Category Archives: Features

Medicinal Plants and the Limits to Protected Areas in the Anthropocene 

by Caitrín Farren Medicinal plants (MP) are an invaluable resource for human health and wellbeing. They are the primary source of medicine for 80% of people in developing countries, and 25% of prescribed drugs worldwide are MP-derived (WHO, 1993; Chen et al., 2016). The popularity of MPs has grown by 8-15% annually in recent yearsContinue reading “Medicinal Plants and the Limits to Protected Areas in the Anthropocene “

Degrowth: A ca-Truss-tophe

by Nathan Hutchinson Edgar When Liz Truss came to power, she promised three things: “Growth, growth and growth”. How was she going to “grow” the economy? An environmentally catastrophic series of measures were proposed: repeal huge amounts of environmental legislature, set up investment zones on national parks, and allowing fracking (while banning solar panels acrossContinue reading “Degrowth: A ca-Truss-tophe”

Could Dublin Become a 15-minute City?

by Ruaidhrí Saulnier I love Dublin Bus. It is one of the worst services I regularly use in Dublin, and yet I am an enthusiastic supporter. If Dublin Bus has 1,000,000 fans, I may not be one of them, but I am definitely not a hater. It needs improvement, something that the city is sortContinue reading “Could Dublin Become a 15-minute City?”

Algae- ‘Green Gold’- or Something More Valuable?

by Becca Payling World Algae Day falls on Oct 12th each year, but with algae’s growing importance in society, it is likely to be an area of great interest, development, and research for many years to come. Once only associated with eutrophication (the green sludge on the surface of water bodies), algae are now theContinue reading “Algae- ‘Green Gold’- or Something More Valuable?”

Rewilding in the Knepp Wildland

by Anangi  Sumalde Last summer I read a copy of Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree. This book recounts how twenty years ago Isabella and her partner Charlie Burrell turned their traditional dairy farm (located on the 3,500-acre Knepp estate in southern England) into a thriving eco-tourism business. AtContinue reading “Rewilding in the Knepp Wildland“

The Importance of Herbaria

by Jessica O’Connor On my first day of college starting in Botany we were shown the famous botany building with its wisteria growing on the front, which were beautiful even though they weren’t in flower. Attached to the botany building is the herbarium. I have to be honest; I was unaware we had a herbariumContinue reading “The Importance of Herbaria”

Why We Should Let Dead Trees Lie

by Eva Dreyer Why are we inclined to remove dead trees in the first place? As most of us already know, we have a very fractured and exploitative view of nature. We like to profit from what we can and clean up what we cannot. Our “clean up” attitude leads to weeding, trimming, pruning, mowing,Continue reading “Why We Should Let Dead Trees Lie“

Formula One: The Forefront of Sustainability

by Faye Murphy Formula One is one of the most resource-intensive sports, but only 1% of its emissions come from racing, with 72% of its emissions involved in shipping the cars, tyres, personnel and motorhomes over five continents to 22 races a year. And it’s not slowing down – F1 has been consistently expanding itsContinue reading “Formula One: The Forefront of Sustainability”

Inside the Fight for Old-Growth Forests

by Nadja Burkart When logging roads were discovered being built into the old-growth valley known as Ada’itsx or Fairy Creek in August 2020, land defenders from all over Canada responded quickly by gathering and setting up various camps and blockades throughout the forest in order to prevent the logging company, Teal Jones,  from clearcutting theContinue reading “Inside the Fight for Old-Growth Forests”