I am delighted to announce that I will be seeking a
@labour
Party nomination to stand in Waterford for the next GE. I previously stood in the TCD Seanad bye-election and have a long association with party leader
@ivanabacik
. I look fwd to the opportunity to represent Waterford!๐น
A question for all Twitter users: why isn't climate change trending today, given the news of the imminent collapse of the Thwaites glacier with a decade and irreversible sea level rise (65cm) that inevitably follows? Is there a code beyond Red??
I'm deeply troubled by this claim made by
@PearseDoherty
in the Dรกil yesterday that 2800 people die each year from fuel poverty. There are factually incorrect claims made about and deaths from fuel poverty. The opposition parties need to be challenged on this by the media. A๐งต
The Government's proposal for a ban on turf despite not providing any alternatives to communities so they can heat their homes is a daft idea! They need to ditch it now. A Just Transition means you put alternatives in place FIRST โ
@PearseDoherty
We will never convince the public to support slow travel or reduced personal aviation emissions if corporate jets are exempted from what are very minimal EU energy tax on aviation fuels. This exemption is palpably unfair.
#ClimateJustice
This is one of the most important articles published by the
@IrishTimes
about climate change, food production and sustainability that you will read this year. Bookmark it. Save it. If Mark Kelly is right we're in big trouble.
Well I'm just scarlet for the experts in the Dublin City Centre Traders' Alliance that thought they could get away with it.
"If this analysis were submitted as an undergraduate dissertation to the university I teach in, I would fail it."
Ouch!
3 weeks ago, my 81 yr old mother asked me what was going on in the
@greenparty_ie
. She was alarmed to learn that there was significant opposition to going into gov. She decided to join the party there and then. Here she is now, attending the online special convention.
@WindEurope
Wow; yesterday, wind produced over *30%* of all Europe's electricity! First time I see that.
Top-7, by share of total:
Denmark 122%
Ireland 76%
Germany 67%
Sweden 40%
UK 35%
Austria 35%
Lithuania 33%
Top-5, GWh produced:
Germany 936
UK 283
France 279
Spain 183
Sweden 162
A student return fare from Kilkenny to Dublin Heuston is now โฌ11.60. Incredible value. Adult return fare is now โฌ23. Factoring in cost of parking & time lost in metal cage, these reductions will be game-changing for many commuters. But
@IrishRail
will there be seats for all???
An emotional Mary Robinson, Chair of
@TheElders
and former President of Ireland slams leaders for not being in crisis mode and blames Saudi Arabia for blocking
@skynews
#COP26
Today will be very important.
For the first time in years researching and campaigning for climate action, I feel hopeful.
Estimated 10,000 people strike for climate change (via
@IrishTimes
)
I can't believe the vitriol politicians get for stating the obvious: the more energy we save the less โฌโฌ to Russia's war. The less energy we use the better for
#ClimateAction
our pockets and the environment. We should unite in solidarity behind
#Ukraine
.
We need to change norms. Why does
@RTERadio1
cover "traffic" congestion that only affects motorists? Why do we not hear about delays that affect public transport users?
@DublinCoach1
has appalling punctuality record - here's me waiting...
@DublinCommuters
@dublinbusnews
186,000 dead, or 7.9% of Gaza's population of 2.3m. Just think. 7.9% of Irish population = 402,109 people. Can you even imagine the scale of suffering? The vast majority are innocent civilians with nowhere to flee. Does the world care?
#GenocideinGaza
I'm thrilled to announce that I'm back w/
@foeireland
& the
@SCCIreland
as their new
#Climate
campaigns coordinator. I love research, teaching & consulting. But nothing beats working for ๐ฎ๐ช's leading climate advocacy orgs, speaking truth to power & fighting for climate justice.
I know that going 100% renewable & net zero is not going to be easy. But given our energy security/ climate crises shouldn't we be going for broke, and rapidly scaling up renewable electricity from offshore & onshore wind? My piece in today's
@IrishTimes
What would I do with the โฌ13bn
#AppleTax
?
๐ Metrolink for Dublin
๐๏ธ 500,000 units cost rental housing
๐ New Railways & double tracked lines
๐Trams for Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford
๐ณ Nature restoration & Just Transition Fund for farmers
๐ New national parks
That
@EamonRyan
is resigning as leader of the Greens is perhaps not so surprising. That appears to be the fate of most party leaders when poll numbers flag, seats are lost and a GE is on the horizon. But people should be in no doubt as to his extraordinary legacy as leader.
In today's
@IrishTimes
I write about the need for leadership at local authority levels to shift away from our car-dominant paradigm. Councillors & local govt officials need to act in the wider public interest when it comes to active travel projects.
I feel shy about highlighting this lovely award by
@DublinFOE
but thank you! To tackle the
#ClimateCrisis
we will need ALL hands on deck. Everyone is needed, everyone is welcome. There's room on the pedestal for all of us. We need you!
Sorry Taoiseach but this is not sustainable or consistent with our climate targets. If the govt wants to support regional airports it must redistribute air traffic away from
@DublinAirport
. Aviation growth left unchecked will blow through the global carbon budget.
Very positive news for Waterford and the South-east today. ย Look forward to the runway being extended and direct flights to UK and continent once again
๐ 417.43 ppm
#CO2
in the atmosphere for the 1st week of 2022 ๐ Up from 415.44 ppm a year ago ๐
@NOAA
Mauna Loa data: ๐ updates to check atย and for print: ๐
Anyone who says climate change wonโt drive millions of people to seek refuge from extreme heat, drought, storms & floods is in denial. We havenโt even started to see the effects of 1.5d of warming never mind 2+.
#ClimateCrisis
Delhi temperature hits 50C
So
@sinnfeinireland
doesn't support rewetting proposals. What is their solution then for the carbon losses from degraded peatlands and grasslands? Can
@mattcarthy
provide details please?
Wow! Wind provided nearly 69% of our electricity over the past 24 hours - I'd be "scrambling" for more of that instead of fossil fuels to provide
#energysecurity
and
#CleanEnergy
. ๐
It's interesting that the news about
@DublinAirport
running out of parking spaces is not covered by
@rtenews
. It is an opportunity to highlight the terrible public transport connectivity & related expense & the urgent need for Metrolink to be advanced.
A couple of thoughts about
@Ryanair
:
1. Ryanair uses publicity as a way to get free advertising. It's been doing this for years. Getting into the headlines is an opportunity to promote low cost air travel. They don't care why they are in the news in the first place.
And it's not an accident that the vehicle was a large EV - Hyundai Kona if I recall. Cars are cars, big cars more dangerous to VRUs than small ones. We can substitute all cars with EVs and still have a hostile environment for pedestrians, cyclists. We all deserve better!
Dublin city is dangerous for cyclists. We are vulnerable to the slightest driver error. We need segregated cycleways, junction redesigns and priority at lights. There have been improvements yes, but I suspect this sort of incident happens daily.
"Imagine a Europe that ran on solar and wind power: whose cars ran on locally provided electricity, and whose homes were heated by electric air-source heat pumps. That Europe would not be funding Putinโs Russia" -
@billmckibben
I see so much (fake?) outrage here at the turf ban. The Outraged could be:
โ campaigning for more โฌโฌ to speed up retrofitting programme & end fuel poverty
โ raising local awareness of climate impacts & costs of inaction
โ fighting for better rural transport & actually using it
Something else happened today. I was cycling from UCD towards town in Clonskeagh when I witnessed a car (an EV as it happened) plough into a cyclist waiting at lights.
The sound was a 'crunch' like crisp packet
@dublincycling
It's June 22nd, the date of the
@climatecaseire
Supreme Court case scheduled for 2 days. It took a long time to get here. Countless hours of prep by legal team, a 4 day High Court hearing in 2019 packed to the rafters with members of the public, c.20,000 signatures of support.
This meat industry conference in Dublin is a national embarassment. To have it hosted by
@teagasc
and opened by Irish minister and EU Commissioner makes it worse. Anyone offering scientific facts is now a "zealot", apparently.
Eventually we will have to confront the ecological and climate crisis with concerted political leadership instead of gombeen hysterics. We can send these deniers into local, national and European parliaments but it won't change the laws of physics and it won't solve anything.
โThis whole scaremongering of climate changeโ, said Mattie McGrath just now on
#tonightvmtv
in discussing legacy of Eamon Ryan.
Complete media ban on
#climate
deniers urgently needed, including Michael OโLeary as well as McGrath & others.
Thanks
@lauren_tuite
for this nice clip of the
@RTE_PrimeTime
discussion about the role of agriculture in climate action last night. A few observations about
@IFAmedia
lobbying/media strategy...
Our land is a carbon source, not a carbon sink. Reduce agriculture emissions by 30%, produce high quality food for our own consumption, and give the natural world a lifeline in this country.
๐ฅ
@SadhbhO
๐ฅ
Thank you to all my supporters during the recent TCD Seanad bye-election. I received 6.48% of the first preferences, which I'm delighted with. I will continue to highlight the
#Climate
and
#Biodiversity
crises and build on this result for the next Seanad election. Thank you! ๐ฟ
I never thought I'd see the day. Every time the light went green at Bachelor's Walk, a few hundred people got through the junction on buses in one phase and there were no buses left queuing.
The social licence of the fossil fuel industry must end. The city of the Hague has just outlawed all fossil fuel adverts for petrol and diesel, aviation and cruise ships including on billboards and bus shelters. Ireland's cities should follow suit.
Here we go again
@RTEOne
another "debate" on
#Marian
with weary commentators talking about how
#ClimateAction
is sooo costly and inconvenient and unpopular and only promoted by ideologues with a "philosophy". No sign of science-based policy. Depressing.
This is the first in a series of articles I have been invited to write for the
@IrishTimes
. I will be focusing on land management & biodiversity from an ethical & philosophical perspective. Thanks to
@KOSullivanIT
for the opportunity!
@DCUClimate
I have 3 daughters. As a woman & a mother, women's health is critical for me. Some of the less reported measures in the
#PFG
include:
โ๏ธ free contraception for women 17 up to 25
โ๏ธ exclusion zones around medical facilities
โ๏ธโ๏ธ extension of paid parental leave
Vote for โ๏ธ
Labour Leader
@ivanabacik
is calling on the government to introduce a tax on SUVs and a German-style monthly public transport ticket to encourage people out of their cars.
I will be talking to
@NTBreakfast
at around 8:15 in the morning
#suvs
#publictransport
Green Party MEP Ciaran Cuffe has lost his seat on the 18th count here on the RDS
โThere's good days in politics. There's bad days too.โ
@IrishMirror
Itโs time to Protest ๐ชง
Weโve heard back from Richard Shakespeareโs office, heโs โnot availableโ for a meeting with the combined groups
Please join us at Dublin City Hall on Dame St - Monday 8th July at 5.30pm
Letโs make sure heโs heard from the Commuters of Dublin
Calling all
#LE19
canidates! No time to waste. We need to put
#ClimateAction
front and centre in local government policies and investments, especially traffic and transport planning. This is what I've pointed to my fron door:
Superb piece by
@davidmcw
"Cars are the enemy of street life and urban living. As well as being polluters, they take up space."
David McWilliams: There is no divine right to drive, let alone park your car
This shows just how far we need to go in terms of promoting a fact based discussion of
#ClimateAction
- SUVs not required to carry more than 5 passengers
- SUVs are heavier, less fuel efficient & more damaging to climate
- SUVs more dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists.
I see that a certain academic has called for โSUVโsโ (sic) to be โtaxed out of existenceโ. Perhaps their wish is for people with larger families (like mine) to take two cars when they need to go somewhere. How environmentally sensible!
We're going to struggle to spend โฌ1m per day on cycling and walking without lots of these excellent suggestions. May I add: 1. send all county council road engineers to Holland for a bit of training. They'll be inspired. 2. Also Safe Routes to ALL Schools by Sept. ๐ฒ
Congratulations
@EamonRyan
on your appointment as Minister for Climate Action, Communication Networks and Transport. I know youโre planning to get more of us cycling. Hereโs a few practical suggestions:
At
@EPAIreland
#ClimateConference
, Prof. Myles Allen is asked why should Ireland do anything about climate change, given our tiny population? Ans: if the average person around the world was Irish, we'd already be at 3 degrees of warming. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it.
This is the most egregious example of greenwashing I have ever heard. Designed to confuse children and dispel scrutiny of transport fossil fuels in driving our planet's ecosystems to destruction. If you want to support biodiversity, stop promoting fossil fuels.
@goapplegreen
In Tuesday's
@IrishTimes
I contributed an article about how some farming groups are sharing misinformation about the climate impacts of livestock farming. However word counts limited the detail so here's the lengthy version:
๐งต1/
So here we go... ๐ฎ๐ช failed to comply with 2020 climate target so now the taxpayer must purchase โฌ6-13m worth of carbon credits. We are in overshoot territory and we don't even have the promised carbon budgets yet! RTE news:
I am genuinely shocked reading some of the comments below. The Nore has been in trouble for years Barrow even moreso. You'd think local land owners would be concerned. It used to be an important salmon & trout fishery. Not anymore. The data doesn't lie, but humans do.
Visiting Kilkenny this weekend? This was the River Nore this week, you can see the foam. The EPA says that >95% of the nitrogen is from agriculture and that N loss must come down by c.40% to meet water quality standards
In an article in today's
@IrishTimes
I drew from last week's cold snap to remind us that our benign climate is entirely dependent on stable conditions in the Arctic. But the Arctic is melting at unprecedented and accelerating rates due to global heating.
According to Dr. Ciara Murphy of the
@JCFJustice
โ,if we want .. a more healthy, liveable city we need to stand up to these retailers [and car park owners] and say enough is enough.โ
@DubCityCouncil
We are running out of time. Nuclear power can't be scaled up quickly enough to combat climate change so let's not be distracted by it. Focus on decarbonisation. โกโก
Even if nuclear power was safe it would not solve the climate crisis (via
@IrishTimes
)
Listen back to
@HannahEDaly
's interview on RTE Radio 1 earlier today where she comprehensively debunked the claims made by Minister
@McConalogue
that Ireland's beef and dairy sector is "exceptionally sustainable".
Gosh I think our Taoiseach doesn't really understand the gravity of our energy/climate emergency and how CCS is still a speculative and hugely costly technology that hasn't been and won't be scaled up in time. Disappointing.
โFrom a cyclistโs point of view, Iโve never seen such level of aggression towards us... If a rabbit or cat jumped out, youโd stop, but it seems some people are willing to go through cyclists. Itโs like weโre not human.."
Chilling words.
@RSAIreland
Great to hear
@Aidan_Regan
on RTE. His analysis cuts through the FG /FF bluster that all is great when there is GDP growth. The "headline economic indicators don't match people's lived realities". Our public services inc childcare and infrastructure are completely inadequate.
This is so depressing. Emissions from new SUVs in 2021 alone were 120mt. SUV sales outstripping EVs. Car manufacturers' greed & rampant consumerism will kill this planet, our only home.
@colmanos
RTE news : SUV sales hit new records, driving up emissions
So I arrived at Plunkett Station in Waterford this am with my bike to be greeted *by name* by the train driver who had checked the names of passengers travelling with bikes... what about that for a welcoming service
@IrishRail
๐
#LoveWaterford
Fantastic article by โฆ
@LizCarolan
โฉ warning of the corrosive effects of climate misinformation, abuse and trolling on social media ๐๐ป
The โvileโ abuse of Eamon Ryan has chilling effect on climate action
Nice to see the
@IrishTimes
and
@guardian
lifestyle pages highlight research that shows plant-based alternatives to meat are better for the planet and mostly healthier than products such as burgers and sausages made from animals. ๐
Dear Minister, I think there is an overwhelming environmental case for reducing the amount of beef and dairy produced in Ireland. Yours sincerely, Sadhbh O Neill.
So at UN ๐ฎ๐ช is a 'champion of civil society' but at home
@MichealMartinTD
now joins
@IFAmedia
campaign of harassment against
@AnTaisce
just because it is acting in defence of the environment. Shameful!
Thanks to
@irishexaminer
and Padraig Hoare for covering this important topic. I think we not only need to tax SUVs by weight, we need to start talking about the amount of space car storage (aka parking) requires.
โฌ1m every day on cycling and walking infrastructure according to
@IrishTimes
- a key
@greenparty_ie
demand. If that's true, it will transform my city Kilkenny
@KKPeopleNews
which is choked by traffic. Kids should be able to cycle/ walk safely to school or get a bus. Everywhere.
Germany will ban gas and oil heating in new or renovated buildings from next year and likely increase subsidies to support their phaseout as Europeโs largest economy steps up efforts to meet climate targets
It's not too late to make an observation to
@anbordpleanala
re Metrolink. Deadline is Monday 16th & there is a โฌ50 fee. This project will transform Dublin's public transport & *must* go ahead. While you're at it
@EamonRyan
please extend it to
@ucddublin
!
@aidan_bren
@HannahEDaly
@farmersjournal
you have a serious problem with the quality of your reporting if you think that legit & science-based critiques of Irish agrifood policies amount to dairy-bashing by "celebrities".
In my article in today's
@IrishTimes
I make the case that the destruction of the Amazon under President Bolsonaro is a crime against humanity and nature, and that he should be investigated by the International Criminal Court.
We have a serious problem with our climate advisory body, which is dominated by men, economists and ex officio reps from state bodies who perceive its role as one of evaluating rather than recommending climate policy. Not good enough!
@RichardbrutonTD
@EamonRyan
@jackfchambers
.
1/ The UK reduced its GHG emissions by 40% between 1990 and 2018.
Over the same period we *increased* our emissions by 10% in ๐ฎ๐ช
So, naturally, our Climate Change Advisory Council now resists adoption of UK Climate Act approach to carbon budgeting?!๐ณ
Why is the media not linking extreme weather events to climate change? - Newsroom cultures, journalistic norms, inexperience and lack of environmental literacy suggests
@DPMRobbins
Good God this is 2021!! Isn't there an MSc or MOOC for that
@rtenews
?
So proud today of our
@PresidentIRL
๐จ๐ฎ Yes! We need a new paradigm of ecological responsibility ๐
Lessons of Covid-19 should be used to tackle inequality, climate change says President
I know what itโs like to sit in traffic jams day in, day out. If elected, I will demand better public transport for our area.
This Friday, vote No. 1 Emer Higgins.
#ElectEmer
#VoteHiggins1
#RTEgate
- Toy Show "the musical" losses reached โฌ2.2m. The incompetence at senior management in RTE is staggering! FWIW the contribution of govt to funding the
@IrishEnvNet
was just โฌ1.7m in 2021. No wonder
@rte
doesn't focus on
#ClimateCrisis
when it is drowning in car ads.
Hey
@rtenews
@SamanthaLibreri
you edited out my arguments against more gas infrastructure to the
@TodaywithClaire
this am where I spoke about energy security in an age of climate crisis.
RTE news : Ex-ESB International boss issues gas supply warning
Here's the
@PatKennyNT
clip re Churchtown. I stand over my personal view that while I don't condone the action it is nonetheless refreshing & demands a serious public debate about getting SUVs out of towns & cities. Regulate the cars, regulate the ads.
"Unless citizens are willing to accept that our lifestyles must fundamentally change โ and that there will be some pain โ we have no chance of achieving a habitable future"
@gavinjdaly
in today's Irish Times on
#ClimateAction
War and the threat to Europe's gas supplies should accelerate our shift to clean, renewable energy. We have no time to waste. The
#ClimateCrisis
won't wait.
I'm standing in the
#tcdseanad
bye-election as an effective advocate with 30 years of experience.
Vote
#1
Sadhbh4Seanad!
As long as we treat rivers, air and land as the dumping ground for their pollution, our environment will continue to deteriorate. Do people care enough to stand up against this destruction and loss?
Campaigners have expressed dismay over a recent decision by Meath County Council to allow one of country's biggest meat processing companies discharge commercial waste water into the River Boyne