Madam, - Paul Gillespie expresses surprise (February 26th) at the "resignation or complacency" of people in the face of the latest compelling evidence of human impact on climate.
Often negative environmental outcomes seem remote. The rainforest is far away. The rising sea level may take a couple of generations. Compared with the cost of next month's childcare, the problems of our "children's children" are put on the backburner.
With dangerous climate change it is different. Children born today will face the consequences of the decisions our generation takes over the next 10 years. If we succumb to resignation or complacency, melting ice may well shut down the Gulf Stream and leave Ireland with a climate like that of northern Canada.
Climate change is no longer only about environmental sustainability, although we are polluting at a rate greater than the Earth's natural systems can absorb. Nor is it simply a question of global justice, although it is the world's poorest and most vulnerable communities which will pay the highest price for the rich world's pollution. Climate change is now also a question of national security for Ireland.
We are not powerless, but the key lesson from the latest research findings is that time is short if we are going to make a difference. Promoting climate stability must become one of Ireland's key policy goals, accorded the same weight we give peace and prosperity. While the solutions are international, we can only press the US, China and India to pull their weight if we show leadership at home. Our energy, transport and planning policies and practice must become radically more efficient and less polluting. The shift to sustainability will require innovation and adjustment, but it is now clear that business as usual would mean life turned upside down. - Yours, etc.,
OISÍN COGHLAN, Director, Friends of the Earth, 22 South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2.