A RECENT column on difficulties in getting children to play outdoors and learn to appreciate the natural environment led to a big reaction from readers.

WE hear a lot of talk about Ireland’s priceless environment and heritage.

MANY European cities are advancing plans to combat the effects of climate change, with some coming up with novel proposals that could be of interest here — especially in the wake of the huge damage caused by floods in Cork and several other Irish urban areas in 2009.

CHILDREN do not play enough outdoors and are not experiencing nature, and this affects their health, a number of studies show.

IT may be a sign of growing tolerance of wildlife, but more people are now making their gardens animal-friendly.

WE’RE in the middle of the bountiful month of May, amid hopes of long summer days ahead and the last of the cold, wet weather we had during the traditional Scaraveen (‘scairbhín’) period, which is now coming to an end.

MANY visitors to Listowel seek out John B Keane’s bar, or the street where another famous writer, Bryan MacMahon, lived.

SUMMER is almost here and with it comes that inimitable telltale sound, the buzzing of bees.

THE rustic poet Patrick Kavanagh put it lyrically when he wrote that “ordinary things wear lovely wings”.

Arecent column on alternative means of treating waste has attracted a deal of reaction, which is not surprising given the ongoing outcry about charges for septic tanks.