"The global environmental context is key to understanding what is happening in the UK, the US and other countries where the far right is becoming more vocal, violent and lavishly funded than at any time in memory." Brilliant, utterly terrifying piece by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social

Rewilding in Ireland by @irishwildlifetrust.bsky.social and @tcddublin.bsky.social Centre for Environmental Humanities👇 Thanks to @irishrainforest.bsky.social , @whittledaway.bsky.social @wearetheark.bsky.social for speaking and @kbruisch.bsky.social for chairing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8X8...

I hate to say I told you so but… www.ynetnews.com/article/sjje...

Brilliant and powerful column by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Machines against Nature. 😟

"The current trajectory mirrors centuries of colonial injustice. A just transition must redistribute power & resources, curb overconsumption, and prioritize dignity & rights for all. This report outlines pathways to build an energy system grounded in equality, justice, care & collective wellbeing."👇

Had a shit day yesterday but opened up #SpeirGorm this morning to the usual maidin mhaith from @brendanjharkin.bsky.social with a Belfast sunrise, a beautiful photo of his forest from @irishrainforest.bsky.social and a gorgeous Irish beach from @inishview.bsky.social Today's going to be better.

So many “did they didn’t they” conversations about the exact nature and necessity of disturbance caused by herbivores, and so relatively little on the diversity caused by just leaving a forest to mature, to let the storms play out and the deadwood pile up - over centuries.

The 2 biggest old birches in the woods were both toppled in the same storm a couple of years back. The light gaps opened up have exploded with flowers like these devil's bit, flying insects, and young trees. The sheer *dynamism* of an Atlantic rainforest has been a revelation over these 16+ years.

Corvallis, Oregon, USA last week.

Can these folks slow it down just a titch? I'm trying to write a book about End Times Fascism with @astra.bsky.social!

Coastwatcher, Jane Kelleher just discovered a Sea Cucumber as she was surveying the shore! Sea cucumbers are nature's natural recyclers! You can discover so much from just a quick peek into the rock pools. To make the most of your findings check out our annual survey! www.coastwatch.org/surveys

And to justify expelling all Palestinians from Gaza and the the West Bank now. Racist, ethnosupremacist genocide and ethnic cleansing *always* tries to dress itself up as a 'civilising mission'. Otherwise, how would they live with themselves?

"This good land, ... could not be left in the hands of 'one of the most barbarous nations of the whole earth.' [The] English were acclaimed as 'the introducers of all good things in Ireland' ..." Very similar to the tone used to justify the removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands.

"The feckless [17th century] Irish had after their own brutish fashion engaged in a frenzy of rewilding." Great to discover it was actually we Irish who first came up with rewilding!!! share.google/1hGCdskpeWX7...

This misses the point. The Irish president plays a vital political role: Israel's huge anger at Michael D's statements (for eg) makes that clear. And if the Irish left can work together to elect a presidential candidate, a viable opposition coalition of left-wing parties becomes a *real* prospect.

To celebrate passing the autumn equinox, four leaves fallen from the same tree, a wild aspen in a wild Irish rainforest.

You do *not* resolve conflicts, and the NI conflict wasn't resolved, by outside powers dictating who can and who can't speak for one party. Especially if those outside powers have been actively assisting ethnic cleansing and mass war crimes in that conflict for 75 years, and now genocide.

For years, if I had the chance, I'd listen to @miseanja.bsky.social's Saturday morning 'Nature File' on Lyric fm. Anja was kind enough to post me a copy of her new book 'Frog Routes', a collection of pieces from the show, and I must say it's only gorgeous! Look out for it in your local bookshop!

A blindness to Russian imperialism has long been a serious problem on the Irish left. But an endless series of FG-FF coalitions, prioritising capital and doing nothing to combat climate/ecological breakdown, is not tenable. The only option is to work together, without surrendering our principles.

Catherine Connolly may not be the 'perfect' candidate for president, but she'll still be getting my vote. We need to build a viable alternative coalition to FF-FG, and as the preferred choice of a united opposition, Connolly represents exactly that. share.google/mL0DS53POT5z...

Apparently, it’s socially unacceptable to compare anyone or anything to Hitler. Mention Hitler, and you’ll be shouted down with a chorus of “Godwin’s Law”. Well sod that. Until we start comparing Trump to Hitler, we’re unprepared for what is barrelling towards us. 🧵1/4

Orange oak bolete has a mycorrhizal relationship with mainly aspen and oak, under which I found this one. That is, the fungus connects with tree roots, helping them absorb water and minerals from the soil. In return, the tree feeds it with sugars produced via photosynthesis in its leaves. 🌞 🌍

Leathceann is one of those amazing Irish words- just perfect!

The whole Mediterranean basin has been goated into aridity.

Netanyahu: ‘These So-Called Genocide Experts Have Probably Never Committed A Genocide In Their Lives’ — theonion.com/netanyahu-th...

As a working-class person, I can't take this at face value. The system is rigged, and politicians won't listen to people like me. I also know that it's not the fault of migrants, trans people, etc. You can voice your frustration and abandonment without fascism, as it happens. #spéirghorm #ireland

Canada, Australia, UK & Portugal recognise the State of Palestine. The importance of this is indicated by how hard the far right government in Israel has worked to stop it.

10 years ago, there was only a single 'leathceann' (windswept) birch tree in the foreground. Now, there's a full-on exploding diverse native rainforest, none of which was planted. All it took was fencing out sheep. Let's rewild the world 🌏

Keeping honeybees to save wild bees is like keeping chickens to save wild birds. One island has banned them. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Another incoming heavy rainshower. That's the price for living right on the Atlantic.

Love a bit of lichen hunting at the beach or anywhere really

Epiphytic goldenrod in flower on a sally in the woods. The very rainforest itself blooming. 🌍

For me, sheep are *never* in the right place, at least not from nature's perspective. Sheep kill nature. Period.

This. Without the support of the farmers, we will never re-establish biodiversity, but that will happen only when the financial support system is in place to make it happen.

Revealed: ‘Corporate capture’ of UN aviation body by industry - Industry delegates outnumbered climate experts by 14 to one at recent ICAO meeting, @influencemap.bsky.social thinktank says #climatecrisis Story by me www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A patch of wild native rainforest in Glenbeg, Beara, looks okay from across the lake. But it's dying because of sheep, with zero ground flora or regenerating trees. The farmer should be offered double his farm payments to take the sheep out, but chances are he'd actually get nothing. It's insane.

A cost-of-living crisis isn't the easiest time to sell art, but: www.ciaraioch.com is where you can support my work, with each archival-quality print on textured heavy paper being produced here in Ireland, shipping internationally in eco-friendly packaging, with free mini-treats in every order 🎁

The housing crisis in Ireland isn't even remotely being tackled, because it suits a certain sector of society to keep rents and house prices sky high. Fianna Fáil + Fine Gael represent that sector. Moreover, the resistance to people having affordable housing choices is deeply *ideological*.

Mindless money grubbing will be the end of life on Earth....

Wonderful to host the charity GreenTeam offering young people access to nature and the chance to participate in ecological restoration of the woodland. Pls consider supporting our work.

Keep them inside! Or put bells or something. I never even saw a red squirrel in Ireland, millions here in Berlin though.

@irishrainforest.bsky.social This is a bit different from your rewilding work, and a much smaller scale, but I thought it might offer ideas on helping people rewild their own lands. Gift article. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/r...

"270. That's how many Palestinian journalists Israel has killed in Gaza. More than were killed in WW1, WW2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War ... COMBINED. Killed, not in spite of the fact that they were wearing a vest marked 'press', but BECAUSE [of it]." Incredibly powerful speech.

Here's a plot of fertiliser imports into #Ireland over recent years. By far the greatest tonnage is for N-compounds, with a marked up tick in 2023-'24. Intensive ruminant production sucks nitrogen & our rivers/lakes show it, but let's hold onto the #NitratesDerogation & sacred cows. [Data CSO]

Some cat owners think it’s ok because it’s “nature”. It isn’t - the cat is fed, watered and has a safe place to sleep, no babies to feed. The wildlife are trying to survive in an increasingly difficult environment.

Someone's pet cat with the native wild red squirrel it just killed. Most cat owners have no idea of, or don't want to know, how much wildlife is slaughtered annually by domestic or feral cats. But it runs to 10s, possibly 100s, of BILLIONS of animals per year, and is a serious driver of extinction.

Nothing to do with trees but just harking back to your comments about cats earlier in the year. I've just moved to Anglesey and a local cat has been killing red squirrels and eating them in my garden. What on EARTH can I do about this? Nobody knows where this cat lives...😱

A stand-out massive old oak between Kilgarvan and Killarney, for over 16 years I've saluted it in my mind whenever passing. Surrounded by deadzones of alien sheep, sika deer, and sitka spruce, it's a defiant reminder of just how much we've lost, and just how much could come back with rewilding.

As the Irish Minister for Agriculture vows to fight for the right to keep filling rivers with levels of agri-pollutants illegal in the rest of the EU, results show a massive leap of 16% in a single year. Whoever told them it was okay to turn OUR rivers into open sewers? share.google/k7hbDw2O4shX...