Environment « Thurles Information

Let’s Thank Local Thurles World Earth Day Heroes.

Today, Thursday April 22nd is “World Earth Day” and this year’s theme is “Together, We Can Restore Our Earth”. It is estimated that more that 1 billion people will participate in World Earth Day activities across 192 countries, making it the largest civic observance in the world.

Earth Day activities range in size from global summits to individual initiatives and no activity is considered too small. Earth Day isn’t a one day a year event, but rather a special day that aims to raise awareness of challenges and dangers faced by our global and local environments. It also recognises the incredible work we can do to restore our earth as part of individual and collaborative efforts both locally and globally.

Here in Thurles, one community group (comprising members of “Refresh Thurles” and other volunteers) epitomises this year’s World Earth Day theme of “Together, We Can Restore Our Earth”, as well as its emphasis on the importance of community action and collaboration.

As the video highlights, down through the years, this Riverside Walk has been the victim of neglect, pollution from developments and vandalism, but the efforts of this altruistic group has done much to unlock the beauty of this, so often overlooked, local treasure.

Pictured in our slide show above are volunteers Una Crowley, Mary Joe Fanning, Catherine Fogarty, Rona Sorrell, and David Crowley. However there are many other heroes who contribute greatly and are not featured, including Eamonn Medley (Thurles Lions Club), who recently supplied the featured bird boxes and Eamonn Mason, who replaced numerous shrubs, sadly stolen on two previous occasions.

Throughout the year and on many weekends, this group of civic minded volunteers show up to clean up the Riverside Walk. Armed with Black Sacks, Spades, Heavy Duty Gloves and Rubbish Grabbers; they play their part in the fight against local pollution. As well as the unpleasant job of picking up other people’s rubbish, these unsung heroes work together to unlock the potential of this sometimes overlooked walkway. Among other projects, they have introduced plants and birds boxes to make this area more hospitable for humans and our friends in the animal kingdom.

This community group seeks no reward for its work, other than the satisfaction of a job well done and the knowledge that they are doing their bit to “Restore Our Earth”.

At Thurles.info and to mark World Earth Day 2021 we would like to clearly spotlight this selfless local group and thank them for all their hard work and ongoing commitment to care for and restore our town’s “Riverside Walk”.

For more information and ideas on World Earth Day visit HERE

“Story of Your Stuff” 2021 Competition Winners

A video that creatively examines the environmental life cycle of disposable face masks has won the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) The Story of Your Stuff 2021 competition. This year’s competition received a record number of entries, with over 300 submissions from schools across the country.

Now in its fifth year, the competition hinges on story-telling around real environmental challenges and brings together curiosity, creativity and science. Students are encouraged to consider the challenges to our environment, and contemplate how we might tackle them through modification of production and consumption practices for the everyday ‘stuff’ in our lives. They are encouraged to use the EPA’s national information portal http://www.epa.ie/irelandsenvironment/ as a main source of information.

It taps into the skillset what our young people can achieve using imagery and short video communication, suitable for social media platforms. In thinking about climate action and environmental protection, it encourages participants to spread the word about sustainability among their friends and family and make lasting and impactful changes.

The winning entry was created by Robert Urquhart from Presentation College, Athenry in Galway.

Robert’s very topical ‘Story of Disposable Face Masks’ uses excellent hand-drawn illustrations as well as strong scripting and narration, to look at the manufacture and use of disposable face masks. As the overall competition winner, Robert claims the top prize of €500, along with €500 for his school.

Commenting, Dr. Jonathan Derham of the EPA and chair of the judging panel, said: –

“This year saw a record number of entries from schools across the country to the EPA’s The Story of Your Stuff competition. This response reflects the commitment and interest of Irish young people to tackling climate and environmental issues on their terms and in a meaningful way. Part of the storytelling craft is to relate these challenges to how we live, consume and behave – making it real – and the winners have very successfully achieved this. There are solutions and alternatives that we could all embrace.”

The winners were announced at a virtual finale and showcase event on 21st April at which Dr. Norah Patten, competition ambassador and candidate-astronaut, delivered an inspirational address. The event was hosted by the EPA and held in partnership with the UCD Earth Institute and attendees also heard from representatives of the EPA and UCD.

One other such project also entitled, ‘The Story of Face Masks’ by Keisha Abdulhaman from Sion Hill Dominican College, Blackrock, Co. Dublin won second prize and ‘The Story of Disposable Cutlery’ by Julia Wojtysiak from Le Cheile Secondary School, Tyrrelstown, Dublin 15 was placed third.

The prize winners for the climate topic and Irish-language awards were: –
Climate topic prize: Oonagh Hales from John the Baptist Community School, Co. Limerick for her entry, ‘The Story of Plastic Cutlery’
Irish-language prize: Rebecca Ni Challanain and Kate Ni Mhathuna from Gaelcholaiste Charraig Ui Leighin, Carrigaline, Co. Cork for their entry, ‘Scéal Lipéad Crochadh’, which looks at clothing labels.

Competition ambassador, citizen candidate-astronaut and award-winning STEM advocate, Dr. Norah Patten said:

“As a STEM advocate, I believe strongly in the need for environmental issues to be distilled into accessible language and presented in an engaging way to drive behaviour change for a more sustainable planet. This year’s shortlisted entrants demonstrated this ability in spades, and I wish to congratulate each one of them for getting this far. With so much uncertainty in the world, it is comforting to know there is a generation of young people able and willing to put their creativity to use in telling a compelling story on the need to make more environmentally conscious decisions.”

Director of the UCD Earth Institute, Professor Tasman Crowe said:

“Albeit virtually, it was fantastic to speak to the shortlisted entrants of this year’s The Story of Your Stuff competition, an initiative that aligns closely with the mission of the UCD Earth Institute, to find sustainable solutions to urgent environmental challenges. I hope the video demonstrations of innovative research being undertaken at UCD will inspire others to take up the challenge and perhaps come and join us at UCD.”

Readers can view all the winning entries HERE.

Exciting Free Online Event For Kids.

Thursday, April 22nd next, is ‘World Earth Day’ and the Rediscovery Centre and the Natural History Museum of Ireland are offering a unique and free opportunity for primary school pupils.

This free 1 hour online event, for 3rd to 6th class pupils, takes place from 11:30 am to 12:30pm, as already stated on April 22nd. The session, entitled “Cool Fossils and Hot (Climate) Facts”, begins with a half hour exploration of Ice Age fossils from Ireland. Pupils will be enabled to learn about the Woolly Mammoth, Spotted Hyena, Giant Deer, Brown Bear and Grey Wolf.

The second half of this not-to-be missed session, invites pupils to learn about climate change. Pupils will be enabled to investigate how CO2 causes global warming, with the help of some fascinating experiments.

To take part in this event and to view its associated resources you can register via eventbrite.ie, by simply clicking HERE.

The theme for this year’s ‘World Earth Day’ is ‘Together, We Can Restore Our Earth’.
For more information on ‘World Earth Day’ visit HERE.

Thurles River Walk & Other Smelly Problems

The words “River Walk” should flash upon our inward eye, visions of tranquillity, a certain colourful exoticism or romantic allure. Alas, not so when we describe the Thurles River Walk, running southwest beside the River Suir in the heart of Thurles.

The stench from drains, each deliberately designed to flow into the river, from various nearby developments, ensured that walkers, today, kept to the well-trodden Slievenamon Road route.

If local residents, council officials or even politicians, wish to view this offensive run-off into the river, with the help of your nose you can find same, some 50 yards south of the new Thurles footbridge on the west side of the river bank walkway.

**See picture above of what appears to be the overflow to a flooded sump, latter designed to collect undesirable liquids.**

Even the delusional Jackie Cahill TD, last week; who soon will be responsible for bringing the World Cup to Semple Stadium, Thurles, thankfully, possibly because of the existing stench, kept his weekly concocted, fictitious and mendacious promotional video very short, when announcing €120,000 (amount €30,000 less than his annual salary & expenses) for an extension to this same walkway.

(Ah, yes you do possibly remember the above other J.C.; the guy who sent me the famous misspelt quote in relation to the “Double Ditch”: “Iv done more in 5 years than you have in youre life GEORGIE WILLOBY”. Stop emailing”. On €100,000 plus expenses J.C., we hope you have, but we greatly doubt it.).

Meanwhile, on the east side of Thurles town, the now derelict Munster hotel, situated close to a Medical Pharmacy; two Food Takeaways and two Dine-in Restaurants and opposite a most beautiful Cathedral; has allowed its underground cellar to flood to a depth of at least one metre. Owned by a member of Thurles Chamber of Commerce, we understand; the flood water now attracts water rats from the river to operate behind terraced houses in the area, while also collecting an abundance of litter. Here also we can expect to find a different, yet another unpleasant fragrance.

It would appear no one is in charge in the Thurles Municipal District presently. Maybe we need to have a public demonstration and a change in political direction, when we get this accursed Covid-19 under control.

LIFE EMERALD – Improving Our Understanding Of Ireland’s Air Quality

EPA has started a 3-year project that will improve the level of air quality information available to the public and policy makers in Ireland.
LIFE EMERALD is part funded by the European Commission LIFE funding programme.

The main objectives are: –

An operational 3-day ambient air quality forecast;
Near real-time mapping of the main air pollutants throughout the country and in our major cities and towns; and
Annual mapping of air pollutants across the country
The project will support Irish citizens in making decisions that positively benefit their health on a day-to-day basis.

The EPA has commenced work on a new 3-year EU part funded project entitled LIFE Emerald – “Emissions Modelling and Forecasting of Air in Ireland”. The project proposes to greatly improve publicly available air quality information and raise awareness around the topic of Irish air quality.

The LIFE EMERALD project will also improve Ireland’s ambient air quality management capabilities, by using an air quality modelling system to gain a better understanding of the factors contributing to poor air quality and develop a system that will provide better information to the public. The project will deliver the following: –

An operational 3-day ambient air quality forecasting system, which will inform the public of the predicted air quality in the coming days, allowing them to make decisions to better protect their health.
Near real-time (NRT) air quality maps, to provide more detailed information to the public, which will incorporate live data from the growing EPA ambient air quality network.
Annual air pollutant maps, which will allow for more detailed air pollution assessment.

On the commencement of the LIFE EMERALD Project EPA Director Dr. Micheál Lehane, has stated,

“LIFE EMERALD will help deliver the first operational national air quality forecast for Ireland. This will allow citizens to become much more informed on their own actions in response to forecast air quality. It will greatly strengthen our knowledge of air pollution nationally. We are delighted to receive the funding from the EU LIFE Programme to help us proceed with this project and we hope to deliver a greater understanding of Ireland’s air quality into the future.”

The EPA will manage the project in co-operation with its main project partners the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, the Health Service Executive, the Asthma Society of Ireland, University College Cork and the Belgian research institute VITO. The EPA will also consult and co-operate with other national stakeholders that have an interest in the area of air quality, such as the Irish Heart Foundation.

Ms Sarah O’Connor, CEO of the Asthma Society stated,

“Ireland has the highest incidence rate of asthma in Europe with one in ten children and one in thirteen adults developing the condition – with 890,000 people likely to develop asthma in their lifetimes. The Asthma Society of Ireland welcomes the opportunity to be part of the LIFE EMERALD Project as the link between clean air and improved human health is clear.”

Mr. Mark Murphy, the Advocacy Officer at Irish Heart Foundation, stated,

“At the Irish Heart Foundation, we welcome the EPA’s LIFE EMERALD project as it will help raise public awareness of the significant damage that air pollution does to cardiovascular health, and highlight what measures could be introduced to reduce the 1,300 premature annual deaths caused by air pollution, the majority of which are due to stroke or heart disease.’’

The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023, with priority given to the provision of the air quality forecast in early 2023.