though, there are ways of reducing your emissions, costs and travelling time. Keep your vehicle serviced, and tyre pressures 'optimum'. Remove roof racks and roof boxes when not in use, and 'read the road' to avoid harsh braking and acceleration. Avoid sitting in traffic jams - plan your journey beforehand, and if you have flexible working arrangements, try to avoid the 'rush hour' and school drop-off times! Don't change an old car just for the sake of it though - there is more energy used in building a new car than you'll save by more emissions from your current vehicle.

Leisure - With the faster pace of life in Ireland we are branching out into new leisure activities. This doesn't mean we leave our past behind - there are many parts of Ireland that need to be preserved. We don't want to end up like a resort on the Mediterranean. We need to keep our identity. You'll find ideas for all the family to enjoy on a budget, and without causing mass environmental destruction.

Protection - With global warming comes climate change. Think of the consequences of more storms, higher temperatures and shorter winters. Increasing costs are not just incurred repairing the damage, but knock-on costs, from loss of income, higher insurance premiums, and perhaps reducing the value of properties that become uninsurable! Even food prices are going up, as more crops are damaged (worldwide) from these extreme weather events. 

On 1st August 2007 there was a Government announcement that oil and gas exploration companies will have to pay 40% tax on their profits, rather than the 25% they pay now. That means more in the government coffers, hopefully to use wisely!

One thing you can do is 'spread the word'. Encourage friends and relatives to take an interest, and "do their bit" (no matter where they are on the planet - in fact the further afield the message travels, the better). Start them off by showing them something you've done! Tell them about this site :-)

For further reading, click on the Green Answers on the menu on the left of the page, and its subsections. It may take a while to read it all, but hopefully some areas may inspire you to take more and more care of the beautiful Emerald Isle we are proud to call home. We are tryng to cover as much of our lifestyle as possible, so if you have any suggestions for new sections then please contact us, or register and join the forum.