A World Pushed Beyond Its Limits by Denial and Delay
In my working life and social interactions, I encounter widely differing views, some grounded in reality, others bizarre. Many, echoing Donald Trump, call climate change the greatest hoax of the modern world. In 2019 and 2025 he mocked Greta Thunberg, telling her to work on her anger management.
Such attitudes reveal a deeper truth, powerful figures often put self-interest above the common good. Trump, like many leaders, is tied to fossil fuel, motor, and munitions interests. Oil, gas, coal, aviation, and automobile corporations keep profits ahead of the damage from hurricanes, floods, wildfires, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
Unsustainable Growth in a Finite World
In 1972, four MIT scholars published Limits to Growth, during a surge of capitalism and industrialisation that drove decades of reckless and unsustainable expansion. Globalisation and mass production created wealth at immense ecological cost.
The 1968 Earthrise photograph showed Earth as a small, fragile blue sphere in darkness, yet humanity still behaves as if another planet awaits.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, warns that humanity is already on a path that is destroying the planet. Cormorant, Ireland’s Eye, Howth, Dublin
Faith, Morality, and Responsibility
In 2015, Pope Francis published Laudato Si, urging care for our common home, condemning consumerism, reckless development, and fossil fuel dependence, calling for renewable energy and ecological responsibility.
Key truths, • The cry of the poor and the Earth are one. • Creation is interconnected. • Wealthy nations owe an ecological debt to those who suffer most. • Real change needs simplicity, moderation, and care.
Christian teaching has always emphasised stewardship of creation. Jesus commanded love for neighbour and enemy alike, yet human greed defies those teachings. If faith means anything, it must compel believers to defend creation and the generations who will inherit it. Anything less is moral suicide. Mother and Child Under Umbrella, Grafton Street, Dublin
Ireland and the Illusion of Exemption
Ireland has suffered increasingly severe climate related disasters. In August 2017 floods devastated Inishowen, Co. Donegal. In October 2023 Midleton, Co. Cork, was submerged during Storm Babet. In January 2025 Storm Éowyn, winds 186 km, was the most violent in living memory. In October 2025 Storm Amy left over 140,000 homes without power and caused severe flooding, blocked roads, and widespread damage from fallen trees and debris.
The biodiversity crisis is equally visible. According to the WWF Living Planet Report 2022, global wildlife populations have fallen by 69 percent since 1970. In 2025, forty thousand fish were found dead in the River Blackwater, Co. Cork, a stark warning of ecological collapse.
Climate Central projects that by 2050, low lying coastal areas in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Galway, and Sligo could be submerged. The need for coastal defences and long-term planning is urgent. Some of this is already materialising, with flooding in Midleton and Clontarf.
The Irish have a deep grá for fresh cod and chips, especially after a Friday night pub visit. In October 2025, The Guardian reported that decades of overfishing may soon end that tradition. North Atlantic cod stocks have collapsed to critical levels. Visitors come to see puffins on Ireland’s Eye and the Skelligs, but scientists warn that if current trends continue, puffins, cod, and Atlantic salmon could soon disappear, casualties of warming seas, overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss. Even seagulls have abandoned their natural home on the coast and are now found scavenging on Grafton Street and living off discarded fast food.
Despite this, many still believe Ireland is too small to matter. The opposite is true. Per capita, Ireland ranks among the world’s highest polluters. Decades of fertiliser overuse have poisoned soils and waterways, and leaking septic tanks pollute rivers and groundwater. Unless we face these realities, Ireland will not be remembered as a victim of climate change, but as a nation that failed to act.
A Path Forward Climate change is not a future threat, it is a present crisis. Floods, heatwaves, hurricanes and species collapse confirm what science already shows. Greta Thunberg reminds us to listen to the scientists.
Three actions are essential,
Accept the evidence, denial delays progress.
Prioritise the common good, profit must yield to duty and collective responsibility.
Act with moral courage, governments, businesses, and individuals must reform energy use, consumption, and policy, guided by Laudato Si.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy urged citizens not to ask what their country can do for them, but what they can do for their country. There is much each of us can do to protect this small and fragile island of ours.
History will judge us not by what we said about climate change, but by what we did to stop it. Two Razorbills, Ireland’s Eye, Dublin
Hello, I am Gandalf, your Wise Web Wizard. How can I help you today?
Subscribe: Stories about wildlife, habitats and heroes
Welcome to Conservation Mag where we celebrate nature preservation through ecotourism and wildlife travel while we look for ways to preserve our heritage by supporting nature conservation. Starting conversations about the positive action people like you and I are taking to make a change.
It looks like you're using an ad blocker. That's okay. Who doesn't? But without advertising-income, we can't keep this site free with no paywall. It's for a good cause.
