Irish Examiner view: Budget must address the climate crisis

We need to get serious about the effects we are having on our planet

The frequency and severity of adverse weather events including heatwaves continue to impact us more and more. Stock picture

Given the seriousness of the climate situation facing our little blue planet, it is beyond time that we in our tiny corner of the globe started getting serious about doing our bit to try to alleviate some of the problems we face.

Large tracts of Europe are ablaze with wildfires, while Portugal, Spain, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy, Sicily, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey are all listed by Copernicus, the EU’s earth observation programme, as being in “high danger” or “very extreme danger” from wildfire.

Across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Oceania, and Asia, the climate issue is becoming more pressing by the day.  

Eastern Australia is experiencing unheard of flooding. Train tracks have burst into flames across Britain, as the Met Office there issued only the third “extreme heat” warning in its history.

Italy’s longest river, the Po, has been reduced to a trickle, and even in northern Europe, countries such as Sweden and Finland are coping with drought and heatwaves.

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Up on Mount Everest, scientists are witness to the fact that ice which took 20,000 years to form has melted in just 25 years. 

Dry cracked land where once the river Po flowed — just one of many startling images from around the world which should alert us to the reality of climate change. Picture: Luca Bruno/AP

Base camp on the Nepalese side of the mountain, from where most attempts to climb Everest are launched, has had to be moved down the mountain because the Khumbu glacier is melting at an unprecedented rate.

Everyone knows that the planet is in a state of unprecedented flux and facing the threats posed by war and famine. However, human activity is adding more greenhouse gases each year and the heat-trapping effect of this will only ease when we take strong and in many cases unpalatable decisions to help avert catastrophe.

Extreme heat is increasingly a public health issue and — unless governments invest in infrastructure to keep their populations cool and healthy in a rapidly warming world — death rates will accelerate. It is worth remembering that, in 2020, which was not a particularly scorching summer by the standards of 2018 and this year, there were 2,500 heat-related deaths in the UK alone.

Temperature records are being broken across Europe on a daily basis. Ireland’s eastern counties saw 27C on Monday, topping the record of 26.2C seen in Shannon on Sunday. 

There is a strong chance Britain will break 40C this month, while other European countries are already sweltering in that heat.

Our Government must now prepare a budget that incorporates climate change issues as much as it focuses on the cost-of-living crisis. It is not too late to, at best, reverse global warming or, at worst, reduce our effects on it. It should be a prime focus for us all. 

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