valent1ne

The point it seems they're trying to make is not necessarily avoiding planting trees, but to not introduce non-native species of trees. The article mentions the opponent's claims: "acidic needles and smother wildlife", "saying carbon-soaking bogs were damaged", and "diesel-emitting machines often felled trees prematurely"

Since the article doesn't reference any studies or statistics to back up either claim, it's hard to tell, but a lot of people here agree that Ireland's environment could benefit hugely from cutting down or outright outlawing the harmful practice of bog cutting, and introducing non-native species to an environment can often be harmful.

You could probably automate cutting the power with a relay switch also connected to the pi. Just scrape weather data, and if you expect the storm, trigger the switch.