Shameless behaviour: 55 tonnes of rubbish collected on Kerry roads in a day

The umbrella group, the Environmental Pillar, warns today that the long-overdue draft National Mitigation Plan is almost wholly inadequate to meet our climate change responsibilities, and that fundamental, more demanding changes to the proposals are needed urgently.

This is not the first, nor is it likely to be the last time, that those advocating a responsible attitude to climate change or environmental protection have had to point out how paltry our token efforts around these life-defining issues really are. It is a recurring theme and one that shows us in a pretty poor light. It also suggests that were are far more stupid than we might like to imagine.

However, a politician in a position to bring greater change in these areas could be forgiven for thinking that we are hypocritical too, and that there’s really no need to do anything of any consequence — certainly not anything that might discommode anyone — on these matters.

This sad reality, this sad confirmation of our delinquency, was reconfirmed yesterday when a meeting of Kerry County Council heard that on just one day last year volunteers collected more than 55 tonnes of roadside litter in the county. Motorists and pedestrians were responsible for 90% of the rubbish thrown on the margins of Kerry’s roads. Such contempt for the world around us is shocking and unacceptable. It’s time for a far bigger stick and a far smaller carrot.