Madam, - Fr Sean McDonagh (November 14th) commends your Editorial of November 10th, but argues that the Government, not the media, should be leading a massive education campaign on this issue. My experience as a volunteer in Buswell's Hotel in Dublin on Tuesday, when more than 90 TDs and senators filed in to be lobbied for action on climate change by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, leads me to believe that many politicians in all parties are keen to do the right thing, but are hugely unsure what that is.
I believe it is the role of media to concentrate their efforts on providing public and politicians with analysis of what should be the burning political and economic questions of today. How, for instance, will the Government fulfil its commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 3 per cent annually, when emissions levels are probably increasing? Though a 3 per cent reduction might be enough to fulfil our commitments under Kyoto, will it be enough to give our grandchildren a future? Is a "carbon law", supported on Tuesday by more than 70 TDs and senators, the way to go? How would it be enforced?
I think the media organisations with the calibre to unpick the detail of this issue - such as this newspaper - should now lead the politicians, so that the politicians can lead in turn., - Yours, etc,
VICTORIA WHITE, Whitebeam Road, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14.
Madam, - Fr Sean McDonagh (November 14th), referring to your Editorial "Peak oil meets climate change", warns of "the catastrophe which could be just down the road". As for peak Oil, it is most likely already here. According to figures produced by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) "production has been virtually flat for two years". (Its conclusion is based on a 12-month moving average of oil production.)
Why is this not big news? The most likely answer is that the truth is being hidden by Opec, which currently claims that the market is well supplied and that present oil prices are driven by speculation and cannot be sustained. If the claim is true, why are producers not rushing to supply extra oil at current prices to gain supernormal profits? The probable answer is that they are unable to, or they know that ongoing supply constraints mean that oil at $100 a barrel is cheap. The big oil companies and Opec will not readily admit to the arrival of peak oil, because it is not in their interests to do so.
Peak oil presages very severe economic times. When the world oil supply begins to decline, it is likely to do so at 1 per cent or more every year at a time of growing demand for energy.
The relevance to Ireland is crucial. The price not only of oil but also gas (in economic terms, a close substitute for oil) will soar to unimagined levels. All of this will hit poor countries hardest. The only remedy is for countries with available wealth and technology to develop resources such as wind power and, much more important, nuclear power. It is already late to begin realistic contemplation of nuclear power. This means that not only will we be competing for oil and gas with poor countries that cannot manage nuclear power, but that we ourselves are in danger of being left behind in the nuclear energy race. About one third of the electricity in the EU comes from nuclear power and nuclear countries will have a growing advantage in future.
We already have some of the highest electricity prices in the EU. Thanks to our growing reliance on gas, that is not likely to change in the years to come, and indeed it is likely to get worse. - Yours, etc,
JOHN STAFFORD, Dargle Wood, Knocklyon, Dublin 16.