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.