The lawn in my back garden is soaking. Every time I walk across it to replenish the bird-table, I leave a trail of dark footprints where my feet have sunk into the ground with a squelch. Weird. I don’t remember sqelchiness being the case twenty years ago.
All changed, changed utterly. And we all know why. Pace Sammy Wilson and his wisdom, climate change is upon us. I saw a Channel 4 item about Bangladesh, which is perhaps the country in the world most damaged by climate change. The sea is eating into the place, swallowing more and more chunks of the country.
Violence, coming from within as well as without: that’s a major reason for the huge waves of immigrants trying desperately to get into European countries. Climate change is another major reason, as people shift ground in an attempt to escape the punishment that Nature is meting out.
Except it isn’t Mother Nature that’s doing it, it’s us. With our relentless air travel, our never-ending car-lines, our air-fouling industry. And yes, Virginia, our farting cows. Some of the damage we’ve wrought is irreversible. But we can still put the brakes on if we choose. Governments need to know that people simply aren’t going to accept a planet that’ll be a toxic legacy for our children and grandchildren.
That’s why all over the world there will be rallies on Sunday 29 November – two days from now – to let our masters know that we’re mad as hell and not taking it any more. There’ll be rallies in Dublin and Belfast. I’ve been given a few specifics about the Belfast one: it’ll begin with an ecumenical service in St Anne’s Cathedral at 1.15 pm, followed by a rally at 2.00 pm in Writers’ Square.
Sometimes our leaders have to be led by the nose to appreciate the mess they’ve made and the urgent need to get cracking and see it’s not made worse.
“This land is sacred to us…I am a savage and I do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and I do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.
What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.
You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves!” Chief Seattle
Will be there!!!
Interesting to hear you will be in the capital of the FSS, Esteemed Blogmeister, for this is the very city which can lay claim to, perhaps, the first voice to be raised against the dangers of Climate Change.
He fulfilled a similar type function as the Soothsayer in the streets of Rome, the Tiberside toga-wearer who bellowed up at the passing J.Caesar to beware ‘The Ides of March !’
In the case of his fellow Liffeyside Soothsayer the latter’s bellow might have been along the lines of: ‘Beware the Tides of March !’.
He was in fact in the great and grating tradition of the Dublin Street Character and he was active around the city centre back in the Forties and into the Fabulous Fifties.
Though not as illustrious as his predecessors Zozimus, Skin-the-Goat and Billy in the Bowl, his contemporaries Bang-Bang and Johnny Forty Coats or even his successors, Dancing Mary who is often confused with the Scary oul wan with the Crucifix, nevertheless he was a man before his time.
Damntheweather ! (for it was he !) is only now coming into his own at this moment in time, going f., now that the rest of the human kind have raised their meterological awareness to his precocious level.
His technique was to target window shoppers, (in retrospect probably those who were prospective purchasers of the predecessor of the aerosol spray), sneak up on them, and then, while simultaneously clapping his hands and stamping his feet, bellow out at the top of his raucous voice:
Summer’s too bloody hot !
Winter’s too bloody not !
Spring is for lambs
Autumn leaves trees in the all-together
Oh, Oh, Oh ! Oh ! damn the weather !
Hence his name (see above).
Ireland, Dublin could do with Damntheweather these days.
Alas, the farmers are too busy playing ‘You Tarzan, methane’ to tackle the explosive topic of, erm, bovine flatulence. And the monopoly media, charged with tackling the monetary malarkey of the Ifers of Irish Farming Association (IFA) are only supplying more methane to the equation.
The sound of the guest spokespersons from The Unionist Times (TUT) tut-tutting about the ranchers of the IFA to their radio hosts who are trousering more moolah than the tut-tuttees showed up just how bogus these (alleged) biodegradable boyos are.
Meanwhile, Daisy the Cow is anything but, erm, cowed even as she goes about carpetting the Four Green Fields where trees used to grow, till felled by John Bull in in the good ole bad ole days.
Cad a dheanfaimid feasta gan adhmad ? / What will we do for timber?
Great story.Jude.
You.Know.It.Is.Jim.
Perhaps they could use some of the spare cash to invest in researching how Ireland can becoming energy independent through renewable energy sources.
The west coast can accommodate wind powered hydro stations, we are surrounded by coast for vivace systems and where better for growing biogas technology produce
We should be generating 100% of our energy through renewables and selling off the rest
Can’t stop climate change – it has been here since the start of time. Why do people buy into this futility?
I don’t believe humanity is behind climate change. Oh yes, the climate is definitely changing but it has always been changing since the day the atmosphere developed….there is no “normal” or “set” weather to our Planet, it constantly changes and the same occurs on other planets too. So what is currently happening IS “normal”. Scientists say during the time of the Dinosaurs the average worldwide temperature on Earth was 50 degrees, today its 15 degrees. That’s change.
On the planet Neptune the winds are the fastest in the solar system, you would be torn to pieces in a matter of seconds if engulfed in them and so would any spacecraft. On Venus, our nearest neighbour and “twin sister planet”, you would be crushed by the gravity alone. The soviets landed reinforced landers on the planet in the 1970’s (the Venera programme) each weighing tons and heavily protected but all only lasted around 60 minutes before being destroyed by the gravity and heat. The point is the weather systems on all planets differ and CHANGE.
The major influences on the weather on our planet is the Sun and the Moon. That’s what we must study in order to find out how we can influence the weather. Though, on a slightly different topic, I do believe the farming industry (especially in meat) which produces massive amounts of gasses that pollute our atmosphere must change radically for the welfare of animals and our environment. If there’s any place on Earth that resembles Hell its factory farms. They need to be abolished. The alternative? Grow meat in labs. The first lab grown meat will be on our shelves in just 5 years time, thanks to Dutch scientists. I will certainly be ditching farm meat in favour of lab meat in the interests of animal welfare and the environment.
Very interesting ryan.
You’re a bit of a mad scientist then.:)
I thought it was the moons gravity that effected the tides by pulling the oceans towards it as it circles the earth. The tides then impact the gulf stream which I believe could have devastating impact on this country with drastic change.
I don’t think anyone is disputing that climate changes naturally, it is more about the damage to the environment and peoples health that industrial burning of fossil fuels is doing. Countries with the highest pollution have the highest infertility, and I don’t think it is coincidence.
There is a good reason the EU want everyone generating 20% of their energy consumption from renewable sources and Ireland is not on target of avoiding fines if they fail to meet these. If we can produce clean energy then we must?
As for meat grown in labs. Not a chance, I love my meat. Animal welfare stops at dinner time.