Learning Points: Let’s have the vision to open our ears to the truth about climate change

Richard Hogan writes about the action we can take to improve our efforts in the face of climate change.

Personal steps in the face of climate change are more effective than ever. Picture: Matt Alexander/PA Wire

As we move out of lockdown and into phase one of going back to our lives, it is important that we look at the behaviours that made this virus so dangerous.

We were unprepared for it, even though scientists and infectious disease specialists were warning us about the potential catastrophe if a coronavirus became zoonotic and was easily transmitted among humans. We didn’t listen.

I had watched many Ted talks by Bill Gates over the years where he outlined the imminent threat we faced as a species but no collective response was undertaken.

We were in the headspace of; ‘sure things are grand now’. And we know, with hindsight, a mind set like that not only lacks vision but also has the potential to bring us to annihilation.

We have seen the evidence of that malaise- countries where they didn’t have enough PPE, we read about front line workers dying, we saw that some hospitals weren’t ready, there were not enough ventilators, the list could go on and on.

We all have fatigue from hearing how utterly unprepared we were as a global community. Some of our world leaders ignored science; in fact they scoffed at it and used words like ‘hoax’ or ‘fake’ news to diminish the reports they were receiving.

Some leaders said it would simply go away. And we hear the same utterances about climate change and sustainable living.

If this pandemic has taught us one thing, solidarity and science were the two pillars that helped us navigate our way out of it.

We have faced a pandemic and luckily enough we seem to be coming out of it now. But there is a greater challenge to our existence on this planet, one we can no longer simply ignore.

When scientists warn about the emergent ecological collapse due to climate change, we must listen. If we take the same approach as we did when they warned us about a potential pandemic we will not be able to recover quickly like we did with Coronavirus.

We will have passed the Rubicon, and there will be nothing left to recover.

And as Barack Obama recently said ‘the pandemic has finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many folks in charge know what they’re doing… if the world is going to get better it is up to you’.

In an uncharacteristically undiplomatic speech he frankly outlined that the world is in trouble because our leaders are absent and negligent. He points to the glaring reality; we must be better and not rely on our leaders to develop policy around living in a more sustainable way.

We need to start small in baby steps before we can see true progress. I think this resonates powerfully with living in a sustainable way.

We can no longer deceive ourselves and say we are waiting for our leaders to pave the way. We must be the ones to lead the way.

Four simple steps towards a more sustainable life.

• 1. Increase your recycling as a family. Make this fun, involve the children and see where you can improve as a family. Offer rewards for the child who recycles the most. This will build a habit that will last a lifetime. What a gift to give your child.
• 2. Introduce a meat free day. I have started to do this. It was met with a groan at first, by the kids, but they came on board when I asked them to pick the meal they want without meat. We have ‘meat free Monday’ and it has been a great success. I’m going to increase it to two days a week.
• 3. Give the old fashioned milkman a chance. I actually find hearing the clinking of glass as the milkman settles the bottles at the step romantic. It is a great way to cut down on plastic.
• 4. Reduce your food waste. Cooking in bulk and freezing that food is a great way to cut down on household food waste. Using vegetables that are leftover in a soup and freezing it will dramatically help to curb the amount of vegetables that are simply never eaten and just thrown out each week.

It is very easy to do nothing and blame our leaders but we must take responsibility.

What will our legacy be? Will we teach our children how to live in a sustainable way?Will we give them the gift of stewardship and collective responsibility?

Our DNA will survive us, that legacy DNA must be that we slowed down the pollution of our earth and we handed over the torch to the coming generation having shown them how to be responsible for their footprint.