Are you concerned about the destruction of the natural world and climate change?

I would actually like to see an "anti palm oil" campaign starting.

How would that work, given that it is in so many things that we use? The oil itself is not the problem, it's the cultivation practices. Let's not forget that the cultivation also gives people livelihoods.

Once the government of the day can sell the €3-€4bn price tag it'll get going.

I understand that,well obviously many do survive considering the out of control human population.

Lack of contraception is probably more the issue then having loads of kids due to mortality rates.

https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/8-things-know-about-palm-oil

Most of the issues come from Opposition keenness to exploit such spending as waste. We managed to get a ten year health care plan into effect to broad agreement, maybe transport and the environment need the same treatment.

Not at all. We (humans) are adaptable, innovative and resourceful. We already thrive nearly everywhere on this planet, that will continue.

The 'green' movement worries me far more.

At best, it's trying to hoodwink people and slowly ratchet them into poverty.

At worst, it's a millenarian death-cult, explicitly opposed to industrial civilisation itself.

And now, unfortunately, it's no longer a bunch of crusties that can simply be ignored. It's in charge. It's setting the rules. That's terrifying.

The problem is humanity will only really do something when they are either up to their necks in water, being chased down the road by a land dwelling polar bear or having to watch their kids go to war with the neighbours for drinking water.

And from past experience of the OP I just know one of his solutions is to cut our national herd and it was something that Ryan this morning shyed away from outright saying.

Cutting Ireland national herd does nothing bar screw one our only true indigenous industry.

Of course the employees of the likes of google, facefook, mickiesoft, linkedin, intel, etc and our younger more hip generations will try and outdo themselves to come across as with it and gladly shove their lesser country relatives under the bus. Farming to some is so yesterday and besides we are world's biggest technology hub or whatever we want to term our dependency on FDI these days.

Well lads and lassies the agri business won't up sticks and leave, but your employers are just one tax decision away from running to the next low tax, double dutch enabler. And don't ever be so deluded to think otherwise.

Yes agriculture is a huge creator of greenhouse gases and in certain cases huge environmental damage, but one has to look at this on a global scale.

Ireland should be encouraged to rear cattle and sheep, rather than hamstring us because as sure as fook the slack will be taken up by feedlots in US/Canada or massive ranches in South America on cleared rainforest.

It is truly mind boggling how some will lecture Irish farming whilst chomping on stuff imported from half way around the world.

Ever wondered about those greens and environmentalists eating quinoa and guzzling almond milk as opposed to eating beef/lamb and drinking cows milk.

Will have they ever thought that quinoa farming has resulted in damage in South America or 80% of the worlds almonds are produced in drought stricken California.

Australia used to use the Murray Darling river system to transfer wheat and wool to Adelaide, but not it is used to irrigate crops such as cotton, rice, almonds, citrus, vines. I am not sure if even reaches the sea anymore much like the Colorado river in the US.

If you want to see how fooked the world can be look up Cubbie station in southern Queensland which has a water licences for 460GL (the equivalent of 184,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools) and, in a good year, can grow 200 square kilometres of cotton.

And when it went into receivership the Aussie government refused to buy so it could control the water usage, but let it be sold to a Chinese textile giant.

I believe the world is more than capable of feeding itself but the amount of food wastage in Western world is unbelievable.

And that wastage has to be grown or reared somewhere.

That's exactly my point... a commercial company looking for you to reduce your waste output to save yourself money, is as likely as turkeys voting for Christmas. Getting you to pay more for using their service less, is the only way they can survive. The business model is flawed from the outset, waste disposal is a national issue and should be managed and provided as a necessary public service, like it once was. You can fine people for not doing it correctly, but you should not financially penalise people for reducing their waste output, simply because your service then becomes unviable as a commercial enterprise.

I post a chart which was the product of an enormous body of scientific work and you - who are always appealing to 'science' - say I am arrogant? That chart shows that the long time normal temperature of the surface atmosphere is around 22° C. The 20th century average is 13.7° C, and yet you want to claim that a 1.5°C rise will be catastrophic.

All life on Earth ultimately depends on photosynthesis as the originating energy/nutrient source - and no, deep ocean thermal vents don't count. I'll bet you don't even know what the ideal temperature for photosynthesis is, do you?

Life on Earth thrives at higher temperatures and CO2 levels because photosynthesis is far more productive at higher temperatures; about 25°C being optimum. Look at the CO2 levels and temperatures during the Carboniferous period, when plant life on Earth thrived so much it resulted in coal and oil deposits, according to the prevailing theory. A full 7°C higher global average temperature and 5-6 times as much CO2 at the start as we have currently, which declined over many eons as it was gobbled up the abundant plants, presumably.

The average annual temperature of Sydney is 20°C, with the average in January, the hottest month, being 23°C. Humanity is not going to be made extinct by global average temps of 22°C, let alone 16 or so degrees.

You call me arrogant, yet all you do is spit out one-liners and sighs in response to threats to your cherished eco paranoia.

The one thing I really hate about the CO2 hysteria is it has sidelined what to me are the real eco threats - deforestation/diversity and habitat destruction and overfishing. I believe the massive recent rise in shark attacks on humans may be because the pelagic fish stocks have been so terribly depleted the normally pelagic sharks, like white pointers, have been forced into seeking food in shallower littoral waters, which if the case, I find far more terrifying than the current, historically low level of CO2.

Green party are FFGs mudguard, they'll all be dipping into Mummy's trust fund again in the next couple of years,