Irish Climate

Ireland is green. The reason for this is deceptively simple; the land gets a lot of rain.

With lots of mystery and beauty in so much greenery my grandfather used to tell us kids stories about many different mythical creatures that orginated from Ireland. I think the funniest one he told was that the Tooth Fairy was Irish. Not that my siblings and I are all grown up we joke that perhaps our Papi was just a bit of a drunk, and many of these stories he made up in a tipsy frenzy as entertainment for us but more likely entertaining for himself! No one holds it against, rest his soul, as he was a gentle man, who did tell some pretty wild stories that made our childhood as great as it was.

Once, you could count on the Irish climate for a gloriously temperate summer, an invigoratingly stormy spring and autumn, and a crisp winter with a touch of ice around the edges. These days are passing; temperatures are rising, weather extremes are increasing in frequency and severity, and erosion and dryness are becoming major threats.

Already we see Ireland’s crops showing signs of decline.  Already we see rapid destruction of coastal areas due to increased water levels and more severe weather events. This is not merely a problem for policy-makers and businessmen, this is a threat to all that is Irish, and therefore to all the world — for a world without Ireland is a house without a garden.

Such ideas aside, it is the very character of Ireland that is in jeopardy. Inextricably tied to the land, is it any wonder that the abundant gifts of Irish art and culture have begun to dwindle along with the climate? Have we truly come to the point where ‘sustainability’ and ‘preservation’ are merely the desperate final acts of the embalmers of the Irish body of work?