When it comes to climate change there is no 'Planet B'

ANYONE who still doubts that climate change is for real would quickly change their minds if they stood anywhere near the Cliffs of Moher today.

They wouldn’t be there for long, though, as the tourist spot is being battered by winds of up to 170km an hour.

We have already experienced three major storms here in the past month. Storm Abagail at the beginning of last month was quickly followed by Storm Barney and now Storm Clodagh is sweeping us off our feet.

From storms to floods, extreme weather events that we might have expected every 50 years or so are now coming our way with increasing frequency.

It is the same the world over. From Dublin to Darwin, the effects of climate change are being felt in a very real way and will only get worse if we do nothing to halt or reverse it.

There are low-lying islands in the Indian Ocean that face being wiped out by flooding if global temperatures continue to rise.

As an island nation, Ireland is also vulnerable.

Almost 10 years ago, a report by the Environmental Research Centre warned climate change would lead to a rise in sea levels and consequent coastal flooding as well as an increase in river flooding and more extreme cyclonic and precipitation events.

All of the above have already happened, yet in the past decade we have done little or nothing to address the cause.

That is why COP21, the UN summit on global climate change being held in Paris, is relevant to us all and not just the political elite gathered there.

The last such summit was held in Copenhagen in 2009 and failed to deliver any meaningful or lasting changes.

No firm targets, timetables or enforcement mechanisms for cutting carbon emissions were put in place.

Copenhagen failed because no real pressure was put on the world’s leaders to come to an agreement, particularly when it meant facing down the fossil fuel industry.

Paris might be different if only because, for the first time, tackling climate change has become a mass issue, with ordinary people taking to the streets to compel their governments to act.

Tens of thousands yesterday joined one of the biggest global days of climate change activism to put pressure on world leaders to unite in fighting global warming at the Paris summit.

Ireland was among 70 countries worldwide where marches took place to call for action on climate change, with rallies taking place in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Galway.

What is happening in the streets may prove more important than what happens in the conference halls.

The Paris summit will need to deliver far more than the Copenhagen summit did. It is little exaggeration to say that a robust treaty is all that stands between us and mass extinction.

The real danger associated with global warming is how rapidly it is happening, faster than any climate change event in millions of years.

Rapid climate change in the past resulted in 90% of all species being wiped out.

There is no Planet B. The Earth is our only home and we ignore the dangers of climate change at our peril.