A ‘radical readjustment’ is necessary if we are to take the science of climate change seriously, says Gavin Harte

We need a radical readjustment of the way in which we run our society, according to leading environmentalist Gavin Harte. “If we are to take the science of climate change seriously, we need to identify where we can make change; we need to plan, take action and review,” he told an audience at a Sustainable Saturday event at Airfield, Dublin on 28th August.

Describing climate change as “undeniable – it is actually basic physics and chemistry”, he said it was necessary to look at why people are not acting in the face of climate change. Psychologists reckoned that human beings did not like change; we preferred stability. A substantial number of people were still in denial, which was a barrier to action. Another difficulty was that our society was still selling a high carbon lifestyle. Habit was another huge barrier.

Referring to Kubler-Ross’s model of receiving catastrophic news, which identifies five stages of denial, anger, fear, bargaining and acceptance, Harte believed, “It is only in acceptance that we will make the changes necessary.”

He explained that CO2 stayed in the atmosphere for about 500 years, so there was a huge amount of historical carbon dioxide (largely produced by the developed north) as well as what was currently being produced.

The average Irish citizen was currently producing about 17 tons CO2 per year compared to the global average of 5.5 tons. “We need to shift to close to one or two tons by 2050,” said Harte.

He said we needed to come up with positive solutions and pointed to the vast quantities of natural energy available to us in Ireland. “We need to reassess the way that we use resources and plan in a more sustainable way. We are the first generation to be faced with this change … Are we going to move to a sense of acceptance in order to face the change?” he asked.

Harte said that scientists claimed the planet was likely to be four degrees hotter by the end of the century. “It is a huge change, which will result in sea level rises of one to one and a half metres as well as increased hurricanes, cyclones, and an increase in extreme heat and rainfall and extreme weather patterns,” he said. “We are already experiencing changes in weather patterns (eg last November’s rainfalls) and Ireland’s annual rainfall has already increased by 10%. We need to make some serious decisions with regard to infrastructure eg adding an extra runway at Shannon airport.

“We need to think outside the box and we need to look at our relationship with CO2 in a very different light. Are we prepared to do anything about it?”

Gavin Harte is a Sustainable Development Consultant and Environmental Activist. He has been a high profile spokesperson on environmental and sustainability issues in Ireland for many years. He has worked as the national director of An Taisce and was the founder and developer of Ireland’s first eco-village in Cloughjordan Co Tipperary.

Harte is currently providing Education for Sustainable Development for business, third level colleges and the general public throughout Ireland. He also works with Step Green – Carbon and Energy Consultants and in partnership with the City of Dublin Energy Management Agency (Codema) he is developing an energy efficiency renovation programme for homeowners in Dublin city and County.

To find out more – or to book Gavin Harte as a speaker – see http://www.personallyspeaking.ie/gavin_harte_133.html.