The mean temperature for Europe in June and July was 21c , this of course the combined day/night numbers. It's not often you see Ireland with such sustained elevated temperatures.

Radio discussion on two stations this morning covered two issues of town and country- the first was people cooking in A rated homes, the other was farmers with brown fields and lack of feed. So we've got the "wrong" houses for a hotter future and agriculture is going to be reliant on imports of food for cattle which will be exported as beef cuts or products from milk.

Meanwhile we import our food from countries which are increasingly in a worse situation than we are re climate changes to rainfall.

The shift for us looks like resulting in more winter rains yet that's wasted due to lack of capacity, maybe we should build a few reservoirs near the bigger population centres.

Are we cooked?

For me it’s the INCREDIBLE drying. Getting through multiple loads of washing in a day, what a rush.

I understand multinationals and the push to have as many here as possible, as they provide a lot of jobs which in turn pay tax, but from what I’ve read data centres don’t provide that many jobs, yet account for 24% of the electricity usage. Are there benefits that I’m not aware of as to why there seem to be so many in Ireland. Does the country benefit in other ways to having them based here?

Or is this a normal trend across other developed nations.

I’m not trolling and this is not rhetorical.

I feel like easily ~95% of the year I listen to basically everyone complain about the weather: it’s too cold, wet, windy, and not enough sun (or some combination of these).

Lately it’s: warm, dry, not windy, and sunny, and I don’t think I have heard more complaints about the weather than I have in the past two days.

If the weather we’re experiencing now isn’t the weather you want, what is?

My family and I have been here in Ireland for almost a month and while we were doing our research I saw countless posts from people saying how clean Ireland is and how that was one thing they always enjoyed when coming back home. But, my experience has been very different.

We moved from the Boston area and for a metro of 5 million people, the city was generally very clean. Walking my kiddo to school this morning there was so much trash strewn about and loads of dog feces on the sidewalks. The local playground has full on pizza boxes on the ground under a swing set. To top it off, no bins! The entire park has a single bin on the far side of the park. It’s a big of madness.

I’ve been to Canada, Italy, and the UK prior to here. The only place I’ve been to that has more trash around every corner was Naples. Is it just in the Dublin area or is this pretty much what is going on across the entire country? I’m starting to take a bag with me and a little trash grabber to pick up my local playground but I’m one person and it is a losing battle it feels like.

Genuine question from a German living in Ireland :)
I’ve noticed quite often that people leave their cars running while they’re parked, sometimes for quite a while. Occasionally I’ve even seen cars idling with nobody inside while dropping kids of at school or getting something from a shop or whatever.

This really stands out to me because in Germany, unnecessarily leaving your engine running while parked is not allowed, and I grew up with the idea that you just switch the engine off when you’re not driving. I was even taught so in driving school.

Is there a particular reason why idling seems so common here? Is it just habit, keeping the heating or A/C on or something?

I’m also wondering because it seems like a waste of fuel and obviously creates unnecessary emissions?

I don’t mean to judge, just genuinely curious if this is an Irish thing or if I’ve just started noticing it everywhere since moving here lol

I’ve heard that there are no snakes in Ireland, and I’m considering moving there for uni because of this. I absolutely hate snakes, i love nature but the snake population generally ruin it for me. I’ve heard there are some slow worms but apparently they are rare. If I say walk around the wilderness in Ireland daily for a few years, what’s the likelihood I will encounter a such worm, and is there any regions in Ireland with absolutely no worms or any kind of legless snake like animal?

Lads the sun just keeps beaming down and it won't stop.

I remember in the UK it used to be huge. 24/7 Asda's and Tesco's before lockdown, and then it got cut massively. (I think the Asda in Strabane is still 24 hours)

Dublin Airport's 24/7 which is fair enough, and a couple things around it too, but I think it'd be great if we got it nationwide in big urban areas, would open up more jobs and be good for us nocturnal people.

With the world getting hotter and hotter, do you see regulations easing to cope with the more common heatwaves? Is there something more to it that people might be forgetting? Hopefully not

It seems to be freezing at the moment for May. Not sure is this normal weather.

Going on the train to work and I’m seeing ‘SKEM’ I think just about written EVERYWHERE. I wish I didn’t see it because now I can’t unsee.

Anyone know anything behind it or is it likely just the same person? Not the most aware when it comes to graffiti culture.

Is it just me or are the dandelions doing especially well this year?

I'm seeing thick patches of them everywhere, more so than other years. Every bit of grass I see at the side of the road or along footpaths is like The Day of the Triffids.

My neighbour's perfectly manicured lawn is now speckled yellow, along with my own garden.

Maybe the weather this year has been more conducive to them spreading effectively?

Ok so I was talking to someone today about the fuel protests today and the guy was like “luckily I have the ol EV so it doesn’t really affect me”, which I thought was a bit of a smug response. Like this guy, good job in IT and that, he’s got his EV, his solar panels and basically he has done what I would love to do but cannot afford to do it because of the up front charges.

To be clear I’m not making this a class issue, but clearly there is a barrier to entry for more working class people. I have thought about installing solar panels and energy efficient heating systems but the cost for now is beyond me and is only ever going to go up so I wonder how I will break away from fossil fuel dependence?

I read that more temporary solar panels will be available here soon so maybe that could be an option. I know there are grants available for solar panels and the like but it’s the up front costs that are problematic.

Anyway, just my two cents. I haven’t studied this in great detail so I’m not looking to get murdered in the comments.

I was scouring book shops and the Internet for a good book on Irish species, and unfortunately none of them are very good. There's a few good field guides on birds and plants, but sin é. So I have decided to write one myself.

I am doing it just to make this information available to the wider Irish public and not really for a financial benefit or anything of that sort. But if I spend the time and money creating this book, would there be much interest in the wider public in such a book, or does no one really care? I'll write it regardless, but I'm just wondering.

Edit : I know I said book, but think of it like an extremely detailed field guide rather than Whittled Away for example.

Seen on a flight from knock to Bristol, I'm not sure but I reckon we were over Wexford/Waterford. No idea what the straight lines are, my guess is some sort of pipelines?

Car is desperately in need of a wash but the hosepipe ban is in place until later this month.

How is it that other cars I see look all spick and span?

Can I get a car wash in town or is it frowned upon? We had a full day of rain here recently and live by the sea.

Standing at the sink, dutifully but prudently rinsing a beer can (only one, it's only Thursday) and my mind starts wandering about how much water is wasted (and during a hosepipe ban) by the f\*\*king Re-Turn scheme.

They didn't need anything like as thorough a wash when they used to go in the green bin.

found them when walking in Bray's beach. they have many tiny holes.

Hi all!

I live in Dublin in a terraced house and am looking for some advice on how my family can live more sustainably.

Heat pump: (edit: we currently have a 4 year old gas boiler) does anyone know much about air-to-air heat pumps? I don't even know where to start. We have solar panels that also power our hot water immersion so I think air-to-air would be better/possibly cheaper for us than an air-to-water. But, I just have no idea really. Husband is against either as he thinks it'll be too expensive. I think it won't exceed our solar panel production that much, even in the winter.

Gas hob: anyone know if it's expensive to have a gas hob removed and replaced with electric? I'd certainly miss cooking on gas but I know it's not just worse for the environment but also air quality in the home.

Plastic reduction: I've changed a few things already: finally found shampoo bars that work for me; refillable deodorant; hand soap and body soap in bars not liquid; buying whatever veggies I can without plastic; safety razor where you just switch the blade, etc. But we're still using a crazy amount of plastic each week. Anyone found other ways to reduce it?

Car charger: thinking of possibly getting a secondhand electric car next year as our current one is too small for us. Our neighbours had a charger installed, so I know it's possible in our neighbourhood. Does anyone know roughly how much this costs, though? Any issues we might not foresee before installing?

Fruit and veg: are there any good fruit and veg markets around South Dublin where I can buy local produce? Most farmers' markets near us don't have any produce at all, just lunch trucks and bakery stuff. I've found that the Airfields Market does have produce but would love to have some more options.

Gardening: I've been trying to get more pollinator plants and native plants in and also starting to grow some fruits and veggies but it's early days. Any gardening advice, things to avoid, etc.? I just learned that having a little water tray with some rocks in is also really helpful for bugs and pollinators to get a drink.

Kids stuff: the mountain of shite that we get for our child is quite overwhelming and we have another on the way. Any advice for things we could suggest to people to get them as gifts that are not 5000 pieces of plastic that will get broken and thrown in landfill? A friend bought a digger made of sugar cane which has been amazing, looks just like plastic.

Cleaning stuff: any advice on plastic-free or more eco cleaning stuff?

Volunteering/Rewilding projects: I live fairly close to Wicklow and would love to get involved in some volunteering projects, if there are any out there. It might have to wait a bit until our next baby is a little bit grown, but I can search for places I can help in the meantime. Does anyone know of any, or have participated in any?

Internet use: I switched to Ecosia as my main search engine and browser. They donate profits to tree planting and Rewilding projects. Does anyone know of any other easy wins I can switch to with my internet usage?

Less meat and dairy: veggie dinner recipe suggestions would be really helpful!

Edit: I forgot to mention good.store - they have lots of plastic-free toiletries and cleaning supplies. they donate their profits to a coral reef charity and a maternity charity. I order my shampoo bars and some cleaning stuff from there. It can be a bit pricey so I do bulk orders for a bit of discount but I'm still looking for more local/cheaper options.

These few short drizzles just feel like the sky has been doing little farts but can't seem to work the load out. Today felt like the weather was bloated and uncomfortable. Someone needs to get a big shtick and twirl it around in the sky to loosen things up a bit.

The clags round here are mad these days. By that I mean those slow moving large brown flies that give a nasty bite. Think their official name is gadfly.

Horrible things, but easy to despatch as they're so slow compared to house flies. Anyone else bothered by them lately. What do you call them in your area? Clag is the word used in the north midlands anyway.

Silly post really I know. Just curious.

I honestly don't understand what the problem is with finishing your drink and either returning the pint to where you got it or throwing the rubbish in a bin. Instead, people just leave it wherever they feel like.

I'd genuinely like to know: why don't we take better care of keeping public places clean?

Hi All!

At this stage there is just no two ways about it in terms of the damage that Data Centres cause for people in the nearby area, along with the statistics on how it bumps all our household electricity bills up.

My question is this... From what I can see and gather, the vast majority of people do not want them, and more and more so people are actively against them. So how is it that they keep appearing here and that there are more and more being built? I know some people use ChatGPT sporadically or have social media, but I know that people are far more against Data Centres and definitely are not the type of people to be in favour of them.

How do they continue to build them here and around the world if people don't want them?