Ohio rail crash: toxic waste removal suspended amid contamination fears

 the full story is here

ΙΜΕ - ΓΣΕΒΕΕ: Τα λεφτά των νοικοκυριών φθάνουν μέχρι τις 18 του μήνα

πηγή: ΕΦΣΥΝ 

Ένα στα δύο νοικοκυριά δεν βγάζει τον μήνα, έξι στους δέκα βλέπουν επιδείνωση το 2023. Δεν έχει βοηθήσει το καλάθι του νοικοκυριού.

Έρευνα-κόλαφος για την ακρίβεια, την ώρα που πρωθυπουργός και κυβέρνηση πανηγυρίζουν και διαφημίζουν την επιδοματική πολιτική με τα ψίχουλα που μοιράζουν στους πολίτες.

Η 11η ετήσια έρευνα του ΙΜΕ – ΓΣΕΒΕΕ για το εισόδημα και τις δαπάνες διαβίωσης καταγράφει μια εξαιρετικά ζοφερή εικόνα, με τα μηνύματα και για το 2023 να είναι δυσοίωνα.

Fisheries, aquaculture and marine ecosystems: transition to clean energy and ecosystem protection for more sustainability and resilience

source

Today, the Commission is presenting a package of measures to improve the sustainability and resilience of the EU's fisheries and aquaculture sector. It includes four elements: A  Communication on the Energy Transition of the EU Fisheries and Aquaculture sector; an Action Plan to protect and restore marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries; a Communication on the common fisheries policy today and tomorrow and a Report on the Common Market Organisation for fishery and aquaculture products.

The main objectives of the measures are to promote the use of cleaner energy sources and reduce dependency on fossil fuels as well as reduce the sector's impact on marine ecosystems. The proposed actions will be carried out gradually to help the sector adapt. A ‘Pact for Fisheries and Oceans' will also support the full implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in coordination with Member States and fisheries stakeholders, including fishers, producer organisations, regional advisory councils, civil society and scientists. The proposals also have at its heart making the sector an attractive job place for the younger generations.

Net zero emissions fisheries and aquaculture sector by 2050

The sector's current dependency on fossil fuels is not only environmentally unsustainable, but also makes it vulnerable to energy price increases. When fuel prices increased in 2021 and 2022, many vessels stayed in port and the sector required financial support as a large part of the EU fishing fleet was unable to cover operational costs. Aquaculture was similarly exposed to higher prices of both fuel and feed. The sector benefited from EU financial support.

The Commission is today proposing to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and aim towards climate neutral fisheries and aquaculture sector, in line with one of the ambitions of the European Green Deal to reach climate neutrality in the EU by 2050. It is proposing measures to support the sector in accelerating its energy transition, by improving fuel efficiency and switching to renewable, low-carbon power sources.

One of the key actions is an Energy Transition Partnership for EU Fisheries and Aquaculture. It will bring together all stakeholders, including in fisheries, aquaculture, shipbuilding, ports, energy, NGOs, national and regional authorities, to collectively address the challenges of the sector's energy transition.

The Commission will also work to close the gaps in the transfer of technology from research and innovation to application; to promote the development of skills among the workforce; and to improve the business environment, including in financing opportunities and awareness.

Protecting marine ecosystems for sustainable fisheries

Climate change, biodiversity loss and ocean pollution threaten the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture resources. The Commission is presenting a marine action plan to reinforce the CFP's contribution to the EU's environmental objectives and reduce the adverse impact of fishing activities on marine ecosystems, particularly through seabed disturbance, by-catch of sensitive species and effects on marine food webs. A healthy marine environment with healthy fish stocks and rich biodiversity is the only way to ensure a prosperous future for EU fisheries communities in the medium and long term.

The action plan contributes to delivering on the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and its commitment to legally and effectively protect 30% of our seas, with one third being strictly protected. To fulfil this goal, the Commission calls on Member States to take fisheries conservation measures to protect and manage marine protected areas (MPAs) effectively, with a clear timeline. These efforts should include the protection of fish spawning and nursery areas, the reduction of fish mortality rates and the restoration of core areas for sensitive species and habitats.

David McWilliams: In a world of artificial intelligence, the Leaving Cert is redundant

source: the Irish Times

The first time I encountered artificial intelligence (AI) was in Beijing’s Pearl Market. The market, in the seat of Chinese communism, is one of the most extreme examples of freewheeling capitalism you will find anywhere, with six storeys of stalls selling “knock-off” everything.

Half the joy is the haggle. The Chinese sellers start high and the game is to bargain them down. It’s pure theatre, full of dramatic strops, ham indignation, pulled faces, winks, nods and, ultimately, deals. The place is abuzz.

The saleswomen are Chinese and speak amazing English. I went with a friend from Argentina who claimed that not only were they fluent in Spanish, but knew Latin American idioms. We couldn’t believe it. They were completely effortless in chatting about the deal, the quality, the origin of the fabric, the brands, the disparity in prices, the factories, the prices in New York, London and yes, Dublin. They giggled and acted up, in perfect English. Likewise in Spanish.

It was an extraordinary experience until we asked them questions like, “How’s the weather in Beijing in spring?” From complete fluency when talking about prices, brands, exchange rates and percentages, they looked blankly, first at each other, then at us.

It later struck me that these impressive saleswomen were somewhat akin to human “language bots” who had cleverly learned some English and Spanish (plus French and German) and were able to give the impression of fluency, but could only talk about a narrow range of topics – in this case, mostly about selling jeans. They had been taught to anticipate questions from foreign buyers based on the likelihood that we’d all ask the same questions.

That was their data set, if you like, and they had learned to recognise the sounds of what to them was a foreign language, rather than truly understand it. It transpired that there was a language school on the top floor of the market which many of them had attended, or so I was told.

The intelligence of this robot is breathtaking. Ask it to write an essay, article or blog and the quality of the material spewed out is impressive – and terrifying

It was still phenomenal to witness, and most people went away marvelling at the linguistic dexterity of these knock-off brand sellers.

Since then, the explosion in e-commerce and data mining has made “bots” – machines triggered by prompts that anticipate what questions a human will ask – part of our online lives. Their competence is increasing by the day.

For example, this week I tried the app ChatGPT. The intelligence of this robot is breathtaking. Ask it to write an essay, article or blog and the quality of the material spewed out is impressive – and terrifying. The robot trawls the Internet for material on the subject and then, as if it were a learned human brain, structures all this information, in seconds, into a coherent “thought process”, producing the desired number of words.

AI will be part of our future and it will have the same impact on certain professions as Gutenberg’s printing press had on legions of monastic scribes who, before the printing press, wrote, illuminated and published manuscripts. That said, while the scribes may have been outmanoeuvred by the printing press, the same technology ushered in an explosion in books, literacy and ideas. The world benefitted while the monks suffered. AI will be the same. It is already here. Check out these numbers.

Revenue from the AI software market is expected to reach €118 billion ($126 billion) by 2025, according to Statista. Three-quarters of all customer service interactions are expected to be driven by AI-based platforms by 2025. According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, companies claiming they are using three or more types of AI have increased from 62 per cent to 79 per cent in just one year. Nine out of 10 business leaders agree that AI is critical to success over the next five years. According to a PWC report, AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the world economy by 2030

The application I was using this week, ChatGPT, was launched by OpenAI in November 2022. It is looking for more capital to expand, and expects $200 million revenue in the next year and $1billion revenue by 2024. Bloomberg has reported that Microsoft plans to pump $10 billion into the company.

Investors getting excited is no guarantee of success – remember the hype around the Metaverse this time last year? But the uses of AI are varied, and some may surprise you. For example, earlier this week, on Valentine’s Day, chances are the love letter you may have received was written by a robot. If that was not this year, it will be the case next year. One in three men and around one in five women, globally, planned to use AI to write love letters this Valentine’s Day, according to this 2023 survey conducted by McAfee, with 21 per cent of respondents stating, “I’m short on time and this would be most efficient” as their reason. Only 30 per cent said they could tell the difference between a robotically generated love letter and the real thing from the human heart.

Looking forward, this is where one of the many clashes between AI and humans will lie. In the education system, if we outsource subjects such as history, languages and literature to robots, allowing them to trawl the internet for information, and we encourage students into technologies, science and maths, what happens to society?

AI robots, while able to regurgitate information already known, are still unable to make emotional connections based on human experiences

Every scientific breakthrough had the effect of moving humans from using deductive reasoning, drawing on what is already known, to inductive reasoning, projecting forward rather than looking back. AI is likely to push us further towards inductive reasoning.

Thankfully, AI robots, while able to regurgitate information already known, are still unable to make emotional connections based on human experiences. New ideas are sourced in critical thinking and humans make complicated and unexpected combinations. This is still the preserve of humanity. But for how long?

One thing is clear: the development of AI and the likes of ChatGPT means we must shift our education system from rote learning and regurgitation. This is a huge challenge for the Leaving Cert approach to education. A test system which is largely a memory test must go. It has to be replaced by something less rigid and ultimately less exam-based. The Leaving Cert must at least try to prepare students for real life. In a world of AI, the Leaving Cert is redundant.

It’s time to embrace 21st-century thinking. If we don’t, the robot will.

Μια μεγάλη οικογένεια: H ιστορία της εταιρείας αναψυκτικών Κλιάφα

 

Σπάνια ντοκουμέντα, έγγραφα, φωτογραφίες, ηχογραφήσεις και φιλμάκια αρχείου, ανασυνθέτουν το πρόσωπο της εταιρείας αναψυκτικών που ίδρυσε το 1926 στα Τρίκαλα ο Θόδωρος Κλιάφας.

πηγή: Cibum.gr

Το σημερινό κείμενο δεν είναι δικό μας αλλά από τον κ. Βασίλη Λουλέ, τον δημιουργό του ντοκιμαντέρ «Μια μεγάλη οικογένεια: η ιστορία της εταιρείας αναψυκτικών Κλιάφα».

«Φίλες και φίλοι, Σας παρουσιάζω με χαρά το νέο μου ντοκιμαντέρ! Βασισμένο σε προφορικές αφηγήσεις και σε μεγάλη έρευνα αρχείων, το έργο ΜΙΑ ΜΕΓΑΛΗ ΟΙΚΟΓΕΝΕΙΑ, μετά από ενάμιση χρόνο δουλειάς, είναι πλέον διαθέσιμο στο διαδίκτυο:

Η ιστορία της εταιρείας αναψυκτικών Κλιάφα στα Τρίκαλα ζωντανεύει μέσα από σπάνια ντοκουμέντα, φωτογραφίες, ηχογραφήσεις και φιλμάκια αρχείου, σύγχρονες μαρτυρίες από ανθρώπους που εργάστηκαν παλαιότερα, κινηματογραφικές λήψεις κτηρίων και μηχανημάτων.

Η εταιρεία που ίδρυσε το 1926 ο Θόδωρος Κλιάφας άλλαξε την ιστορία της εμφιάλωσης στην Ελλάδα και δεν σταμάτησε ποτέ, αθόρυβα και διακριτικά, να καινοτομεί.

Τεκμηριωμένο σε βάθος, αυτό το Ιστορικό-Βιομηχανικό-Ανθρωπολογικό ντοκιμαντέρ φωτίζει τη δυναμική της επιχειρηματικότητας και το ήθος της εργασίας μιας ολόκληρης εποχής.

Η ιστορία όμως της εταιρείας δεν είναι μόνο η απαρίθμηση επιτευγμάτων, μηχανημάτων και προϊόντων — είναι κυρίως η ιστορία των ανθρώπων της. Στο ντοκιμαντέρ φωτίζονται και αυτές οι μικρές ιστορίες: τα προσωπικά χαρίσματα και οι αδυναμίες, η οικογένεια και η φιλία, οι παιδικές αλάνες, η γειτονιά και η πόλη, τα οράματα και οι δυσκολίες, το ρίσκο, ο μόχθος και η αφοσίωση, η αλληλεγγύη, η δημιουργία και η προσφορά.

Μια ταινία για όλα αυτά τα “υλικά” μέσα από τα οποία οι ιδιοκτήτες, τα στελέχη και οι απλοί εργαζόμενοι της εταιρείας Κλιάφα έχτισαν μαζί «…μια μεγάλη οικογένεια».

Διάρκεια: 69 λεπτά. Θα χαρώ πολύ να δείτε το ντοκιμαντέρ, να το χαρείτε, να το μοιραστείτε με άλλους. Και να το σχολιάσετε.

Φιλικά.

Βασίλης Λουλές»

ΣΥΝΤΕΛΕΣΤΕΣ

Σκηνοθεσία–Σενάριο–Έρευνα–Κείμενα: Βασίλης Λουλές

Μουσική: Νίκος Πλατύραχος

Μοντάζ: Γιώργος Πατεράκης

Διεύθυνση φωτογραφίας: Δημήτρης Κασιμάτης

Ηχοληψία: Άρης Καφεντζής

Ενδυματολογική επιμέλεια: Κική Μήλιου

Σχεδιασμός & Μίξη ήχου: Βάλια Τσέρου

Εργαστήρια εικόνας: DCS

Χρωματικές διορθώσεις εικόνας: Αποστόλης Άρχοντας

Video Effects & Επεξεργασία φωτογραφιών: The End Post Production.

Τα κείμενα αφηγείται ο ηθοποιός Αλέξανδρος Λογοθέτης .

Προσωπικές μαρτυρίες: Ηλίας Ευαγγέλου, Γιάννης Ευαγγέλου, Ζωή Διδασκάλου, Βούλα Αγγελάκη, Ντίνα Ναζάρη-Βράκα, Σωτήρης Τόγελος.

Ακούγονται και παλιές ηχογραφημένες συνεντεύξεις της Μαρούλας Κλιάφα με τους: Κώστα Ντόγκα, Βασίλη Κρομμύδα.

Παραγωγή: ΚΛΙΑΦΑΣ Α.Ε. © 2022

Breastfeeding ‘safeguards infants’ from respiratory infections, research finds

 source: the Irish Times

Breastfeeding helps protect babies against the most common respiratory illness affecting children, researchers in Limerick have found.

Even partial breastfeeding in the first months of life can reduce the severity and rate of hospitalisation associated with RSV attacks, according to their study.

RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) is the main cause of lower lung infections among children worldwide. Children’s hospitals in the State were overwhelmed by waves of RSV infection earlier this winter, and last winter, requiring a number of very sick children to be airlifted to Sweden for emergency ventilation.

Researchers at the University of Limerick and University of Limerick Maternity Hospital reviewed published studies into the beneficial effects of breastfeeding on RSV-type lower respiratory infections, which have been known for almost 20 years.

Recalls of fresh meat products may lower customer demand

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Fresh meats such as chicken and beef are staples of many Americans’ diets, but demand may take a hit after these products are recalled, according to new Penn State research.

The study, led by College of Agricultural Sciences researchers, found that both the number of recent recalls and the volume of food recalled have significant negative effects on the demand for fresh meat.

Additionally, the researchers found that large recalls caused by product contamination, recalls resulting from produce without benefit of inspection or having an import violation, recalls demanded by government agencies, and Class I recalls are all more likely to cause a larger loss in meat demand.

Pei Zhou, doctoral candidate in energy, environmental and food economics and lead author of the study, said the results suggest different strategies companies can take to prevent food recalls, which then can benefit both consumers’ health and the companies.

“Government agencies and food companies could take action to prevent recalls by, for example, increasing the mandatory inspection of fresh meat products prior to food distribution,” Zhou said. “They could also reduce recall scales and respond quickly by developing standard regulations, guides and procedures for recalling — especially for frequently recalled foods.”

According to the researchers, food safety issues that threaten consumers’ health have increased in recent years. In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that about 48 million Americans get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases each year.

Zhou explained that while food recalls are important to help keep consumers safe, they also pose a significant financial blow to the company whose product is being recalled. For example, previous research estimated that the average cost of a food recall to a company is about $10 million.

The U.S. food safety system has two branches — with the recalls of most meat, poultry and some egg products being monitored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the recalls of other foods and beverages being supervised by the Food and Drug Administration. Because of that system, the researchers noted, not all consumers are exposed to the same types of information during a food recall.

“Consumers are exposed to various types of food recall information, and that information may change consumers’ perceived health risks and further affect their purchasing behaviors and food demand,” Zhou said. “We wanted first to explore the impact of food recall on consumer demand and then follow up by examining how consumers respond to the various types of recall information.”

For this study, the researchers focused on the fresh meat market — the largest U.S. agricultural sector, with meat production totaling 52 billion pounds and poultry production totaling 48 billion pounds in 2017.

The study examined information from the Nielsen Retail Scanner Data from 2012 to 2016, which covers more than half the total sales volume of U.S. grocery and drug stores and more than 30% of all U.S. mass merchandiser sales volume.

The researchers also pulled data on recalls from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service website, including the volume of food recalled, the specific products recalled, the classification of the recalls, what caused the recalls, how consumers learned about the recalls and any health consequences stemming from the recalled products.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that while recalls overall lowered product demand, customers also responded to recalls differently, depending on the severity of the recall classification, what caused the recall and how customers learned about the recall.

For example, declines in demand were more than eight times greater after recalls originated by government agencies, compared to recalls initiated by the manufacturers themselves.

The researchers said the study — recently published in the journal Food Policy — gives companies essential insight into the meat market and market strategies aimed at reducing the negative effect of food recalls on consumer demand.

“In general, reducing the number of food recalls by preventing food safety issues from occurring is the most straightforward way to avoid demand reduction,” Zhou said.

Yizao Liu, associate professor of agricultural economics, also contributed to this work.

= = =

In Greek, here.

new publication from our group: Editorial: Farm to Fork: Balancing the Needs for Sustainable Food Production and Food for Health Promotion

Byrne KA and Zabetakis I (2023)

Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3396; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043396

Food is an essential human need underpinning health and wellbeing, while also having the potential to support environmental sustainability. In the past several decades, an emphasis on maximising yield though improved production practices has enhanced human lives in several respects, including by reducing hunger, infant and child mortality and poverty, and raising life expectancy [1,2]. Despite these advances, a downside of these practices is a shift to diets that are calorie-dense, processed and utilise animal products [3,4]. Food production is also a major contributor to environmental degradation [5,6]. Thus, food needs to be produced in a way that is not only healthy and nutritious but also environmentally sustainable. For example, during the period 2007–2016, total net greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land use accounted for 23% of total net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions [7]. Land management and land use change also contributes to biodiversity loss [8], freshwater use [2] and soil degradation [9], which all affect land productivity and food security [10].

In this Special Issue, three interesting papers have been included.

The first paper concerns soil phytoremediation from cadmium using Sesbania sesban L. in association with Bacillus anthracis PM21. Ali et al. evaluated the plant-growth-promoting potential of the bacterial strain B. anthracis PM21 using S. sesban; they concluded that this bacterium can be an effective candidate for the phyto-remediation of Cd-polluted soil.

The paper is available online at: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13529 (accessed on 29 November 2022).

In the second paper, Esteves et al. used life-cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impact of growing pigs, focusing on the production of crude protein while supplementing amino acids. They concluded that acidification, eutrophication and land occupation were reduced with the reduction of protein concentration.

The paper is available online at: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/4815 (accessed on 29 November 2022).

In the third paper, Hor et al. estimated the emissions of carbon dioxide from a traditional Cambodian diet food production system using LCA. They reported that the country’s existing food production system generates CO2 emissions of 9.7 Mt CO2 eq/yr, with the proposed system reducing these by 28.9% to 6.9 Mt CO2 eq/yr.

The paper is available online at: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3660 (accessed on 29 November 2022).

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, K.A.B. and I.Z.; Writing—original draft preparation, K.A.B. and I.Z.; writing—review and editing, K.A.B. and I.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Κάτω από τη βάση το βιοτικό επίπεδο στην Ελλάδα

 πηγή: Καθημερινή

Η ανάκαμψη μετά την αποκατάσταση της σταθερότητας στην ελληνική οικονομία την τελευταία 4ετία συμβάδισε με την επιδείνωση του διεθνούς περιβάλλοντος. Ως αποτέλεσμα, η ενίσχυση των εισοδημάτων μέσα από την ανάπτυξη και τη συγκρατημένη μείωση των φόρων προσκρούει στην εκτόξευση του κόστους διαβίωσης, μετά την πανδημία και την εισβολή της Ρωσίας στην Ουκρανία. Συντηρεί έτσι νωπές τις δομικές συνέπειες της πολυετούς οικονομικής καθήλωσης.

Την περίοδο 2019-2022 στην Ελλάδα ο αριθμός των εργαζομένων αυξήθηκε κατά 13% και οι μέσες μηνιαίες αποδοχές ενισχύθηκαν κατά 12,4% («Eργάνη»). Ωστόσο, οι θετικές αυτές εξελίξεις που σηματοδοτούν το οικονομικό rebound σαν ελατήριο μετά την κρίση έρχονται να τοποθετηθούν πάνω σε χαμηλή βάση. Το 2021, ο μέσος ετήσιος προσαρμοσμένος μισθός πλήρους απασχόλησης στην Ελλάδα ανήλθε σε 15.879 ευρώ, έναντι 33.500 ευρώ στην Ευρώπη. Ως εκ τούτου, με βάση το ύψος των αποδοχών, η χώρα μας κατατάσσεται 22η ανάμεσα στις 26 χώρες της Ε.Ε. (Eurostat).

Looking for the secret to a better workout? It’s probably already in your kitchen

 from the Irish Times.

For two years, Steph Gaudreau gave up her daily cup of coffee. She switched to large mugs of herbal tea – not because caffeine was affecting her sleep or making her anxious, but to gain an edge in cross-country mountain bike racing.

Hoping to enhance the effect of caffeine as a performance aid, Gaudreau, who lives in San Diego, drank a cup of coffee on race day as she warmed up. Once that pre-race caffeine boost hit, Gaudreau, now a nutritional therapy practitioner and strength coach, said she felt a sense of euphoria, which helped her feel focused and mentally prepared for her race. The strategy paid off. In 2010, she took first place in a regional amateur biking race called the Kenda Cup.

Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world and one of the best studied. Scientists have been looking at caffeine’s effect on athletics since the 1900s. Although there is still some disagreement as to the exact mechanism by which caffeine consumption affects exercise performance, and whether taking a break from it until game day can give you an edge, scientists agree that a cup of coffee before working out can improve performance, whether you’re playing for the NBA or just running through your neighbourhood.

Beef is not sustainable, so why are we subsidising it for export?

 from the Irish Times

Cutting Irish beef exports to meet national climate commitments would increase global greenhouse gas emissions, Teagasc’s beef enterprise leader has claimed.

This idea of “carbon leakage”, whereby emissions savings from livestock cuts in Ireland would be reversed by increased production elsewhere, has been a long-standing argument used by the livestock sector to deflect ambitious emissions reductions. But scratching below the surface reveals several flaws.

Beef is an extremely carbon-intensive way of producing protein, no matter how it’s produced, and it is not clear that Irish beef is any better than other systems in this regard. Some studies show that beef produced in pasture-based, suckler systems such as Ireland’s has a higher carbon footprint than more intensive feedlot systems.

This is particularly true when the carbon associated with land use is counted. Irish grassland on drained peaty soil is a significant source of carbon dioxide, and the huge land requirement to produce protein with cattle prevents carbon removal through reforesting and restoring Ireland’s main native ecosystem, temperate rainforest.

In any case, Irish beef and dairy exports are not simply meeting global demand, as claimed. The Irish State is actively increasing demand for beef and dairy to premium markets abroad with marketing using so-called green credentials and ministerial trade missions. But these green credentials are not backed by evidence, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and Ireland’s agriculture emissions are at an all-time high.

Methane, the most significant greenhouse gas in agriculture, is responsible for about half of a degree of global warming already. Its concentration in the atmosphere is two-and-a-half times larger than it would be without human activities. An immediate, steep cut in global methane emissions is necessary to prevent the worst effects of climate change according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

A switch towards lower-carbon diets in high-income countries is among the measures necessary to achieve this, and the idea is gaining traction. “Food tsar” Henry Dimbleby says the UK must cut meat consumption by 30 per cent by 2030 to meet its climate and biodiversity targets.

The Dutch government has announced €60 million into research for cultivated meat – real meat that is grown from animal cells in vats, bypassing animals, with a far lower environmental footprint. Cultivated (or cellular) meat has been approved safe to eat in the US by the Food and Drug Administration and the sector is growing rapidly.

This innovation represents the transformative changes that are possible in the global food system, which can cut greenhouse gas emissions and allow large ecosystems to be restored by freeing up the land we use to feed animals.

A transformation of similar scale is already under way in the Irish power system, where stakeholders are working towards a fossil fuel-free electricity system in the 2030s. There are also signs that a similar transformation of the transport sector is starting to take off, with transport decarbonisation policy now prioritising car-free mobility.

But actors are still pushing strongly against a transformation of food production and land use, using arguments like carbon leakage.

I have suggested before that the great expertise in Ireland’s agrifood sector should be directed towards alternative proteins, like cellular meat. Some plant-based protein sources, like legumes, peas and (surprisingly) quinoa, grow well in Irish conditions, but there is a deficit of research and support.

Teagasc representatives have emphasised the need to prioritise the economic sustainability of beef, but the elephant in the room is that it is completely uneconomical. Subsidies make up 139 per cent of cattle rearing farm incomes, meaning the average suckler farm used more than €4,000 of direct payments to cover operating losses in 2021. Sheep farms barely fare better and leave our uplands in a poor ecological state.

Why are we subsidising beef and lamb for the export market to the detriment of climate and the local environment? These are not sustainable systems by any metric, yet the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue still claims, incredibly, that Ireland is the “sustainable food capital of the world”.

As one of the largest beef exporters in the world, and a big methane emitter, Ireland must show better and braver leadership. That Micheál Martin signed the Global Methane Pledge as then taoiseach at the Glasgow climate summit in 2021 and declined to set a national target consistent with this – a 30 per cent cut in methane by 2030 – sets a terrible example.

No one wants to see beef imports from deforested regions, and the EU has made progress by banning imports of such goods. It should go further and make strong environmental conditions attached to trade deals: it would be a blow for Irish farmers to see Brazilian beef replace Irish in European supermarkets. But the time for using other countries’ poor climate record as cover for Ireland’s is long past.

Hannah Daly is professor in sustainable energy at University College Cork. Read more from Prof Daly, here.

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