Environment - Thurles Information

Liberty Square Thurles, Ireland’s Oxford Circus.

The offensive, unpleasant stench of raw sewage, emanated from the manhole covers in lower Liberty Square, Thurles, again yesterday, warning us of possibly some other impending future danger.
Motorists slowly passing through this now drive-through only area, quickly closed their car windows as they queued up in dense traffic to exit.

Local people passing through the Square, will have noted that in the late evenings over the past week; since the Thurles Music Festival, there has been a major effort to wash the dark stains from the pale coloured, Chinese granite stone; sadly to little avail.

The stains despite all efforts still remain, as Thurles.Info had pointed out in their initial planning submission; latter requested by Tipperary Co. Council, from the public, some four years previously; none of which, as expected, was ever read and certainly not heeded.

But now the town centre faces a new more sinister long-term problem, which we invite council officials, to rise up from their paperless desks and observe.

No, the problem is not failing to water the flowers; not the stench of sewage; not the failure to turn off street lighting, burning 24 hours per day. No it is not even the total lockdown of this area as Emergency Services attempt to either pass through or attend to urgent situations within this area as observed yesterday; no it’s chewing gum.

See images hereunder, reminiscent of Oxford Circus tube station, in the West End of London.

**Chewing Gum – the new threat on Liberty Square, Thurles**.

When Thurles street surfaces was constructed of black tarmac and much wider; to the casual observer, chewing gum went unnoticed.
Today the worst area is around the front of Historic Hayes Hotel, were teenage disco goers congregate on Friday nights. [After all, one must keep ones breath fresh in the event of that inevitable kiss, and with the non availability of suitable litter bins to accommodate ……… well enough said, what is the point, our elected representatives and officials are either totally deaf, or suffering from the Dunning Kruger Effect.]

Has Chewing Gum Ever Been Banned Anywhere?

Answer is yes – Singapore – that sovereign diamond shaped island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia, located at the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula.

Today, Singapore tops the list as the world’s most welcoming city, offering a safe environment to visitors, and it is one place where chewing gum is totally banned.

This ban on chewing gum was first introduced by Mr Harry Lee Kuan Yew, in 1992, adding to their other stiff laws with regard to graffiti, littering, spitting, expelling nasal mucus, jaywalking and urinating anywhere other than in a toilet. It is also against the law to fail to flush a public toilet.

Harry Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), latter a highly regarded Singaporean statesman and barrister, who served as the first Prime Minister of Singapore, between 1959 and 1990; saw the habit of spitting out chewing gum as a filthy, unhealthy habit and suggested that “if people can’t think, because they can’t chew, they should try chewing bananas”.

In Singapore today, the public will face a hefty fine for spitting out chewed gum, with same offence also doubling as “Littering“.

Time to get out the WD-40 Multi-Use and the long handled scrapers before then washing to get rid of the fish oil (WD-40).
It seems our Municipal District Council and Tipperary Co. Council are not finished wasting taxpayers money on our town centre, for the foreseeable future, as businesses vanish from the landscape.

EPA Data Shows Ireland’s 2021 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Above Pre-Covid Levels.

Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 4.7% in 2021 compared to 2020 and are now 1.1% above 2019 pre-COVID restriction levels.

Emissions from the Energy Industries sector increased by 17.6 % in 2021, driven by a tripling of coal and oil use in electricity generation.
Agriculture emissions increased by 3.0 per cent in 2021, driven by increased fertiliser use (up 5.2%) and a 2.8% increase in the number of dairy cows.
Residential greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 4.9% in 2021, driven by a combination of less time in the home, a milder winter and increased fuel prices.
Transport emissions increased by 6.1% as COVID-19 restrictions lifted, however emissions were 10.5 % below the pre-COVID 2019 level.
The Provisional 2021 greenhouse gas emission numbers indicate that 23.5% of the Carbon Budget for the 5-year period 2021-2025 has already been used, requiring an 8.4% average annual emissions reduction from 2022-2025 to stay within budget.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published its provisional greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland for 2021. The figures show an increase in emissions of 4.7% in 2021, compared to 2020 – when Covid restrictions had led to a significant lowering of emissions.

In total in 2021, 61.53 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2eq) were emitted, with emissions 1.1% above 2019 pre-COVID restriction levels. The increase is mostly due to a significant increase in emissions from the Energy Industries sector due to a tripling of coal and oil use in electricity generation in 2021, with increases also seen in the agriculture and transport sectors.

The figures indicate that in 2021, including Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), Ireland has used up 69.3 Mt CO2eq (23.5%) of the 295 Mt CO2eq allowed for in the first of Ireland’s recently approved Carbon Budgets for the period 2021 to 2025. This means that an average annual emissions reduction of 8.4% (over 5 Mt CO2eq) per year would be required from 2022-2025 to stay within the budget.

The report also shows that Ireland will exceed its 2021 annual limit under the European Union’s Effort Sharing Regulation (EU 2018/842), without the use of flexibilities, by 2.7 Mt CO2eq.
Commenting on the figures Ms Laura Burke, Director General, EPA said:
“A return to coal use in electricity generation, together with continued growth in emissions from the Agriculture sector and a partial rebound in Transport emissions following the easing of COVID restrictions, have combined to deliver an increase on pre-pandemic levels of emissions.
The data show the scale of change needed within and across all sectors of Ireland’s economy to make sustained progress in reversing this trend and to meet our EU commitments and National greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.“

See summary of the main sectoral emission trends.

Energy Industries: Sectoral emissions in the Energy Industries sector showed an increase of 17.6% in 2021, attributable to a tripling of both coal and fuel oil use in electricity generation. The consumption of peat has continued to decline, by 67% in 2021, and is currently at an all-time low within the power generation sector. There was also a reduction in natural gas use by 8.9% as some plants were offline for a time in 2021. Electricity generated from renewables fell from 42% in 2020 to 35%, due to low rainfall and less wind. This resulted in an increase in the emissions intensity of power generation by 11.9% in 2021 to 331 g CO2/kWh compared with 296 g CO2/kWh in 2020.

Agriculture: Agriculture emissions in 2021 were 23.1 Mt CO2eq, an increase of 3.0% on 2020. Agricultural emissions did not reduce during COVID restrictions and are now 15% higher than the 1990 level. The most significant drivers for the rise in emissions in 2021 were increased use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use of 5.2% and higher dairy cow numbers of 2.8%, with an increase in milk production of 5.5%.
This is the 11th consecutive year that dairy cow numbers rose. Milk output per cow also increased (by 2.5%), therefore increased production was driven by a rise in livestock numbers in conjunction with an increase in milk yield per cow. In 2021, total cattle numbers increased by 0.8%.
In 2021, liming on agricultural soils increased by 49.5%, a welcome measure in improving soil fertility, which should lead to a reduction in fertiliser nitrogen use in future years.

Residential: Greenhouse gas emissions in the Residential sector were 7.04 Mt CO2eq in 2021 and decreased by 4.9% or 0.36 Mt CO2eq compared to 2020. However, emissions in 2020 had risen as a result of increased working from home. Emissions are now 2.8% above pre-pandemic levels in this sector. A combination of warmer weather, rising fuel prices towards the end of the year and an easing of COVID restrictions contributed to substantial reductions in coal, peat and kerosene use for home heating.
However, since 2014, fuel use per household has increased by 12%, with CO2 emissions per household at 3.8 t CO2 in 2021.

Transport: Increases in traffic volumes during 2021 as COVID-restrictions lifted resulted in a 6.1% rise in transport emissions. Emissions had fallen significantly in the transport sector in 2020 as a result of Covid restrictions. Emissions in this sector remain 10.5 % below pre-pandemic levels, and it is unclear if they will rebound fully to that level. Road transport emissions increased from 9.7 Mt CO2eq in 2020 to 10.3 Mt CO2eq in 2021. At the end of 2021, there were just under 47,000 battery electric (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEVs) vehicles in Ireland, approximately 24% of the Climate Action Plan target for 2025 of 195,300 and ahead of a linear uptake trajectory towards that target.

Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULULCF): [Comprising of six land use categories (Forest Land, Cropland, Grassland, Wetlands, Settlements, and Other Land) and Harvested Wood Products.] When included in National total emissions (see detail in notes below), this sector accounts for 11.2% of the total emissions in 2021. The sector is a net source of CO2 eq emissions in all years 1990-2021. The main source of emissions is the drainage of grasslands on organic soils and the exploitation of wetlands for peat extraction. Forest land and Harvested wood products are a carbon sink (CO2 removal) for all years 1990-2021 although the carbon sink associated with Forest land is on a declining trend due to the age profile of existing forests and a declining afforestation trend.

International aviation: In 2021, total international aviation contributed 1.3 Mt CO2 from over 52,500 return flights from Irish airports, a significant reduction on recent trends, with international aviation emissions averaging over 3.0 Mt CO2eq per year prior to COVID pandemic. Although not part of Ireland’s total greenhouse gas emissions by international agreement, this is a significant reduction in greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere.

Commenting, Mr Stephen Treacy, Senior Manager, EPA said:
“The Provisional greenhouse gas emission estimates for 2021 are a cause for concern in relation to achieving Ireland’s binding Carbon Budget targets. Staying within the current budget now requires deep emission cuts of over 5 Mt CO2 eq per annum over the succeeding four years”.

Full detail on the Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory 1990 to 2021 is available HERE and the EPA Greenhouse Gas web resource is also available HERE.

Thunderstorm Activity Forecast For Tipperary Area.

Met Éireann has warned of thunderstorms affecting 10 counties in the Irish Republic, as Ireland’s heatwave comes to an end.

Met Éireann, the national forecaster has stated that southern and eastern areas of the country will experience thunderstorm activity today, together with possibly localised heavy rain showers.

The status-yellow warning came into force at 9.30am and will remain in effect until 9pm tonight for counties Tipperary, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Waterford, Cavan, Donegal and Leitrim.

Meanwhile, last Friday, July 15th, was St. Swithin’s Day and according to the old saying, if it rains on St. Swithin’s Day it will rain for the next 40 days. If on the other hand St. Swithin’s Day is dry, the next 40 days will also be dry.

The saying goes: –
“St. Swithin’s Day, if it does rain, full forty days, it will remain.
St. Swithin’s Day, if it be fair, for forty days, t’will rain no more”

However, our weather experts maintain that since records began in the latter half of the 1800s, there has never been a record of 40 dry or 40 wet days in a row, following the St. Swithin’s Day belief, and it looks like this year will be no exception.

Bee Swarming Season In Co. Tipperary.

The “Swarming” of our honey bee (Apis mellifera) population, here in Co. Tipperary, is a natural annual process. Most swarming activity takes place between 11:00am – 4:00pm during spells of very warm weather and never during periods of rain.

Their reasons for swarming are identified as either the hive having become too crowded, so they decide to split into smaller groups; with one group agreeing to remain in the existing hive. Sometimes, however, the complete hive population may decide to totally abscond, due to persistent heat; parasite or disease infestation; frequent disturbances from humans or animals, poor ventilation, or problems with the queen bee.

Worker bees are able to detect when it’s time to swarm due to the overcrowding of their hive or the lack of pheromone production from their queen.

In preparation for their swarming, the workers will deprive the queen of food in order to slim her down, so she can fly with them. They will also agitate her in order to prevent her from laying further eggs. They can also decide to allow the queen to lay eggs, so that a new queen can emerge and take over the hive.

On swarming, the colony leave their hive to find an area where they can hang in a cluster from a branch or even alight on the ground, until such time as the scout bees can decide on new accommodation, such as in a tree cavity, or abandoned building. They can, however, become a nuisance when they take up residence in the walls of a residential house, or garden shed. But usually bee keepers are more than happy to come and take offending swarms, consigning them to more acceptable hive homes.

A honey bee swarm can be somewhat frightening when thousands of bees appear in a large, rather noisy buzzing cloud, before settling into a cluster in your garden or other space.
Most honey bee swarms are not aggressive, but best advice is to keep away and leave them alone. Swarming bees usually don’t sting but it is always best to stay clear and keep children & pets indoors.

Do remember that besides making honey, our honey bees are essential for pollinating some 90% percent of our crops worldwide, and our earth would be much the worst without these hard-working little creatures.

Humans have been collecting honey from bees since ancient times, with cave paintings in Cuevas de la Araña, Valencia, Spain depicting humans foraging for honey back at least 8,000 years ago.

Note: Most microorganisms do not grow in honey, so sealed honey does not spoil, even after thousands of years.

Microbes That Can Eat Plastic.

Plastic here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary; as with every other town in the world, is ubiquitous. It fills our bins, shopping trolleys and households.

It’s hard to imagine life without plastic and yet it’s a relatively recent invention. It wasn’t until the 1960s that plastic began to be mass produced and many of our readers may well remember how life in Ireland functioned before plastic.

Despite its usefulness and convenience, plastic is one of our world’s greatest environmental problems. It now dominates our landfills, rivers and oceans.

Why?

It does not decompose like other materials. Indeed, it is estimated that it can take 450 years for one plastic bottle to decompose in landfill.

In the fascinating “TedEd” talk in the video shown immediately above, [which hopefully you have all watched], scientific research on microbes may help humanity find an effective and more natural way to decompose plastic in our environment.

Whilst this is indeed welcome news, it represents only a small step in the fight against plastic. Ultimately, we need to drastically rethink our relationship with the substance and aim to remove as much plastic as we can from our lives and communities.

As the wise old adage states, “prevention is better than cure”.