John Gibbons: Just like in the movies, scientists are ignored

By not taking action now, we are choosing to dig our children and our grandchildren’s graves, writes John Gibbons

Flooding on the Dunmanway to Macroom road in  West Cork, on January 12.  Lots of bad impacts of climate change are already locked into the system, but a full-scale collapse of human civilisation may yet be averted. Picture: Andy Gibson

It is said that at the start of every disaster movie, there’s a scientist being ignored. They are usually portrayed as ashen-faced nerds waving sheaves of data as the politicians and media stifle a yawn. Until, of course, calamity strikes.

Still, the great thing about the movies is that, no matter how scary things get, the audience can enjoy the white-knuckle ride in the knowledge that, as the final credits roll and the lights come up, the world will be exactly as they left it a couple of hours earlier.