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Ireland has tended to think of itself as a ‘Goldilocks’ country: not too hot, not too cold, and well positioned to ride out the climate emergency. But this is a fantasy: the effects of climate change in Ireland will be profound, and at the moment we’re not doing nearly enough about it. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Ireland has the wherewithal to dramatically cut its emissions while making itself far more resilient. This book shows how it can be done.

Above all, we must reimagine the ways in which we use the land. Agriculture accounts for 38 per cent of Ireland's greenhouse emissions – and just 7 per cent of gross national income. As Gibbons shows, Ireland's dramatic shift towards the most polluting food sectors – driven by a small number of agribusiness giants and facilitated by the state – benefits the few while imposing huge costs on the many. It doesn't have to be this way, and Gibbons, who grew up on an arable farm, shows how we can embrace a low-emissions farming model while preserving farmers' livelihoods, making the countryside a better place to live, and delivering something Ireland conspicuously lacks: food security.

The Lie of the Land is a bracing critique of the bad decisions that have put Ireland into such a vulnerable position, and a devastating dissection of the wishful thinking and outright dishonesty that have propped up the status quo in Irish agriculture. It also offers an inspiring vision of how – through a revolution in farming, development of renewable energy (including our vast offshore wind resource), and a dramatic acceleration of moves to decarbonize transport and housing – we can prepare for the new realities of the climate crisis.

© John Gibbons 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025