TheCity

Author: Doireann Moroney

  • How Does Food Waste Contribute to Climate Change? 

    How Does Food Waste Contribute to Climate Change? 

    Food waste is something that isn’t mentioned as often when speaking about the climate crisis, as it is only accounting for 10% of the total percentage with the climate crisis.  

    The main issue with food waste is the significant resource waste it uses to bring your food from fork to plate, but also the carbon monoxide emissions. Deforestation is another major consequence for the ever-growing demand on the agriculture sector. 

    On a global scale, the average number of hectares of forests lost is 10 million each year. This happens everywhere but is most apparent in tropical forests in Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  

    Climate activist Arielle Calajate, who is involved in multiple eco-friendly initiatives said, “People don’t realise how truly important the trees are to the climate, and responsible for a lot of what food we can eat. They give us fruits, nuts, healthy soil for food, a water cycle regulation, and pollination. So many important things are given to us by trees.” 

    Ireland’s deforestation rate is historically low for 2024, with only 670 hectares of trees lost. From 2001 to 2023, Ireland wasn’t as lucky and lost a total of 161,000 hectares of trees. For the small isle of Ireland, it meant we had lost 19 per cent of our national tree coverage from 2000 onwards. 

    According to Calajate,“by cutting down trees to provide us with more food, we are effectively hurting the one thing that is helping to keep everything okay. This is something the earth has been doing for centuries, long before we started abusing it.” 

    Statistics released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that Ireland has wasted over 835,000 tonnes of food waste in 2023. This means that the average weight of food waste for a person in Ireland is 162kg. Ireland’s food wastage is higher than the European average, which is 132kg per person.  

    Statistics released by The Central Statistics Office (CSO) stated that food and non-alcoholic drinks increased in waste from 4.7% in the beginning of 2025. It is now at 5.0% in September 2025. 

    When you keep food in a highly acidic environment of vinegar or brine, it can add to the shelf life of that food for months, when they are properly preserved and sealed. This way of preserving food helps to prevent spoiling by preventing bacteria from growing.  

    Statistics by the Environmental Protection Agency mention that global food waste accounts for 8-10% of the total greenhouse gas emissions. When food is disposed of in landfills, it releases methane gas, which is a potent gas with a climate warming potential that is 84 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. 

    There is no problem with the usage of agricultural land to produce food for the growing population, the problem lies in large percentages of these patches of land are used to grow food which is not consumed and wastes valuable resources.  

    Research done by the World Bank Organisation found that around 70% of the world’s water usage is used for food. This makes food a significant waste of freshwater and groundwater resources. Another resource used is the energy consumption, as 38% of the total energy used globally for food, is for food that is never eaten. 

    Your own impact on food waste can be a big help to stop the growing problem of food waste and its depletion of natural resources, and most are decisions that can be made at home. Buy in smaller quantities, if possible, from your local markets. 

  • Why Dungeons and Dragons Remains Popular 50 years on

    Why Dungeons and Dragons Remains Popular 50 years on

    What is D&D and why does it continue to remain popular through social media, the gaming world and recently, the film industry?

    D&D stands for Dungeons and Dragons and was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974. Gygax and Arneson had the idea to create D&D from miniature wargames of the time, specifically ‘Chainmail’ from 1971. They combined the miniature wargames with rules Chainmail.

    But what is Dungeons & Dragons? It is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game where 4 to 5 players come together to create fictional characters to embark on adventures in a shared world, guided by a Dungeon Master. The players use many different dice to explore the game.

    Jack Lawlor, aged 22, an avid D&D player, now a Dungeon Master, has been playing the game since he was twelve years old and is coming up to his tenth anniversary playing the game.

    “What makes me stay in love with the game is how fluid the play system is. You can shape your world as much as you want to and no matter how many times you play it, you always have a new experience and a new world to play at. It’s something that’s ever changing and evolves with the group you play with,” said Lawlor.

    A Dungeon Master’s (DM) job is to narrate the adventure to the players, control the monsters everyone fights during combat, and to roleplay any nonplayer characters (NPCs) that are vital to the roleplay narratives storyline. These are just some of the roles that a Dungeon Master will take up during the game.

    Players of the game will pick from many different classes. Some of the most popular of these are, Orc, Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Rouge and many more. These classes aren’t just for fun; they also decide the players strength and various skills throughout the game.

    For example, the Barbarian class is known to excel in combat, with a main focus on Strength and their ability to withstand damage in the game.

    A D&D character creation sheet. Picture by Dungeon Master Assistance.

    D&D shot to popularity with the show Stranger Things on Netflix. The show showcases the ‘expert’ edition of D&D which was released in 1983 and remained popular until the next edition was released in 2003, which introduced the iconic dice, D20. The version that is played now, and the most ‘mainstream’, is the 5th edition released in 2014.

    Wizards of the Coast, a sub company of Hasbro, saw a revenue increase of $1.17 billion by October 2024. This was after the release of the game Baldur’s Gate 3, which was made by Larian Studios and released in 2023. This game was a massive success and brought even more people into the world of D&D.

    “I got into D&D when I was around 17 and have been playing it since. But Baldur’s Gate 3 has become one of my favourite games. It does a brilliant job of showing off how fun it is, and how complicated the rules are sometimes. That game, in my opinion, has done so much to move D&D from a ‘geeky’ game to mainstream,” said Lee McGowan-Gartlan.

    “My advice is to jump in and just play D&D. It’s such a fun imaginative game, where everyone is welcome, no matter the age,” said Finn Parry.

    People continue to play Dungeons & Dragons for the sense of community it creates the different age groups who play, and the love of all things creative. It’s a game where you can be as crazy with your imagination. The only limitation is your dice rolls.

  • When is it ‘too late’ to change your college course?

    When is it ‘too late’ to change your college course?

    A study conducted by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) in 2024, found that 92% of college applicants who entered during the 2022/23 academic year progress into the third year of their course, and subsequently their final year as well.

    The study indicates that gender also plays a part in the statistics on who is more likely to remain in college throughout their programme.

    Those who identified as female aged 25-34, and those aged 35-44 years were the age ranges of students who maintained the highest college completion rates at 68% and 66%.

    Those who identified as male, however, had a lower percentage than their female counterparts. Male students aged 25-34 had a college completion rate of 60%, while the age group of 35-45 had one of 55%.

    The gap between gender in third-level education does play a role, whether we acknowledge it or not. This is especially prevalent in the older aged groups, with their rates of completing college being 5-10% lower than their younger counterparts.

    Age and gender do play a factor in college dropout rates, but so does those who aren’t as financially well off. The HEA did a study on the progression rates of students who receive the SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) Grant from 2012-2022.

    But what happens to the remaining 8% of students that either drop out of their chosen course, or change their course entirely?

    Scott McDonald was a third-year mechanical engineering student in TU Dublin before deciding to change from his heavily maths-based course to a new option, culinary arts. He became a first year again this September.

    “I realised I didn’t enjoy my degree anymore when I was struggling to get up in the morning for lectures and spending extra hours doing studying for topics I no longer understood,” said McDonald.

    “I was becoming a lot more unhappy and miserable in my course. I’m pretty sure you could see it in the way I did my assignments too. The biggest for me was I began to dread what my future might be someday, working in an industry I clearly didn’t enjoy anymore. I just didn’t want to continue being unhappy to force myself to finish a degree I began to hate.”

    According to the HEA report, degrees with the highest dropout rateswere in the services degrees, which include social care, at a high of 28%.

    This is followed by any engineering, manufacturing or construction degrees at a dropout rate of 20%.

    Scott continued: “When I switched to culinary arts, it was a completely different ball game. When I was in engineering, everything had to be so exact, to the T. But with my new course, I can be more creative and have more sense of freedom to explore things how I want in the kitchen. All my friends and family can see how much happier I am. I’m really glad I got over my fear and switched,” he said.

    Photo courtesy of Scott McDonald

    Students often feel pressure to continue with courses they decided to do when they’re 18 or 19, with parents often adding to the stress of students continuing courses they aren’t happy in.

    “My advice for others going through a similar thought process is that you’ll be much happier once you take that leap of faith. You’ll see how much happier you can be when you start focusing on yourself, and what you really want to do now. You have the time,” Scott said.

    Stories like Scott’s serve as a reminder to everyone pursuing degrees that no matter the year or age, that you aren’t limited on what you can do. But the most important being, there isn’t any shame on starting again.