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Sustainable Clonakilty is not aligned to any political party or religious group.
11 October 2007
-Dismissing climate change is similar to saying
cigarettes don't cause cancer - Meaney
The impact of climate change on rural Ireland should not be underestimated despite recent media coverage claiming climate change is over hyped, said Green Party Rural Development spokesperson Cllr Brian Meaney today.
Speaking following a conference on Climate Change and Agriculture, Cllr Meaney said: "Dismissing the threats posed by changes in climate is similar to the actions of cigarette manufactures in the 1950s and 60s who rubbished the view that cigarettes were a major cause of lung cancer. Doubt became the ally of the cigarette industry, as it is now the ally of those that seek to undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions. Every day it becomes more and more clear that the science backing up these predictions is extremely robust and recent attempts to undermine or rubbish the risks posed by climate change are dangerous."
The conference, organised by the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Unit (ICARUS) in Kilkenny last weekend, found that Climate Change will alter living patterns in Ireland and severely affect agricultural practices. These changes include necessary irrigation, a switch in current crop use and geographical movement of animal production, due to wetter winters and warmer summers.
[ENDS]
Information
Cllr Brian Meaney: 087 215 2215
Nicola Cassidy, Green Party Press Office: 01 618 4088 / 087 914 8175
Note to Editor:
The conference data is based on research undertaken at the Irish Climate
Analysis and Research Units (ICARUS) based in NUI Maynooth. In a lecture delivered by Dr. John Sweeney of NUI Maynooth, the following agricultural effects were predicted:
- Wetter winters to cause soil damage
- Winter rainfall to increase the stored feed requirement
- Increased slurry storage likely to be needed
- Irrigation for all crops in the east of the country
- Greater area of agricultural land to be affected by drought loss
- Loss of potatoes as a commercially viable crop
- Earlier barley harvests and increase in Maize grain yields
- Livestock production to dominate to the west and arable production to dominate the east
http://www.blogactionday.com/
New Scientist 27 October 2007 p. 5
The Energy Watch Group (EWG) in Berlin, Germany reported that world oil production peaked in 2006 - far earlier than expected. They predict production will fall by 7% per year dropping to half current levels by 2030. They also predict significant falls in gas, coal and uranium production.
