The amount of time that the leaders in todays spend on deciding on ways to solve a problem with policy another problem has arised. From this weeks lectures one thing is most definatly clear. The policy makers in todays world are more interested in the next general election than they are with dealing with the problems at hand immediatly.

As a result of Ireland being part of the EU many rules and regulations about the way we go about our business have been set out. Now even though being part of the EU has done wonders for this country some of the policy that Irish farmers have to follow due to the EU are not approiate here. In my opinion one law or policy can not be made for such a huge area like Europe and individual countries have to examine each policy and adapt it to themselves to make the ideas more sustainable.

One of the biggest problems I find with the policy making process in Ireland is the amount of time it takes for a policy to come into force and in many situations the policys are too leanient, in particluar with policy regarding the envoirnment. Throughout this module we have been told that we are in a race against time to solve the issue of global warming and drastic measures need to be taken to solve the problem. But yet at the Copenhagen Summit this year no firm commitments were made from any country to solve the problem and this is simply unacceptable.

Policy making both at local and international level has got to be made quicker and people have to begin to understand that in the last few years we have been living way beyond our means and as a result of that now we have to live much more restircted lives. But for this to happen the people in posistions of power, that being our politions and elected public figures have got to be able to be strong enough to tell people that for the next few years we have got to tighten our belts.

In my opinion if this does not happen then we as a human race have no hope of winning the battle against global warming.

10 Ways to make Castletroy more sustainable

The general public is the most important solider in the fight with keeping this world sustainable going into the future. However I think it is fair to say that your reular Joe Soup isnt going to spend 15 minutes trying to decode what messages about oil supply in Iran. The regular everyday guy needs to be given quick easily understanble information that will shock him into changing his ways. If scientist and other leaders talking about the sustainabilty problem continue to talk in fancy lanuage about a problem that faces everyone of us then the information will just blow right over the head of the target audience. 

One of the most shocking things that I heard at this weeks lectures was that our ministers make their political statements and laws based on a one page summary of a 50 or 60 page article and many times the ministers wont even no exactly what is being said in the articles. How can this be allowed to continue. It is extremly clear to me that we need people in positions of power who are experts in whatver field they are in charge of be that health, education or the envoirnment. If tis does thhat happen we will continue with our policy makers making ill informed ddecissions that they do not fully understand. And without a doubt if this continues therre is no way that the world we live in will win the battle to be able to sustain its needs.

Finally there needs to be more clear information given by the media about global issues rather than exaggerating stories to makeinteresting headline. All in all something has to be done and done quickly to make informtion about sustainabilty more easily acesiable and understanable.   

In the Irish education we are all put in togther in one big hall at the end of 6 years of education and we are tested and our futures are decided there and then. Is this really education? Education is defined as “the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill” but for me the biggest skill i learnt in the irirsh education system was how to list learn and spill out reems of knowledge on a given day and forget it the next. Is this really education. The biggest problem I have with the education system in Ireland is that we loose the power to think for ourselves. In the Irish Education system we never ever are even introduced to the idae if critical thinking.

The first time in my education life of thinking for myself was at the start of this module when we were told to think completly for ourselves  and draw our own conclusions. And i must admit i enjoy this way of education and awful lot more than list learning. It is time in my opinion for the Minster of education to radically overhall the educatioon system here. I would think that students of Ireland weould benefit much more from more project based exams where they can think for themselves.

We are in the middle of the biggest financial problem the country has ever seen. It is ny opinion that the government should be trying to encourage people to be inovative and creative in setting up business so we can manage to get outta this recession.

In researching this idea of critical thinking i found this website that was really good for encouraging critical thinking. I would encourage you to have a look. http://www.criticalthinking.org/

This weeks lecture really grabbed my attention because I had no idea the time and effort that companies go to in preparing these CSR reports. However if i learned one thing from this weeks lecture it was that we have to take a step back before we accept what these companies say they do for their CSR as Gospel truth. One must think that some of these companies may spend making up the reports than they do actually doing any good in the community.

CSR is defined as “Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large”. This is a great idea and if all business both big and small worked to try and fullfill this definition then without a doubt the world would definatly be a better world. In my opinion there should a regulator put in place to stop big companies lying in their CSR reoports about all the good work that they apaerently do and also the actual good work that companies do should be rewarded by tax breks or free publicity etc etc.

How many inchs of newspaper articles are filled with gossip about the goings on in Hollywood and all these places. In my opinion journalists should try and look into companies CSR reports and thus giving knowledge to the public about companies who work well for the community or badly. By doing this it will encourage companies to get good free publicity by doing good work in the community and this will also benefit the community.

CSR is a great idea as it encourages companies to give sometghing back to the community however to many companies are lying about there CSR and this is taking away from the actual good work being done by some companies. A stop must be put to this. In my opinion a company with good CSR will also be sustainable in the future.

In todays society we are faced with many problems with reguard to climate change and global warming. We relay heavily on oil for everything we do in todays world, for transport, heat, and every day items laying around the house. This is very worrying for us living in Ireland as we are completly relient on importing our oil. On average each American uses 2.8 gallons of oil per day. We here in Ireland are catching up with our U.S conterparts on this front.

During this weeks lectures my eyes were really opened to the massive Carbon footprint that even the smallest item I might buy may have. Take the shirt or t-shirt on your back right now. It was properly made in China somewhere before being shipped to America and then being over packaged before being sent half way across the world before it gets to you. this is clearly not the way to go about sourcing clothes but what other option do we have since it is the norm. It would be a great idea in my opion if it became law to show how much of a carbon footprint items have before they are bought by the consumesr.

One of the things that shocked me the most from our lectures this week was that some companies design their products to fail like Nokia. How this is legal to do is beyond me and surely measures most be taken to stop this and quickly. Where do these phones go when we are done with them after a year?? Into landfill. What effect does this have on the soil with all the chemicals that are in these phones. These are questions that these companies have to stand up an answer for. Also us as consumers must also begin to quetion the orgins of the product and the way we are going to get rid of it before we buy it.

I had a read of Adidas sustainability review of last year and i most say I have my doubts about their eh honesty. I belive that reports like this should be done by an external examier and be widely avalible to the pulic so they can make an informed decission. Here is the report. That a look for yourself and see what you think.

http://www.adidas-group.com/en/SER2009/

Food is an essintial part of our life as human beings. It is of vital importance to our health and well being that we have a stable and well balanced diet consisting of tropical fruits and forgein beefs!. However should we have all these tropical fruits at the cost of climate?

Before this weeks lecture the only thought that i ever passed about food was where am i going to get my next meal from. In primary school we were bombared about healthy eating and loads of fruits etc etc. However a banana on average according to “Plant Green” takes 8 pounds of carbon to get to your table for a four ounce serving. This is clearly wrong. Should our kids be thought to eat locally based fruits and vegatables instead of tropical fruits like bananas, kiwis, mangos, the list just goes on. I read the following article about our indulgence on tropical fruits and was amazed at some of the statitics. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/environmentalist-indulge-tropical-foods.html.

It is quite clear from this article that we need to drastically change the way we source or food. The last few weeks we have been talking about economies and trade and all that and at the moment “Fair Trade is taking a centre stage in world discussions. However it is my opion that in the interest of climate change trading large amounts of food with forgein countries is causing a massive carbon footprint. For a country like ours which is full of farmland we should be able to survive and have a healthy diet by just eating the food we produce in this country. Not only would this help the envoirnment it would also help our economy aswell. I think it is very important to buy Irish made foods. In my opinion the best way to do this is too tax imported food very heavily and that way encourage consumers to buy Irish food.

1) Locally grown food tastes and looks better. The crops are picked at their peak, and farmstead products like cheeses and are hand-crafted for best flavor. Food imported from far away is older and has traveled on trucks or planes, and sat in warehouses before it gets to you.

2) Local food is better for you. The shorter the time between the farm and your table, the less likely it is that nutrients will be lost from fresh food.

3) Local food preserves genetic diversity. In the modern agricultural system, plant varieties are chosen for their ability to ripen uniformly, withstand harvesting, survive packing and last a long time on the shelf, so there is limited genetic diversity in large-scale production. Smaller local farms, in contrast, often grow many different varieties to provide a long harvest season, an array of colors, and the best flavors.

4) Local food is safe. There’s a unique kind of assurance that comes from looking a farmer in the eye at farmers’ market or driving by the fields where your food comes from. Local farmers aren’t anonymous and they take their responsibility to the consumer seriously.

5) Local food supports local families. The wholesale prices that farmers get for their products are low, often near the cost of production. Local farmers who sell direct to consumers cut out the middleman and get full retail price for their food – which helps farm families stay on the land.

6) Local food builds community. When you buy direct from a farmer, you’re engaging in a time-honored connection between eater and grower. Knowing farmers gives you insight into the seasons, the land, and your food. In many cases, it gives you access to a place where your children and grandchildren can go to learn about nature and agriculture.

7) Local food preserves open space. When farmers get paid more for their products by marketing locally, they’re less likely to sell farmland for development. When you buy locally grown food, you’re doing something proactive to preserve our agricultural landscape.

Local food keeps taxes down. According to several studies, farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services, whereas most development contributes less in taxes than the cost of required services.

9) Local food benefits the environment and wildlife. Well-managed farms conserve fertile soil and clean water in our communities. The farm environment is a patchwork of fields, meadows, woods, ponds and buildings that provide habitat for wildlife.

10) Local food is an investment in the future. By supporting local farmers today, you are helping to ensure that there will be farms in your community tomorrow

These reasons are from a newsletter from the University of Vermount.

While flicking through the internet researching this i found this web site that you can count the carbon footprint that you make from your food consumption. Give it a go. The results are eye opening. http://www.foodcarbon.co.uk/

In Thursdays lecture we as a class discussed the possibilty of having a power station so to speak located in Coners Pass in Kerry. From the outset i felt this was a great idea and it could lead to Ireland becoming a world leader in energy and perhaps even become a “green Saudi Arbai”. However as the class went on i quickly realised that this idea that Spirt of Ireland has came up with is not as easy to put into practice as first thought. It seems like there is a “not on my door step” approach to this idea. However as we have seen before in these lectures especially the lectures with Peader we need to radically change our view on this kind of things. Once more i feel that our politians need to be leading by example.

Without a doubt “Peak Oil” is upon us. The very fact that Eastern countries wont share openly with the rest the world shows that their oil is reducing. This is a very scary fact for Ireland. As we heard we import almost all of our energy form aboard. But when these countries begin to run out of their own oil and no longer export it to us where are we going to get the oil for our energy needs? If Ireland does not come up with ways to provide energy for itself soon we could be looking at massive rises in oil prices and shortages!

In my opion when i was looking through the Spirit of Ireland website Iwas very impressed with some of their ideas. However groups like this have to be taken seriously by the public and given funding so that they can put their good plans into place. I would encourage the Irish Government and Irish public to consider the plans of groups like Spirit of Ireland and maybe Ireland will become a leader in world energy thus solvig a lot of economic problems at the same time.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/greentech/0,250000601,24,00.htm

I found the above link very interesting and perhaps this could be another solution to the problem.

At the Copenhagen Summit this December the world held its breath with the hope that the world leaders would be able to come to an agreement with reguard to climate change. However everyone was disappointed. Countries like China and India thought that their emerging economies were more important than the global challenge of climate change. As a result of this the summit in the eyes of many especially the EU was a complete failure. As we learnt from Peader on Friday no concrete commitments were made by any country to reduce CO2 emmissions. It is clear in my opion that if we as a race are going to seriously make an attempt to battle climate change then we are going to need a complete change of mind set.

In my opion the challenge for the world is far to great for taking the soft option out which is what our politions are doing. It is very clear to me after this weeks lectures that climate change is a serious problem that we can no longer hide behind or the human race could become extint like the Saber Tooth Tiger and many other species that have been wiped out by climate change already.

Climate Change is a very real problem that as a world community we all need to stand up to and find some solution to ensure that world temperatures dont increase any more or the effects could be devastating. This weeks lectures were definatly very insightful and enjoyable!