Letters to the Editor: ‘Highlight to Climate Hell’: Cop27

EDITOR – Beginning with the Kyoto Protocol negotiated at the first Climate Change conference in 1995 (Berlin) – namely COP 1, we have now seen through 27 successive such meetings to try slow greenhouse gas emissions and yet our world gets warmer and warmer.

The critical 1.5-degree Celsius global temperature increase threshold would now seem like a distant dream when the emission targets were set out.  Indeed, none of the industrialised countries, including Ireland look like conforming to the 50% emission reductions promised by 2030.

With the UN Climate summit at Sharm El-Sheikh bogged down on financing third world countries, and little progress regarding mitigation or even adaptation to the effects that a warmer world might bring, one wonders what is going on.

While Ireland including West Cork is much less likely to be adversely impacted by the potential disaster that other parts of the planet may suffer due to future global warming, it is once again notable how profound the recent warming has been.

Even considering that most recent years have had higher than average temperatures in this country overall, 2022 so far has been remarkable in that every season; from winter through spring and most especially the summer have all had above average temperatures. Sherkin Island had the highest mean winter seasonal temperatures of 8.9 degrees C, the highest in the country and a full 1.2 degrees above its long-term average. Heat wave conditions during mid -July and early August saw 10 Met Eireann weather stations breaking their all - time maximum daily temperature records. This Autumn’s stats are not yet published, but we all know that it has been exceptionally mild. Another record night-time highest minimum temperature of 15.5 degrees for the month of November occurred as recently as the 11th.

One must then pose the question:  Are these Conferences of the Parties (COP’s) just a talking shop?

Vincent O’ Shea,

Baltimore.

Fr Sheehy was only doing his duty with his sermon 

EDITOR – Fr Sheehy was carrying out his duty as a Catholic priest by warning his congregation that Catholic teaching (which has been constant for 2,000 years) is that – as St Paul writes – ‘Those who do these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God’.

It is reported that he had just encountered a mother whose 17-year-old daughter showed her mother a condom that was (it seems) given to her in the street from a HSE van in Tralee.

I think that this is what initiated the sermon on sexual sins and on how hell is real. It is newsworthy only because so few priests (and bishops) are doing their job.

Micheál Ó Fearghail,

Sallybrook House,

Glanmire, Cork.

We can all make one change to cut carbon

EDITOR – As Cork County Cuts Carbon Month is upon us, an initiative by Cork County Council this November, I’d like to bring to light the simple changes we can make to support climate action.

These changes can be small, practical adjustments to a daily lifestyle, such as embracing slow fashion by upcycling existing items of clothing or buying second-hand from a charity shop. Or, walk to your local shop instead of driving, if you can – this will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it will also save money and reduce air and noise pollution levels in the area.

Globally, it is estimated that 500 billion single-use cups are discarded to landfill or incineration every year. In Ireland alone, it is estimated that over 22,000 of these non-recyclable cups are disposed of every hour. By making one small change in bringing a reusable cup for a coffee, it will save up to 365 disposable cups a year.

As deputy county mayor, I am asking all of the citizens of Cork county to pledge to make one change. One person or organisation cannot address climate change on their own, but together we can be part of a generation that does.

Climate change isn’t just a problem for now, it will seriously impact our future generations – our children, our grandchildren and their grandchildren. I strongly believe that young people are just as important in helping to take action in combating climate change. It is vital to encourage our children of Cork to also take small actions that will reduce their energy consumption, embed them into their daily routines and inspire them from a young age. It is their future we need to protect.

A full list of pledges for both adults and children can be found on www.corkcoco.ie.

Cllr Deirdre O’Brien,

Deputy mayor,

County Hall.

Thank you for the beautiful memories, Maria

EDITOR – I would like to thank Maria C Henry for her beautiful article about her childhood.

It brought me back to my own young days in the 70s.

Heating the home and cooking hearty meals for her family was every mother’s love.

Her description about her Mom heating her school clothes and tucking them into her bed on a cold and frosty morning reduced me to tears.

Keep up your beautiful writing, Maria.

Ken McGuirk,

Bantry.

We mustn’t dance to pro-abortion agenda

EDITOR – The tenth anniversary of the death of Savita Halappanavar should not be cynically used by pro-abortion campaigners to push a radical abortion agenda. Organisations like the National Women’s Council, which had speakers at a pro-abortion march on 26th October, have called for the removal of all gestational limits from the abortion law.

When people voted in the 2018 referendum, they voted on the basis that the proposed legislation would have an upward limit of 12 weeks of a pregnancy for abortion on demand.

Disturbingly, the National Women’s Council have now called for the complete removal of any limits, which would legalise abortion up until the point of birth.

It was wrong 10 years ago that the actual circumstances of Savita’s tragic death were overlooked as political rows broke out over abortion, which was not relevant to the case.

It is wrong today that hard-line activists continue to exploit her memory to advance a pro-abortion narrative which is completely divorced from the reality of the case.

As the government’s three-year review into the abortion law reaches its conclusion, the government must not dance to the tune of an increasingly extreme pro-abortion lobby.

June Twomey,

Lisgoold

Co Cork.