Madam, - The recent election results suggest that a majority of the population wants to remain on the current economic course. However, the implications of this for the environment are quite serious.
I am thinking particularly of the Tara/Skryne valley, with its monuments and landscape, which are the oldest evidence on earth of humanity's intelligence, skill and sensitivity to a vastly bigger picture. In days gone by, if a British colonial government had tried to desecrate this landscape with such a road, there would have been hell to pay. But now people have lost touch with both the plough and the stars.
Many people cannot fathom why it is so important that this road should not go through this valley. What difference will it make? The difference is like that with a frog that is put in a pot of water. If it is boiling, the frog will struggle to get out. But if the heat is added only gradually, the frog will die before it realises there is danger. It is the same with a sacred landscape. Only after it is gradually eroded do people suddenly realise that something very important has been lost, and then it is too late.
The gradual erosion of an environment that connects us with the countless generations that have gone before us is a form of spiritual famine. Its effects can be seen on those who live in highly urban environments, with no sense of a bigger picture. Addiction, violence and apathy abound.
This generation have the responsibility to see that such a fate is not inflicted on their children's children. Or are they too busy driving around in their SUVs? - Yours, etc,
THERESE HICKS, Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow.