Time to wake up and face climate change reality

DURING the past week, wake-up calls issued forth from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Energy Agency, two very moderate institutions.

They appeal to world leaders to break out of their business-as-usual mode and do what needs to be done to move the world away from a future of catastrophic climate change.

The message could not be clearer. We act now or our children do not have a viable future. Life as we know it will cease. So what are we waiting for? How come the majority of people are still not even talking about it? What kind of species are we to deny ourselves a future because we can’t be bothered? What kind of psychological barriers are stopping us? The answers are no doubt varied and complex. But we simply don’t have the luxury of excuses or keeping heads in the sand any longer. We need to wake up, not only to where we’re at, but beyond that to what’s possible when we harness our individual and collective intelligence to create a new future. Already there are people, communities, businesses, cities, nations all over the planet who are doing just that.

We can but hope and pray that as the United Nations Conference on Climate Change gets underway this week in Durban, politicians and policymakers, including Environment Minister Dick Hogan, will also wake up, face reality and get moving. It’s time for leadership from our leaders. Then the movement for change that is already happening all over the planet can truly take off and build a better world for us, our children and all of life.

Claire Oakes

Bellinter

Navan

Co Meath