Irish Examiner view: Saving our world one step at a time

Litter washed up on a beach in County Cork, Ireland. A campaign hopes to raise awareness about the impact of plastic pollution and convince people to forego single-use plastic.

Winter may have passed in more ways than one. Lá Fhéile Bríde, which was celebrated yesterday, for centuries marked a departure point, a precursor to renewal. In 2021 that prospect is especially welcome even if it arrives in the smallest, seemingly unimportant or remote of ways.

One of those also came yesterday when Estonia’s first female prime minister, Kaja Kallas, a 43-year-old lawyer, was sworn in. Kallas promised changes in style and substance for the Baltic nation’s 1.3m citizens. She has recognised the need for “a very clear change on climate policy”. Estonia is, like Ireland, a small country and can hardly save the planet through its own reforms. Rather it — and Ireland — can only be part of a concerted response to the challenge of our time.

Estonia is not the only society embracing political change. US conservationists are, after Donald Trump’s four-year rampage, rolling back the robber-baron destruction brought by his collaborators. Rejoining the Paris climate accord may be the most significant early change brought by the Biden-Harris administration, but many Americans, even some Republicans, hope environmental policies, as well as the federal commitment to environmental protection and land and water stewardship, will be renewed.

That is hugely important as the US, despite the last four years, largely sets the agenda in these matters. Without a pro-active America, climate-collapse aversion measures will be all the harder to introduce or sustain. It may seem a quantum leap from America’s nascent return to environmental responsibility to a boil-water notice for 6,500 people served by East Cork’s Whitegate regional public water supply, but both are part of the same urgent process of recognising what is being, or may be, lost unless it is protected. The notice is a “precautionary measure” following issues which “may have compromised the disinfection process which makes the water safe to drink”.

Plastic pollution

Irish Water is tackling another pressing issue on protecting water quality at source by its involvement in a partnership with Clean Coasts and the Think Before You Flush campaign. Clean Coasts hopes to raise awareness about the impact of plastic pollution and convince people — us — to forego single-use plastic in everything from plastic-rich baby wipes to some brands of teabags.

One estimate predicts that, globally, some 583.3bn single-use plastic bottles will be produced this year. It is another example of commercial ambitions usurping environmental obligations. An increasing number of local authorities are moving to ban the sale of these bottles. A plastic-bottle ban in some of America’s magnificent national parks, which was rescinded by Trump, is likely to be reimposed.

There is an urgency around this as Ireland is the EU’s top producer of plastic waste; we each produce 54kg every year. That recklessness is exacerbated by our very poor recycling rates. We are fourth from bottom of the EU’s league table.

The personal changes required to acknowledge and limit this pollution and destructive behaviour are not huge, but the consequences of not doing so may well be.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB