Irish Climate

Until recently, these pages were the online mouthpiece of ICARUS, which stands for the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units. One can only wonder why they chose to create a labored acronym to reference to the doomed protagonist of a Greek fable (rather than one of the many compelling characters of Celtic myth, for instance) — though the lesson about mankind’s hubris is still well taken.

We were warned. We were provided with the senses to witness and the reason to understand. We had the news and statistics, and we had the time to teach and discover. There is no longer any excuse for us to continue to rape the land for our own selfish pleasure, to wound the land when it resists our regime, to silence or ridicule those among us who can no longer buy and sell their way to willful ignorance.

Perhaps that time is merely yesterday. Let’s hope it is neither in the far-distant past, which would mean that the damage may be too serious to ever be undone, no matter how enthusiastically we tackle the symptoms…or in our future, which would mean that there is no longer any hope for meaningful progress at all.