Sir, – The argument that reducing beef and dairy production in Ireland is likely to increase global emissions is a specious one. It is not production of food per se but production of particular types of food, such as beef and dairy, that is the problem.
According to research published in the journal Science in 2018, avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way that we as individuals can reduce our environmental impact on the planet. Our World in Data reported that beef topped the table of greenhouse gas emissions per 100g of protein produced, at a massive 49.89kg.
The fact that Ireland may produce inherently environmentally damaging products in a slightly less damaging way is a flawed argument.
Farmers, like the rest of humanity, will suffer if we do not take meaningful action to combat the prospect of impending catastrophic climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that farmers face intense rainfall, floods and droughts resulting from climate change.
Farmers should not be unfairly targeted, but the fact is that agriculture is by far our largest sectoral emitter of greenhouse gases.
It follows that the sector should pull its weight.
Is it not at least understandable that people consider it grossly unfair that highly polluting forms of agriculture such as beef and dairy production should be afforded special status, meaning that the rest of society will have to carry an additional burden to compensate for agriculture’s shortcomings?
We need our farmers and we need food, but we cannot continue as things are.
Irish agriculture, in its current guise and scale, is not sustainable if we are to be serious about combatting climate change. – Yours, etc,
ROB SADLIER,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – This week the Environmental Protection Agency has rightly warned that rising emissions threaten the carbon budget and will ultimately necessitate deeper and wider cuts than previously envisaged.
Nobody is in any doubt that this is a serious, and urgent, crisis, which is why we need to use every tool at our disposal to sharply reduce emissions.
One such mechanism is that of advanced, synthetic and biofuels in transport.
Government must now urgently introduce policies which will support the use of these fuels in transport, including mandating E10 [fuel that contains up to 10 per cent renewable ethanol] and encouraging State-controlled fleets to increase the use of bio-diesel, and heating, where research proves that a 50 per cent biofuel blend delivers similar greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings to the costly installation of heat pumps.
While increased electrification of the transport sector and the installation of heat pumps will make a significant impact, we simply cannot afford to ignore other technologies which can also contribute to reducing humanity’s impact on the global climate.
Targets and rhetoric deliver no climate action benefits; it’s time for practical, pragmatic action.
The scale of the emergency is far too great, and the consequences far too grave for us to ignore these practical interventions which can deliver GHG emission reductions. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN McPARTLAN,
CEO,
Fuels for Ireland,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – In response to the most recent EPA figures on rebounding Irish greenhouse gas emissions (“Rising emissions will mean deeper cuts required, Government told”, News, July 21st), Tánaiste Leo Varadkar is quoted as saying that “... these targets [ie the statutorily binding carbon budgets adopted with overwhelming support in the Oireachtas] are very ambitious and we do have to do everything we can to achieve them. But we’re not going to penalise and punish people if they can’t be achieved.”
Unfortunately this rather overlooks the fact that if the Government indeed fail to achieve them, this will inevitably “penalise and punish” many, many people. It’s just that, in the very short term, these will happen to be mainly poor, far away, and largely people of colour. – Yours, etc,
Prof BARRY McMULLIN,
Dublin City University,
Dublin 9.
Sir,– The geniuses who have left us staring into a winter of gas rationing, due to their opposition to importing and storing its natural liquefied variety, are now preparing the groundwork to leave us short of food in the not too distant future. We should be grateful we have such prescient experts among us. – Yours, etc,
PJ MALONEY,
Cloneyheigue,
Co Westmeath.