What's common between vodka and limestone?

 

With the election of the new American president Joe Biden, those more than a little concerned about the crisis of climate change and its clear effects on the environment took heart.  This is because it’s clear President Biden intends to make the fight against climate change a central theme of his administration, and seems determine to drag the other countries with him.

 

This a breath of fresh and sweet air, after the frenetic and obstinate vandalism rendered by his predecessor against any positive step that had been taken in this space.

 

Currently, the consensus on the objective for carbon pollution is that the world does not emit carbon dioxide (CO2), the gas mostly responsible for climate change, or other gases with CO2 equivalence, into the atmosphere more than taken from it up to the year 2050.

 

To be crystal clear, even if all the world’s countries manage to find the courage to implement the necessary change in their economies to reach this goal, this would mean that the climate will continue changing, and on average around the world temperatures would continue to rise until 2050.  That means the climate will continue to get worse and more extreme from one year to the next for at least the next thirty years!

 

This fight has may facets.  Some initiatives are the best known, such as energy from sustainable resources like wind and solar, reduction of emissions from farming, the electrification of transport etc.

 

There are also other initiatives in climate engineering which are interesting, as these aim to take carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and change it to a useful product.

 

One I read recently about was the production of vodka from CO2.  This is a process that first produces ethanol and then this is turned into vodka.  The process was developed by Air Company, in Brooklyn, New York in the United States.1  Ethanol can also be used as a fuel.

 

It’s an interesting concept to go to a bar after work, and allay your conscience about drinking by considering that the more you drink the better for the climate!

 

Using ethanol extracted from atmospheric CO2 as a fuel would also render combustion engines close to carbon-neutral in principle.

 

Another technology long bandied about is Carbon Capture and Storage, this is intended for conventional power stations (oil, coal or natural gas) or plants such as cement factories, where CO2 is pumped some 2km underground inside geological formulations that either have a physical barrier through which it would be unable to pass, or be chemically transformed to have the same effect.  This process to date has not been proved commercially.

 

More interesting to me is a variation on this where CO2 is converted into limestone, a material from which are constructed practically all houses in Malta.  The company Blue Planet Systems Corporation, again in the United States, says it is able to produce sand, stones and cement from this cas with a proprietary process it has developed.2

 

So far, this construction material can be utilised in concrete and not directly as slabs such as those used in Maltese construction.  Just imagine a little however being possible to build structures without the need for quarries, and that your newly constructed dwelling does not mean you’ve added to the problem of climate change, but reduced it.

 

I’m slowly becoming more optimistic, or less pessimistic that perhaps mankind manages to save some part of the planet to the environmental disasters that we’re condemning it for.  All of us reading this article when written, we will feel nothing but a deterioration of this situation, at least till 2050.

 

However, who knows, perhaps not our children but our grandchildren might be able to measure a reduction in frequency and/or intensity of fires and storms, farming starting becoming viable again, the sea level will stop its inexorable rise, the rate of increase of ocean acidification will stop.

 

Perhaps, how knows, some fragment of the Great Barrier Reef will survive, and my grandchildren might be able to dive down on it decades from now and compare the video they take (or some other technology not yet developed) under the sea surface with the one taken at the same spot by their grandfather, and find out which species of fish, turtle or other creature they were too late to see with their own eyes.

 

 

1https://aircompany.com/pages/science, retrieved 17/2/2021

2https://www.blueplanet-ltd.com/, retrieved 17/2/2021

Farce

 

A few weeks ago, I had followed the European news about the coronavirus vaccine and the stupefying decisions that started coming out of Brussels.  I have to tell you straight away that in two or three days I completely changed the impression I had from one where decisions coming out of the European Union had by necessity to be taken at a snail’s pace due to bureaucrary and the many governance layers, to one where decisions can actually be taken overnight with non-existent consultation.

 

For those of you not knowing what I’m talking about, the subject is the anticipated delay in the supply of vaccines from AstraZeneca, that developed with the University of Oxford, which in the first quarter of this year 2021 are expected to supply the EU (and be distributed to member states) less than half the doses contracted for.

 

This is not the first vaccine injected into European citizens, including Maltese, as the first vaccine was that manufactured by Pfizer, which also had some manufacturing problems, but the furore only touched AstraZeneca.1

 

In a few days of public pronouncements, the EU:

• •decided that vaccines manufactured in the EU had to have been requested permission by their country of manufacture before being exported; 

• •expected that AstraZeneca vaccines made in the United Kingdom be given to Europe instead of remaining in that country, even when AstraZeneca was obliged to supply the UK with its own contract;2 

• •decided to restrict the export of vaccines from Ireland to Northern Ireland by activating an article in the Brexit agreement with the UK. 

 

Let’s dwell briefly on each point.

 

Firstly, now it is no longer important whether other countries outside of the EU have themselves a vaccine supply contract.  First it’s us, then it’s us and finally it’s us.  Collaboration, bye bye.  If it had been Donald Trump to take a similar decision, I wouldn’t have been surprised.  Maybe Trump is now a consultant with the European Commission?

 

The second point is along the lines of the first.  It seems that only contracts that companies have with the EU are important to be followed, all others are secondary!  The World Health Organisation, WHO, has said that this attitude might affect vaccine distribution on a global scale.

 

The last point regarding the Ireland frontier was a big surprise, almost universal, as not even the Irish government had been informed – so much for consultation!  If the decision had been kept, this would mean that there would be a need for customs controls on the frontier between the two sides, something the EU criticised the UK for over many months as could be the result of Brexit (or the act of Britain leaving the EU).  This decision raised hell and was cancelled practically the next day.3

 

During the Brexit negotiations, the European side had given the impression of competence, consistency and of following solid principles.  Nevertheless, given the speed at which the EU was ready to abandon its stated principles on the North Ireland peace agreement and global solidarity, this reputation was greatly diminished, in the eyes of many observers, and mine.

 

It is true that this is a very important subject, but I think that the European Commission, and President Ursula von der Leyen, has stepped on a banana skin.

 

1https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-52380823, retrieved 3/2/2021

2https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-30/european-union-eu-coronavirus-vaccine-shipments-australia/13105718, retrieved 3/2/2021

3https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/01/30/962454276/eu-reverses-move-to-restrict-export-of-covid-19-vaccines-to-northern-ireland, retrieved 3/2/2021

Vegetarian or vegan? -- Veġetarjan jew vegan?

 

Vegetarianism is the human practice of not eating meat (whether red, white, fish or sea food), whereas vegans add into the prohitibed list animal products, such as eggs, milk and derived products such as cheese, and so is stricter.

 

It’s an interesting subject for mankind, which has been historically omnivorous and not herbivorous.  Vegetarian practice is known to have started hundreds of years BC in India, from beliefs of non-violence against living beings  Until today, this reason is the most common given by its followers.

 

I had encountered vegetarianism in my youth with two friends of mine, one a vegan due to the non-violence principle with animals, and the other a vegeratian for the same reason but also due to his ascetic lifestyle.  I have been and remain an omnivore, however I admired and continue to admire the dedication of those making this discipline in their lives, as you would need to make a greater effort than usual when your food choices are more limited and want to be consistent.

 

Other reasons exist for someone taking this life direction, and these include health, the environment, culture and others.  Out of these, health is for me the most interesting and important.

 

Vegetarian and vegan diets generally have a variety of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, cereals and legumes as well as their derivatives to substitute meat.  These diets canbring benefit to one’s health, such as a reduction in body weight, lower levels of cholesterol (not only low density - bad - cholesterol but also unfortunately high density - good - cholesterol) and a reduction of the risk of heart disease.1  There is also a reduced risk of diabetes.

 

Nevertheless, there are also some disadvantages, for example plants do not naturally contain the vitamin B12 which is found in eggs and milk products.  The lack of this vitamin can lead to anaemia.  Therefore, these diets are generally recommended to be augmented with B12 as a supplement or food which has been so fortified, especially for vegans.

 

These diets can also lead to a reduction in bone density.  In fact a study found that vegans had more than double the incidence of hip breaking than omnivores, although there could be other factors that could have contributed to this.2

 

There are other considerations as well, and it’s known that much more research on this subject is needed before a conclusion is reached as to the benefits or concerns about these food choices by mankind.

 

Although I do state I love animals, I am not attracted to the practices of vegeratianism or veganism.  The reason I give is that all living beings, with or without mankind, all have a place in nature’s food chain, where an animal needs to be killed for another carnivorous animal to eat (and in the omnivorous case the killing happens sometimes).  Mankind is nothing except another link in this chain, as he has always been since evolving.

 

Here I make a clear distinction and draw a straight line before arriving at the killing of animals as a pastime or sport, which for me is not acceptable.

 

Notwithstanding my own personal dietary choices, I respect those making a different choice in their own diets.

 

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Il-veġetarjaniżmu huwa l-prattika tal-bniedem fejn ma jikolx laħam (la aħmar, la abjad, la ħut u lanqas frott il-baħar), filwaqt li min hu vegan iżid ma din il-lista pprojbita prodotti tal-annimali, bħall-bajd u l-ħalib u prodotti derivati bħall-ġobon, u għalhekk huwa iktar strett.

 

Huwa suġġett interessanti għall-bniedem, għax dan huwa storikament omnivoru u mhux erbivoru.  Il-prattika tal-veġetarjaniżmu huwa magħruf li bdiet mijiet ta’ snin q.K. fl-Indja, minn twemmin ta’ non-vjolenza lejn kull ħlejqa.  Sal-lum, din ir-raġuni hija l-iktar komuni li tingħata mis-segwaċi ta’ din il-prattika.

 

Kont iltqajt mal-veġetarjaniżmu f’żogħżiti f’żewġ ħbieb tiegħi, wieħed vegan minħabba prinċipju ta’ non-vjolenza lejn l-annimali, u ieħor veġetarjan għall-istess raġuni imma wkoll minħabba l-istil axxetiku tal-ħajja tiegħu.  Jien omnivoru kont u għadni, biss ammirajt u nibqa’ nammira d-dedikazzjoni ta’ dawk li jagħmlu din id-dixxiplina f’ħajjithom, għax trid tagħmel sforz iktar mis-soltu meta l-għażliet tal-ikel tiegħek huma iktar limitati u trid tkun konsistenti.

 

Raġunijiet oħra għaliex wieħed jieħu din id-direzzjoniji f’ħajtu jeżistu wkoll, u dawn jinkludu s-saħħa, l-ambjent, il-kultura u oħrajn.  Minn dawn, is-saħħa hija għalija l-iktar interessanti u importanti.

 

Id-dieti ta’ veġetarjani u vegani ġeneralment ikollhom varjetà ta’ frott, ħaxix, ġewż, żerriegħa, ċereali u legumi, u derivati tagħhom li jissostitwixxu l-laħam.  Dawn id-dieti jista’ jkollhom benefiċċji għas-saħħa, bħal tnaqqis tat-toqol tal-ġisem, livelli iktar baxxi tal-kolesterol (kemm ta’ densità għolja - it-tajba, u l-baxxa - il-ħażina) u tnaqqis tar-risku ta’ mard tal-qalb.1  Ir-riskju ta’ dijabete jkun ukoll imnaqqas.

 

Madankollu, hemm ukoll żvantaġġi, per eżempju il-pjanti ma jkollhomx il-vitamina B12 b’mod naturali bħal ma għandhom il-bajd u l-prodotti tal-ħalib.  In-nuqqas ta’ din il-vitamina jista’ jwassal għall-anemija.  Għalhekk, dawn id-dieti ġeneralment ikun irrakkomandat li jkun miżdud il-B12 bħala supplement jew ikel fejn dan ikun fortifikat bih, speċjalment għall-vegani.

 

Dawn id-dieti jista’ wkoll iwasslu għal nuqqas ta’ densità fl-għadam.  Fil-fatt hemm studju li sab li l-vegani kellhom iktar mid-doppju tal-inċidenza ta’ ksur tal-ġenb tal-omnivori, għalkemm jista’ jkun hemm fatturi oħra li kkontribwew għal dan.2

 

Hemm kunsiderazzjonijiet oħra wkoll, u huwa magħruf li jrid isir ħafna iktar riċerka fuq dan is-suġġett biex ikun hemm konklużjonijiet iktar ċari fuq il-benefiċċji jew il-biżgħat ta’ dawn l-għażliet tal-ikel tal-bniedem.

 

Jien għalkemm nistqarr li nħobb l-annimali, m’iniex miġbud lejn il-prattiċi tal-veġetarjaniżmu jew il-veganiżmu.  Ir-raġuni li nagħti hi li l-ħlejjaq kollha, bil-bniedem u mingħajru, kollha għandhom posthom fil-katina tal-ikel tan-natura, fejn annimal irid jinqatel biex annimal ieħor karnivoru jiekol (u dan huwa l-każ ukoll f’partijiet mill-ħajja jekk l-ieħor ikun omnivoru).  Il-bniedem mhu xejn ħlief ħolqa oħra f’din il-katina, kif dejjem kien minn meta evolva.  

 

Għawnhekk nagħmel distinzjoni ċara u nħożż sinjal dritt qabel ma naslu għall-qtil ta’ annimal bħala gost jew sport, li għalija mhux aċċettabbli.

 

Minkejja l-għażliet personali tad-dieta tiegħi, nirrispetta ‘l min jagħmel għażla differenti fid-dieta tiegħu.

 

1https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325478#summary, retrieved 20/1/2021

2https://theconversation.com/is-a-vegan-diet-healthier-five-reasons-why-we-cant-tell-for-sure-152131, retrieved 21/1/2021

1https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325478#summary, retrieved 20/1/2021

2https://theconversation.com/is-a-vegan-diet-healthier-five-reasons-why-we-cant-tell-for-sure-152131, retrieved 21/1/2021