Old Sneezes

Archive for the 'Environment' Category

Floods and Damaged Goods

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Kildare, unlike the west and south of the country, was relatively unscathed by the recent flooding. Some small pockets, most notably Johnstown and Sallins, were hit and hit badly. Even then the damage was confined to particular housing estates. I was visiting a client, a farmer, in one of those areas the other day. Small [...]

Guinness, Africa and the Environment

Monday, August 11th, 2008

I had my suspicions this wasn’t the first pub Peadar had visited today – he came through the door like a chicken with rubber legs. I buried my head in the newspaper. Not fast enough – he’d seen me and the free stool beside me. · Practising reading upside down I see, Sneezy. · Drunk [...]

Green energy – don’t be blinded

Friday, July 18th, 2008

Burning oil is bad. Burning coal is bad. Travellers setting themselves on fire in Coolock is bad for the environment too. What we need are alternative sources of energy. Girls Aloud chained up in the basement rubbing their thighs together is an option I would like to look at. But I’m hesitant. What hidden dangers [...]

See the tree, how big it’s gone

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

A tale of two hedges continues. They were cut, front and back, despite my protestations, a couple of weeks ago. They look so bare and pitiable, like Britney, it brings a tear to my eye. What couldn’t be cut was two large tress. One is an ash and will look great, if a bit lonely, [...]

A Bird in the Bush is worth Two in the Hand

Monday, September 17th, 2007

It is not all that long ago that Ireland’s farmers were showered with grants for hedgerow removal. The reasoning was simple: taking out the hedges, filling in the ditches and laying new drainage systems meant larger field size and more arable surface area. Tillage farmers could use bigger, faster and more efficient machinery, and they [...]

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