Irish Examiner View: We cannot look away from threat of climate change

Issues such as mortgage interest rates are an immediate, short-term problem, yet by any reasonable standard of judgement, climate change is a far more pressing concern. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said we are headed for economy-destroying levels of global heating. Picture: Seth Wenig/AP

One of the more popular clichés in modern commentary is the ‘existential crisis’ — a term now rubbed smooth through overuse.

The tendency to describe even transient problems or temporary difficulties as having the potential to bring about a definitive ending has diluted the expression, yet we face a genuine existential crisis in the true sense of the word and seem to lack real urgency in addressing it.

Earlier this week, UN secretary general António Guterres spoke at the release of a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report which identified the gap between action and aspiration when it comes to climate change.

Guterres said we are headed for economy-destroying levels of global heating, adding that we need to close the emissions gap before climate catastrophe closes in on us all.

The head of UNEP, Inger Andersen, went even further, saying only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster.

The stakes could hardly be higher than this genuine threat to existence, and the pictures could hardly be starker.

Why is there relatively little urgency when it comes to addressing a problem which may end the world as we know it?

Bridging the difference between acknowledging that summers are indeed a little hotter on one hand and proactive involvement in the fight against climate change on the other seems beyond us. Readers may point to genuine efforts to reduce their carbon footprint and to recycle responsibly, but are those root-and-branch transformations?

Elsewhere, increases in the ECB’s interest rates and the stand-off in Stormont are discussed; readers will be understandably exercised about the former issue, particularly if their mortgage repayments increase. It’s an immediate, short-term problem which will have to be addressed. Yet by any reasonable standard of judgement, climate change is a far more pressing concern.

It should take precedence over more quotidian challenges, but it would be a rare reader indeed who would prioritise that issue over their mortgage repayments.

Humankind cannot bear very much reality, TS Eliot memorably said many years ago. Perhaps accommodating too much bad news is our fundamental flaw. When it comes to absorbing the implications of climate change, perhaps the reality of a mortgage increase is simply easier to bear.