Sir, – Mary Robinson has suggested that people eat less meat ("Farmers criticise Mary Robinson's calls to 'not eat meat'", September 30th). She is not a vegetarian herself but at least she has challenged our beliefs, our cultural norms and our societal institutions that continue to resist any systemic change to tackling the climate change crisis.
Two weeks ago, we were reminded again, by 375 members of the National Academy of Sciences, “that the problem of human-caused climate change is real, serious, and immediate, and that this problem poses significant risks: to our ability to thrive and build a better future, to national security, to human health and food production, and to the interconnected web of living systems”.
Yet in the face of this existential threat, and even when viable solutions are presented, vested interests continue to prolong resistance to any change.
Unfortunately Mary Robinson’s intervention is typical of the enormous dilemma we face. She wants to get people to change the way they think and act, but without changing herself. It sounds more like a hollow gong than a genuine call to action.
Her detractors on the other hand continue to bang their well-worn drum, resisting any meaningful change for personal and selfish reasons. For them, addressing climate change threatens their established power bases and their business interests.
Ask anyone who grapples with changing behaviour and knows the strong aversion to any change in the status quo, despite the application of scientific facts highlighting the important need to change.
We all need to change, because if we fail to change, we will be forced to change. And science is telling us that won’t be pleasant. – Yours, etc,
GAVIN HARTE,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.