Canvassing support for tree-planting initiative

Amtmann

Hi folks,

I submitted a civic proposal here on the "Your Country, Your Call" website and would be very grateful for any support or comments you could make in favour of it.

I submitted the idea to John Gormley as well as to the various environmental spokespersons of other parties, but they all ignored it. The proposal has zero hope of winning the competition (that is not why I entered), but the board will officially endorse and recommend all "good proposals" to the government, whether they win or not.

So, as people concerned about the environment, I'd ask you to take a few moments to read the proposal linked to above, and, if you like it, to vote for it or at least leave a comment.

Cheers.

Macha

Great idea, Furet. If you have the option of editing, it always helps to put in a few case-studies or exemplars to show what has been achieved elsewhere.

You could also mention the fact that Ireland has the lowest coverage of forest in the EU -10%, I think (and I would consider most of that to be tree crops of non-native species like sitka spruce, rather than forests).

Also, you could mention something about the function of vegetation in reducing noise pollution. I know, for example, that grass is widely used in tramway construction to reduce noise and vibration. Perhaps some similar benefit would come from your idea.

Cookie_Monster

taconnol wrote: »

Also, you could mention something about the function of vegetation in reducing noise pollution. I know, for example, that grass is widely used in tramway construction to reduce noise and vibration. Perhaps some similar benefit would come from your idea.

Interesting, I think the Luas would look quite good with grass surrounding the tracks in appropriate places, make it look "bedded in" as such & part of the landscape.

In regards to the OP idea I think its great and would love to see it done, and expanded much much further. Trees (both native & commercial pine as circumstances allow) should be planted everywhere where land is not currently in direct use. We could so easily have a large scale successful paper/timber industry ala Nordic countries if we put the effort in. Far better growing conditions here too.

Amtmann

Thanks taconnol. Submissions cannot be edited, but I suppose the comments section below is of use and can serve to clarify and elaborate. If others would like join the Your Country, Your Call site and post other reasons why the tree-planting proposal should be implemented (beneath the proposal itself), that would be great; it would mean I'm not just one person shouting outside the castle walls, so to speak!

Macha

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Interesting, I think the Luas would look quite good with grass surrounding the tracks in appropriate places, make it look "bedded in" as such & part of the landscape.

Yeah, I think it looks quite nice in Barcelona:



The other idea knocking around these days with motorways is to have turbines along them and use them as "energy highways":

Macha

Plus, of course, trees can act to remove pollution from the air.

This is a great idea.

Cunsiderthis

While it might be thought a good idea to place wind turbines alongside main roads,as in the picture, the standard thought is that wind turbines should be in areas where there is little populatoin for safety reasons.

It's not often considered that the blades of wind turbines can be dangerous. If, for example, ice forms on the blades when they are stationary, shards of this ice can be hurled off the blades when the start to rotate and can be lethal.

Additionally, turbines often leak oil and this can also be dispersed by the rotating turbines, and there have been incidences of turbines being hit by lightening and literally falling over.

There have also bee instances of the blades flying off (which also happens in helicopters occasionally), and this is the main reason they are not recommended to be situated on or near a domestic dwelling.

An interesting side note about wind turbines is that some of the first wind turbines in the USA were situated in Altamount Pass in California, and these turbines were in part financed by a company in Dublin and erected by a company called Noonan Engineering in Limerick.

Macha

Cunsiderthis, I didn't think of that but what you write makes total sense.

Amtmann

The solar panels are still practical though - however, there could be problems from glare. They'd need to be carefully positioned.