Global warming - Awareness and action is crucial

A GOVERNMENT report warned yesterday that a fifth of our native plants are under threat because of global warming.

The report was launched along with a multi-million-euro government campaign to raise awareness about climate change and substantially reduce carbon emissions over the next five years.

Hard as it is to believe there are those who persist in the belief that we should not be worried about climate change and its consequences for our way of life.

The Taoiseach’s announcement yesterday that a new cabinet committee on climate change and energy security has been established to oversee the implementation of the national climate change strategy is to be entirely welcomed.

The energy element of that announcement is especially welcome because, as a nation that imports the vast majority of its energy, we are especially vulnerable to a changing energy market.

It is reassuring that the Taoiseach has put the issue on an entirely different footing by recognising that “climate change is an environmental issue. It is also a social issue and an economic issue. It will touch on the lives of every man, woman and child in this country. It will have implications for every sector of our economy”.

However, each and every one of us must be aware and reduce the impact our activities have on our already greatly diminished environment.