Irish Examiner view: Playing our part in climate action

 Greta Thunberg has done more in three short years than most people will do in a lifetime.

It is hard to believe that Greta Thunberg, one of the world’s best-known teenagers, has just turned 18. She officially reached adulthood yesterday, although her maturity has been apparent since she staged a lone school strike outside the Swedish parliament aged just 15.

Since then, she has inspired some 4m young people to join in climate strikes in the Fridays for the Future movement. She has addressed the United Nations on climate change, warded off the personal jibes of world leaders such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and spoken of her Asperger’s syndrome diagnosis as a “superpower”.

She has done more in three short years than most people will do in a lifetime, although she wasn’t planning any celebratory splurges to mark her big day. She said she didn’t need any new clothes. She planned to borrow what she needed or, in the worst-case scenario, buy them second-hand.

It’s a salutary lesson for Ireland, a nation that was expected to generate more than 80,000 tonnes of waste packaging during Christmas. With four in five people shopping online this year, waste was expected to increase significantly this year, according to non-profit environment organisation Repak.

Greta Thunberg has called on people to make 2021 the year to take action on climate. Another survey showing that nearly 70% of Irish people want to live more sustainably, suggests this might be the year when we heed her.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB