Sir, – Sally Rooney in her challenging article “When are we going to have the courage to stop the climate crisis?” (People, November 23rd) has given us all a solemn warning when she writes: “Either we confront the system that is threatening our civilisation – or ‘property will cost us the earth’”.
The State’s reluctance to tackle the climate crisis head on is chilling. The May 2024 report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated that the State will fail to achieve its climate action goals before 2030 and “will not meet its EU Effort Sharing Regulation target of 42 per cent reduction by 2030″. In the annual review of the October 2024 Climate Change Advisory Council, chairperson Marie Donnelly said, “While progress has been made in reducing our emissions, it is not enough to meet our national and EU climate targets. Without immediate and decisive action, the cost of failing to meet EU targets could exceed €8 billion for the period up to 2030.”
The cost of a bicycle shelter outside the Dáil has been roundly criticised. On the other hand there has been no critical debate about the €8 billion EU fine which will be imposed on taxpayers in 2030 if the State system and our politicians do not quickly change their cowardly and unambitious course.
I concur with Sally Rooney’s recommendation that “Voters concerned about the future of human life on Earth can still choose to support the few radical left-wing parties that are trying to understand the scale of the challenge”. A vote on November 29th for political parties with radical climate action plans is more than advisable at this late stage. – Yours, etc,
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SEÁN Ó AODHA,
Indreabhán,
Co na Gaillimhe.
Sir, – Sally Rooney’s article in Saturday’s Irish Times “When are we going to have the courage to stop the climate crisis” was ostensibly about the climate crisis, but most of it was devoted to her opinions on the evils of the Enlightenment and capitalism. The article contained some questionable arguments to support her conclusion that the only way to tackle climate change is to support revolutionary socialist parties and policies rather than green ones.
She tells us approvingly that, “The same fields produced roughly the same yields in 1200 as 1600.” She then decries the subsequent growth in agricultural productivity and ascribes it solely to greed. Is she serious?
American agronomist Norman Borlaug kick-started the Green Revolution In the 1950s and 1960s by crossing strains of wheat and selecting genetically superior offspring that could produce dramatically higher yields. Thanks to the Green Revolution, the world’s farmlands can now produce three times the amount of a given food than they otherwise could. The Green Revolution rescued millions from hunger and avoided the conversion of thousands of hectares of land into farmland. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his contributions to the ‘Green Revolution’ that was having such an impact on food production particularly in Asia and in Latin America.” By contrast, when world-renowned Soviet scientist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov, had tried to do something similar in Russia, he got sent to Siberia for his troubles, and his ideas on genetics were denounced as “capitalist-reactionary” and “the prop of the ideology of imperialism”.
Is Sally Rooney seriously suggesting that it was we in the capitalist West who got that one wrong?
Later in the article, she bemoans the imperfections of democracy and goes on to rail against the concept of private property.
According to the World Bank, “beginning in 1990, rapid economic growth-especially in China and India-liberated more than a billion people from the scourge of extreme poverty.”
This coincided with China and India ditching socialist economic policies in favour of capitalism. Would Sally Rooney consider going to China to explain why she thinks they’d be better off now ditching capitalism and going back to socialist economic policies? She could then pop down to Hong Kong and explain, as she did in her article, why she thinks the liberal democratic rights and freedoms they’re fighting to protect there aren’t really all they’re cracked up to be. Best of luck to her if she does.
The climate crisis is, and should be, everyone’s concern, Articles like Sally Rooney’s only have the effect of trivialising it because they make it seem the preserve of extremist revolutionaries rather than something with which we all need to be concerned, and they lend credence to the far-right trope that climate change is just a conspiracy dreamt up by the far-left to force their revolutionary ideologies on us. – Yours, etc,
RONAN SHALLOE,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Sally Rooney calls for a radical rethinking of our economic model to one no longer obsessed with growth and private property. A global sharing of existing resources, however idealistic, is part of the way forward to a sustainable future. For Ireland to take any kind of lead in this direction we must cease to facilitate global greed and inequality through our tax avoidance and shadow banking systems. Astounding amounts of money, either untaxed or unregulated, flow through Ireland annually. Enda Kenny said that Ireland should be “the best little country in the world to do business” without any mention of an ethical framework. We need to promote a genuinely green agenda and a country that is the best in the world to do ethical business. The ever-increasing speed of climate change calls for a serious political engagement with new and emerging economic models. Otherwise Ireland, for all of its small size, remains a big part of the problem. – Yours, etc,
PAUL CONNOLLY,
Cavan.
Sir, –Sally Rooney blames capitalism for the looming climate catastrophe. But China – the world’s biggest carbon emitter – opens two new coal-fired power stations every week, while the West rapidly decarbonises. China has overtaken Europe in all-time greenhouse gas emissions so there is no longer the excuse of “historical balance”. It is the Marxist-Leninist ideology of the Communist Party of China that is driving us to disaster. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Dhún na nGall.
Sir, – I commend Sally Rooney’s powerful critique emphasising the urgent need for systemic change to address our climate crisis. However, at a recent climate networking event, I witnessed a troubling disconnect between her vision and the corporate narrative that frames sustainability as a mere business “opportunity”. This perspective risks reducing genuine ecological transformation to greenwashing.
The keynote speaker, a sustainability consultant, exemplified this capitalist mindset by viewing sustainability as a market opportunity rather than a call for fundamental change. This approach reflects a capitalist mindset, prioritising profit and marketability over genuine ecological responsibility. By promoting this perspective, we are influencing potential climate activists to adopt a superficial view of sustainability, undermining the deeper systemic changes needed for true environmental progress.
While Rooney rightly highlights the industrial revolution’s role in environmental degradation, we must also acknowledge that significant damage began much earlier, with the agricultural revolution over 10,000 years ago. This era led to widespread deforestation across Europe, transforming ancient forests and establishing destructive land ownership models. The shift to settled agriculture not only transformed landscapes but also introduced the concept of hoarding resources, particularly food. This accumulation changed human society and fostered social hierarchies and economic disparities.
The agricultural revolution paved the way for feudalism by concentrating land ownership and creating a class of landless labourers dependent on landlords. This system laid the groundwork for capitalism, as market dependence grew and land became a commodity.
True climate action demands dismantling these entrenched systems that prioritise profit over planet. We must move beyond rebranding sustainability as a business strategy and instead commit to replanting our planet from the roots up. Perhaps the best-case scenario is that future generations will look back and recognise our courage to challenge these systems. The alternative is a future where they may not have the luxury to look back at all. – Yours, etc,
LOUISA MOSS,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – Thank you so much for including Sally Rooney’s vitally important article about climate change and capitalism.
It is so important that we talk about this more and that more people speak out. Thank you for having the vision and the courage to publish this. – Yours, etc,
TARA BRANDEL,
Ballydehob,
Co Cork.