The next lecture in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Change lecture series will be delivered by Professor Ms Lea Berrang Ford, Deputy Director at the UK Health Security Agency.
Professor Ms Lea Berrang Ford is Head of the UKHSA Centre for Climate and Health Security and a Research Chair in Climate and Health at the Priestley International Centre for Climate. She is an expert in climate change impacts on health, adaptation to the health effects of climate change, and the health implications of decarbonisation.
Prof. Berrang Ford was a Lead Author on the 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, is a co-author on the 2022 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change, and led the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative, an international collaboration of 125 scientists to assess evidence on progress on global adaptation to climate change.
She has led international, interdisciplinary projects on climate and health for over a decade, working with a range of global research and policy partners, in particular in Uganda, Peru, and the Canadian Arctic. Ms Berrang Ford is a former Research Chair in Climate and Health with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and former a Royal Society Wolfson Research Fellow.
This lecture, entitled ‘Climate change and health: from paralysis to pragmatism’, will provide an overview of the landscape of climate change and health including risks, intervention opportunities and state of the evidence. It will address the challenge of coordinating research and governance and move from ‘paralysis to pragmatism’ in the face of daunting and uncertain climate change and health risks.
Welcoming Professor Berrang Ford, Ms Laura Burke, Director General, EPA, said: “We are delighted to welcome Professor Berrang Ford to give the first EPA Climate Lecture of 2024 on the topic of climate change and health. Climate change will have wide ranging global consequences for human health, arising from extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms and flooding, increasing suitability of regions for invasive species, implications for mental health, and impacts on antimicrobial resistance.
Ms Burke further added: “Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment highlights the climate-related health impacts and the opportunities that face Ireland. Effective climate action in response to this challenge will make us more resilient to the coming changes and bring benefits for individuals, public health, and society.”
Professor Berrang Ford will draw on the experience of the new Centre for Climate and Health Security within the UK Health Security Agency and will lay out an optimistic vision for how public health and environmental agencies begin to respond and prepare for the grand challenge of climate change threats to health.
The public lecture will take place tomorrow Tuesday, April 23rd at 6:30pm at The Banking Hall in the College Green Hotel, Dublin and will also be streamed online. This free event requires registration through the following link HERE. The event will also be recorded and uploaded to the EPA YouTube channel, located HERE.
This lecture forms part of the National Dialogue on Climate Action, and people can also follow the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #ClimateLecture2024, See HERE.
“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them”. [Matthew Chapter 6 – Verse 26.]
It was a beautiful day today here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary; after weeks of rain which confined most of us, during off duty hours, to our livingroom armchairs.
Today, in bright sunshine, local residents got their first opportunity, in months, to catch up on work required in neglected gardens. From all directions, today, came the drone of petrol lawn mowers and the scraping of stone against spade heads.
‘Roly’ the Robin with at least one member of his family hidden in overgrown wall ivy. Pic: G. Willoughby[600mm Lensusedto ensure no disturbance of nest site].
‘Roly’my friendly Robin, joined me, much to the anger of numerous wiggly worms, latter who sadly met their “Waterloo”; having been disturbed with the help of my spade and fork; to be quickly consumed by ‘Roly’s’ wife and family.
It is estimated that there are over 2 million breeding pairs of Robins within the Republic of Ireland any one year. Nest are usually well-concealed, in ivy or a cavity in a tree; in a wall, or an open-fronted nest-box and often close to ground level. Some species find the most unusual locations, such as a discarded teapot; a hat, or in the torn pocket of an overcoat, latter long since abandoned in a garden shed.
Despite appearing to be friendly and inhibited, Robins are in fact very territorial birds and will viciously attack other Robins that appear in their territory. Males will verbally abuse each other, before their high pitched debate escalates into a physical fight, which can result in serious injury or even death.
Robins eat a wide variety of foodstuff, including worms, invertebrates, ripe fruit, mealworms, seeds and suet and are a regular visitor to any furnished bird table.
Today, I am reminded again that in my home, as a boy and to my families delight, two Robins regularly joined us at the dinner table. Believe it or not, one bird often ate mashed potato from my uncles outstretched tongue, while sitting perched on his nose, so great was the trust.
Lyrics: American singer and songwriter Bill Withers(William Harrison Withers Jr.) Vocals: American singer and songwriter Bill Withers, with singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer Stevie Wonder(Stevland Hardaway Morris) and American singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer John Legend.
“Lean On Me”
Sometimes in our lives, We all have pain, We all have sorrow, But if we are wise, We know that there’s always tomorrow. Lean on me, When you’re not strong, I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on, For it won’t be long, Till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on. Please swallow your pride, If I have things you need to borrow, For no one can fill, Those of your needs that you won’t let down. You just call on me brother, when you need a hand, We all need somebody to lean on. I just might have a problem that you’ll understand, We all need somebody to lean on. Lean on me, When you’re not strong, I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on. It won’t be long, Till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on. You just call on me brother, When you need a hand. We all need somebody to lean on. I just might have a problem, that you’ll understand, We all need somebody to lean on. If there is a load you have to bear, That you can’t carry, I’m right up the road. I’ll share your load, If you just call me. Call me If you need a friend (Call me), Call me (call me) If you need a friend (Call me) If you ever need a friend. END
Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing, Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king? The king was in his counting house, counting out his money. The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey. The maid was in the garden, hanging out the clothes, When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose. There was such a commotion, that little Jenny wren, Flew down into the garden, and put it back again. END
The common Blackbird, formerly also known as an ‘Ouzel’, is a species of the Thrush family. The plumage of the adult male is all black, except for a yellow beak. The adult female and all juveniles birds, on the other hand, have mainly a dark brown plumage, with speckles on the upper breast, which slightly resemble our Irish Song Thrush.
Pictured today, two baby Blackbirds waiting for parents to return with grub. Under the Irish Wildlife Act, it is against the law to cut, burn or otherwise destroy vegetation including hedges between March 1st and August 31st. The purpose of this ban is to prevent the disturbance and destruction of nesting sites of many of our wild bird species. Pic: G. Willoughby.
One would have assumed that Carrion Crows, Ravens, Rooks and Jackdaws would have been referred to first as ‘blackbirds’, but of course historically the word ‘bird’ was correctly used to differentiate larger species from the smaller bird variety; hence the larger Crows, Jackdaws etc. are categorised as ‘wild fowl’.
The blackbird species breeds in Irish woods and gardens; building a neat, round cup-shaped nest, same bound together with dried muck. Its daily diet includes a wide range of insects, earthworms, berries, and fruits. It is a regular visitor to our bird tables, attracted by porridge oats, fruit and cooked potato leftovers. The birds are territorial, especially during the breeding season.
The English nursery rhyme above, entitled ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ is possibly as old as the 1500s; which we all learned as primary school kids, was supposedly a coded message used by the legendary pirate Captain Blackbeard to recruit pirates. Sixpence and a hip-flask of rye whisky was the weekly pirate’s wage. Thus the ‘blackbirds’ were Blackbeard’s pirates and the ‘pie’ his sailing vessel.
Yet another theory, which is more acceptable, suggests that the King ‘in his counting house’ and the ‘Queen in the parlour’, actually refers to Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII, while the maid ‘in the garden, hanging out the clothes’, refers to Ann Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII. Henry VIII, our readers will remember, divorced and executed Ann Boleyn, whom he had beheaded on May 19th, 1536, at the Tower of London. So the reference to the blackbird snipping off the maids nose could possibly represent his decision to separate from the then existing Church of Rome.
Ireland’s power generation and industrial emissions decreased by 17% in 2023.
In 2023, greenhouse gas emissions from Irish power generation and industrial companies covered by the EU Emissions Trading System decreased by 17%.
Emissions decreased by almost 24% from the electricity generation sector.
The decrease in industrial emissions was over 6%, with cement industry emissions decreasing by 6.2% mainly due to lower production levels.
In contrast, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by more than 9% compared to 2022, which reflects continued growth in this sector.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), today released its preliminary analysis of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 from the Emissions Trading System (ETS) sector. Emissions from Irish power generation and industrial companies decreased by 17% (more than 2.4 million tonnes) in 2023 to 12.19 million tonnes of CO2. This compares with a decrease of approximately 15.5% across Europe, according to data published by the EU Commission.
Ireland’s ETS sector delivered a decrease in emissions in 2023 due to a combination of factors, including an increase in imports of electricity, the use of renewable electricity and renewable fuels as well as a decrease in cement production.
The electricity sector used less coal generation compared to the previous year, with increased use of wind and solar powered electricity. This is the second year that a drop in emissions from Moneypoint is observed, but fossil-fired power stations continue to play a strong role in meeting a high electricity demand. Importation of electricity from other countries outside the EU will require a carbon price to be paid in the longer term under the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism unless there is a linking agreement with the ETS in the exporting country.
Ms Laura Burke, EPA Director General said: “While Ireland is increasingly moving away from coal generation, we still rely heavily on fossil fuels to meet our electricity demand. Ireland must continue to put a priority on renewable generation infrastructure to deliver grid decarbonisation.”
109 major industrial and electricity generation sites were required to report their emissions for 2023 by 31 March 2024 in the EU Emissions Trading System. These include sites operating in the power generation, cement, lime, and oil refining sectors. Also included are large companies in sectors such as food & drink, pharmaceuticals and semi-conductors.
Cement industries recorded a 6% decrease overall due to a drop in production.
Emissions from the food and drink sector also showed a decrease in emissions of more than 3%.
Emissions from bulk manufacturing of pharmaceuticals decreased by more than 6% while emissions from manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations increased slightly by almost 3%.
Aviation emissions from flights within the European Economic Area reported to Ireland by 31 March increased by over 9% compared to 2022, to over 11 million tonnes. This is still lower than the pre-pandemic levels of 12.8 million tonnes, nevertheless, the emissions data for 2023 reflect the ongoing growth of traffic in this sector and the need to put a series of measures in place to reduce air traffic emissions. The revised ETS Directive published in 2023, allows aircraft operators to claim free allocation where they can show that they have used Sustainable Aviation Fuels.
Dr Maria Martin, EPA Senior Manager, said: “The EU Emissions Trading System is one of the key policy tools driving decarbonisation. The system is expanding to bring in new sectors including buildings, road transport and smaller industries as well as the maritime sector and this will provide an incentive to reduce emissions in those areas.”
Maritime emissions come under the EU ETS from the start of this year and this will provide an incentive to reduce emissions from container shipping and passenger ferries.
Further details about Emissions Trading are available on the EPA website. Further information about Ireland’s overall greenhouse gas emissions is also available on the EPA website and the EPA has developed useful infographics and published the detailed greenhouse gas inventory HERE.
Analysis of the EU data can be found in a DG Climate Action news article published on 3rd April, which also contains a link to the data.
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