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People need to eat less beef if they want to reduce their carbon footprint, a environmental expert has said.<\/p>\nPeople need to eat less beef if they want to reduce their carbon footprint, a environmental expert has said.<\/p>\n
UCC environmental engineering professor Jerry Murphy emphasized the need for everyone to make changes if Ireland is to reach its climate change targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want to decarbonize, and again this is something which is very difficult to say, we should eat less beef,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope I don\u2019t have to apologize in a week for saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we grew fish there is 10 times less carbon per calorie in fish [than beef],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He made the comments at an ESRI climate change conference in Dublin on Friday.<\/p>\n
Professors and industry experts came together to discuss whether Ireland can meet its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions and renewable power targets.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar came under pressure from farmers earlier this year for saying he was trying to eat meat less as part of his own efforts to reduce his carbon emissions.<\/p>\n
It prompted farmers to ask \u201cwhere\u2019s the beef, ya vegan\u201d as they heckled him in Cork during a protest in early May calling for increased support for beef farmers.<\/p>\n
Professor Murphy told those gathered at the conference that it was possible for farming to become more carbon neutral.<\/p>\n
He cited an organic farm in Denmark as an example.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no fertilizer, there\u2019s no weed control, they digest all of their feed stuffs and they\u2019re certified as greenhouse gas negative in milk production,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also predicted that spreading slurry on land would most likely cease in years to come as farming practices become more environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n
Mr Murphy said Ireland has a lot of water quality problems associated with excess amount of slurry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of spreading slurry raw on the land, I reckon, will cease. I spent about eight years working on urban waste water directive. We were told by Europe we had to treat waste water.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reckon Europe is going to tell us you can\u2019t put slaughter waste into the land anymore, you can\u2019t put slurry on the ground and pollute water courses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Climate Change Minister Richard Bruton said the farming sector would be challenged by having to reduce carbon emissions but he said there would also be \u201chuge opportunity for smart farming\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a tendency to look on this as someone outside has put a burden on us that we have to adapt to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the reality is the world has changed and if we want to be resilient in that world and competitive in that world we have to change ahead of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bruton said broadband and connectivity was key to efforts to reduce carbon emissions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI absolutely believe that the future of regions, like the midlands, is around being able to do your work remotely, being able to adopt smart farming methods, being able to have remote working, being able to have access to health based on e-health as opposed to always physically turning up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The] capacity for a region like midlands to attract multi-national investment is greatly enhanced if people have the confidence that they\u2019ll have private secure lines for them to be able to deliver their workforce working remotely and servicing a center.\u201d<\/p>\n