Misused rivers: Green tides in estuaries

Because it is in almost daily use and in the most critical circumstances the word “sustainability” has lost some of its punch.

Like the boy who cried wolf too often, it is almost hackneyed and struggles to carry its inherent meaning.

It has been used so often, in so many challenging contexts, that it has become, well, almost unsustainable.

Maybe a better word, a fresher way to convey the damage we are doing to our world by the unrestrained use or abuse of one resource or another might be “overload”.

Overload is a perfect word to describe the conclusions of an NUI Galway study for the Environmental Protection Agency.

The study has found that “green” algae-enriched tides are now a regular occurrence in Dublin’s Tolka and Cork’s Clonakilty and Courtmacsherry because of the toxic waste generated by urbanisation and intensive farming.

This may be just another metric showing that our impact on our world, the only one we have, is unsustainable and suggests it is time to review the full, threatening meaning of that word.

While that option remains sustainable preferably.