And since farmers are already getting these payments for farming, it wouldn't cost the taxpayer an extra cent.
There really isn't a single good argument against introducing such an option straight away.
Much of what Minister O'Sullivan is aiming to achieve, like seriously culling deer in national parks, is very welcome.
But why are we still not offering farmers the option of being paid to rewild?
Good for farmers, nature, the climate, tourism, the economy... *everyone*.
www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Not even the Nazis expressly announced they were committing war crimes. Indeed, at Nuremberg war crimes were denied.
But here, openly, the US Secretary for Defense is explicitly admitting to committing war crimes.
At what point does 'pragmatism' become complicity with illegal wars of aggression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and war crimes like bombing 185 people, mostly children, to death in a primary school?
www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
Ancient forests aren't "resources"—they're living systems sustaining us all. Destroy them for short-term gain? That's planetary sabotage.
#Ecocide isn't abstract: it steals stable climate, clean air, future harvests from our children. Time to protect what remains. 🌳🛡️
#BiodiversityCrisis #ActNow
In an Irish Atlantic rainforest, a 'wolf' oak: the term for a tree much older than those all around.
A grandmother tree, progenitor and nurturer of the ecosystem, she very possibly grew when – even because – wolves still hunted these parts.
A nice twist on the word.
"Jews don't belong in American society."
Imagine a sitting member of Congress tweeting that. You can't. Thankfully, it'd never happen. And *if* it did, it'd be the end of their career and the biggest story in America.
But Ogles can say this about Muslims without any censure.
Something VERY wrong here.
Likely decades.
Wasn’t Winston Churchill’s illegal coup in Iran in 1953 meant to keep Iran a stable nation?
Wasn’t Tony Blair’s illegal invasion meant to keep Iraq a stable nation?
Why do British politicians feel the urge to insert their mass murdering fingers into the Middle East so regularly?
No, Donald Trump will not free Iran.
Listen to the brilliant @alexshams.bsky.social
BREAKING!
Metsähallitus plans to start logging in #natural #forests in Suomussalmi & Pudasjärvi Finland. Patrols from #Greenpeace & #ForestMovement are moving through the area's natural forests & are trying to prevent the #logging from starting.
www-greenpeace-org.translate.goog/finland/tied...
Forests are important. Here’s why 🧵1/n
Forests
- make shade & cool the surface
- capture CO2
- purify the air
- make clouds & rain
- prevent drought
- prevent flooding
- prevent erosion
- and a lot more
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social
Huge investments in renewable energy have made Spain more independent from fossil fuel imports, and less vulnerable to the surging prices following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran
An end to fossil fuels is better for the climate and people's bills – and takes power away from tyrants
That's my best guess.
The trees regrow, of course, but in a different form, ultimately increasing habitat complexity.
So it's not a bad thing, only perplexing. Sometimes, rather than whole trees, it's only a branch that's broken.
But again: the only *really* damaging thing is eating & killing young trees when in leaf.
Cattle benefit rewilding land if given *purely winter* access, since tree leaves are absent and can't be eaten. Their hooves break up ground, facilitating seed germination, etc.
However, and I still don't really understand why or how, they do very occasionally demolish young trees, like this birch.
Rewilding.
Het is niet zo ingewikkeld.
The problem is ‘abysmal ecological ignorance’ @irishrainforest.bsky.social wrote yesterday.
These words keep echoing in my mind, not least because no matter where I go these days: the beach, the forest, the dunes, the promenade, the village, the balcony🧵
#OurFuture #Rewilding #photography #nature
This is from 1975.
Had a dozen of them circling overhead in the Alps a few years ago, flying barn doors!
Since 1990, I’ve been looking at Ireland’s water quality horrors and the EU’s casual acceptance of it. Until Ireland accepts that its ag practices are leading to its ecological death and that Sitka spruce farms are a failed experiment, nothing will change. I rarely see birds or mammals in Donegal.
No idea!
God you love to see it. We get these magnificent bastards here in South Africa too. But all vultures are under massive threat here.
A great little titbit in this piece is that their recovery has been aided by a simultaneous recovery of ibex and chamois in the Alps.
#birds
*Great* talk by @whittledaway.bsky.social on the terrible state of nature in Ireland.
As Pádraic argues so well, the solutions exist, and would massively benefit not just nature, but people, the economy, and the climate.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSxS...
You can see them in the Picos de Europa (Asturias). This centre runs guided trips into the mountains.
www.turismoasturias.es/descubre/cul...
An extraordinary creature - but a bit of wuss, too. From Pyrenean foothills, April 2025.
"A very beautiful story."
How the Alps lost its bone-breaker vultures - then got them back.
Few things are as uplifting as the return of wild nature.
share.google/VtrCMPihKuIK...
It's hard to believe that just 15 years ago, this was virtually empty space, with none of the native trees, epiphytic mosses, yellow flag, reed buntings, bullfinches, or other life now present, and increasing in diversity year on year.
Rewilding is how we reverse nature loss in Ireland.
This experiment of putting the worst people in charge of government should be over.
First question is pretty tricky, depending on a variety of factors like soil fertility, length of grazing period, season, etc.
Second is easy: since they graze selectively, even a tiny number of sheep or goats is highly damaging to ecosystems.
