Latest news with #urbanites
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
On Ireland's peat bogs, climate action clashes with tradition
By Clodagh Kilcoyne and Conor Humphries CLONBULLOGUE, Ireland (Reuters) -As wind turbines on the horizon churn out clean energy, John Smyth bends to stack damp peat - the cheap, smoky fuel he has harvested for half a century. The painstaking work of "footing turf," as the process of drying peat for burning is known, is valued by people across rural Ireland as a source of low-cost energy that gives their homes a distinctive smell. But peat-harvesting has also destroyed precious wildlife habitats, and converted what should be natural stores for carbon dioxide into one of Ireland's biggest emitters of planet-warming gases. As the European Union seeks to make Dublin enforce the bloc's environmental law, peat has become a focus for opposition to policies that Smyth and others criticise as designed by wealthy urbanites with little knowledge of rural reality. "The people that are coming up with plans to stop people from buying turf or from burning turf... They don't know what it's like to live in rural Ireland," Smyth said. He describes himself as a dinosaur obstructing people that, he says, want to destroy rural Ireland. "That's what we are. Dinosaurs. Tormenting them." When the peat has dried, Smyth keeps his annual stock in a shed and tosses the sods, one at a time, into a metal stove used for cooking. The stove also heats radiators around his home. Turf, Smyth says, is for people who cannot afford what he labels "extravagant fuels," such as gas or electricity. The average Irish household energy bill is almost double, according to Ireland's utility regulator, the 800 euros ($906) Smyth pays for turf for a year. Smyth nevertheless acknowledges digging for peat could cease, regardless of politics, as the younger generation has little interest in keeping the tradition alive. "They don't want to go to the bog. I don't blame them," Smyth said. INDUSTRIAL HARVESTING AND 'TURBARY RIGHTS' Peat has an ancient history. Over thousands of years, decaying plants in wetland areas formed the bogs. In drier, lowland parts of Ireland, dome-shaped raised bogs developed as peat accumulated in former glacial lakes. In upland and coastal areas, high rainfall and poor drainage created blanket bogs over large expanses. In the absence of coal and extensive forests, peat became an important source of fuel. By the second half of the 20th century, hand-cutting and drying had mostly given way to industrial-scale harvesting that reduced many bogs to barren wastelands. Ireland has lost over 70% of its blanket bog and over 80% of its raised bogs, according to estimates published by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council and National Parks and Wildlife Service, respectively. Following pressure from environmentalists, in the 1990s, an EU directive on habitats listed blanket bogs and raised bogs as priority habitats. As the EU regulation added to the pressure for change, in 2015, semi-state peat harvesting firm Bord na Mona said it planned to end peat extraction and shift to renewable energy. In 2022, the sale of peat for burning was banned. An exception was made, however, for "turbary rights," allowing people to dig turf for their personal use. Added to that, weak enforcement of complex regulations meant commercial-scale harvesting has continued across the country. Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency last year reported 38 large-scale illegal cutting sites, which it reported to local authorities responsible for preventing breaches of the regulation. The agency also said 350,000 metric tons of peat were exported, mostly for horticulture, in 2023. Data for 2024 has not yet been published. GREEN VISION Pippa Hackett, a former Green Party junior minister for agriculture, who runs a farm near to where Smyth lives, said progress was too slow. "I don't think it's likely that we'll see much action between now and the end of this decade," Hackett said. Her party's efforts to ensure bogs were restored drew aggression from activists in some turf-cutting areas, she said. "They see us as their arch enemy," she added. In an election last year, the party lost nine of the 10 seats it had in parliament and was replaced as the third leg of the centre-right coalition government by a group of mainly rural independent members of parliament. The European Commission, which lists over 100 Irish bogs as Special Areas of Conservation, last year referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to protect them and taking insufficient action to restore the sites. The country also faces fines of billions of euros if it misses its 2030 carbon reduction target, according to Ireland's fiscal watchdog and climate groups. Degraded peatlands in Ireland emit 21.6 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, according to a 2022 United Nations report. Ireland's transport sector, by comparison, emitted 21.4 million tons in 2023, government statistics show. The Irish government says turf-cutting has ended on almost 80% of the raised bog special areas of conservation since 2011. It has tasked Bord na Mona with "rewetting" the bogs, allowing natural ecosystems to recover, and eventually making the bogs once again carbon sinks. So far, Bord na Mona says it has restored around 20,000 hectares of its 80,000 hectare target. On many bogs, scientists monitoring emissions have replaced the peat harvesters, while operators of mechanical diggers carve out the most damaged areas to be filled with water. Bord na Mona is also using the land to generate renewable energy, including wind and solar. Mark McCorry, ecology manager at Bord na Mona, said eventually the bogs would resume their status as carbon sinks. "But we have to be realistic that is going to take a long time," he said. ($1 = 0.8828 euros)
Telegraph
29-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Who are the Henrys? The voters Starmer is desperate to capture
You can hardly blame Labour for desperately trying to find new pockets of support. But going after Henrys – the 'High Earners, Not Rich Yet' – is surely a lost cause. Reports suggest Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to pursue some of Britain's best-paid workers – young people in the top 10 per cent when it comes to their salaries but who are nonetheless left with precious little at the end of the month after taxes, childcare and lifestyle inflation. Wealth accumulation is, as a result, for now off the table. There are some 800,000 of them in England and Wales, according to a Telegraph analysis of census data. Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, many of them are already urbanites in constituencies that helped put the Government in power. Far from Labour gaining support, it has slipped away among these golden voters faster than in any other group. As it languishes in the polls, it is perhaps no surprise that Labour is scrambling around for supporters it can please. The Sunday Times reported that Sir Keir's advisers have identified Henrys as a key group – a decision perhaps driven by Labour's recent popularity with professional, urban university graduates alienated from the Tories by Brexit. Henrys are not precisely defined in academic literature. Courtiers, a wealth manager, mentions a salary threshold of £100,000, while others claim the term applies exclusively to millennials. As a best proxy, these could also be considered 25 to 49-year-olds on the highest rung of the socioeconomic classification of jobs – precocious chief executives, senior administrators and finance managers, lawyers and consultants. But in a country where average house prices are fast approaching £300,000 – up 40 per cent in a decade – even a high salary cannot guarantee home ownership, the key to long-term wealth. The latest survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found net property wealth made up the largest proportion of household wealth at 40 per cent. Henrys, however, are likely to be trapped in the private rental market. By these metrics, London's Canary Wharf, whose residents neighbour the world's biggest banks in glass towers overlooking the Thames, is home to the greatest proportion of Henrys at one in five. Of the electoral wards with the highest concentration of Henrys, Telegraph analysis of local-level 2024 general election results compiled by Britain Elects shows 78 per cent were won by Labour. This approach makes this core of Henrys total 803,247 at the time of the latest census, in 2021 – just under 2 per cent of Britain's 50 million-strong working age population at the time. While polling on what exactly Henrys want is scarce, a Reddit page dedicated to the group makes it abundantly clear what bothers them – their tax bill, the accessibility of housing and the prohibitive expense of living the way they want. In practice, Labour has done little to win them over so far. In 2021, the Tories fixed income tax thresholds until 2028, a decision Rachel Reeves shied away from reversing in her maiden budget last October. Ever more workers are set to be dragged into higher tax bands over the course of this parliament as a result. Those taking in over £100,000 a year – who now number some 1.4 million across the UK – owe £3,200 more in income tax and National Insurance in 2025/26 than they did in 2015-16. Inflation had been falling for 17 consecutive months until July last year. From a post-cost of living crisis low of 2 per cent, Labour's tax raid in April helped send it back up to 3.5 per cent. As for housing, few have been spared from the affordability crisis. Property cost 2.5 times the annual earnings of someone on the cusp of the top 10 per cent of earners back in 2000 – this ratio has now soared to four. Many of them live in the capital, where house prices averaged £552,000 this March – double the £271,000 figure for the wider UK. To make matters worse, the end of the stamp duty holiday has just made that first purchase £8,750 dearer. Molly Broome, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said many of the Henrys could benefit from policies to tackle intergenerational unfairness. 'Lots of people have accrued wealth in the UK as a result of being homeowners, but millennials are much less likely to own their own home by the age of 30,' she said. 'Most are stuck in the private rented sector, which is the most unaffordable form of tenure. We've seen the length of time people are saving for their deposit increased.' After the collapse of Labour's majority in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election on May 1, Sir Keir claimed his party had to 'go further and faster to deliver' on its pledges. Four weeks later, Labour clocked the lowest polling share YouGov had recorded for the party since it began tracking voting intention in 2019, at just 21 per cent. Polling of those belonging to the ABC1 socioeconomic group, representing the middle and upper classes, had also slumped to an all-time low of 22 per cent by the end of May. It is among the 25 to 49s – the Henry demographic – that their standing has seen the steepest decline, down over 18 points from 44 to 25.6 per cent, according to the Telegraph's poll of polls. In the Henry-heavy wards last summer, where more than one in 20 meet the criteria, 44.2 per cent cast their vote for Labour. Mapping the decline above on to this would see it fall to 25.7 per cent. Ms Broome added that the Government was attempting to alleviate this problem by building more homes. As long as these homes included a good proportion of social housing, this should reduce rents in the private sector, making it easier for Henrys to save up for a deposit. She also called for changes to council tax, making it less regressive to ensure those with the largest homes pay more and those just starting out pay less. Stamp duty could also be scrapped, she said, as it is a barrier to home ownership for first time buyers. Meanwhile, child care costs rise hugely for workers who earn more than £100,000 a year as free nursery hours and tax credits are withdrawn. 'Childcare is also a big issue for older millennials, many of whom are choosing whether to work or send a child to nursery,' said Ms Broome. 'There are also cliff edges in the tax system which create perverse incentives not to earn an extra penny. Extending tapers would be one way the Government can improve the situation for these individuals.'
