Media responsibility and climate change
I ask the same question of The Irish Times when they publish articles such as Martin Doyle's 'Safaris in South Africa: A party of zebras, munching rhinos, dirt roads, spectacular scenery and more'(August 16th).
This article openly encourages lavish holidays in the pursuit of pleasure seeking, without giving any reference whatsoever to the environmental cost of such activities.
The world is in the grip of an existential crisis, in the form of the climate emergency.
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Isn't it time that mainstream media took some responsibility for this manmade problem?
At the very least, please stop trying to make it worse. – Yours, etc,
COLETTE McNAMEE,
Foxrock,
Dublin
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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Island-hopping venture unveiled with unique perspective on Ireland's Atlantic outposts
The islanders of Inishturk and Clare Island in Co Mayo have created a new island-hopping adventure which offers a unique view of life on Ireland's Atlantic outposts. From lobster fishing to cracking crab claws, hand-weaving to sea swimming, sipping whiskey aged at sea to gliding along the byways and boreens on e-bikes, the island escape is steeped in the realities and culture of life on the edge, and will be run by the islanders themselves. 'We want visitors to feel like part of the community and to take away something deeper than just photos,' says Clare Island resident Anna Deegan. She is co-ordinating the initiative with Inishturk's island development manager Sinéad Cahalan. Inishturk islander Richard O'Toole builds a currach, continuing the legacy of boat building that has shaped generations. With both islands having historic connections and being accessed from the mainland of Roonagh Pier – 7km beyond Louisburgh – the adventure pilot phase offers three packages during September. It aims to expand the two islands' attractiveness to visitor and lengthen their tourism season. READ MORE The price of the two-night Atlantic Island Experience starts at €670 but includes meals, activities, ferry transport and accommodation. Indeed, accommodation on Inishturk is in two modular houses owned by the community, while Clare Island's array of B&Bs will be host to guests for the second day and night. 'By inviting visitors to explore at a slower pace, to meet islanders, hear their stories, and experience the rhythm of daily life, we're offering more than just a holiday. We're creating space for understanding of the culture, the landscape, and the resilience that defines island living,' says Sinéad Cahalan. 'Each island has its own character, from the raw beauty of the cliffs to the warmth of a kitchen conversation, but they share a strong sense of pride, humour, and an openness that makes people feel welcome, even for a short time,' she adds. Likening the experience to 'stepping into a living culture', Cahalan says fisherman Jack Heanue's activity perfectly encapsulates this. 'I've been fishing around Inishturk most of my life, pulling pots, watching tides, and hoping the lobsters are feeling generous. For the demonstration, I will bring people out and show them how we do it here: how the pots work, what we bait them with, and maybe a few stories and a bit of craic along the way,' says Heanue. Back on terra firma, Bríd Heanue will then give a crab claw preparation demonstration in the community club's Caher View Restaurant. 'It will be great fun showing visitors the skill in cracking our freshly caught crab claws and then allowing our guests to enjoy a seafood-inspired lunch made with the same local ingredients we grew up on,' she says. As a long-time community activist and worker, she observes that this is 'all about sharing what we have, and making sure it stays alive for the next generation'. A weaving demonstration with Beth Moran on Clare Island, off Co Mayo. Down the bay on Clare Island, master weaver Beth Moran has had a busy summer at her studio and workshop, Ballytoughey Loom. Her skills and artistry in weaving, warping, dyeing and spinning home-grown lichens and sheep's wool have led the long-time resident's rugs to be presented to King Charles and Queen Camilla, and former presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. Moran says she is really looking forward to participating in the initiative. 'It opens up a dialogue not only on our own island but also with our neighbouring island of Inishturk. Networking is a vital part of tourism and being part of a community-led project is a good way to do it. It gives a sense of helping each other out by sharing, and for me, everything begins in community,' says Moran. Meanwhile, her next-door neighbour, Ciara Cullen, whose organic farm provides much of the produce for her Stone Barn Cafe, is also another participant, while there are other food options down at the Quay at The Oven trailer and at the community centre. Guests at a tasting of Clare Island's sea-aged whiskey on the terrace, overlooking the Atlantic and Clew Bay. For a sup of the crathur, Carl O'Grady of Clare Island Whiskey – aged to the rhythms of the tides in barrels in a boat that was once the little ferry to the island – will tell a few island tales about pirate queen Granuaile. This programme is supported by Fáilte Ireland under the aegis of the Clew Bay Destination Experience Development Plan , which supports the promotion of sustainable tourism. More information can be found at .
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Dark horses Ireland hope to banish shadow of 2017 at ‘biggest World Cup yet'
Ireland 's role in England's summer of sport remains to be determined. You get the sense they're exactly where they want to be, on the periphery. For now. English coverage of the upcoming World Cup leaves one dominant impression: expectation. The Lionesses have already won the Euros. Now, on home soil, it's time for the Red Roses to erase the pain of their final defeat to New Zealand three years ago. Ireland's 2017 World Cup misery - what can be learned? Listen | 34:01 Over 40,000 punters are expected in Sunderland for England's opener on Friday. Double that number have bought tickets for the final in Twickenham. Organisers talk of 'empowering change' and 'breaking down barriers.' With those attendance figures, fair enough. Amid this lofty local ambition, Ireland find themselves just outside Northampton. Their hotel does 90 per cent of its annual business when the British Grand Prix is on at nearby Silverstone. This is the wrong time of year to bump into Carlos Sainz, supposedly a regular guest. READ MORE [ Preview: Women's Rugby World Cup Opens in new window ] Country walks, golf, and day trips to the National Guide Dog Centre have dominated players' downtime. Even their opening venue, the 15,000-seater Franklin's Gardens, marks a significant change of pace from the pre-tournament fervour awaiting the English. Ireland are all too familiar with the risk of lofty expectations placed on a host nation. Their last World Cup appearance, 2017, started with semi-final ambitions. An eighth-place finish failed to live up to the hype. More importantly, it meant Ireland still had to work to reach the next edition. Infamously, they failed. Ireland players during a squad session on Thursday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho That time out the players suffer from bad preparation. A pair of in-house uncapped games against Japan were the sole offering. They didn't even get training kits. This time around, capped and ticketed games against Scotland and Canada have been given to a group which has been professional since 2022 – there are still those with day jobs. Investment in the top tier of the sport has improved, and with it Ireland's results. Ticket sales suggest the English public are firmly on the World Cup bandwagon. How Irish fans engage with their team remains to be seen, but Franklin's Gardens is expected to be full. Despite their undoubted threat, the nature of the early opposition – Japan and Spain – is unlikely to dominate the interest of a public whose rugby knowledge can be biased by the men's game. Scott Bemand's side open their campaign aganst Japan on Sunday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho For all the talk of this being 'the biggest World Cup yet', the women's game is still aware of its need to fight not necessarily harder, but smarter for eyeballs. RugbyPass, the news site owned by World Rugby, published a listicle of the top-10 players to follow on social media. At Wednesday's press day, Ireland fullback Stacey Flood fielded questions on Eve Higgins' TikTok output as readily as those on her high speed output in training. Higgins is no Ilona Maher, but alongside team-mate Anna McGann, they make a decent fist of it. For the hosts, Ireland are out of sight but not out of mind. An English journalist put it to the players that they have been labelled 'dark horses'. No player disagreed with her. Provided injuries don't derail them, Ireland will come firmly into view in the final pool outing against the Black Ferns. Should New Zealand be beaten, all bets are off. Both in terms of how far they can progress and, arguably more importantly, the inevitable spike in support from back home.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Searing summer may be telling us the race to halt global warming is lost
Three months without reaching for a woolly jumper – now that's what you call a summer. Temperatures have been in the balmy 20s in Ireland more often than not since May. Flying insects have returned to splatter car windscreens. The sand is back in the sandwiches. The sea is as warm as a baby's bath. Sheep's Head is the new Riviera, and Roscommon has turned into an outdoor sauna. Summer 2025 is already the stuff of nostalgia. Elsewhere in Europe, it is the stuff of nightmares. An estimated 2,300 deaths in 12 European cities in just 10 days in June have been attributed to intense heat. An acreage of land equating to nearly half a million football fields has been destroyed by wildfires in Spain . In Turkey , 50,000 residents were evacuated from Izmir, where fires took the lives of three people. The map of Europe evoked a vision of Dante's Inferno at the start of August as flames swept across Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania. The Eiffel Tower was closed in Paris for three days due to the heat. In Athens, outdoor work was forbidden after midday. Nuclear reactors had to be shut down in Switzerland to stop the water overheating in a Rhine tributary river. London Underground's tracks sizzled at 30 degrees in the first of four summer heatwaves. Power outages, internet failures and drought on the Continent have disrupted public transport, hospital surgeries and financial services. As summer prepares to depart this island, it is tempting to hope for more of the same next year, but other Europeans are dreading it and planning for even worse extremes to come. Scientists have said climate change is warming Europe twice as fast as the global average. In France, where the mercury surpassed 41 degrees on July 1, air-conditioned state buildings were kept open at night for citizens to cool down, admission charges were cancelled at municipal swimming pools, and machines were installed to spray mist on to the streets. Now the authorities in Paris are bracing for 50-degree heatwaves. READ MORE Already, 15,000 new trees have been planted in asphalt parking spaces and along the centre of roads to provide natural air conditioning, and plans are afoot for schools to double as cooling shelters. The Lancet medical publication has identified residents of Paris – the densely populated City of Light with its preponderance of ancient zinc rooftops – as the most exposed to heat-related deaths in Europe. Experts have warned the city's planners that 50 degrees could arrive as soon as 2050. [ Why isn't the message on climate change getting through? Opens in new window ] 'It's a race against time,' the New York Times quoted a city councillor, Alexandre Florentin. But what this summer may be telling us is that the race is already lost. The damage is done. Ten years ago, the aptly named Paris Agreement on climate change, which is legally binding, required its 195 signatory countries to pursue efforts to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. To achieve that, greenhouse gas emissions had to plateau by the start of this year and decrease by 43 per cent by 2030. The 1.5 degree threshold was exceeded last year, the hottest on Earth since at least 1850, with an average rise of 1.6 degrees. Not only is the air warming, the sea is too. According to Met Éireann , a 2.2 degree rise in temperature was recorded in the Atlantic off the Cork coast this May, constituting a marine heatwave. Evidence abounds that climate change is out of control. Coral is being bleached in the over-heated waters of the Great Barrier Reef and the Caribbean. Glaciers are melting faster than the direst predictions forecast that they would, losing as much ice in a single year as the amount of water the entire planet consumes over 30 years, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service. Permafrost is thawing in Alaska, Siberia and Greenland. The Union of Concerned Scientists says increased deposits of carbon dioxide are making the seas more acidic and endangering marine life. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and the Climate Change Advisory Council have warned that this country is facing potential EU penalties of up to €26 billion for failing to sufficiently reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The prospects are bleak as the population is set to reach 5.5 million by year's end and the economy is going full pelt, driven by electricity-voracious technology and data centres. The extraction and burning of fossil fuels is the biggest culprit for global warming, oil being public enemy number one. Ireland is lucky to occupy a windy spot on the globe where harnessing its clean energy can generate about one-third of the country's power consumption needs. Sunlight is a complementary source, as demonstrated by the opening this week in Timahoe, Co Kildare of the first large-scale solar farm by the ESB and BnM, formerly known as Bord na Móna. Simultaneously, work has begun on building an interconnector between Ireland and France. [ Extreme heat breaks temperature records across Europe Opens in new window ] As the evenings shorten, greetings are switching from 'great weather' to 'let's hope we don't pay for it in the winter'. But it is not one lovely summer that will exact the price of climate chaos. EU toadying has got there first. In July, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen struck a deal with Donald Trump in Scotland whereby the bloc of 27 European countries is obliged to import $750 billion (€643.4 billion) worth of energy products, including oil and gas, over three years from the US in return for a 15 per cent cut in Trump's threatened and extortionate tariffs. Stock market prices for oil companies shot up the next morning. One of Trump's first measures on returning to the Oval Office was to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, having won the presidential election with such inspiring soundbites as 'drill, baby, drill'. Watching the ink dry on the EU-US deal, Europeans could be forgiven for wondering what is the point of traipsing to the bottle bank or agonising over their e-car's range when global leaders play Monopoly with the planet's future. This country's temperate climate has insulated it against the biblical death and destruction wreaked across Europe, but it is not immune. One nice summer does not Arcadia make, no more than a single swallow can make a summer. In the hands of profit-crazed world leaders, nowhere will be safe. That's the message in the bottle washed ashore this summer.
