From: Fair Home
Around 100 environmental activists have gathered for Ireland’s first Climate Camp outside West Offaly Power peat-fuelled power station in Shannonbridge.
Solar-powered caravans and a vegan kitchen have been set up in the shadow of the power plant in a campaign to highlight the destruction of local peat bogs and the contribution of peat burning to global warming.
“It is the largest peat burning station in the world,” said Climate Camp spokesperson Molly Walsh.
“Peat is also the dirtiest way to generate electricity, worse than even coal.
“We want them to close the station to tackle the urgent issue of climate change.”
The activists have carried out a number of direct actions, including filling in ditches dug to drain bogs for harvesting, a sit-in at the gates of the power plant, and waving placards comparing Ireland’s bogs to the Amazon rainforest.
“This is the first step that’s needed to restore our bogs,” Walsh said.
“People don’t realise that when bogs are drained and dried, they release ample amounts of carbon dioxide, even before the peat is burnt.
“Degraded peatlands release 0.97 million tonnes of CO2 annually in Ireland.”
Bord na Móna, which manages the peat bogs harvested for the power station, said it has promised not to open any new bogs.
“We are trialling biomass replacements, not opening any new bogs, rehabilitating old bogs and converting to eco-tourism like Boora, or giving back to local communities like Abbeyleix in Co Laois,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Around 100 more activists are expected to join the camp this weekend.