Farming must play its part in climate battle - ITLUS conference

An Environment Worth Fighting For was the title of one of the presentations at the ITLUS conference last month, which looked at the many challenges to our global climate and environment set to affect farming over the next few decades.

Dr Cara Augustenborg is an environmental policy fellow at the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy in University College Dublin. She has been actively involved in environmental matters through her professional career and was involved with the National Dialogue for Climate Action here. She served on various posts with Friends of the Earth and other climate action groups.

Interestingly she prefaced her climate remarks with a quote from Carlow physicist, John Tyndall, who in 1861 showed that water vapour and other gases create the “greenhouse effect”. His work found that water vapour and hydrocarbons such as methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) strongly block infrared radiation.

Tyndall concluded his findings of that era with the comment: “This aqueous vapour is a blanket more necessary to the vegetable life of England than clothing is to man.”

“Climate affects everything,” Cara stated and so society and farming must pay heed to this evolving process. Monitoring of greenhouse gasses has shown a significant increase in CO2 concentration since the 1900s and this is mirrored by a corresponding increase in average temperature. The world has set itself the goal of holding this warming to within two degrees Celsius, with a nearby goal of 1.5°C. However, Cara reported that this was breached in July 2019 when the average temperature reached 1.51°C.

Weather impacts

Climate scientists have predicted a range of consequences for various levels of temperature rise. While these may be questioned by others, those who watch nature are conscious of some of the changes. Examples will be more intense weather events, even in a temperate climate like ours. And we must be conscious of the ongoing extreme weather events in Australia and the flooding which took place in the Midwest of the US last spring.

Every sector looks to point a finger at another but global carbon emissions are likely to have hit record levels last year, boosted by soaring natural gas use.

While many countries have opted to decrease coal consumption in an effort to decrease emissions, this has resulted in increased levels of natural gas usage. Augustenborg said that while natural gas is a cleaner fossil fuel than coal, its unabated use merely cooks the planet more slowly.

We hear regular comments regarding melting glaciers and the loss of snow cover in many parts of Greenland paints an evolving picture. Ice and snow help to reflect heat but there is less white surface. Augustenborg said that loss of snow cover is happening faster than had been predicted and that 93% of the extra heat being trapped by man-made global warming goes into our oceans.

Warmer water means that storms will have a bigger range (eg storm Ophelia) and we are already seeing more intense rainfall events. Warmer air can hold more water vapour so the downpours get bigger. And as global temperatures increase, the earth’s water cycle intensifies even more. The warmer air that pulls water from the oceans can also pull more water from the soil, intensifying drought conditions.

Warmer water and higher temperatures give rise to higher water vapour levels in the atmosphere and this then gives rise to more lightning strikes (each additional 1°C increases atmospheric water vapour capacity by 7%). And the combination of these and other factors have helped make the jet stream less stable and this is a serious issue for our climate. Ocean temperatures have increased and these now form part of the forecasting processes for El Niño and La Niña.

The future

Augustenborg described sustainable agriculture as being multifunctional. The major factors involve its:

We need to keep the bulk of carbon in the ground, which means ceasing extracting of hydrocarbons and rebuilding soil carbon levels with organic matter incorporation.

She was generally in favour of tillage as a land use and suggested that many NGOs do not wish to see the removal of glyphosate from agricultural practices that help protect the soil.

But people wish to see the use of glyphosate curtailed in public places, she said, and to encourage safer use of this active in agriculture.

Commenting on what individuals can do, by far the biggest single impact hinges around having fewer children. Compared to having one less child, living without a car had only one twenty-fifth of the benefit. After that, minimising air travel, using green energy, having a more efficient car, switching from electric to car-free and plant-based diets can all have a sizeable impact on emissions, Augustenborg said.

In comparison, avoiding food waste, eating less meat and recycling have only a modest impact while upgrading light bulbs, planting a tree and composting have a low impact on emissions.

Whatever the exact cause, we cannot ignore the fact that our global atmosphere is warming with many visible consequences.

Agriculture and transport have a part to play in decreasing emissions but so has society as a whole. To what degree can consumer choices influence the process? Choosing natural fibres and materials for clothing would be a start.

Opting not to consume luxury foods that are being transported from great distances might be another. Does society really need to light up the planet at night – this is ultimately using energy and this same light is likely to be disruptive for flying insects, some birds and nocturnal animals.

Major issues

At this point in time, there are two major issues facing our world. One is unquestionably around climate change but the other is around population increase.

Both of these serious issues need to be addressed in the same debate and not treated separately. There are vast areas of the world where ruminants are the only real way to make use of that land.

Mature debate around climate change needs to look at how best to use the world’s resources to feed an increasing population in a way that is sustainable to farming systems as well as addressing societal needs.

In brief