Dead planet walking

There was some good news and some bad news for the environment this year. On the negative side, it began with the revelation of illegal dumping of waste in Wicklow. We still don’t know the full extent. But thousands of tonnes of rubbish were buried. All kinds of waste, toxic and otherwise. Appalling. It was, in many ways, another version of the sliminess
and corruption being unveiled by the various commissions and tribunals.

On a global level, but in a similar vein, the World Wildife Fund warned in July that our planet is running out of resources. Pointing out that if everyone on earth consumed natural resources at the same rate as the average US or UK citizen, we would need two extra planets to meet the demand, they proposed that we should seek to colonise outer space by 2050.

We can’t of course, we haven’t got the technology. But the Fund was keen to point out the inherent impossibility of the capitalist mythology of eternal growth. We live in an unequal world, and the last decades have seen the gap grow between rich and poor, not shrink.

Of course, a new player entered this discussion in 2002 – Bono embarked on a one-person crusade against Third World debt. And you never know...

Just how unsustainable the consumerist and globalist model is was revealed in August, with staggering photos of a three kilometre deep blanket of haze stretching across southern Asia. It’s a mix of ash, acids, smoke, chemical droplets and other pollutants. We are told that it will get worse over next 30 years as the Asian population rises to five billion, and that it will cause climatic disruption. Indeed, it may already be doing so.

This kind of revelation formed the backdrop for the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last August. Over 100 world leaders, including Bertie Ahern, gathered and talked. The outcome was a kind of positive fudge. Like all fudge, it was well-meaning, but tasted better than it was.

There are, of course, snippets of good news, like the huge beneficial effect of the 15 cent levy on plastic bags. It’s a measure that will be replicated around the world. But on the whole, pessimism reigns. I mean, what’s the abiding image at the end of the year? The oil-slicked birds, destroyed fisheries and livelihoods of Galicia after the Prestige sank spewing out tens of thousands of tonnes of oil.

We’ve a long way to go. I’m not convinced the earth will give us the time.