Academics talkturkey... andother festiveadvice
With Ireland’s performance on climate action in response to global warming being ranked as the worst in the EU (48th out of 56 countries), and with David Attenborough last week describing climate change as the greatest threat in thousands of years, UCC ac
EVER since Ebenezer Scrooge woke up from his ghostly nightmare and bought his poorly-treated clerk, Bob Cratchit, a turkey, the bird has been a centrepiece of our Christmas dinner. To get there, though, requires a lot of plumping up with feed ... and inescapable outcomes on the ground at the farm.
Those ‘outcomes’ release ammonia gas, which you may know better as the main ingredient of smelling salts, the saviour of many a Jane Austen character after a bit too much eggnog. However, the release of ammonia to the atmosphere harms our air quality by its reaction with sulfur compounds emitted by burning coal and from the fuel used in ships. The result is the formation of tiny particles that we can breathe in and can go on to kill us.
The global effect is not small. In fact, small particles are estimated to cause over three million deaths every year with more than half of the particles found in the eastern and central United States coming from farming.
We do not know the figures for Irelan. However, we do know that about 20% of the contribution from agriculture is due to poultry droppings. So, by all means, tuck into your turkey on the 25th ... but ask yourselves ... are we really the ones who are voting for Christmas?
- John Sodeau, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
In a few days’ time, Santa Claus will be starting his mammoth 365,174 km journey around the Earth to deliver gifts to all of us who have been good in 2018. He starts and ends at the North Pole, making countless drop-offs in between.
Now, we all think we know how Santa gets to all those chimneys, but do we really? It all starts with the elves loading up the sled with goodies. Fortunately, they do not need to fill it up with petrol or diesel. If that was the way Santa’s journey was powered, then, using either fuel, it would release between 45,000 to 50,000 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas into the air, trapping heat over the next 100 years. That is not good for our climate because a warmer planet would lead to floods, hurricanes, droughts and sea-level rises.
The sled would also shed enormous but unquantifiable amounts of toxic nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Also, the small particulate matter we call PM2.5 (made up of carcinogens, acids and heavy metals) that gets into our lungs, our arteries and our brains.
Santa, of course, knows that using fossil fuels for power would mean that in the next 50 years or so the place where he lives might be underwater and his annual visit to all of us would stop. Instead, Santa invented a Green Technology called Antlaerodynamics®. So rather than filling up with petrol or diesel, the elves saddle up Rudolph, Donner, Blitzen and the rest of the reindeer gang to pull the sled without bad climate change and air pollution effects! (If you want to know how everything gets off the ground I am only authorised to say that it depends upon wind flow across the antlers to form a vortex of the type that makes the spout of a tornado). And that’s how Santa gets here.
And why Santa is seriously thinking of going back to the Green outfit rather than keeping the current Red one. Ho, Ho, Ho.
- John Sodeau Getting a lump of coal in your Christmas stocking traditionally means that Santa Claus thinks you’ve been misbehaving. Ironically, if you’ve been burning coal, peat or wood in your living room fire then you have been very naughty indeed.
Domestic solid fuel burning is one of the largest sources of air pollution in Ireland. Especially in small towns like Enniscorthy, as the CRACLab SAPPHIRE project for the EPA showed (crac.ucc.ie). Your fire is not only harmful to you in your own house but also to your neighbours, because 90% of the smoke and chemical fumes end up next door. Burning coal, wood and peat is especially harmful to asthmatics, the young, the old, people with existing heart conditions and the pregnant.
And just think what it does to poor old Santa when he tries to deliver your fantastic presents down the chimney. We can only hope that he has good medical insurance!
To keep Santa (and us) healthy, wherever you live in Ireland, then put some solar panels on your roof, insulate your homes better and install a heat pump.
- John Sodeau Leave the door open for Santa! An open fireplace with a chimney is handy for Santa, but he can also choose to come in the door if you decide to install an efficient stove or upgrade your heating system.
Burning a fuel like coal in your fireplace over the winter produces about one tonne of carbon dioxide (a heat-trapping gas). This is similar to a person taking a return flight to New York.
Heat-trapping gasses are causing our climate to change in ways that are not good, so trying to reduce our emissions is the perfect gift for the planet!
Dr Paul Deane, Energy Policy and Modelling Group, UCC What are the main topics of conversation around your dinner table on Christmas Day? When you have exhausted the usual Christmas conversational menu on the merits of Brussel sprouts, what could be more topical than introducing the topic of climate action to set sparks flying and pulses racing?
If possible, try to find out beforehand what your fellow revellers already know about climate change and what are their values, beliefs and attitudes (a few questions during appetiser?). Your conversation should connect climate change with their everyday life and with what matters to them in an accessible language. Show them how effective climate action can bring benefits such as better air quality, warmer homes, and better public transport. However, as we will be testing in Imagining 2050, the focus of your conversation should be on dialogue which will mean avoiding preaching, listening, learning together and accepting that there might be many different visions of what a low carbon and climate resilient society might be.
- Dr Paul Bolger, ERI Manager According to Retail Ireland, the average Irish family spent €2,654 on their festive shopping sprees last year.
That is €870 more than any other month. Luxurious foods; gallons of booze; coal for holiday fireplaces; naff Christmas jumpers; tacky decorations and, of course, an abundance of presents. Jewellery, toys, clothing, electronics, perfumes, and a vast array of other pointless junk. These things could easily be made of renewable naturally derived materials, rather than oil-derived plastics.
Much of the precious minerals in their electrical compo-