President Catherine Connolly has warned that the “military-industrial complex”, and the wars around the world it facilitates, are major contributors to climate change.
Speaking at Dublin City University (DCU) at a conference on climate change on Tuesday, the President said the “elephant in the room is the normalisation of war, which could not happen without the vast military-industrial complex”.
“There are currently approximately 130 armed conflicts worldwide, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Significantly, when we hear of climate change, we rarely hear about the emissions caused by warfare, notwithstanding that they are inextricably linked.”
She said there was a “deafening silence around this issue”, which “speaks volumes and must be called out”.
RM Block
During her election campaign, Connolly’s frequent references to the military-industrial complex were questioned by opponents and seen in some quarters as a criticism of supplying arms to Ukraine to fight against Russia.
[ Catherine Connolly doubles down on warning about German rearmamentOpens in new window ]
Speaking at the sixth annual conference of the DCU Institute for Climate and Society this morning, Connolly said that since a “climate and biodiversity emergency” was declared by Ireland seven years ago, “unfortunately we have seen report after report confirming that transformative change is certainly not happening at the scale and speed that is required”.
She said “neither technological solutions nor incremental change on their own will suffice in saving the planet”.
“The positive news is that the solutions are there ... Those solutions of themselves, however, will not be sufficient. There has to be a recognition that we cannot continue to do business as usual,” she said.
Education has a major part to play in helping Ireland deliver solutions to the climate crisis, she said, praising the “inspirational” work of DCU’s Institute for Climate and Society.
“A paradigm shift is absolutely necessary, and at the heart of that paradigm shift must be climate justice and the audacity to constantly question self-serving narratives. And we need you as students to do that now more than ever,” she told those gathered.
She said climate action in this State is not happening fast enough. “We simply cannot go on business as usual,” she said.
DCU deputy president Prof Anne Sinnott said the institute has played an important role in addressing the “existential threat” posed by climate change".
“The institute is Ireland’s first academic research centre focused on social science and humanities programmes on the climate crisis,” she said.
Risk assessments by the Environmental Protection Agency project that Ireland’s climate will get warmer, with average temperature increasing across all seasons and on an annual basis. In addition, the country is set to become wetter overall with an increase in average rainfall. – Additional reporting: PA
