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nfgray.bsky.social
Environmental scientist and wastewater engineer based at Trinity College Dublin, working as advisor and writer on all things to do with the environment. Author of 17 books and numerous research papers, author of 'Facing upto Global Warming.
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My problem is that I have an unmowable lawn of moss. Every year I spray repeatedly with ferrous sulphate, add moss killers, scarify etc. and still it dominates. The ground is very stony which doesn't help. So what are my options? It has spread into adjoining wild flower meadows. #lawn #gardening

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Happy book day. Just been to the library to celebrate all things books. #books #nationalbookday

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

It has to start with a personal commitment to sustainability. I think 20 years ago people were ready to take part but were frustrated by a lack of direction from Government. Now it's a case of lets see it before it goes, enjoy life before it implodes. We have to start doing things ourselves.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Students come to university with far less practical life skills than ever before. Universities need to rethink how they can enable students to reach their true potential. More small group teaching that challenges students individually is one way, but it's new ground for everyone.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

It is imperative for Ireland to make sustainability a reality and to do this we need a whole range of new socio-economic reforms based on co-ordinated actions that really deliver. We need to grow more, make more, build better homes, provide allotments, travel less, create safer environments

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

America, just in case you thought Friday went well here’s how the London Times saw it …..

submitted 7 days ago • 69 comments

‘Denys was skinny and muscular, with fair hair and blue-grey eyes. He was killed near Donetsk in February’

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

What we all need is to be honest about our emissions both direct and indirect. #Offsetting is especially misleading. I would prefer to see companies actual carbon footprint without the whitewash of offset. We need to focus on the source of our own emissions which is linked to consumption. #climate

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

My #LiftToTheSky today is brilliant @brihughespoet.bsky.social for championing small poetrypresses & whose own work is thrillingly innovative & full of complex subtleties @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social @hempressbooks.bsky.social @intergraphiabooks.bsky.social (pic) #RHUL @brokenspinearts.bsky.social

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

That's not what my gate looked like earlier?

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

I keep coming back to this second collection of poems by #RachelCoventry which are so personal and strong. We are blessed in Ireland with such great emerging female poets that have a unique voice. Really enjoyable, #poetry #books

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

That would be something worth going to. #poetry

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

John Rebus never really ages. Is this the last in the series? Great read. #ianrankin #books

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

Good luck everyone, especially the botanists from Trinity College Dublin.

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

Just finished this Inspector Wexford novel. Bit dated and was confused by the rather hit and miss technique of this rather conflicting detective. #books

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

Just finished the first in the Wallander series of thrillers. I am rereading these again but I am being to dislike the main character Inspector Wallander...he is certainly a strange mixture of contradictions. A good read although not as rounded as the later ones. #books

submitted 49 days ago • 0 comments

I don't know when the flight path was changed, but it is strange to be now woken up at night by the noise of aircraft when you live in rural Ireland. I seem to be at a point where they cross going east-west and north-south. There is always at least one in the sky... contrail at dawn #photography

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

There is a huge difference between using simple management algorithms and real IT. I have nothing against the former but a lot against AI taking over the role of human interaction which renders person to person contact redundant. I have never found these systems even remotely helpful

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

Just managed to finish Henning Mankell's early Wallander novel before the work week started. Written at the beginning of the 1990's it is fascinating to see how Latvia has changed since then but that how Russia has gone full circle since the break up of the USSR. #Books

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

A view from my window at dusk a few weeks ago of a contrail. #photography

submitted 57 days ago • 0 comments

I come from the cotswolds and remember that contrast between freezing winters and hot summers. I remember going to feed the horses but the snow was so deep that I had to walk on top of the walls. This worked fine until the wall changed into a gate at one point...it was very painful.

submitted 58 days ago • 1 comment

Not quite so cold this morning, but this image of a couple of summers ago reminded me that l love all the seasons equally, including the cold ones. Have a great day, be positive about #climateaction and do something every day to reduce your footprint.

submitted 58 days ago • 0 comments

You can find my favourite barn in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. I have something similar of my own but all one colour...green. #Reuse #recycle

submitted 60 days ago • 0 comments

I use any old thing as a bookmark and love finding them again years later when I reread the book. Items include bus and train tickets, shopping lists and receipts, notes, important telephone messages I forgot to pass on, and occasionally a euro note, although I have come across dollars as well.

submitted 61 days ago • 0 comments

Back at work yesterday and busy working on #wastewater #surveillance updates. Managed to finish Jane Thynne's 'Midnight in Vienna' which was a good read. I'll be back to reading poetry for the rest of the week as I am able to sneak a few verses between writing and research.

submitted 61 days ago • 0 comments

- 🌊💙 ☮️ #PamelasSaturdayMorning's are good for reading, because books take you everywhere while going nowhere. -

submitted 64 days ago • 2 comments

There is a similar one just opposite Lismore Castle on the other side of the river @mairtinofaolain.bsky.social

submitted 66 days ago • 1 comment

Great structure to this lovely book. I must be getting old when I enjoy the retrospective more than the current. #books

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

The wonderful thing about holidays is you can indulge in lots of reading. Just reread Audrey Molloy’s collection. She is an exciting Irish poet although has lived for the best part of 20 years in Australia. This new generation of poets brings a vital intimacy to #poetry which I love. #books

submitted 68 days ago • 0 comments

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #Books #BookSky #BookChallenge Day 1

submitted 72 days ago • 3 comments

Such an evocative story

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

One of may all time favourites as well.

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

There is so much more to H.E. Bates than we might imagine

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

Quite frankly I don't find all the doom very helpful. Everyone knows the reality of global warming so we need to focus on changing hearts and minds as to how to reduce emissions...positivity rather than negativity, and there is a lot to be positive about if we work together. #climateaction

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

Yes it is kind of wonderful to see that real connection thanks so much for sharing @frannabel2010.bsky.social

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

My daughter gave me the new series of crime classics published by the British Library. This one by Ernest Elmore (1901-57) published in 1952. I find Agatha Christie more difficult to read now I am older but this was really enjoyable. Lovely produced series #books #thrillers #britishlibrary

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

Just finished the fantastic new book by Peter May. I am a huge fan and this new thriller is one of his best. He covers so many emotions in the book which is beautifully written. My only concern is how many more head blows can poor Fin sustain! highly recommended. @authorpetermay.bsky.social

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments