Lorna Bogue: Politicians are not taking climate crisis seriously despite the evidence

Ireland swelters as the Northern Hemisphere sees most extreme weather events in recorded history, and our politicians are not willing to make the hard decisions. Instead, they are abdicating them to the next generation

Governments are relying on the young to make the changes they won’t implement themselves. School Climate Action Network, Friday's For Future, Climate Strike, on Lapps Quay, Cork, recently. Photo: Jim Coughlan

This summer as we swelter under temperature warnings in Ireland, we bear witness to the northern hemisphere's most extreme weather events in recorded history. Climatologists warn that this is only the beginning. 

With heat waves and flooding killing hundreds in Canada and Germany respectively, we would expect governments and political parties to jump into emergency mode in a bid to reduce emissions rapidly. Instead the political approach in the global north has been to underplay the significance of climate breakdown in these tragic events.