Saturday, November 18, 2006

Climate Change

Attended the documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, staring AL Gore during the week and I would recommend everyone to go see the film. This is truly an outstanding production and really brings home the effect we are having on the climate through our actions.

When you see the government allow the Sugar plant in Carlow be demolished, when with proper investment, the plant could have been converted to produce Bio ethanol, which can be used as a fuel source for transportation.

Using sugar beet to produce the eco friendly fuels, would have had a positive impact not only on the environment, but also on local jobs and local agriculture. The potential of this industry to create jobs locally should not be under rated. However, without the foresight to see the potential we will merely repeat the mistakes of the past.

The best example of this has to be the railways, nationally we are spending millions to replace lines we destroyed in the past. In years to come, we will have to build bio fuel plants to replace the sugar factory's we demolished in the past. Will we as a nation never learn.

1 comment:

Seán Ó hArgáin said...

Great to see you enjoyed the movie Mike, I think it should be compulsory viewing for all, particularly for Noel Dempsey. INterestingly many commentators are saying that the Democrats' success in the US is largely down to Bush ignoring the issue of global warming and turning his back on Kyoto.
Agree with you fully on the railways. As a former CIE employee you know better than most.
I also beleive that considering this as just a Gren Party issue is to miss all our responsibility and the concern of all voters. There is little point in wanting a Fair Society without having a secure future for all.