Horizons

Ireland's leading environmentalists review their highs and lows of 2005:

Pat Finnegan Co-ordinator, Greenhouse Ireland Action Network (Grian):

"My high for 2005 was waking up the morning after the UN Climate Conference closed in Montreal two weeks ago and realising that, despite fierce and well-known opposition, the UN had agreed to strengthen the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.

"My lows are every time I see a building - government, commercial, or private - with absolutely no solar panels or micro wind turbines visible anywhere on the roof."

Michael Starrett Chief executive, The Heritage Council

"The high points this year include securing €1 million for a new biodiversity fund; making real progress on establishing a national biological records centre; increases in public (voters') awareness of the importance of the environment; and debate on the need for legislation on Ireland's landscapes.

"The lows include visiting the new developments in Killenard and the frustratingly difficult task of getting enough emphasis placed on the connections between our environment, our well-being and our quality of life."

Eanna Ni Lamhna President, An Taisce

"My low point of 2005 is the continued lack of interest in the environment from those in authority, as evidenced by the recent EU report which showed that Ireland had one of the highest levels of greenhouse gases in the EU and the highest levels of household waste. In spite of this, there was nothing in the Budget to make the polluter pay.

"My high this year is the increase of interest that ordinary people have in the environment. Mooney Goes Wild on RTÉ radio showed a 20 per cent increase in listenership, with quarter of a million people tuning in. Other highs are the success of the Golden Eagle project in Co Donegal and the satellite tracking of the giant leatherback turtle which left Dingle, Co Kerry, in the summer."

Davie Philip Cultivate Sustainable Living Centre

"The record high price of oil sent a clear signal that energy needs to be a priority for all: policy-makers, businesses, communities and individuals. Globally, half of the available oil is gone, and we will use the rest within 30 years. This needs serious responses and in 2005 Ireland held two international conferences highlighting Peak Oil, while the EPA and Forfás commissioned studies to explore this issue.

"Low points of the year include the response to the hurricanes and the continued atmosphere of fear and terror being perpetuated globally."

Tony Lowes Director, Friends of the Irish Environment and an editor of Forest Network News

"This has to be the year of environmental disasters. The scale of the tsunami; the power of the Pakistan earthquake; and, of course, battered New Orleans's Hurricane Katrina. Crashing fish stocks; vanishing species. And, threaded through them all, the theme of climate change and global warming. For an environmentalist, the low point had to be the espousal by an English environmental hero of nuclear power as a rational answer to global warming.

And the high point? Late on the last Friday of intense negotiations in Canada at the UN Climate Change Conference when it seemed it just might not be too late.

[ horizons@irish-times.ie ]