Are you interested in food and farming?
Would you like to hear from farmers full of energy and enthusiasm?
We need solutions to transition into a healthier future.
It was a joy to hear about some hosting these
@AgroforestForum
podcast episodes
Hi bike Twitter people. A man stole my fold up bike off the Sligo train this morning.
@irishrail
have CCTV of him carrying it under his arm at 10.18am in Mullingar. She's not much use without the battery but I'd love to get her back. She's a Brompton. Answers to the name Betty 😔
A young west of Ireland woman, a scientist who stands up to scaremongering bullies and has worked her socks off to have her voice heard. Let's hope we get to hear lots more from Saoirse McHugh unexpected ‘star’ of European election debates via
@IrishTimes
Ryan Tubridy trousered almost 1500 euro a week for appearance fees from
@renaultireland
on top of his RTE salary. Then RTE kept paying him those wads of cash after the car company stopped. And kept it secret.
In the middle of a climate, biodiversity and pandemic
This is bananas
Unfortunately no good news on my bike stolen off the Sligo train yesterday.
@gardainfo
say I have to deal with guards in Mullingar. Rang the station and they can't take a report as it's already been reported in Carrick.
@irishrail
has CCTV of the thief. First 24 hours lost 😔
There is a long history of powerful men questioning the mental health of girls and women who challenge power. Irish radio listeners were treated to it on
@ryantubridyshow
this morning
#howdareyou
Jabbed.
Teary.
Grateful 🙏
And my friend Aideen had a brilliant idea about how to share the milestone
#getonegiveone
So I’ve donated here to help 10 more people get vaccinated
Dublin cyclists are ashamed at our city's aggressively anti-cycling, pot-holed and broken system. Cyclists are hoarse and exhausted from years of begging for improvements. And a Ministerial photo opportunity on a Bleeper Bike with a pat on the head statement doesn't cut it.
Dublin is proud to host
#Velocity2019
this week. Important to hear from all stakeholders about how we can improve our infrastructure and culture to be more cyclist friendly 🚴🏻♀️🚴🏻♂️.
#BikeWeek
Buffeted by gale force kindness this weekend. Thanks everyone. It feels like the right time to step back into a reporter role and to plant trees. Both kinds of digging up ahead and
@thecomfortfeed
for talk of restaurants and the food of home
It's not really a "complex area". Reducing meat consumption is a climate action. It also allows consumers to eat less but better meat from high welfare high nature value farming systems.
EPA deletes 'eat less meat' tweet following IFA protest via
@rte
Blackrock village becomes a village again. Could this be the start of re-villaging for Dublin’s other villages like inchicore, stoneybatter, Rialto ...?
Our public realm works in Blackrock are progressing excellently. We are now attending to placemaking by installing new planters and benches to give the village a more welcome feel and will also have a strong safety element. More details here:
These are my friends Pia and Ashe. We love the Liberties and are raising kids here despite all its shortcomings: traffic, a plague of student housing, chronic lack of green spaces, poor air quality etc. Then on Sunday we walked down with a ladder and peered over that wall
Kudos and thanks to Shannon, the lovely
@irishrail
ticket inspector who got off the train to help me, alerted colleagues in Mullingar and rang to update me. Customer service legend. 🙏🙏
Some pictures of
@IrishRainforest
from last month. No filter just magical light and life, on life on life. Enough commodity extractive monocultures. We need to restore and regenerate these ecosystems at scale
#wildordie
Epic levels of green washing in claiming a diesel guzzling SUV as any kind of "sustainable" choice. Ashamed of this nonsense. Flog your ridiculous tanks but don't claim they're sustaining anything other than a worsening situation for everyone else
#misleadingbullshit
During a pandemic, when neighbourhoods like ours are on their knees, biodiversity is withering and our carbon emissions are soaring. Our health authority wants to make this a car park. We say no. It’s time to build back better. Please add your voice
“Since March 2020, Barcelona has reclaimed around 8 hectares of the cityscape from motor vehicles, transforming it into sidewalks, playgrounds, bike lanes or restaurant terraces, with authorities arguing that people need more space to avoid
#COVID19
.”
Cycling has always been healthy (barring the getting mown down by lunatics aspect) but it strikes me with the social distancing advice it is now the healthiest way to get around. For everyone.
#dustoffyourbikes
#cyclesafe
Farm families/family farms. Expect to hear this phrase a lot in the coming days. Farm leadership is doing these families no favours. Expensively workshopped emotive terms to justify delaying inevitable transition will make it tougher for everyone in the end.
Hats off to
@boucherhayes
for an excellent report on the rewetting of farmland
His work at the helm of
@rtecountrywide
is a brilliant example of solutions journalism in an area where it is sorely needed
Here's a thought. If livestock farmers insist calling it "the national herd" can consumers insist they be fed only on grass grown on "national fields"? No more animal feed imports devastating ecosystems and adding to the hidden high emissions costs of commodity beef and dairy.
I have a piece in tomorrow's Irish Times which tells the story of so much of our global food system from the starting point of the Irish strawberry. Twenty years ago the season was three weeks in the summer. Now it is six months
I swapped my comfortable seat for scorched fingers, demanding pace and more insight into how restaurants are run than I ever got on the other side of the mirror. My night as a waitress in
@oxbelfast
via
@IrishTimesLife
Never forget that when Seoul, Korea removed the Cheonggyecheon expressway in 2003 & replaced it with a restored stream & 1000 acre park in the city’s centre, not only did it transform the city’s public life & economic success, but the traffic got better.
The traffic got BETTER.
As the National Dairy Council bombards us with an expensive poster campaign about the "natural" wonders of "grass fed" have a read of this. Monoculture ryegrass fed on vast amounts of nitrogen fertiliser is not "green" in the environmental sense. We need to challenge the myths.
in Ireland, the extinction crisis is green:
1) green fields are sterile and simple. each was created through the destruction of a complex wood, bog or meadow that came before. their simplicity is maintained with herbicide and by overloading the soil with nitrates and phosphates
Broke and bored with your wardrobe? Come to The Circular in Rialto at noon this Sunday for a clothes swap. It's €5 at the door, bring up to 20 items. It's a fundraiser for my friend
@costellop
who's running for election for the Greens. via
@IrishTimesLife
We have news ...
@pocketforests
have a home thanks to an exciting partnership with
@TheDigitalHub
Baby trees in the city with workshops and coffee mornings to come
The last campaign saved some trees but
@hseLive
are determined to turn this gorgeous place into a surface carpark. They're looking to pave much more area. For 34 car spaces. Enough nonsense. Please sign via
@UpliftIRL
Let's remember today's
@ryantubridyshow
opening stream of consciousness when the annual cattle call for quirky children to embellish the Late Late Toy Show and generate huge revenue (much of it car-sponsored) to pay presenter's salary goes out. Maybe time to press pause.
I remember the RTE producer who told me they were sponsored by the National Dairy Council so they were not going to cover anything questioning expansion
I regularly sail past SUV drivers on my bike. It doesn't look like they "own" the city as they sit in snarled up traffic, arteries clogging, frustrations rising, exhausts poisoning the rest of us. It's time to congestion charge the arse out of them.
Plan
#1
These bare root trees need trenching for planting in November. If you have 10 metres of lawn you can trench 100 trees. None So Hardy will deliver orders over €250 so get together with neighbours/pals to take 20 bags and you have 2,000 trees to plant/gift/grow
Half a million native tree saplings about to be wasted. Saving even a few hundred of these would be a good news story. ‘None So Hardy’ are selling off locally sourced native oak stock for €15/hundred trees. Who can help save some of these?
Love Bike PEOPLE. Thanks for all the shares and retweets about my stolen beauty Betty. Taken off the
@IrishRail
Sligo train this morning in Mullingar. I still have the battery (and the helmet) so it would be great to get the trio reunited. Lock your bikes on trains folks.
A thread about the "personal change" vs "system change" argument. It's always going to be a more popular position to demand system change and it's undeniable that systems change is where impact is. But systems don't change without massive effort from public servants, media ...
Page 15 of The Irish Times with
@sallyhayd
brilliant report from the frontline of the climate catastrophe. Page 17 a letter writer laments the "needless discomfort" of people who can't drive right to the gate of the zoo as victims of the "green agenda". Different planets
Interesting compare and contrast with streets made car free in Dublin this weekend: Yesterday a group of unpaid citizens created a congenial street party on South William St with a potted tree, a blow up couch, a green rug, some tables and lots of volunteers to talk to people
I have rarely been in such a large crowd and felt so calm and minded. They called for a minute's silence. This man had climbed a tree to look at the crowd. No-one broke the silence just to give their mates a laugh. Not one teenager or toddler roared. The hush broke my heart.
Asked to interview a superstar chef recently I told his PR people I wanted to ask him about a story on the underpayment of his staff. They told me he wouldn't answer questions about that. I refused to do the interview.
Propagation is a magical art. Take a cutting, put it in water or soil, roots grow and a whole new plant is born. At
@pocketforests
HQ we’re experimenting with juniper. Take a cutting, pop it in a skin-on chunk of banana and pot the lot in compost. Baby food for baby trees.
There is now a 40% chance that global temperatures will temporarily reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in the next five years -- and these odds are rising, a U.N. report said
Expect the meat lobby to go into overdrive with “what aboutery” in response to this. Go vegetarian to save wildlife and the planet, Sir David Attenborough urges
Thanks to
@ciaraky
for commissioning, editing and illustrating this piece so well. Loved talking to these experts and seeing positive changes happening.
There is massive taxpayer support for meat and dairy: industries that seem to see the protection of human, animal and environmental health as some kind of optional extra. Meat sector not prepared to have sick pay scheme on table – Siptu via
@IrishTimes
Congratulations to Catherine on her compelling little video that helped people to understand the importance of these trees and no doubt persuaded
@HSELive
to withdraw their plans to fell them for car parking ...
This is quite something. Muzzling a Minister because she calls out environmental destruction. Brave of whoever wrote it not to put their name on it. This does no service to a farm lobby looking to sell to environmentally conscious consumers.
Really disappointing to see this from
@farmersjournal
. Anonymous byline suggesting I should be banned from Twitter.
We are in a
#BiodiversityCrisis
and I will continue to lead on how we should respond. Even at the weekends.
We have the models to make Irish dairy the sustainable product that the industry claims it is. Commodity dairy farming is a cul-de-sac. Would love to hear
@morsinead
on
@RTECountryWide
There are better lives for farmers, soil, water and animal health in regenerative dairy.
If you build it they will come. Beyond time to roll out this kind of infrastructure across the city and beyond. Imagine if kids can cycle to school. If they can't - and public transport is still severely limited - we're in for a congestion shitstorm like you wouldn't believe
Today paid officials pissed many people off by trucking in barriers as if building a mosh pit for a death metal concert. There's a tortured metaphor for barriers to change somewhere in this. Next Sunday hopefully lessons will have been learned.
The fashion detox got a great reaction with lots of people saying they're going to give it a try. The hope is that people will have a lot of fun organising clothes swaps, enjoying what they have, saving money and having more headspace. via
@IrishTimesLife
Sometimes Twitter can be a gorgeous place. Minnie would be thrilled that her story is chiming with so many dog lovers. Thanks for all the kind thoughts
As
@fotoole
points out today FG are the dinosaurs in Europe on this. If you want a young intelligent articulate woman candidate who's actually going to take climate politics seriously
@saoirse_mchugh
is the only one in this race.
#FGwalkingwithdinosaurs
It seems obvious that a cleaner, kinder, quieter city where it’s safe to cycle and let children cycle is one of the few silver linings in this shitstorm. But I fear the "traffic as usual" brigade is gunning its engine and ready to roar into action tomorrow. I hope I’m wrong.
I loved
@sorchahamilton
and Manchan’s One Change column. It’s an honour to be taking it on in a slightly new direction. Two pairs of big sustainable boots to fill. Spend it Better: Creating a better world as we emerge from the pandemic
Sooo that question about feeding "the national herd" a "national diet" has made some farmers very cross. Seems to be a touchy subject. Some claims that animal feed is a good byproduct of food production. Yet over a million tonnes of our 3.5m tonnes of feed imports are cereals.
It's disturbing to see anger at fruit pickers rather than the super-remunerated supermarket bosses whose extravagant bonuses depend on driving down the price paid to farmers for food.
Brilliant work by Dr Martha O'Hagan Luff and Siobhan Moloney. This is such an important issue. The
@ForESproject
could help forest protection and restoration become more viable.
Stellar is an overused word but this is properly it. A magical piece of writing by
@NaturalistDara
Dara McAnulty: ‘I have never known such outer peace, if only the inner would align’
Dances with trees
@adelmanjuliana
? Challenge accepted. We are the least coordinated duo you’ll see on the internet today. But we had to mark the joy of getting the first pocket forest planted in gorgeous spring sunshine
#goodthingshappen
#pocketforests
#it
’shappening
I'm so impressed with Saoirse. Such a shame this articulate young candidate is not getting the same platform as others in the race for European seats. How interesting would she make those debates?
What happens when a skip on its way to be skipped meets two women with power tools and a plan?
@pocketforests
best seat in the city is at
@TheDigitalHub
And that’s just the beginning ...
But will residents have to cycle to the airport? And isn't cycling activism just elite spoilt brats demanding nice things for themselves? Questions no-one appears to be debating in this beautiful future city making move.
#Dublinneedsthis
.
@AmsterdamNL
has been busy cutting (car) parking spaces. A 2019 policy states they must have at least 10,000 fewer by 2025.
The latest move is the elimination of all 517 parking spaces on Herengracht; offering a preview of the city center of the future.
Explaining that organic farming has higher animal welfare, less pollution, produces better food and an easier life for farmers is not demonising anyone. They are simply the facts. And I’m not going to stop explaining them.
Also in complete denial of the 5.7million tonnes of annual animal feed imports. We don't have the natural resources to feed the national herd. Those feeds are deforesting land elsewhere.
Impossible to take IFA seriously when they live in denial. ‘Our reputation as a producer of sustainable food is recognised globally. We consistently uphold the highest standards. Indeed, Ireland is fortunate that we have the natural resources to do this’.
A thread on a fascinating chat with an industry insider about what people want in their gardens. “Box balls and white hydrangea” are the top requests. Irish native trees and shrubs don’t get a look in.
Powerful piece about my neighbourhood. Kevins GAA is a real force for good. Green space saves lives
‘We are just as entitled as the people of Stillorgan or Foxrock to have a pitch’ - Kevins GAA continue to fight for an inner city facility
This just got very interesting, and is hopefully positive for a market use of this historic building. Repossession a new twist in Iveagh Market planning row via
@rte
I loved Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. I still remember the thrill of the moment when Mary turns the key and opens the door and finds this secret green lovely place. It’s not quite as romantic to put your phone through the gap beside a locked steel gate but look
Or a forest classroom (for one of the five schools within a stone’s throw of here that haven’t got a blade of grass between them), a forest park, or a historical visitor attraction (Arthur Guinness, the Bewleys and the Disneys all founded this place). But into a carpark. In 2020
'It also highlights the immense value of temperate oceanic rainforest, a habitat that is now mostly lost and highly degraded, as a refuge for a wide range of species that would not survive without its protection”Rarest fern in Europe' discovered in Ireland
Paris aggressively moves to have 50% of the city covered by fully porous, planted areas. New parkland, thickets of trees and green roofs planned. If executed, the entire character of the city will change. Plazas and squares will become green spaces. Bold! This is what leaders do.
As news feeds get more harrowing we offer you The Comfort Feed, a podcast about food for the new lie of the land. It's all comforting for our first episode. Bagels, pasta and corn. Hear and follow The Comfort Feed on
#SoundCloud
We were delighted to be part of this piece about foresting cities. It's great to have Dublin in the mix as one of the places bringing ecosystems to life amidst all the greyness