Consumers need to pressure cocoa companies to address child labor and farmer poverty IMMEDIATELY. All people should be treated fairly, not mistreated or abused, just to make a delicacy for someone else. We want to send a message to big chocolate companys to purchase cocoa from farmers who use fair work practices. So please sign my petition, buy fair-trade chocolate only, and send letters to these companys to inform them of your unhappiness with their disregard for human rights. Choose Fairtrade Labels. https://www.greenamerica.org/end-child-labor-cocoa/chocolate-scorecard In 2010, Green America launched the Raise the Bar! Hershey campaign with allies, demanding that Hershey take steps to address the issue of child labor in their supply chain. Thanks to sustained pressure from Green Americans and Hershey consumers, the two-year campaign culminated with a commitment from Hershey to move to 100% ethically sourced cocoa by 2020. The Raise the Bar! Hershey campaign demonstrates how powerful a united consumer voice is. We must continue to build on the success of the Hershey campaign, and pressure other leaders in the cocoa industry to make serious commitments to eradicate child labor.

There are two species of seals in Irish waters, the grey and the harbour seal but in recent years Artic visitors such as bearded, walrus and most recently a hooded seal have arrived on our shores. We have many things to learn about how seals use our coastline and these species are protected under the Wildlife Act, 1976 and its amendments and the EU Habitats Directive as they are important indicators of ecosystem health. Indeed the recent sightings of such northerly species have been a cause for concern and it is of interest that we monitor such important indicator species in a time when the planet faces climate crises and is undergoing the 6th Mass Extinction. Read more here: https://www.orcireland.ie/call-to-cull-seals-in-irish-waters and here: http://www.ecoevoblog.com/2019/03/05/seal-cull/

Many of us in Ireland have extended family or good friends living in Australia. Cousins, aunts, uncles, colleagues, former school-friends, online pals - we all almost certainly have people there we care about. To the best of my knowledge air quality is around 200 times worse than what is considered a major health hazard and the equivalent of smoking around 40 cigarettes in their capital city. Thankfully, for now, the direct death toll is low; if we are proactive in helping and inspiring others to act we can make a real difference. It's not to late yet but time is of the essence. They need someone to step up for them. When we look at other English speaking countries like the UK and US it is quite obvious that, for all their size and influence, they aren't in a position to lead on this. It can be tempting to shirk away from our duty to our fellow man and worry about only our island and maybe our allies on mainland Europe in such complicated times, but please remember that their population contains among it descendants of our own ancestors who were sent there because of the famine (for they stole Trevelyan's Corn so our younger ancestors might see the morn), and a native people who suffered in turn from how our desperate ancestors were used by the British Empire to steal their land from them. They are not a people we can turn our back on in their moment of crisis, because as small as we are we have the power to get the ball rolling. Once we do it can create monumentum that will encourage our allies to follow suit, and put pressure on larger governments to do the same. To be blunt: We can act, and we should act, so we must act. It is the right thing to do.

The traffic lights at Raheny village are anti-pedestrian and punish people who travel on foot - particularly older people, young children and people with disabilities. This must change immediately.

We're in a plastic waste crisis and the policy of not allowing drinks to be bought using keep cups is nonsense https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/food-and-drink/irish-rail-ban-on-reusable-cups-angers-passengers-1.4114752

It has been a devastating year for environmentalists and ocean advocates all over the world as Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on July 1st 2019 and re-commenced commercial whaling for the first time in over 30 years. For many years Japanese whalers hunted whales in Japanese and Antarctic waters under the guide if "scientific whaling", now although not fishing in protected waters of the deep southern ocean, they have began commercial hunting of whales in Japanese waters. In 2019, Japanese whalers killer 232 whales , including 187 Byrde's whales, 25 sei whales, and 11 minke whales. Despite global out-cry and a dwindling demand for whale meat consumption in the country, the Japanese government have now passed a law to fund commercial whale hunts and to promote the consumption of whale meat in schools, despite the meat being highly toxic and dangerous for human health. Read more: https://www.orcireland.ie/japanese-whalers-kill-223-whales-completing-their-first-hunt-in-over-three-decades Read more: https://www.orcireland.ie/japanese-government-to-fund-more-whale-hunts The slaughter of protected species like minke, Bryde's and sei whales are brutal and horrific, as whales are harpooned, sometimes with explosives. On contact with the animal, the harpoon spread open to prevent the whale from escaping and death is slow and excruciatingly painful. Whale populations around the world are facing a multitude of human impacts from plastic pollution to overfishing and entailments, the last thing the world's marine biodiversity needs is further over exploitation and abuse. Please SIGN our Petition to urge Japans Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe to STOP JAPAN COMMERCIAL WHALING to protect cetacean species in Japanese waters instead of slaughtering them for profit and boycott Japanese goods and services until they END WHALING. Please sign to urge Japans Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano to urge Japanese officials to END COMMERCIAL WHALE HUNTS in a bid to tackle the world's biodiversity loss crises! Join us for a protest outside the Embassy of Japan in Ireland, Dublin on February 13th to celebrate World Whale Day 2020.

Plans have been mulled for years to try to keep everybody happy. But an apparent solution made public in May 2019 includes removal of rows of trees, narrowing footpaths, interfering with historic bridge walls, and even the removal of some existing pedestrian crossings. And for what? The draft plans show a route which is not continuous, leaves people cycling exposed at junctions, and looks too narrow for current demand in cycling. Often a lack of funding is given as a reason for delaying projects, but the Liffey Cycle Route has mainly suffered an issue with “politics of space” — mostly a fear of removing cars from parts of the quays despite international examples showing that this is the way to go.  This is as much about what kind of capital city Ireland wants as it is about cycling: A car-dominated city centre or enabling sustainable transport which is better for transport capacity, health, the local air quality, and even climate change -- which is better for local residents, business, workers and tourism.   Cycling has increased in Dublin in the last decade but the creation of safe and attractive cycle routes has remained stalled long after economic recovery while at the same time extra lanes have been added to motorways near the city. Rather then keep spending years of planning each route, Dublin needs to start a quick-build network and there's no better place to start than the quays which connects so much of the city. We are asking that city and national authorities go back to the previous plan of continuous two-way cycle path on the quays to at least trial it for 8-12 months and then ask if people want to go back to the way things are now. MORE DETAILS:  How a two-way cycle path on the north quays can be trialed -- Can Dublin #GreenTheQuays if it means disrupting car traffic?: https://irishcycle.com/2019/08/06/can-dublin-greenthequays-if-it-means-disrupting-car-traffic/ How the NTA’s plan for the Liffey Cycle Route is on the wrong path for Dublin’s future: https://irishcycle.com/2019/05/22/liffey-cycle-route-is-on-the-wrong-path-for-dublins-future/ ‬ ‬ Motor traffic around Dublin's River Liffey quays shocked international cycling experts https://irishcycle.com/2019/12/09/motor-traffic-around-dublins-river-liffey-quays-shocked-international-cycling-experts/ Liffey Cycle Route: Timeline and coverage: https://irishcycle.com/2019/12/10/liffey-cycle-route-timeline-and-coverage/

Figures obtained by the Derry Journal from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) show that almost 60,000 acres of land in Northern Ireland were sprayed with glyphosate in the last two years for which data is available. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the brand which is manufactured by US agriculture company Monsanto. In 2015 the World Health Organisation concluded that the pesticide was 'probably carcinogenic to humans'. Despite this DAERA has stated it is likely to continue to be used in Northern Ireland until 2022 at least. The EU re-approved the use of glyphosate in 2017 however, in the last few years it has been banned by countries including France, Germany, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, the Netherlands, Argentina, Columbia, Peru and Mexico.

Its extremely important that farmers take the time to sighn this petition , as I feel its the first step and only step in rectifying the great imbalances that farmers are experiencing, when we as independent farmers elect our own representative to hold position as minister for agriculture, then we as a farming community can work towards resolving farmers issues re instating farmers rights equality something that is being rashioned at present, we can resolve the great imbalances being experienced

Transportation powered by gasoline and diesel fuel is America’s single biggest source of carbon emissions, contributing to warming temperatures on land and in the oceans, resulting in unprecedented natural disasters. Extracting, transporting, refining and using oil and gasoline causes harm to people, air, water, land, animals, and plants. Gasoline vehicle exhaust pollutes the air, causing asthma, heart and lung disease, cancer, dementia and thousands of premature deaths each year. Vehicle exhaust affects children, disadvantaged communities and communities of color the most, with disproportionate health, financial and quality of life impacts. In the past, we adopted reasonable vehicle regulations to require seat belts, airbags, catalytic converters, unleaded gas and other improvements to protect health and safety. It’s time to act again. Electricity is already viable as a clean alternative to gasoline. Costs to fuel and maintain an electric vehicle are already cheaper than for gas cars, and electric vehicle sticker prices are forecast to be cheaper by the mid 2020s. To protect public health, clean the air, slow a rapidly warming climate, and promote economic and environmental justice, we call on our local, state and federal government officials to ensure that, starting in 2030 or sooner, all new vehicles sold are clean, zero emissions vehicles, not gasoline or diesel vehicles.

VERY IMPORTANT to stop this legislation by Minister Murphy as it will effect our ability to take a court case/ judicial review. Environmental groups outline shock at proposed planning Bill. Proposed legislative changes would make it almost impossible for citizens and environmental groups to challenge poor planning decisions in the courts. Ireland’s leading environmental coalition is shocked at the Minister for Housing’s attempt to introduce new planning legislation that would make it near impossible to challenge planning decisions in the courts and hold public authorities and the Government to account. The Environmental Pillar – a coalition of national environmental organisations – learned over the weekend of worrying developments with the Housing and Planning and Development Bill 2019 that is being brought forward by Minister Eoghan Murphy TD. In sum, the proposed Bill will add numerous challenging requirements and restrictions that will make it very hard for ordinary citizens and environmental NGOs to achieve the necessary “standing” to take cases. The changes proposed in the Bill would also add to the complexity of the court process and increases the risks of exposure to significant costs to those seeking to challenge bad planning decisions. This legislation would row back on major changes introduced just a few years ago to enable ordinary people, their organisations, and environmental NGOs to challenge bad environmental decisions. Those changes were already long overdue and necessary to comply with EU law and the Aarhus Convention. The Heads of the Bill sent to the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Housing, Planning and Local Government last week are very blunt that the proposed changes are designed to make it more difficult to engage in the legal process and appears to favour developer’s interests at the cost of environmental rights. The most worrying aspects (some of which are further explored below) of the proposed Bill are: • Complete change to existing cost rules for environmental cases from a system where costs should “not be prohibitively expensive” to a cost cap rules system with court discretion. This exposes the public and eNGOs to much higher costs and uncertainty, ensuring that many will be dissuaded from bringing a case in the first place and makes it harder to engage lawyers • Change in standing rights requirements for applicants from “sufficient interest” to “substantial interest” and a requirement that they must be “directly affected by a proposed development” and “in a way which is peculiar or personal”. This is in addition to a new requirement that the applicant must have had prior participation in the planning process. • Extension of the minimum time that an NGO must be in existence before it can challenge a planning decision from 12 months to 3 years, thereby essentially ruling out newly established citizen-led NGOs concerned with local environmental issues from bringing challenges • Insertion of a new requirement that NGOs must have a minimum of 100 affiliated members, thereby ruling out the vast majority of Irish groups from bringing challenges. • Increased requirements for the “leave” stage (where you get court permission to challenge). The Heads of the Bill propose going back to the abandoned “on notice” system and adding to the tests and complexity of the leave – this adds to the costs, duration and difficulty of court proceedings. “This legislation would row back on major changes introduced just a few years ago to enable ordinary people and small but committed environmental NGOs to legally challenge bad environmental decisions, without fear of incurring eye-watering costs and extensive obstacles to accessing justice.” “The explanation for the Bill is blatant about making it harder to challenge decisions, with the Department arguing that challenges cause delays. It is bad decisions, and flawed legislation however, that are the real issue driving litigation in this country and this Bill does nothing to address that. “Given the context of costs in our Irish planning system, the size and nature of organisations and the costs in our courts, this Bill is an extermination of environmental democracy and oversight. It is particularly chilling that it comes at a time when environmental protection has never been more important, and citizens and groups are mobilising in a powerful Green Wave given the endless failures of this Government and administration.

Two members of Veterans For Peace, Ken and Tarak, were arrested on St. Patrick's day 2019 (March 17) for going onto the airfield at Shannon Airport carrying a banner that said: 'U.S. Veterans say Respect Irish Neutrality U.S. War Machine out of Shannon Airport Veterans For Peace' They wanted to demand that police inspect a U.S.-military contracted plane believed to be carrying U.S. troops and weapons on their way to illegal wars in the Middle East. These flights, which have been passing through Shannon Airport since 2001, are in violation of Irish neutrality and international law. The 2 men were charged with Trespass and Causing Criminal Damage at Shannon airport. After being held in Limerick jail for nearly 2 weeks, Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff were released on €2500 bail each and forced to surrender their passports. They have been unable to return home for over 7 months. The High Court will not reconsider their application to change their bail conditions until they can show that their trial is years off, which will be the case with the current backup of cases in the Dublin Circuit Court. Changing their bail conditions is key to getting their passports restored. The process the 2 peace activists are being forced to endure is a clear attempt to punish them before any trial takes place. Major Ken Mayers served 12 years in the US Marine Corps. He is a former National Board member of Veterans For Peace and participate in veterans peace team delegations to Palestine, Okinawa, Jeju Island, South Korea, and Standing Rock. Tarak Kauff was a paratrooper in the US Army during the early sixties. He was a member of the VFP National Board of Directors for six years. He has organized veterans delegations to Palestine, Okinawa, South Korea and Standing Rock. He is currently the managing editor of Peace In Our Times