Sir, – Saoirse McHugh’s article on warming seas concerns one of the many aspects of global warming that most non-scientists are unaware of (“Ireland is experiencing one of the most extreme marine heatwaves on earth, so why aren’t we more alarmed?”, Opinion, July 4th). There are many others that lie in store.
The lack of effort by any Irish government to take real action for at least 20 years is disastrous. Ireland is in the midst of a catastrophic loss of biodiversity. We are a small island in the Atlantic with most of our big towns located on the coast. Rapidly warming seas lead to faster rises in sea levels, for which we are unprepared.
Unfortunately, over the years a small number of prominent Irish scientists have failed to urge action and instead have lobbied for inaction. The chief scientific adviser to the Government has not participated in the discussion. Our scientists need to be doing more.
More ordinary citizens must urgently put pressure on the Government to act on its paper commitments. The media could also do more, changing the emphasis from less important distractions such as RTÉ or the life of celebrities.
Matt Williams: Take a deep breath and see how Sam Prendergast copes with big Fiji test
New Irish citizens: ‘I hear the racist and xenophobic slurs on the streets. Everything is blamed on immigrants’
Crucial election weekend begins amid campaign as bland as an Uncle Colm monologue on Derry Girls
Jack Reynor: ‘We were in two minds between eloping or going the whole hog but we got married in Wicklow with about 220 people’
Listen to young people, who seem to be much more aware of what is happening. The effects of doing nothing are already upon us – decades before predicted. Radical action is urgently needed. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL FITZGIBBON,
Donnybrook.