The global tide of environmental consciousness keeps coming in and going out. It rose first when Rachel Carson called out the hubris of the pesticide industries in her book Silent Spring. The tide was pulled higher as we first saw the Earth rise, looking back from the moon. The movement gained momentum from the anti-war, civil rights, gay and feminist campaigns of the 1960s and 70s and became mainstream thanks to the power of television, recording the destruction of our natural world.
Green parties sprang up everywhere in the early 1980s, just when the wider public interest in the environment seemed to temporarily fade. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan dominated the new era instead. Greed was good again, government was bad, shoulder pads were in and hippies were very much out.
That changed in the late 80s, perhaps because we discovered a hole in the ozone layer and climate change was explained for the first time. I started canvassing door to door around that time. It was like picking apples from the bottom of the tree. That resurgence in public interest led to the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. This was a high water mark.
It seemed we were at last on course to address the ecological crisis, only for political support to once again waiver. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair promoted a new third way in politics, where the election mantra was “it’s the economy, stupid”. US Congress killed the Kyoto agreement at birth and the environmental movement was left to encourage better consumer behaviour, change being all about how you get the markets to turn things around.
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Al Gore single-handedly changed things far more with his seminal film An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, only for the financial crash to suck the life out of any multilateral co-operation, as could be seen the disastrous COP 15 in Copenhagen in 2009.
Very quickly, however, the tide turned again. Ever more alarming reports from climate scientists, along with the publication of the Laudato Si encyclical by Pope Francis, gave impetus for the world to agree the sustainable development goals and the Paris climate agreement in the autumn of 2015. The climate strikes organised by Greta Thunberg then helped give legislators a real mandate to act.
Once again, however, it was only a temporary watershed moment. A combination of the affordability crisis following the war in Ukraine, a green backlash pumped up on social media and resistance from those with a vested interest in the status quo, all weakened public support for action.
From a green perspective 2025 must have been one of the darkest years ever. Cop30 in Belem showed a lack of leadership at the international level. Trump’s assault on climate action will surely be seen in the future as a crime against humanity and nature. Populist politics in Europe were little better, with environmental ambition being falsely depicted as part of some cultural war or as being punitively expensive, while ignoring the fact that we will never be competitive or secure, when we continue relying on burning other people’s fossil fuels.
Here at home, the abandonment of funding for nature restoration would break your heart and the lack of priority for public transport would wreck your head as the tailbacks grow on the N7, the M50 and beyond.
[ Dublin now 11th-most congested city in the world, says reportOpens in new window ]
We’ve lost half of the natural world in the past 50 years and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Our survival is threatened but that no longer makes the news. Have we just given up? Should we just accept the pollution in our rivers and shrug our shoulders at the increasing numbers of pedestrians and cyclists being hit? Do we see the destruction of the natural world as an inevitable price for some immediate material gain we are all chasing after? Or will the tide turn again and a new wave of environmental thinking arrive just in time?
One feature of the past year might give us some hope and inspiration. 2025 was a fantastic example of what is called a “mast” year. It’s an occasional phenomenon when the oak, ash and beech produce a super abundance of acorns, seeds and nuts, like they are throwing everything they have at their future survival.
[ Ireland’s natural habitats decline further with 90% officially in poor conditionOpens in new window ]
Surely it must be time for a “mast year” for humanity, when we decide not to give up but to rise again to the challenge, knowing that the solutions we bring will work better for everyone. It is never too late to act and make a lasting difference.
It helps if you take a long-term perspective, understanding that the tide of ecological consciousness may come in and go out, but the sea level of green thinking is still on the rise.
