Council bans Citizens from taking part in Cleanups

Galway City Council has sent out a circular in the last hour informing the public that the Spring Clean initiative has been suspended and furthermore asking citizens not to go outdoors to clean up at this time and to stay at home. They mentioned that their staff are currently operating limited hours in order to manage litter bins and emergency issues only.
Unfortunately as there are no bins (council policy) in the city's forest parks and as there is only one (great!) council staff member presently working limited hours assigned to litter management in these parks, this I feel will lead to a huge increase in refuse across our beautiful woodlands and meadows impacting on biodiversity and the public. Only one part of multiple sectoral Terryland Forest Park has a COVID-19 closure sign on its entrance gates (which is ignored anyway).

I totally understand the importance of the restrictions imposed by lockdown.
But I am shocked that the work of dedicated volunteers, working singly and respecting social distancing of park users, and which is essential to park maintenance at this critical time are been asked to discontinue their much needed activities. Key staff have to work in shops, in health administration and in local authority services. Is not the work of these volunteers also critical at this time?
We will of course keep by this new requirement. But the parks need looking after now more than ever as they experience increased footfall, though by people observing social distancing. Unfortunately as we know only too well anti social elements will take advantage of the situation and cause damage to our precious green lungs particularly with littering.
I wonder what is the opinion of our councillors and TDs?
I have to be honest and say that I feel so sad and almost tearful on what may happen to our great woodlands and meadows in the absence of volunteers and with limited on-the-ground parks staffing during COVID-19.

Let's Make Scenes of Park Vandalism History- Join the Protest at 1.40pm Tomorrow (Mon) to Demand Park Wardens for Galway city's public parks

Bench in Terryland Forest Park that has lain broken & un-repaired for 2 years

Help keep our public parks including Terryland Forest Park and Merlin Woods clean and safe by maintaining the pressure on Galway City Council to follow the example of many other Irish and European cities in establishing a full-time Park Warden unit.

We were promised at last month's protest outside the council January meeting that the deferred motion from Councillor Mark Lohan, to set up a permanent on-the-ground parks staff crew, would be voted on at the next council meeting on Monday February 4th.
We thank Niall McNelis Mayor of Galway City for this commitment- he is someone that has long being an activist promoting a Clean Galway through his involvement in mass litter pickups and the Tidy Towns competition.
Getting the motion passed is a first step in reclaiming the public green spaces for the people of Galway, and in protecting these very important rare urban habitats for our precious but increasingly threatened native mammals, birds, insects, trees, flowers and other living things.
We want our public woods, wetlands, parks, meadows and waterways to be 'Carbon Sinks' to tackle Climate Change, Outdoor Classrooms for our schools, Outdoor Labs for our second and third level students, Outdoor Gyms for physical exercise enthusiasts, Nature Playgrounds for our children, Nature Trails for walkers, Zones of Tranquility and passive Leisure for people of all ages, Rural landscapes for revitalising nature-friendly farming, and Sanctuaries for our endangered native flora and fauna.

Many of our elected public representatives have already declared their support for a Park Wardens unit for Galway city including Mayor Niall McNelis, Billy Cameron, Cathal Ó Conchúir, Mike Cubbard, Cllr Frank Fahy, Mairéad Farrell and Michael Crowe. So in advance of tomorrow's we have declarations of solidarity from councillors of all political parties and from the independent councillor Mike Cubbard. That is great news! In advance of the meeting, we have lobbied all the other councilors on the issue.

But it is important that the people of Galway city show their determination that such a policy is implemented by turning up outside City Hall at 1.40pm on that day. Of course increased investment in infrastructure is also needed. But the establishment of a park wardens unit is an important first step.
So we ask you to join us and to bring along your friends, neighbours and family members. Together We Can (as we done so many times before) Make a Difference!

p.s. the  Shame!

Join Monday Protest to demand Park Wardens for Galway city Parks

Public parks, woods and other green spaces are more and more recognised as essential to the health of people and to the wellbeing of the planet.
Sadly Galway city’s public parks are increasingly suffering from anti-social behaviour that is undermining all of the great work that has been undertaken over so many decades by volunteers of all ages. Issues such as litter, dumping, destruction of seating/tables and tree felling are undermining not only citizens’ enjoyment of our valuable green spaces but are also impacting negatively on wildlife species.
It is well past time that Galway city follows the centuries-old example of Dublin and Belfast in having dedicated full time park wardens. Such on-the-ground staff could regularly carry out essential maintenance, act as tour guides, dramatically decrease acts of vandalism and in the process restore public confidence and usage of a rich diverse range of meadows, forests, wetlands and parks that would be the envy of most other European cities.

 A motion from Councillor Mark Lohan in requesting such a full-time parks crew is on the agenda of the first meeting of Galway City Council in 2019, that starts at 2pm on next Monday (January 14th).
So we are asking all lovers of our urban green amenities to join us at 1.40pm outside the front door of City Hall and demand that all councillors support this critical motion that could make our parks and natural heritage areas as popular as St. Stephens’ Green or Phoenix Park in Dublin, Hampstead Heath in London or Central Park in New York.
Lets make a positive start to the New Year by having our publicly elected local politicians implement a policy that will positively transform our parks and natural heritage areas

Council Neglect of Public Parks is harming City Schools, People’s Health and Biodiversity

We are asking all lovers of nature and of community to join volunteers at 10am on this Saturday Dec 8th from the Quincentenary Bridge entrance to take part in a significant cleanup in Terryland Forest Park that we hope will highlight the unacceptable increased levels of anti-social behaviour occurring there over the last few months particularly in terms of litter and therefore the critical need for Galway City Council to follow the lead of other cities in appointing full-time parks’ grounds staff.

Working with community volunteers and implementing an ‘Adopt a Patch’ scheme with local residents and businesses that we will launch next month, we feel that this new suggested policy change by City Hall could have a major positive impact on reclaiming the park for the people of Galway in order to fulfil its official designation as the “People’s Park” and the “Lungs of the City” as well  as a urban wildlife sanctuary.  Terryland has the potential to become a major green regional hub linking the Connemara Greenway over a new pedestrian bridge along the old railway pillars, to the Corrib waterways and to a large untapped walking/cycling ‘boreen’ network on the north and east sides of the city.

Sadly years of council neglect due to a shrinking budget from government and other factors is destroying our city’s green spaces particularly in relation to Terryland Forest Park, a green facility that its founders in 1996 had hoped would become the equivalent of the Phoenix Park of Galway.

A dedicated team of volunteers from all walks of life have done so much over the last few years to successfully develop this natural heritage zone as an Outdoor Classroom for local schools; an Outdoor Laboratory for third level science research; a major ecological corridor and sanctuary for wildlife that research has shown contains at least 350 species; and a landscape for revitalising rural heritage skills and organic farming. But sadly the absence of on-the-ground park wardens and maintenance staff has led to an epidemic of litter and a surge in vandalism that is transforming Terryland and other public parks into ‘No Go Zones’ for the public as well as negatively impacting on the park’s biodiversity.

Sadly the visitor is now greeted with carcasses of blackened burnt tree trunks on abandoned night-time campfires; the wanton destruction of picnic benches; paint-peeled park seating; mounds of alcohol bottles/cans lying beside outdoor exercise equipment; overflowing uncollected ugly council blackbags beside every seat which are ripped open with their contents covering woodlands and killing wildlife in the process; the detritus of heroin drug use in the form of used needles and tin foil scattered across pathways; gates and boundary fences rotting away; a Terryland river that is being choked to death by nitrates and many large empty display boards deprived of their lovingly researched and artistically drawn biodiversity information signage that have been inexplicably kept for years in cold storage by the council.  This sorry state of affairs is destroying the morale of many of those who have given thousands of hours free of charge since March 2000 to plant tens of thousands of trees, to develop a network of wildflower bee haven meadows, to carve Celtic art into large stones in order to form a unique heritage trail and to install multiple bat boxes. Many veteran volunteers of all ages have understandingly recently given up collecting rubbish monthly when they see no reciprocal council system in place to ensure regular litter picking and bench/fence/seating maintenance. 

This is a nightmare scenario to the visionaries drawn from council staff, politicians, state agencies, academia, local communities, schools and the environmental movement who came together in the 1990s to designate 180 acres of fields to develop a wonderful mosaic of parklands, farmland, wetlands, waterways, and woods that would serve the leisure needs of Galwegians of all ages as well as providing a ‘wildlife corridor’ linking the Corrib waterways to the farmlands of east Galway via the city.  Even then they understood the importance of easy access to natural land/waterscapes for people’s physical and mental health as well in benefiting children’s learning experiences through contact with Nature. Since then the importance of forestry in combating Climate Change,  maintaining soil fertility and structure as well as filtering toxic car emissions out of the atmosphere has being scientifically proven.

So we have written to Mayor McNelis, a great friend of the Terryland Forest Park, for his help in re-establishing the great sense of unity of purpose that existed when the park opened on a Sunday in March 2000 as c3,500 people turned up to plant an entire urban woodland in the heart of the city. We have asked him to organise a meeting of community activists with the CEO, officials, and councillors of Galway city council around our key demands of the reconvening of the park’s multi-sectoral steering committee which was promised last February by CEO Brendan McGrath; to ring-fence the €50,000 allocated in last year’s council budget towards developing a Management Plan  or Terryland park/river that was supposed to happen in 2018 and has not; to appoint a city Biodiversity Officer as is the case in Dublin; to consider building ‘green bridges’ to connect the different parts of the park separated by  roads; and finally to appoint full time wardens and operative staff for this and other parks. The latter is crucial if we are to restore public confidence in Terryland. Not having park ground staff is ludicrous. For instance St Stephen’s Green and Phoenix Park would degenerate into a dangerous wasteland within weeks if Dublin City Council withdrew staff from its grounds.   

In February, doctors, teachers, students, scientists, resident associations, urban farmers, environmentalists, state agency representatives, politicians, artists and others will come together to launch the campaign for Galway to become Ireland’s first ‘National Park City’. We earnestly wish City Hall to be part of this initiative. Hence we hope their actions on Terryland Forest Park over the next month will make the council worthy partners in this project.

The Sea Change Challenge- Increasing Public Awareness of the Health of Oceanss

The Sea Change game and digital story challenge is open to Galway city/county (Ireland) and Lund (Sweden) CoderDojo members aged 7-18yrs. The challenge is being organised by NUI Galway as part of their contribution to a European project entitled “Sea Change” which aims to establish a fundamental “Sea Change” in the way European citizens view their relationship with the sea.  The challenge is to use the fun and popularity of designing and playing tech games as well as enjoying digital stories to raise awareness of Marine issues like the need to protect cold-water coral reefs, how we can begin to address the scourge of micro-plastics, and how we can maintain healthy oceans and seas, for ourselves, for the animals that live in them, and ultimately for the planet.

Entrants from individuals or teams up to a maximum of four members are invited to submit projects on the theme of Sea Change. The submissions will be reviewed by a panel of experts and judged on ‘best concept’ and ‘ease of use’.  The winning project will be included in an iBook about cold water corals that will be presented as a teaching resource to secondary schools. There will be two awards presented in each country to the finalists: Junior Award: €300 and Senior Award: €500*

At the recent Galway launch, Dr. Anthony Grehan from NUI Galway gave a presentation on his team's research into cold-water corals; Dr. Amy Lucher outlined her studies on the alarming high levels of plastic litter found in our oceans, and Gavin Duffy gave an insight into his company's 3D modelling of Galway Bay and the waters of Cork in order to provide ideas for game development. 
Other resources are available (newsletters, poster, fact sheet, ocean literacy booklet, videos) on the project website: www.seachangeproject.eu.

Competition Timeline

Registration by: 9 April, 2016

Submission by: 21 May, 2016

Winners announced: 11 June, 2016

For further information, contact Brendan at coderdojogalwaycity@gmail.com

Cleaning up after Anti-Social Behaviour in Galway Forest

On St. Stephen's Day and yesterday, a small group of us undertook litter clean-ups in Terryland Forest Park. In scenes repeated in parks, woodlands and beaches across Ireland, we came across trails of destruction left by drinkers. Beverage cans, bottles and detritus were evident in a number of areas. The bad weather before Christmas did not deter their activities. 

This social problem that is destroying communities, neighbourhoods, natural habitats and other green zones countrywide has to be faced up to and tackled by society. Otherwise the work of both dedicated volunteers and state personnel over many years will have been wasted.
 
In 2014, a combination of introducing high cash refunds on beverage cans/bottles; setting up volunteer park rangers units; promoting 'Forest Outdoor Classroom' initiatives for youth groups and schools; increasing convictions for those damaging woodlands through anti-social behaviour; and involving more local communities in eco-initiatives should make a positive difference.

Need for National Cans & Bottles Pay Back Scheme to Clean Up Our Forests & Parks

The April clean-up by the Conservation Volunteers of the Terryland Forest Park in Galway city has exposed once again the wanton destruction being done to the Irish countryside and waterways by the high level of dumping of cans and bottles by outdoor drinkers.

There is a growing problem within Irish society due to binge drinking, particularly by young people which eventually has to be faced up to. This phenomena has escalated in the last two decade as a result of the easy access and availability of cheap alcohol.
In the interim, the problem of resulting litter can be tackled head-on by the introduction of a refundable charge on cans and bottles, something which the 'Friends of Galway Forests' NGO had campaigned on for years. (Click here) 
We failed to convince the last Environment Minister and Green Party leader John Gormley to implement such an initiative. But we secured the agreement of Galway City Council last July, thanks to the support of Councillor Catherine Connolly, to introduce a pay-back scheme for cans.
Click here to read about this positive move by city council.

 
It is time now to re-activate the lobbying of government if we are to save our precious lakes, forests and rivers from disappearing under a layer of plastic and glass.
But in the short term, should we not organise a public 'Cash For Can Day' in June where we organise a huge mass clean-up and bring all the cans to the council recycling plant and use the monies collected to invest in trees for plantings in our civic parks and woodlands?
Finally, thanks to the volunteers who turned up on Saturday. Appreciated.

Nature is the 99%, too - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Nature is the 99%, too - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

The 1% that control the politics and economies of so many countries are not only destroying the lives of  99% of the human populations in their immoral quest for power & profits but also the other 99% of species of planet Earth.

We must save our fellow creatures and in so doing save mankind from destroying itself. Science shows that all species are interdependent and part of Nature.

 

Exciting New Local Grassroots Heritage & Eco Tourism Initiative for Galway City

Off the Beaten Track, Galway Cycle Heritage Trail, a new local community-council initiative

A public meeting organised by the community environmental group ‘Galway Friends of the Forest’ will take place at 7.30pm on Tuesday May 10th in the Menlo Park Hotel to look at ways to develop Galway as Ireland’s first eco-city, a move that organisers say could significantly impact on tourism.

Galway city is unique within Ireland in still possessing a fascinating kaleidoscope of rural and natural landscapes that somehow survived the urban sprawl developments of recent times.

Boreen, Ballinfoile

Within the city’s boundaries there is a wonderful network of boreens, woodlands, seashores, lakes, rivers, castles, wetlands, karst limestone hills, seashores and a patchwork of drystone-wall lined fields. Yet most of the city’s inhabitants are not aware of these ‘green jewels’ and heritage treasures that lie in their midst.

Jordan's Island, River Corrib, Galway city

Combined with recent progressive neighbourhood developments such as community gardens, forest parks, and playgrounds in places such as Ballybane, Ballinfoile and Doughiskea, Galway city council-coordinated eco-awareness programems such as An Taisce's schools Green Flag and Glan Suas Gaillimh (clean up Galway), there are now wonderful opportunities for local communities to collectively create an exciting new web-based heritage and eco map for Galway that could be downloaded and used by schools and foreign tourists interested in enjoying an alternative pedestrian, cycling and family friendly city. Furthermore, our natural landscapes have the potential to be further exploited in a sustainable way as major outdoor scientific laboratories for our third-level colleges, outdoor classrooms for local schools and ‘zones of tranquillity’ for city-dwellers.

We should now coordinate, develop and publicise all the different environmental and heritage initiatives that are taking place across the city.

Such a course of action could lead to the establishment of an annual ‘Green Calendar’ of events that could benefit Galwegians of all ages as well as bring a whole new dimension and much-needed sustainable boost to our tourism sector.

American student volunteers, Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden

There is so much happening in this sector thanks to the work being done by educational and local groups. For instance Galway Civic Trust has produced a comprehensive walking tour guide of Galway’s waterways; the people of Castlegar organise annual ‘boreen’ festivals; Atlantaquaria in Salthill regularly hold seashore safaris; Ballinfoile and Ballybane residents host Harvest Festivals in their community gardens; Galway City Partnership and the VEC fund workshops that are re-invigorating old traditional skills such as blacksmithing, willow sculpting and wood-turning; City Council support neighbourhood clean-up drives in public parks and provide a network of children playgrounds; the Community Forum is working with Galway Transport Unit to provide ‘Off the Beaten Track’ guided cycle heritage tours that encompass Ballindooley, Menlo and Ballygarraun some of which are now available as online map resources and which could become a template for the mapping of further pedestrian/cycling local scenic routes within the urban boundaries. Many other groups such as Galway Bat Group, An Taisce, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Birdwatch and Galway Education Centre are also involved also in ‘green’ initiatives.

Public Guided Nature Walk, Terryland Forest Park, with Stephen Walsh

A few months ago, the Friends of Galway Forests hosted a packed meeting where it was agreed to map out many of the natural networks that exist across this city as part of a Green Calendar and mapping exercise.

The event on May 10^th will be a follow up to this last meeting.

However there are major challenges to be overcome if eco-local heritage tourism is to become a reality. None more so than the high level of refuse that exists in our green zones.

But for this potential to be exploited fully there is a need for City officials to implement their own environmental polices such as the 2006 ‘Habitats Inventory’ management directive, the 2002 Strategy for the establishment of ‘ecological corridors’ as well as to re-engage with residents and other stakeholders by re-activating previously successful multi-sectoral groups such as the Terryland Forest Park steering committee which has been left in abeyance since 2005 even though its ambitious programme of Sunday ‘Picnics in the Park’, outdoor cultural festivals, community tree plantings and children’s blub planting days were successful. In a time of job embargoes and budgetary restrictions, local government must not ignore the hand of neighbourhood volunteerism or the specialised scientific expertise that exists within NUI Galway and GMIT.

Councillor Neil McNeilis & Kieran Cunnane taking part in community clean-up of woodlands

Government too must do its bit by following the example of other European countries in introducing a refundable charge on all beverage cans in order to eliminate litter from our parks and seashores.

Ireland’s first Drinks Cans Pay-back Scheme for Galway?

The decision of the recent meeting of the Environment SPC of Galway City Council to recommend the introduction of a pay-back scheme for drink cans is warmly welcomed.

As spokesperson for the Galway Friends of the Forests, the local community and environmental group, I applaud the foresight of the Environment SPC on this initiative that was proposed by Councillor Catherine Connolly supported by city officials. This facility will probably be initially based at the Liosbaun recycling centre. The motion will now go forward for ratification to a full meeting of the City Council.

The ‘Galway Friends of the Forests’ has been lobbying since 2007 on the need to re-introduce a nationwide payback scheme for take-away beverage bottles as well as cans in order to clean up our parks, fields and natural habitats. Locally we have made representations to Galway City Community Forum and to Councillor Catherine Connolly in her capacity as Chairperson of the Natural Environment and Waterways committee. The councillor has responded magnificently by proposing last week’s motion.
Sadly we have had no success in our dealings with the Department of the Environment, Local Government and Heritage on this issue. In autumn 2007 we made a formal submission to the government’s ‘International Review Of Waste Management’ report where we recommended the introduction of national legislation to implement a refundable charge on beverage cans and bottles. However, we were astonished that the final report, published in late 2009, failed to address this proposal in any serious way and made some vague comment about the need for further future research.

The state’s lethargic attitude to a grassroots initiative that if accepted will help dramatically reduce litter pollution in Ireland is baffling. Especially when one considers that the government department responsible is led by the leader of the Green Party, John Gormley, with whom we meet with on this and related policy areas and where we reinforced the need for the re-introduction of a monetary pay-back scheme that existed in Ireland until only a few decades ago.

It is obvious to all interested parties, from tourism organisations to local neighbourhood associations, that our parks, woodlands, bogs, rivers and seashores are strewn with litter contributing to a deterioration in the aesthetic beauty of our natural landscapes, a serious contamination of our waterways and the destruction of wildlife habitats. This environmental disaster is getting worse by the day exacerbated by the cheap pricing on non-refundable alcohol cans and bottles available from supermarkets, corner shops, garages and off-licences that has lead to an epidemic in under-age outdoor binge drinking.

Such litter does not feature in the IBAL surveys which primarily focus on street and roadways.

In Galway city, communities and the local authority have worked together, under a scheme known as ‘Gaillimh Suas Glan’, to clean up woods and other green public spaces on a monthly basis. The amount of refuse being collected is frightening. In a recent event, volunteers collected over 6,000 pieces of litter in a two hour period from one forest area. Beverage cans and bottles together generally account for between 60-70% of the items collected.

Furthermore, this refund system has had considerable success elsewhere in Europe. 90% of beer and soft drinks containers are returned in Sweden while the market share of non-returnable bottles in Finland is deliberately kept small at 5%.

We have requested a further meeting with Minister Gormley on the matter. Should we fail to secure a commitment, we will begin to organise a nationwide citizens’ petition on our demand for this pay-back scheme.

Advance Pitshop Finally Remove the Litter from their Premises!

Good News! City council responded to my complaint on Advance Pitstop to inform me that they served notice on the Dublin-based owners (see last blog article).
Good News No. 2! Advance Pitstop has actually cleaned up the mass of litter that lay at the front of it premises.
Sad News! The place still looks grubby. Broken Walls, rusty railing & still some litter around its grounds.
So we will continue to monitor this premises.

Expose the Business Polluters Part 1- Advance Pitstop

Front of Advance Pitshop, Headford Road, Galway city

While hundreds of ordinary residents are now volunteering their time and effort to take part in the monthly clean-up of Galway city's public parks and woodlands under the auspices of City Hall's Glan Suas Gaillimh that was inspired by Friends of the Friends campaigners, certain property developers and business owners are destroying the attractiveness of Galway city by a callous disregard for the upkeep of their properties.

It is time for the council to take action under the power invested in it by the 1990 Derelict Sites Act that allows prosecution of their owners and in fact to take over their properties if they fail to comply with the regulations.

Irresponsible Absentee Landlords Destroying Neighbourhoods

Yet it is not only abandoned buildings that need immediate attention for the sake of beautifying our city. The Celtic Tiger stimulated a massive upsurge in the sale of rented accommodation. Many of these absentee owners saw their new properties purely as investment opportunities, as a source of rental revenue and cared little for their upkeep. One of thousands of badly maintained rented houses in Galway City

The inevitable result was that there are thousands of rented houses in Galway housing estates with badly maintained exteriors contributing to serious lowering of community moral amongst local residents. For why cut your lawn and paint your wooden fence when the house next door has a pampas-like front garden and woodwork that is rotting away!
This situation will get worse as so thousands of rented accommodation lie empty as the downturn in the economy leads to an return of Eastern Europe workers (i.e. former tenants) to their homelands

But even prominent city centre commercial properties can have a dirty, grimy, derelict look.
One example is Advance Pitstop on the Headford Road adjacent to Aldi and Lidl.
The owner(s) lets his perimeter wall crumble, the pathetic looking puny shrubbery is almost permanently covered with discarded bottles and cans. and the rusty railings have not seen a a coat of fresh paint for years.
Starting now with Advance Pitstop, I am going to publicly report every week a business that is allowing its property to become an eyesore.

Latear in the year, I hope to start a community campaign to get City Hall to introduce bye-laws to secure a minimum standard of upkeep on all commercial premises and rented properties.
It is critical that developers are not allowed to undermine the attractiveness of the city for tourist and resident alike.

Photo shows the rusty railings, broken wall and litter covered shrubbery that forms the front of Advance Pitstop
on the Headford Road
Galway City

Community-Inspired Campaign To Clean Up Galway City's Forests & Parks Gets Underway!

Our Environmental campaign group ‘Friends of the Forest’ have joined forces with Galway City Council in order to implement a new initiative designed to secure public participation in regular major monthly clean-ups of the city’s public spaces.
While we fundamentally disagree with local authority officials' still existing plans to build a road through this most precious urban forest park that will all destroy its proposed development as an important ecological corridor , nevertheless we see no reason why we should not work with City Hall to increase public use of the forest and to help eliminate the waste crisis that exists in this important natural heritage area.There is a serious and growing litter problem in parks and other green spaces across the country. However, because of the local authority recruitment embargo, ordinary citizens must re-discover 'civic pride' and take up the challenge of helping to keep our valuable green resources clean in order to protect our increasingly threatened wildlife and to encourage greater use of woods and parklands by schools, arts groups and local communities.
Inspired by the international ‘Beach Watch’ project organised in Galway by Atlantaquaria (Ireland's National Aquarium), Friends of the Forest held a series of meetings with City Hall’s Environmental Education Officer Sharon Carroll and the Superintendent of Parks Stephen Walsh on implementing regular high-profile mass clean ups that would each month focus in on different public spaces across the city.The result is that the first of these major clean-ups known as ‘Glan Suas Gaillimh!’ (Irish for 'Clean Up Galway!') operating under the auspices of Galway City Council will start at 2.30pm on Sunday November 15th in the Terryland Forest Park.
Follow-on clean-ups will include Merlin Woods, Barna Woods and our seashores.
It is hoped that residents of all ages from all across the city will take part in this major partnership initiative that could make such a positive contribution to our city’s image and well-being.So well done to Sharon McHugh & Stephen Walsh for bing so supportive and proactive in doing every thing possible to ensure the success of Glan Suas Gaillimh!
Sharon in particular has gone over and beyond the call of duty to involve children in the clean-up as a continuation of her work with schools on the Green Flag initiative This litter drive will represent an important step in re-engaging the people of Galway with City Hall’s environmental policies. We are also now hopeful that Council will re-introduce an annual eco-programme for Terryland Forest Park and elsewhere that will include family tree planting days, community arts events and educational nature tours. Continued tree planting is urgently needed to offset global warming with our forests acting as ‘carbon sinks’. As well as being major biodiversity zones, forests also serve as important passive/active amenity areas.
The Friends of the Forest are also continuing their three year lobbying of the Minister of the Environment to introduce a national refundable levy on all drink containers purchased at off-licences and other retail outlets. As discarded cans and bottles are probably the number one cause of litter in Ireland, a refundable levy would have a beneficial impact on our environment by providing an economic incentive for people to keep Irish parks, roads, and waterways clean.
Such a monetary pay-back scheme existed in Ireland until a few decades ago and is very successful today in other countries.
The monies saved could then be used to encourage greater public use of our wonderful green spaces by funding the provision of park wardens, regular outdoor family events and park facilities such as picnic areas, community gardens and eco-learning centres.

Galway City does not yet deserve IBAL's 'Litter Free' Status

I must be living on a different planet to the people in 'Irish Business Against Litter' (IBAL)!
Their recent national survey released yesterday states that Galway City has achieved 'litter free status'.
While respecting IBAL's excellent work in improving litter awareness amongst both the public and local authoritites as well as knowing at first hand the concerted efforts of Galway City Council in cleaning our streets, nevertheless this statement is a total distortion of the facts and creates a false persception of the true situation which can only damage the enviromental campaigning. For how true are IBAL's results in other jurisdictions if the facts in Galway do not match their assertions?
So what areas did they actually visit within the city boundaries?
Yes, there have been improvements in litter over the last year particularly along the major roads and within the city centre. But a litter-free status? Get real!!

Yesterday, I walked around a number of suburban parks and roadways across Galway city. Sadly, I saw a huge amount of bottles, cans and general waste scattered far and wide which has changed little from my own personal survey of a few months ago. See what I found on the website- www.greenwatchgalway.blogspot.com
So over the Christmas holiday period, I am going to re-visit these same areas that I encountered on my last survey and undertake a direct comparision to see exactly what has and has not changed. I sincerely hope that there has been a significient change...but...

Anyway, below is a letter that I had published in the Galway Advertiser two months ago on this very issue. Hopefully, it gives readers a truer picture of the litter status in the city as well as providing some practical suggestions and policies for rectifying the situation.

"Bush Drinking' & the Destruction of Galway's Green Spaces

"Our green spaces, waterways, seashores, public parks and woods are being destroyed by the debris and vandalism caused by an epidemic of bush drinking that is sweeping across Galway City as it is across the whole country. Over the last 10 years, many local communities campaigned successfully for the preservation and development of green spaces that it was envisaged would be transformed into wildlife habitats and outdoor recreational zones for all ages. But these hard fought victories are now being strangled to death by a layer of bottles and cans, accompanied in many cases by campfires fuelled by branches ripped from surrounding trees, that are appearing in green areas stretching from Barna to Oranmore and in every suburb in between. No area of the city is immune to this anti-social activity. I spent three days in August undertaking a photographic survey of Galway’s parks, forests and waterways and was shocked at the desecration caused. Some of the resultant photos can be seen at www.greenwatchgalway.blogspot.com . For someone who is actively involved in encouraging our local authority to provide green zones, this is heart breaking. Ten years ago, resident groups persuaded Galway City Council to put in place plans for a public park and woodland along the banks of the Terryland River. Last May, the council adopted a motion to preserve and manage 58 important natural habitats that had being sponsored by the Galway City Development Board, environmental agencies, community organisations, tourism interests and the government’s Parks & Wildlife Service. In the intervening years, thousands of citizens of all ages have planted tens of thousands of trees and plants which also have the added bonus of helping to combat rising global temperatures that are more acute in urban areas due to their higher concentration of greenhouse gas emissions. Wildlife such as hare, rabbit and pheasant are returning to lands not far distant from the city centre. The benefits can be seen too in the increase in passive recreational zones for walking, for school nature field trips as well as in the overall improvement of the city’s aesthetic look particularly in our sprawling concrete suburbia. Nothing less than the very survival of the human race depends in protecting biodiversity that comes with the increased provision of forests and wetlands and the cleaning up of our waterways. But we cannot blind ourselves to the wanton destruction that is taking place every evening in Galway’s green lands. The availability of very cheap alcohol from ever-increasing numbers of retail outlets and the phenomena of warmer temperatures is contributing to an epidemic of bush drinking. The consequences for wildlife are disastrous: cans, bottles, clothes, plastic food wrappings and barbeque debris cover riverbeds and forest floors. Circumstantial evidence exists that leads one to believe that animals, birds and fish are being trapped on-site and eaten. It is not just in public lands that this is occurring; I have seen vast quantities of litter in the grounds of some of our educational institutions. There is now an urgent need for all local stakeholders to work together and play their part in solving this crisis. For instance, the City Council should install anti-vermin (lids) litter bins in our parks, create a new department of Parks Rangers, involve residents/schools more in parks programmes and finally get their act together by actually starting to build suburban multi-activity community centres- it is criminal that thousands of our city teenagers have so few facilities to enjoy at night-times and at weekends. The Garda Siochana should end their softly softly approach to outdoor drinking and put the new reserve force into community policing. The Courts should have those convicted of anti-social behaviour undertake public works within the communities that they have vandalised. Parents and residents should take a more pro-active role in their green neighbourhood. But the Government has a pivotal role to play by ending the embargo on full-time local authority recruitment. Furthermore, the state should follow the example of some other countries by imposing a substantial refundable charge on all drink cans and bottles. This worked well in Ireland in previous decades; I remember as a kid collecting bottles weekly in order to get money to buy comics. The more recent highly successful plastic bay levy was a good example of money talking and improving the environment. Furthermore, is it not time now to consider dramatically reducing the number of retail outlets selling alcohol? In the last few years, every shop and garage seems to have a large off-licence section: some prominent supermarkets seem to consist of little else. The friendly local pub as a social venue is being replaced by the uncontrolled and often unseen open-air gatherings that leave behind such a trail of destruction. Let us not though follow the example of one wild animal, namely the ostrich, by burying our heads in the litter-strewn sand and pretending not to notice anything amiss. Brendan Smith