ARMS RACE STILL CAUSING ME NIGHT TERRORS
Posted on 22nd July 2023
When I was a kid I used to have nightmares about the atomic bomb. What in God’s name do we do if the West is attacked? Then as I got older I learnt to wrap my head around the insanity of it all and could appreciate the dark humour of Dr. Strangelove. Russia and the United States of America came to their senses and arms reduction treaties were negotiated. Fewer ground for nightmares but now we have Putin threatening the use of tactical nuclear weapons and China has the bomb and is indulging in probably the greatest arms race in history. Those dreams are still there but now arise in the South China Sea and the potential invasion of Taiwan plunging us all into a 3rd World War. Cheerful, isn’t it?
None of this compares to climate change and very specifically that this is a nightmare that will likely haunt our grandchildren, a fact that is often eloquently expressed by our former President, Mary Robinson. As I see the soaring temperatures recorded in some of the great cities of Europe, I start to wonder what the future holds for Ireland. The release of the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ in 2004 which depicted a global super storm certainly feeds into the nightmare scenario, not that I am suggesting that this is where we are heading. I do, however, wonder about slippage of the Gulf Stream which would, of course, have an adverse effect on our climate. Suffice it to say that because recent generations since the Industrial Revolution have been pumping stuff into our atmosphere, present and future generations will suffer. There is no question that the major oil companies knew much earlier than they have admitted what their products were doing to the atmosphere. I consider this criminal on a global scale but then we can no long escape scrutiny ourselves. Last week I drew attention to the dairy sector. It has undoubtedly been an outstanding success. The size of the national herd has been continually increasing in recent years and there are now in excess of 1.6 million cows in the Republic. These animals all produce methane. This gas is one of the most potent of the greenhouse gases and is contributing to climate change. There are certainly measures that can be taken to help reduce the production of emissions by changing animal feeds. However, there is no escaping the fact that despite the political difficulties involved we will have to reduce our national herd. By this I mean the number of animals. No doubt compensation will be sought. That debate is for another day.
Ending on an upbeat note, well done to the Women’s Football Team in Australia. They should be proud of themselves. They performed well in front of a 76,500 home crowd. They are up against the Olympic champions Canada in Perth. May they have a fair wind behind them.
