Irish Climate

Update: years of protest and lobbying by Erris fishermen and others have paid off, more or less: Shell Ireland has agreed to extend the “umbilical” pipe that discharges waste from the Corrib gas terminal. Previously, the pipe was located about 2km north of Erris Head, with the “diffuser” end approximately 13km offshore. Now, the discharge will occur 80km offshore — good news for the fisherman, though perhaps not much of an improvement for the sea’s ecosystem as a whole…

Shell has been  facing some serious resistance in their plans for Ireland, with the An Bord Pleanala decision pleasantly surprising those who had reason the believe that the government as a whole would continue to consistently support Shell – with tactics up to and including violence and sabotage (among others, Pat O’Donnell can certainly attest to this). It’s a poorly-kept secret that Shell is basically employing their own ‘security forces’, whose main goal is to intimidate and silence the opposition, using force and ‘dirty tricks’, whenever and wherever possible.

The climate and environment of Ireland, famed from time immemorial, is suffering from the worldwide blight of climate change.

Certainly, Ireland is one among many. Every location in the world, no matter how far removed from the centers of industry and population, feels this threat in one way or another. We’re not quite at the point where you’ll need Sorel boots to get around in the Kalahari, but it’s drawing closer every day. Every ecosystem, from the most arid and rocky to the most lush and verdant, shows the telltale signs of disease and corruption.

Yet here we focus on Ireland; for a number of reasons, the Auld Sod provides a striking example — not least of which is the enduring characterization of Ireland as the country of green. As much as the rainforests, Eire represents the beauty of green, growing things — all the more so because Ireland’s green is largely settled land, tamed land; unlike the impenetrable growth of jungle and untouched wilderness, Ireland’s natural beauty exists alongside centuries of civilization and progress.

Those practical persons of power may be somewhat persuaded by appeals to the economic crises of declining revenue and shifting consumer priorities; in response, a belated and largely opportunistic strategy of ‘sustainability’ results, and the word ‘green’ is thrown around with other sound bytes and photo ops. The idea that we have arrived at a point not worth sustaining is alien to such people, not to mention the possibility that progress itself (in the accepted definition of the term) may be an undesirable relic of the past — a past which should someday be seen as equally barbaric in its cruelty and ignorance as any tyrannical empire or Dark Ages.