It’s important because there is people staving while there’s enough food for everyone

Over the past few years there have been a soaring number of planning applications across the Island of Ireland to build very large “Solar Energy Farms” covering thousands of acres of agricultural land, with some in high amenity areas. Such projects involve taking over productive food-growing fields with hundreds of thousands of tall solar panels in order to generate “green” electricity for periods typically 35- 40 years. During this period the farms are unable to grow any food crops or raise animals. Only a few exceptions graze sheep, though this is going out of fashion with the developers. The developers usually offer to “improve the local biodiversity” or similar “green” sounding platitudes but there are no guarantees that the existing wildlife will not be permanently impacted or that the land will be even used for grazing. Solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels produce electricity from sunlight, but are very inefficient in producing energy compared to their land greed. Offshore wind power and hydroelectric systems, along with nuclear generation are significantly more efficient for their land footprint and have been chosen by the Government as the primary large-scale routes for energy investment towards our net zero goals. Nevertheless, solar developers are keen to cash in on the publicity of the net zero targets whilst they still can, removing valuable food producing land in the process. Solar panels on individual homes, offices, public buildings, and over car parks can and do contribute to offsetting electricity used in those buildings. The ISEA issued a report in 2022 showing that over 1.3 million homes in Ireland have roof space for solar panels which equates to 13GW capacity meeting 19% of renewable energy targets. County level findings also show that using maximum theoretical potential on each roof that up to 38% of Westmeath’s residential energy demands would be met by solar PV in homes. (https://www.irishsolarenergy.org/_files/ugd/dcb342_31fe5681d3fd4f56b322141c9886af5c.pdf) Energy sent over the transmission network is lost the further it travels, contributing to energy waste. Like a bucket of water with a small hole in the bottom. But this is reduced to almost no loss when installed on a rooftop and used by the building. These industrial solar energy plants, if needed at all, should be located on previously developed “brown field” sites and rooftops, not on valuable agricultural land. And certainly not adjacent to communities and in areas of high scenic and historic beauty, where they will destroy the public amenity and visual openness of the local countryside. Over the coming decades as we face up to the challenges of Climate Change, which is predicted to reduce food yields across the globe, we need to be able to produce enough food for ourselves. It is predicted that we will need to produce more food due to increasing populations. We need to be able to feed sustainably and covering viable agricultural land with solar “farms” is NOT the way to achieve this. It is time to call on the Government to end the development of large-scale Solar Energy “Farms” on prime agricultural land and take other measures to realise the benefits of solar pv such as making it mandatory for a minimum of 50% of all new builds to include rooftop solar power or giving communities the opportunity to participate in community owned projects like those set out in RESS 3 and supported by SEAI. If this gets approved it sets a dangerous precedent and there are more developments (similar in size) in the pipeline taking up large quantities of our prime arable land. If you care about the destruction of our countryside and wildlife (protected and unprotected) in our beautiful lake county then please sign and share for others to sign. We need to stop this now! Imagine acres and acres of glass and metal monstrosities where there once was crops, birdsong and animals grazing. Please Don’t let our Lake county become a Solar County.

Disposable Vapes are a product that have surged in popularity in recent years. These products are a threat to: 1. Public Health - With disposable vapes nicotine is delivered through an aerosol vapor which has been shown to have inflammatory effects on the respiratory system. As well, experts have warned of the potential of disposable vapes to act a gateway for smoking, especially for young people and adolescents. 2. The Environment - Disposable vapes are single-use items that contain plastic, electronics, and lithium-ion batteries. Disposable vapes are more frequently becoming a source of litter on our streets. This can result in harmful waste materials, such as mercury and cadmium, being leached into our environment, negatively impacting human health and biodiversity. These risks are simply not worth the convenience of a single use product! 3. Waste of Valuable Resources - The opportunity cost of global disposable vape production for the green economy is massive. The very materials such as lithium and copper are the precious materials needed for greener technology. It is estimated 90 tons of lithium and 1,600 tons of copper were used for the global production of disposable vapes in 2022. To put this into perspective, this amount of lithium is equivalent to the amount needed to produce 11,000 electric vehicles and is enough copper for 1.6 million electric vehicle charger units So let's put an end to the madness that is disposable vapes. Let's protect our health, our young people and our environment. Sign the Petition! Interested in reading more, check out the following source: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/minister-defends-plan-to-ban-disposable-vapes-theyre-making-the-world-worse/42071990.html https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/new-laws-to-ban-sale-of-vaping-products-to-under-18s/42141930.html https://web.archive.org/web/20220718111558id_/https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/378/bmj-2021-065997.full.pdf https://www.ft.com/content/6d5ed980-8b91-4372-9e7e-14eda5419325

Waste management companies are profiteering from the waste management crisis. Waste bin charges are being hiked and this is making it even harder for struggling households. Instead we should have publicly owned waste services.

We have come together to draw attention to a 28.87 acre site being sold in Carlow. Gateway & Adjoining Lands, Strawhall, Athy Road, Carlow Town, Co. Carlow is for sale by Greencore Group plc. Advertised as “Tremendous potential for further development” There is zero mentioning of any mature trees nor woodland within the advertisement; lot 6 has a well established woodland (Link below for sale details) We are calling on you to help us protect these trees from potential destruction. We want these woodland back as a public amenity. . We want to protect the wildlife under the Wildlife Act 1976 that call this place home already. Trees are vital to preserve and hugely important to biodiversity in the ongoing climate change. And as we have seen before, trees and woodlands removed overnight; we have come together to prevent this from happening. We need our trees! Though this is not solely about the trees and wildlife this is about the community coming together seeing the potential these lands already have for the community. For our future community. Protecting and enhancing our environment for future generations. And only a brisk walk away from our town centre. What we need? We need time. To buy time we need support. We need you to join us, sign our petitions, and share our social posts. Write your support to newspapers. Contact the local representatives. Contact the Carlow County Council. Spread the word for the love of our trees we are coming together! Already a large community has come together in Carlow and further nationwide to bring these woodlands into the public domain. We hope you will share some support and hopefully some day you will get to come visit 😉 Contact us [email protected] (Link to sale details below in "campaign website")

Long-distance journeys cause unnecessary suffering to animals. They can become exhausted, sick and injured, hungry, dehydrated and stressed, having to cope with high temperatures and humidity and extensive periods in cramped, filthy conditions, sometimes with little or no food and water.  Every year thousands of young bulls are exported to countries outside the EU including Turkey, Libya, Lebanon and Morocco. As if that wasn’t bad enough this year new markets have been sought and shipments have gone to Jordan and Egypt. A trade deal with Israel has also been ageed for cattle and sheep.  THIS IS GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!  These are all countries with no or minimal animal welfare regulations in place and appalling standards, particularly at slaughter. These bulls are subjected to unimaginable suffering, crammed into hot, filthy vessels for up to two weeks, usually just to be slaughtered in a brutal manner shortly after arrival at their destination.  Slaughter methods in these destination countries include slashing tendons, stabbing in the eyes, being strung up by a rear leg, multiple slashes at the throat, being hit over the head with poles, all whilst fulling conscious and in front of other animals. The slaughterhouse workers have a lack of education, and training, lack of facilities, there is no vet present and there is little in the way of legislation. Street slaughter is common.  We are calling for the Minister to ban export to all countries outside the EU that do not share our welfare standards, both in documented legislation and in practice.  You can find out more about the industry here: https://www.ethicalfarmingireland.com/live-export/

Operation Transformation is a weight loss TV show in Ireland that has been on our screens every year since 2008. Every year, 5 volunteers are recruited and endure a strict weight loss plan including a restrictive diet and intense exercise programme for 8 weeks.  The goal of the show is to lose weight, yet there is no research to prove that the weight loss intervention advocated by OT is effective in the long-term. There has been no participant follow up study to date. Furthermore, Operation Transformation perpetuates weight stigma in Ireland and contributes to the ongoing discrimination of people in bigger bodies across our country. The Irish public deserve to know if the OT programme will result in long-term weight loss and improved health markers. The research clearly concludes that dieting does not result in long-term weight loss for the vast majority of people. The Irish public deserve to not feel stigmatized or shamed on the basis of our weight. The health of our nation is at great risk with this advice of restrictive dieting. Weight is not a behaviour. This programme sends the inaccurate message that weight determines our health. @intuitive.eating.ireland & @binge.eating.dietitian are initiating this petition.

Pigs are sensitive, intelligent animals, legally recognised as sentient which means they can experience pleasure and pain, sorrow and happiness just like we can. However, 99% of pigs in Ireland are subjected to a life of misery in barren, slatted, overcrowded pens where they have no stimulation and cannot carry out any natural behaviours. Piglets are routinely mutilated at just a few days old by having their tails docked and teeth clipped which is in breach of the Pig Directive. Sows spend around five months of the year, nearly half their lives, in a cage too narrow to turn around in, unable to tend to or escape from their piglets. Pigs would naturally have their toilet area away from where they eat and sleep but when trapped in a cage or overcrowded pen that is not possible. Pigs are hardwired to root and forage and this innate behaviour is denied them causing stress and frusration. Overcrowded pens lead to competition for space and food and aggression follows, hence the docking of tails. If pigs were provided with a proper environment that suits their species the problems with fighting and piglet crushing would be greatly reduced. We are continuously being fed misinformation on pig farming with images of pigs on nice straw beds or in lush green fields, so the public are largely unaware of the grim reality which is the pigs on Irish farms never see a straw bed or grren field. They never get to run around or feel the sun on their backs. They never get to root and forage. They never get to nest build. They never get to be pigs. Pig Aware Ireland is a new campaign set up by Ethical Farming Ireland and My Lovely Pig Rescue to raise awareness of the suffering of almost all pigs in Ireland and push the Minister into actually enforcing legislation and enacting the Animal Welfare Strategy.

Big business are producing more, not less emissions and are making the climate crisis worse. Government decisions are letting them off the hook and pushing the burden for the climate crisis on to regular people, not the corporations who drive it.

Farmland birds are disappearing. We're losing our bees, plants, beautiful wildflowers. Agriculture intensification is wiping them out. Ensuring that Ireland's Common Agriculture Policy Strategic Plan does the minimum for biodiversity is critical to save them. We're running out of time to save wildlife. Please sign.

Intensive farms like the one currently planned for would mean up to 40,000 pigs would be confined indoors in overcrowded, barren concrete pens. The animals are often treated with antibiotics to keep them alive in such horrendous conditions, and their waste contains ammonia which causes respiratory problems in humans and pollutes sensitive natural habitats. According to the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, Co Tyrone has the fifth highest number of indoor reared livestock in the UK, with Co Antrim placed at eighth. The two counties have a combined total of 13.5 million animals reared indoors.

No Irish child should leave school without being able to cook for themselves. Otherwise, we are undeniably, failing in our duty of care to our young people. When you teach someone how to cook, you give them a gift that will forever enhance their lives. Our food choices affect our energy, vitality, ability to concentrate. Food affects our mental and physical health and is at the heart of the fight to tackle the climate crisis.