Madam, - Recent letters to this page have highlighted people's misunderstanding of climate change and its consequences. There are conflicting views and much contested evidence in this topic and we need a high level of knowledge and skill to be able to analyse and act upon the growing body of theory, opinion and fact. Change is upon us and we are not adequately prepared to find solutions. There is therefore an urgent need for a co-ordinated primary and secondary-level approach to environmental education.
Our present secondary educational system approaches environmental education in an ad-hoc and fragmented way. There are components of it, often elective, in subjects such as geography, CSPE and the traditional sciences, but no centralised subject approach. Environmental science needs to become a subject in its own right, with proper and full assessment under the national curriculum.
As a subject it could contain modules on ecology, pollution, climate change, conservation, sustainability, heritage, planning and development, biodiversity and so on. This would raise the skill and knowledge level of students entering third level for further study in any of these areas. It would also raise public awareness and understanding of the natural environment and the effects of our interaction with it.
We need to be mature enough to face upheaval and change with our eyes open, however politically unpalatable this may be in the short term. To be able to move decisively and adapt as a society we need to reach a consensus built upon long-term scientific and economic realities. Without education we are susceptible to spin and propaganda. We need to be more aware of those with narrow or vested interests who present false dilemmas and draw out unnecessary disputes to distract us from the overriding need to act urgently and concertedly on this issue.
Ireland's recent and ongoing environmental and conservational failures have already divided our society at a time when we need to work together to find sustainable compromise. Over the next 50 years many of us will have to cope - positively, one hopes - with the increasing effects of climate change, not to mention peak oil and the difficult transition to alternative energies. The answers to these problems will come largely from those who are now young. Surely we have a responsibility to prepare them for this challenge?
- Yours, etc,
TERRY DONNELLY, Roseberry, Newbridge, Co Kildare.