Madam, - On Wednesday night, the eve of the Twelfth, several monumental pyres of tyres were set on fire in Northern Ireland as part of the annual celebrations of the Orange community.
From the photographs of just one of these massive cones in Co Antrim, you can count the tyres involved and from this estimate the cone's base diameter (23 metres), height (15 metres), volume (2,077 cubic metres) and weight (224 tonnes). Allowing for steel reinforcement and other materials, some 70 per cent of this weight would be more or less pure carbon - ie 156 tonnes - which when burnt would have spewed into the night air 575 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
According to the CarbonNeutral Company, a flight from Belfast to New York produces 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per passenger. Thus, the environmental damage caused by that one celebratory bonfire was the equivalent of flying 958 people to America, or about three aircraft.
Who would have thought that Orangemen could be so, er, un-Green? - Yours, etc,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.
Madam, - It was good to read in Thursday's edition that "hopes [ were] high for peaceful parades on the Twelfth", that the SDLP's Patsy McGlone had made a "call to link funds to bonfire emission limits" and that your Editorial looked forward to a "quiet, dignified and family-friendly Twelfth of July".
Hopes, though, need to be built on the full reporting of realities. Your photograph of the huge bonfire at Ballycraigy, Co Antrim (page 10) is shot from the side, concealing the fact that affixed to the pyre is the Irish national flag with the letters "KAT" ("Kill All Taigs") written on it.
Had the flag been the Israeli flag with "Kill All Jews" on it, or the South African flag with "Kill All Blacks" on it, would the photographer have chosen a similarly discreet angle? And would your accompanying report have likewise failed to mention the flag and its obscene lettering?
Toxic tyres damage the atmosphere. Partial reporting damages credibility. - Yours, etc,
JUDE COLLINS, Co Antrim.
Madam, - A BBC television report on July 11th bonfires showed a pile of tyres with a Tricolour on top. Local politicians in the area in question expressed regret at the placing of tyres in bonfires, but I was disgusted at the lack of comment about the burning of the Tricolour.
We have entered a so-called peace process to build bridges across communities. I have strong views as a republican as to what the Tricolour stands for. The orange in the flag means the orange community are part of a shared heritage on our island.
I feel the people of the south of Ireland have come a long way in terms of accepting this shared heritage and it is absolutely disgusting to see the flag of the country I love on top of a bonfire. To me it is a symbol of rejection of the idea of the two communities on our island living in peace. - Yours, etc,
VINCENT McCARTHY, Silverstream, Co Monaghan.