Sir, – David Sprott (Letters, August 8th), calls for “wartime thinking” in confronting climate change. The comparison is apt.
In wartime, governments did not simply declare that an emergency existed. They acted accordingly, explained what was required and told citizens what part they were expected to play: conserving fuel and food, avoiding unnecessary journeys, reusing scarce materials and reducing waste became part of a common national effort.
The reality of the climate emergency at this stage is beyond doubt, yet there remains a huge gap between the language of emergency and the urgency of our response to it.
Government must take meaningful, transparent and sometimes difficult measures that demonstrate it actually means business.
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It must also explain plainly what ordinary citizens can usefully do. Among the many steps individuals can take are: flying less, eating much less red meat, driving more slowly and less, avoiding unnecessarily large cars, using less energy at home, buying fewer unnecessary goods, wasting less food, and walking, cycling or using public transport where practicable.
Individual action is no substitute for effective government policy, nor should responsibility be shifted from major emitters on to citizens. But neither can individuals be mere spectators.
If we genuinely face an emergency, which we now undoubtedly do, Government should act like it, while also enabling and encouraging the rest of us to do likewise. – Yours, etc,
PAUL O’SHEA,
Planet Before Profit CLG,
Shankill,
Dublin 18.
