{"id":21833,"date":"2019-03-29T22:22:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T22:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/?p=21833"},"modified":"2019-03-30T11:38:54","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T11:38:54","slug":"lets-dump-the-habit-of-rubbish-for-the-sake-of-our-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/lets-dump-the-habit-of-rubbish-for-the-sake-of-our-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Dump Our Rubbish Habit – For The Sake Of Our Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo via Twitter user\u00a0https:\/\/twitter.com\/taragiddens?lang=en<\/a><\/p>\n

By: Erin Dyer<\/strong><\/p>\n

THIS week Ireland has been enjoying the benefits of global warming in the form of an unnaturally warm start to spring.<\/p>\n

Students everywhere were donning shorts and t-shirts and grabbing a cheeky 99 as we basked in temperatures that hit a “scorching” 15 degrees here in Limerick.<\/p>\n

You’d swear we all lived somewhere by the Mediterranean the way we were all going on- Stables was bustling, and the green in front of the library was filled with students getting some important vitamin D.<\/p>\n

This is in stark contrast to the seemingly-endless weather warnings Met Eireann were dishing out like election candidates dishing out leaflets during charity week.<\/p>\n

However on Thursday the 28th of March, a troubling realisation came to light.<\/p>\n

Although everyone had gone home the green itself wasn’t empty- it was covered in rubbish.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With the environment a popular topic of discussion in the news and online, it’s hard to believe the amount that was littered across our usually picturesque campus.<\/p>\n

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Photo via @ResearchArtsUL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indeed, this isn’t the first time An Focal has reported on this issue<\/a>\u00a0but if it’s being reported twice in a month, that points to a deeper problem within the UL student body.<\/p>\n

As individuals we have a responsibility to clean up after ourselves, there are no excuses for the mess of plastic, cans, and food strewn across the grass.<\/p>\n

It seems that, while the sun was out, this responsibility was abandoned and everyone seemed to stop caring about the environment around us.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Let’s face facts.<\/p>\n

Ireland’s environment is among the worst in the European Union, it was revealed that not only will we miss our projected targets for climate change- we might not even make them by 2050.<\/p>\n

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Storm Elanor hitting Lahinch in January 2018 (photo via The Irish Independent) <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And this isn’t just the ramblings of a hippy-dippy college student – this is a view shared by practically every scientist or climatologist worth their salt.<\/a><\/p>\n

While this is largely due to agriculture and industry, it is worth mentioning that litter and waste are so typical in Ireland that only 12% of the country is left unpolluted.<\/p>\n

For a country that’s nickname is the “Emerald Isle,” this statistic is a troubling one.<\/p>\n

Our planet is literally dying, and while we think a small bit of plastic or a can or two isn’t a vast amount, lots of little things come together to make one big problem.<\/p>\n

Not to bring a downer to an all-round nice week but we’re all aware that straws are killing the turtles, so why leave something as big as a can on the beautiful lawn outside your University?<\/p>\n

Taking your rubbish isn’t the hardest thing that anyone can do, but maybe we should try a little harder to remind ourselves that we’re the reason for our favourite animals disappearing.<\/p>\n

So remember the next time you want to have a picnic outside the library, you should bring your rubbish back home with you- or if that’s too difficult why not use one of the many bins that are all over campus?<\/p>\n

Maybe then our grandchildren will be able to enjoy a cheeky pint in Stables on a hot day in college.<\/p>\n

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Photo via Twitter user\u00a0https:\/\/twitter.com\/taragiddens?lang=en By: Erin Dyer THIS week Ireland has been enjoying the benefits of global warming in the form of an unnaturally warm start to spring. Students everywhere were donning shorts and t-shirts and grabbing a cheeky 99 as we basked in temperatures that hit a “scorching” 15 degrees here in Limerick. You’d […]<\/p>\n

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