CHANGE IN OUR CLIMATE HITS HOME
Posted on 18th November 2023
These days with the news smothered by the awful carnage in Gaza and in the background the ongoing struggle against Russian aggression in Ukraine, it is sometimes easy to forget the real news and that is the deeply disturbing implications of climate change. RTE made a stab at it with its fictional docu-series “ Ireland 2050: Tomorrow Tonight” broadcast on Wednesday evening. To be honest I didn’t want to watch it as I was looking for something lighter to lift my spirits. The first feeling of the blade was the mention of the demise of the Atlantic salmon. I felt this very personally. My father was a passionate fisherman and I remember as a child him catching 10 salmon on the opening day of the season on our stretch of the river Boyne. I think their average weight was 20 lbs. This was a very big deal, some of those fish were served up in the best restaurants in Paris. My father believed in conservation. He rightly regarded the Boyne Arterial Drainage Scheme as deeply damaging to the spawning beds. He fought against it for years. Gone are those memories and largely gone are the salmon. Despite the weaknesses in the programme, the message is clear. We have a profound responsibility to future generations to address climate change and its implications. The problems seem so overwhelming it is difficult to know where to start. This week we were hit by a ferocious storm. I knew beforehand living in a place like this there would be casualties. Tragic then to have what must have been a 250 year old beech tree crashing down on the drive. Beeches have shallow roots. This one was hit by a gust. Thank God nobody was underneath it, they wouldn’t have stood a chance. Looking at the giant sawn up and on the ground, I couldn’t help but think about climate change and the increasing frequency of storms and what damage they will inflict. Of course I will replace this tree to join the thousands I have planted over the years but God knows what the world will look like when they grow to full maturity.
So what of the awful war in Gaza. I have to say I was disappointed with the motion put forward by Holly Cairns and the Social Democrats to expel the Israeli Ambassador. If ever we need to keep diplomatic channels open it is now with Irish citizens in Gaza. It shows a lack of maturity and maybe an eagerness to grab a headline. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are to be commended for their efforts but this conflict has no easy end, nor has Ukraine.
