“We are clever, intelligent people – we CAN make a difference – we CAN tread more lightly on the earth”, environmentalist and broadcaster Éanna Ní Lamhna said at a recent event organised by Balally Parish Environment Group, Dublin.
Addressing the topic, “Treading Lightly on the Earth”, Éanna decried the way we lived in this world and the impact the human species has had on the earth. “What a bags man has made of it,” she said.
She did go on to say, however: “We needn’t be helpless: we can make some efforts to make the world a better place, we can lobby and we can help others whose lives are impoverished.”
She talked about the huge population growth in recent years, the increases in temperature and CO2 emissions and how the effects of climate change are already being felt in Africa. “They are suffering the consequences of the way rich people in the west are living,” she said. “The ground is becoming drier while rainforest is getting smaller; the area of savannah will continue to get smaller while the area of desert will get bigger.
“They don’t have a reservoir of carbon in the soil because it is dry. We do! We should send manure to Africa as it can be worked into the soil and used to grow crops. But I don’t think Michael O’Leary wants to fill up his planes with manure!”
An innovative solution Éanna mentioned for reducing greenhouse gas emissions was the idea of making electricity out of slurry. “It’s a great source,” she said, “But our unions would never allow it: the workers would go on strike.”
Noting that the average Irish person drives 23,000km per annum, Éanna criticised the way the country had been organised with people often living far from their place of work. “Why don’t we build railways?” she asked. “Instead we build motorways; we have allowed the population of the country live where there is no work.”
Not surprisingly, she extolled the virtues of using renewable energy to make electricity rather than burning coal, peat, oil and gas.
Éanna offered the following suggestions for living in a more sustainable way:
- Eat food when it is in season (shops will only sell what we buy)
- Plant a tree (every growing tree locks away CO2 and slows down climate change)*
- Get a compost bin (put your carbon waste in the soil, not in landfill)
- Save energy (turn off lights, computers etc when not in use; walk instead of using the car)
- Climate justice (help those who are affected by climate change)
Éanna’s talk was preceded by a prayer service with an environmental theme when the hymns ‘Morning Has Broken’ and ‘Now Thank We All Our God’ were sung.
The service ended with the following prayer: “May God who established the dance of creation, who marvelled at the lilies of the field, who transforms chaos to order, lead us to transform our lives and the church to reflect God’s glory in creation. Amen.”
* If you do not have the space to plant a tree, you can sponsor a tree to be planted by the Tree Council of Ireland. See http://www.treecouncil.ie/.