Frank McDonald in todays Irish Times suggests 10 ways in which Brian Cowen could make a difference to our environment:

1. Introduce carbon taxes e.g. tax cars on their emissions
2. Allow local authorities to raise a domestic rate
3. Abandon decentralisation
4. Urban regeneration of the Cork and Limerick docklands
5. Cancel Metro North (6 billion project)- linky to airport by Luas
6. Underground rail link from Heuston to Spencer Dock linking all rail, Luas and Dart lines
7. Relocate Dublin Port to Bremore
8. Cancel the Abbey Theatre rebuild in Docklands
9. Reinstate the Freedom of Information Act
10. Review the M3 route near Tara.

Any comments on Frank's list, and what is your own Top Ten?

It's interesting that over half involve building in some way or other.

I'd put Tara closer to the top - it's symbolic of so much.
I'd invest more in rail-links and re open stations like Killucan in Westmeath where there's a demand for a rail service and a station (in which most of the trains actually stop but no one gets on or off!!)
I'd significantly raise fines for flytipping and put a far greater responsibility on councils to follow through on unpaid fines and prosecutions. Make the polluter pay - and how!
All retail outlets should have a recycling facility at point of sale to encourage shoppers to leave boxes and packaging behind before they leave.
Deposits on plastic bottles as in other parts of Germany.
Oblige producers of fruit and vegetables to state how often and with what chemicals their produce has been treated.
Improve the school bus networks.
Create a council post for an officer who would actively promote and organise allotment gardening.
Spend a fortune bringing sewage treatment up to scratch so that it doesn't make its way into sea and watercourses.
Deal more strictly with one-off housing and harmonise the rules from county to county with protocols for different situations.
Planning laws to take cognisance of more environmentally friendly building methods and heating methods, also the mandatory provision of green spaces in rezoning and planning of estates etc.

I'll add more as I think of them.

cactus flower wrote:

8. Cancel the Abbey Theatre rebuild in Docklands

What has this got to do with the environment?

I can only think it's got to do with the 'reduce, reuse, recycle' mantra: there's no need to build a separate, new building when there is a perfectly serviceable one in existence already. Repair and Reuse.

seinfeld wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

8. Cancel the Abbey Theatre rebuild in Docklands

What has this got to do with the environment?

A person might notice that Dublin urban development issues figure quite highly in Frank's list. Water quality, food security, biodiversity, waste management - neh!

Yeah, well... the habitat that is the Pale has an environment all of its own and some people (and I don't mean Frank McDonald, necessarily) rarely step out of it to see how the rest of us live.

cactus flower wrote:

seinfeld wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

8. Cancel the Abbey Theatre rebuild in Docklands

What has this got to do with the environment?

A person might notice that Dublin urban development issues figure quite highly in Frank's list. Water quality, food security, biodiversity, waste management - neh!

Notice the list is introduced as "10 ways in which Brian Cowen could make a difference to our environment" and not "the 10 best ways".

He could also reduce his own impact by not having his suits cleaned so often.

Kate P wrote:

Yeah, well... the habitat that is the Pale has an environment all of its own and some people (and I don't mean Frank McDonald, necessarily) rarely step out of it to see how the rest of us live.

That will all change now that Cowan and Coughlan have the wheel. 

Kate P wrote:

Yeah, well... the habitat that is the Pale has an environment all of its own and some people (and I don't mean Frank McDonald, necessarily) rarely step out of it to see how the rest of us live.

I'm depending on you Kate to come up with a good way of dealing with the methane from cows. Any results yet?

Does he know something we don't know? Is he trying to soften the prospective pangs of disappointment as the money runs out and these things won't be bought and paid for anyway?

Cowen bypassed Laois today on his way home, mistakenly perhaps believing that all of his 20,000 or so votes all came from Offaly. I spoke to a lot of Laois voters in the last few days who are really annoyed that he couldn't even drive through the county (as most people do ) on his way to Clara.

If he can't find his way to Clara via Portlaoise or Mountmellick, then he has bigger problems to clean up on his own doorstep before he can deal with the environment anywhere else.

cactus flower wrote:

seinfeld wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

8. Cancel the Abbey Theatre rebuild in Docklands

What has this got to do with the environment?

A person might notice that Dublin urban development issues figure quite highly in Frank's list. Water quality, food security, biodiversity, waste management - neh!

I think he's a bit of a Prima Donna, myself.

Most of his commentary involves comparring Ireland (ie Dublin) to experience in other countries, which gets right up the nose of the very people whose hearts and minds we need to try and win.

Kate P wrote:

Does he know something we don't know? Is he trying to soften the prospective pangs of disappointment as the money runs out and these things won't be bought and paid for anyway?

Cowen bypassed Laois today on his way home, mistakenly perhaps believing that all of his 20,000 or so votes all came from Offaly. I spoke to a lot of Laois voters in the last few days who are really annoyed that he couldn't even drive through the county (as most people do ) on his way to Clara.

If he can't find his way to Clara via Portlaoise or Mountmellick, then he has bigger problems to clean up on his own doorstep before he can deal with the environment anywhere else.

I really like this story. Do you think it could develop and grow to be a Thread?

I'd agree with most of Kate's, but I don't really see the original list as having to do with the environment - except the built environment, of course.

There are systems for harnessing the methane and using it for heating or whatever but they involve keeping the cattle indoors and are not compatible with our way of farming in this country.

Will ask Husband later who knows more about these things.

cookiemonster wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Kate P wrote:

Yeah, well... the habitat that is the Pale has an environment all of its own and some people (and I don't mean Frank McDonald, necessarily) rarely step out of it to see how the rest of us live.

I'm depending on you Kate to come up with a good way of dealing with the methane from cows. Any results yet?

WTF, cookiemonster ?

It's a bung.

cookiemonster wrote:

It's a bung.

At the risk of overly pedantic, methane escapes from the cows mouth.

seinfeld wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

It's a bung.

At the risk of overly pedantic, methane escapes from the cows mouth.

They come in different sizes.

cookiemonster wrote:

It's a bung.

Testing cookiemonster's device. The first technical failure.

seinfeld wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

It's a bung.

At the risk of overly pedantic, methane escapes from the cows mouth.

And this is a cow gag:

ibis wrote:

seinfeld wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

It's a bung.

At the risk of overly pedantic, methane escapes from the cows mouth.

And this is a cow gag:

SMRT

seinfeld wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

It's a bung.

At the risk of overly pedantic, methane escapes from the cows mouth.

Does it? Oops. And here was I thinking I was watching them methaning, day in, day out. Some farmerette I am!

They'd explode like Augustus Gloop with a bung, cookiemonster. We could float them in the sky instead of patio heaters and then blow them up (especially the free range ones who'd be less offensive o the environment.) I've heard of fireflies but firecows might be a step too far.

Kate P wrote:

seinfeld wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

It's a bung.

At the risk of overly pedantic, methane escapes from the cows mouth.

Does it? Oops. And here was I thinking I was watching them methaning, day in, day out. Some farmerette I am!

Actually, I think it comes out both ends, but primarily from the mouth (unless the cow has particuarly bas flatulence).

The front end is more of a problem, as it can't be captured, whereas manure can be captured and used in Anaerobic Digestion.

http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2002/03/032502t_cowpower.jhtml

and remember the Far Side?

seinfeld wrote:

Kate P wrote:

seinfeld wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

It's a bung.

At the risk of overly pedantic, methane escapes from the cows mouth.

Does it? Oops. And here was I thinking I was watching them methaning, day in, day out. Some farmerette I am!

Actually, I think it comes out both ends, but primarily from the mouth (unless the cow has particuarly bas flatulence).

The front end is more of a problem, as it can't be captured, whereas manure can be captured and used in Anaerobic Digestion.

http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2002/03/032502t_cowpower.jhtml

and remember the Far Side?

Thanks Seinfeld. I knew there must be a solution.