Almost half a century ago, in 1962, the American writer and biologist Rachel Carson published a short work of non-fiction called Silent Spring. Over the next decade, it not only became a bestseller, but achieved something very rare in the book trade: it changed the world. At the 11th hour, people on both sides of the Atlantic woke up to the dangers posed to wildlife by the widespread use of agricultural pesticides. Following a major campaign, the British and US governments banned the most dangerous of them, DDT. The populations of insects, wildflowers, mammals and birds – some, like the peregrine, on the brink of extinction in both North America and Britain – began to make a comeback.

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The public is being asked to help track the UK's butterfly populations as conservationists warn many native species are in serious decline. The online Big Butterfly Count survey aims to get a better understanding of which species are in need of most help. Butterflies are sensitive to changes in environment and have seen a collapse in numbers in the past three decades.

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AN APPLICATION is to be made to the High Court seeking a judicial review of the decision to grant a licence to Fingal County Council for a landfill site at Nevitt near Lusk in north Co Dublin.

Gemma Larkin of Walshtown, Lusk, Co Dublin, a member of the Nevitt Lusk Action Group (NLAG), is seeking a review of the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in May this year to grant a licence for the landfill site.

The 300,000-tonne capacity landfill site, in which an estimated one-sixth of the State's waste is to be dumped, is subject to more than 250 conditions relating to environment management operation, control and monitoring.

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The Dzogchen Beara Trust plans to build a 14.5 metre high temple with three additional adjacent single storey buildings on the site of its existing retreat centre at Garranes. Cork County Council has granted planning permission for the project.

However, the building of the temple is dependent on the raising of €1 million. Over €100,000 has been collected to date.

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Ciarán Cuffe described as "outrageous" the public service obligation (PSO) subsidy which is given to airlines for regional routes which are not considered commercially viable. "It is my strong view and my party's view that the days of PSO need to come to an end," he told a forum on future transport fuel, organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, at Trinity College Dublin.

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Scotland's Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham has written to her counterpart in Dublin, John Gormley, calling for talks to address the problem in both countries.

A golden eagle reintroduction programme is currently under way in north-west Ireland, after an absence of 100 years, based on limited donations of chicks from Scotland.

Ms Cunningham said: "Both countries are committed to a healthier future for golden eagles. People derive huge enjoyment from seeing these birds and they also help the economy in rural areas by boosting wildlife tourism.

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The council is proposing a € 540 million, Governmentfunded project which would supply 350 million litres of water a day to the Dublin region.

In a move likely to meet strong opposition from west of Ireland interests, the council is seeking to source water from the Shannon to serve the capital's drinking water needs for the next 70 years.

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To move forward we need to honestly confront behaviour that is crippling us but gradually being exposed in reports and tribunals

Five councillors drew up their own plan for Dunleer . . . with a suggested population increase of 40,000-50,000

THE BUILDING boom of the Celtic Tiger years has resulted in the dispersal and displacement of our people throughout the island to inappropriately located and badly designed housing estates More than 600 nationally of these are identified as "ghost estates". If we are to recover from this, we needs to recognise what went wrong.

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Trees can play an essential role in improving the quality of life in UK towns and cities, a report has said. The Woodland Trust says planting more trees has been shown to improve air quality, reduce ambient temperatures and benefit people's health. The trend of declining tree cover in many areas needs to be reversed in order to improve access to green spaces in urban areas, the study adds. The trust is also launching a campaign to plant 20m native trees each year.

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A last-minute amendment to the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act means members of the public "will find it impossible to obtain legal representation if their costs will not be met, even when they win against the State", it warned.

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Councillors will be asked by the city manager to endorse the scheme, - which will cost about €500 million - and are expected to do so, before seeking Government approval and permission from An Bord Pleanála. However, it does not require the permission of any local authority in the Shannon region.

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The move to dezone 28,000 hectares across the country will hit thousands of developers and landowners who bought land at the height of the boom.

They now face the prospect of owning worthless land banks on which hefty bank loans were secured and which may never be developed.

Many developers bought farmland rezoned for housing, which massively increased the price. Loans were then taken out based on the value of these lands -- which will now become worthless -- but the loans will still have to be repaid.

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In a letter to Mr Gormley last October, Ian Lumley and Kevin Duff of An Taisce alleged the council had "acted systematically in disregarding" the plan, contravened ministerial planning guidelines and shown "serious impropriety in the conduct of its functions"

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THERE has been another drastic slump in the number of new homes and extensions being approved countrywide.

The number of planning permissions granted for new homes has fallen by 61pc this year, with just 5,510 approvals in the first quarter compared to 14,177 for the same period of last year.

The number of houses receiving the green light fell by 65pc to 3,585, and 28pc of these were for one-off homes, compared to 19pc in the same period of 2009, new figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal.

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