Irish Doctors for the Environment

Richard Curran: If there is gas off the Irish coast we’re shooting ourselves in the foot not licensing explorers to go and find it Things are bad when the British energy minister says the UK is “exposed” to rising energy prices.

The world is literally on fire.

The Irish Media: more fossil fuels please.

This isn’t about being a “purist”. It’s about public health.
There is no safe level of air pollution.

Promoting continued turf burning, even on a small scale, is the opposite of a just transition.

Turf cutting damages fragile ecosystems and burning it creates serious air pollution.

A just transition isn’t letting people keep burning it, allowing the status quo to continue.

It’s about making sure they have affordable, accessible, cleaner, and healthier alternatives.

David McWilliams: Disruption to gas rather than oil might hit Ireland most dramatically We are fixated on tech and AI, but forget how the economy is mostly still heavy, dirty and smelly

David McWilliams: Without any oil production of our own, we are exposed to fallout from Middle East conflict (original headline).

There will always be another conflict and another excuse to continue our harmful relationship with fossil fuels...

A key aim of the DCC's Active Travel Programme is decluttering footpaths. Yet along the Fitzwilliam Quay to Londonbridge Rd scheme, they've managed to install a forest of signage for just 500m of cycle path.

Good cycling infrastructure should be intuitive & legible, not need constant instructions.

Great, positive news, terrible headline.

The use of the word 'dramatic' sends the wrong message.

Nature loss can cost the British economy more than the NHS in 2030. That is in FOUR years.

This is pretty much 100% applicable to Ireland.

This is not some distant threat. This is happening right now while the Irish government is busy expanding Dublin Airport and building more data centres.

Dublin advisory board risks repeating mistakes of the past If we are serious about creating a fairer, healthier and greener Dublin for all, then those guiding its future should reflect that ambition

We have to stop running Dublin as a for-profit business.

My letter in The Irish Times this morning.
#ReimagineDublin

Ryanair traffic rises to more than 207m on rolling 12-month basis Airline carried more than 13m passengers in February

Irresponsible, head-in-the-sand journalism at its finest.

Not a single mention of the emissions involved, nor of the very real damage this scale of air travel inflicts on human health and the planet.

😂👏

Our sincerest apologies - we absolutely want to be as inclusive as possible! We'll post this to our website with a link to the pdf, as well as the alt-text, would that be helpful

US airlines fear EU-wide impact of likely ruling on Dublin Airport passenger cap The Government must enact legislation to remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport by the end of April or risk seeing a decision by the EU’s top court that would give planning authorities across the ...

Does this article mention:

Emissions? No.
Climate change? No.
Human health? No.

More free pro-aviation PR from the Irish media.

The health case for a fossil fuel advertising ban Key points An estimated 8.7 million premature deaths occur globally each year from air pollution attributable to fossil fuel combustion alone.[1][1] Climate change, which is primarily caused by the bu...

The health care for a fossil fuel advertising ban is obvious.

The question is: will our government act?
#BanFossilAds

The College Green plans are not perfect, far from it, but they are a step in the right direction!

So please, put in a submission in support of the plans!

But remember, do include everything you want to see improved!

Let's create a healthier, greener, and fairer Dublin. Together!

No @antonsavage.bsky.social!

A misleading RSA statistic claiming “98% of pedestrians killed weren’t wearing hi-vis” does not show that pedestrians are safer wearing hi-vis.

Making that claim is A) wrong because it’s based on flawed statistics, and B) I’ll keep saying it — correlation ≠ causation.

The statistic you used does NOT show that pedestrians are safer if they wear hi-vis.

Even if we ignore all the issues with the statistic itself, that still leaves our main point (statistics 101): correlation ≠ causation.

Emissions fall but due to falling herd numbers as nitrogen usage rises Any reduction in emissions from the agricultural sector last year will be mainly due to reduced cattle numbers as nitrogen usage continues to increase.

Latest figures show a total failure of policy to deal with agriculture emissions

www.independent.ie/farming/fore...

This thread is worth reading to see the spectacularly, wilfully, boorish reaction from a pundit presented with reasons and data why his hot take is wrong.

The “comment is sacred, facts are free” school of punditry really has debased public discourse.

You’re conflating correlation with causation. If few pedestrians wear hi-vis, most killed won’t be wearing it - that alone proves nothing. Without risk rates, the stat is meaningless, or even inflammatory, and shifts blame onto victims.

David McWilliams: Ireland’s low urban population has left us with a problem of extreme commuting As Clare and Tipperary people know, Ireland has become a country of sprawl, of suburbs creeping into countryside and towns and villages choked with traffic

I agree with the content of this article, but I disagree with the language:

'Ireland’s low urban population has left us with a problem of extreme commuting.'

The use of 'has', makes it seem like this is an accident or unfortunate consequence when it is in fact willed policy that has led us here.

'The new tobacco': The cities banning fossil fuel adverts Cities across the world are clearing their billboards of flight ads, SUVs, cruise ships and petrol cars in an attempt to cut emissions.

Last year, we urged the Irish government to introduce a nationwide ban on fossil fuel advertising.

They chose not to act.

But across the globe, cities and countries are stepping up—reclaiming the narrative and taking bold action.

Ireland, meanwhile, remains a climate laggard.
#BanFossilAds🔥

Beef and lamb get 580 times more in EU subsidies than legumes, study finds Report says common agricultural policy provides ‘unfair’ levels of support to unhealthy, meat-heavy diets

Who would've thought...

Victim-blaming dressed up as a question, combined with a basic misunderstanding of statistics from @antonsavage.bsky.social.

Anton Savage's comment that “98% of pedestrians killed weren’t wearing hi-vis” shows a lack of understanding of statistics.

If few people wear hi-vis while walking, then of course almost everyone killed won’t have been wearing it. Without comparing actual risk rates, that figure tells us nothing.

One of the most disturbing interviews I’ve heard in a while — an interviewer veering into blaming pedestrians killed on our roads for not wearing hi-vis, and a bus drivers’ union pushing the same line.

Bus drivers' union want to see hi-vis jackets become 'mandatory' for cyclists The union said that the issue has grown due to a ‘proliferation’ of electric vehicles.

We firmly oppose this measure, as existing evidence indicates that such laws do not, in fact, protect people who cycle.

The union should be calling for better active transport infrastructure instead of deflecting responsibility to the most vulnerable people on the roads.

Air travel cannot expand indefinitely The catastrophic environmental and public health impacts of aviation must be considered

Just like Icarus, we are indeed flying too close to the sun, driven by Government policy and uncritical media coverage.

My letter in The Irish Times this morning.

Billions on medicines. 19% of healthcare emissions.

That spending power should improve patient care and drive down healthcare’s environmental footprint.
#SustainableHealthcare

It’s encouraging that the Supreme Court ruling could stop some of these projects.

But once again, we’re seeing narrow, sensational, bizarre coverage that fixates on how inconvenient it might be to pause road building, while ignoring the far greater and ongoing harm caused by climate breakdown.