.
Brian Stephenson.
Brian Stephenson, a community activist and technology professional based in Tralee, says that when the current crisis is over there is a chance for a better Kerry…
Amid all this tragedy there is an opportunity to take radical action and rebuild our communities and economies around a greener future.
County Kerry has produced a lot of brilliant people, but perhaps the most brilliant of them all is also one of the least known.
John Moriarty, a native of Moyvane, published eight books before his untimely death from cancer in 2007 at the age of 69.
He was a man of immense intellect with a profound and spiritual reverence for nature which led him to being deeply troubled by our attitude to the natural world.
His own books can be daunting, but Mary McGillicuddy has written a fantastic book titled “John Moriarty: Not the Whole Story” which aims to provide an insight into his life and ideas.
There are also some fantastic audio interviews with John on www.irishlifeandlore.com, an oral history archive run by Jane and Maurice O’Keeffe.
Amid the current crisis, John’s words are incredibly prophetic and a reminder that it’s time for radical change.
“We shaped the earth to suit us” he said, “that is going to fail”. He argued that treating the earth as a resource pool from which we can draw endlessly will end in catastrophe, and that we need to reimagine our domineering relationship with the non-human world. It’s hard to disagree with those sentiments right now.
Imagining another world, a better world, will mean changing the metrics by which we define success.
Our economies are currently dependent on unsustainable economic growth. Bobby Kennedy famously said that GDP “measures everything, except that which makes life worthwhile”.
If we are going to leave behind the smoky skies, the polluted rivers and the plastic filled oceans, we will need to make the well-being of our natural environment our primary concern and rebuild our economies around satisfying those metrics.
For all the benefits and innovation that comes from economic growth, we cannot ignore the fact that resources are finite.
There is no free lunch and the current obsession with growth needs to be addressed without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
When Franklin D Roosevelt took office during the bleakest days of the Great Depression in 1933 he told the American people he would act swiftly to face the “dark realities of the moment” and assured Americans that he would “wage a war against the emergency.”
His inaugural speech gave the American public a lot of confidence that they elected someone who was going to take bold and decisive action.
During his presidency, Roosevelt’s New Deal introduced large scale relief programs and reforms to counteract the effects of the Great Depression, advocated government spending and ramped up public-private partnerships.
He said; “the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.”
The new stimulus packages coming from our government and the EU will have to provide “for those who have little”.
According to a recent Oxfam report the wealthiest 42 people on the planet hold as much wealth as the poorest 3.7 Billion (3,700,000,000).
That’s a system that has failed, so we are going to need large scale reforms of the scale introduced by Roosevelt. A genuine “Green Deal” offers this opportunity, and it’s a golden opportunity for County Kerry, but it needs to be substantial and transformative.
One of the first actions of the new President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was to announce the European Green Deal which aims to transform the bloc to a low carbon economy while improving people’s quality of life, through cleaner air and water, better health and a thriving natural world.
It’s an ambitious plan with all the right ideas and rhetoric but whether it’s just an exercise in greenwashing remains to be seen.
Furthermore, the details will need to be approved by member states which will involve intensive lobbying from private interests and the inevitable backroom deals.
From a County Kerry perspective, we need to watch this space closely, examining the detail, not just the headlines, and lobbying our public representatives to ensure this deal is a turning point for rural Ireland.
The speed at which the coronavirus has spread is frightening. Our world has been turned upside down and anxiety levels have understandably soared.
There is a deep connection between the current crisis and the climate crisis which is why the European Green Deal needs to be substantive and revolutionary.
Human health depends on healthy ecosystems, yet a lot of policy decisions come at the expense of our ecosystems.
We continuously forgo healthy air, oceans, water and wildlife for healthy profits and if we continue on this track, we can expect many more pandemics with more anxiety, death and chaos.
In a worst-case scenario, the melting ice caps caused by global warming could open a Pandora’s box of diseases that were preserved in layers of permafrost.
The virus has shown that governments can take unilateral and decisive action in the face of a crisis. We need the same bold, brave and decisive action to address the climate emergency, with real repercussions for the big polluters.
What would a real and substantive Green Deal look like for County Kerry?
Kerry is known the world over for our natural beauty. It seems like a total no-brainer that we evolve this image to become known globally for protecting our natural world. Instead of being the laggards and deniers of climate change, we need to become the beacons for ambitious climate action.
Yes, change will be hard, and all sides need to be respected and listened to, but in order to stop the steady decline of our towns and villages we need to embrace this change and the opportunities presented by climate action.
Kerry is already known for producing high quality food. We have a head start in this area and we can build on it, by properly supporting the farmers that are investing in biodiversity, soil quality, organic produce and limiting their use of chemicals.
Kerry farmers can become leaders in sustainability and work with our education sector to develop programmes around the future of food production.
We can reteach ourselves and the world about sustainable and organic food production.
It’s already happening in small pockets throughout the county and organisations like Transition Kerry are running very informative workshops on climate proofing and biodiversity.
This is going to be a big growth area and a big opportunity for county Kerry.
Tourism is a hugely important industry for Kerry, but tomorrow’s tourist will be looking for a different experience.
The future is in eco-tourism and adventure tourism and if we are going to take advantage of this trend we need to fight harder for greenways, blue ways, electric buses and smarter transport.
We need to make it easier for tourists to arrive by rail and travel around by bike or electric bus. We need to make it easier and affordable for tourists to rent electric cars.
We need to show leadership in this area, not rage against change. If we don’t change, we will fail.
The Fenit Greenway is a big step forward and Kerry County Council are to be commended for getting this project up and running. The greenway was first proposed in 1987 and local campaigners fought tirelessly to keep the project in the public discourse.
It’s a great example of people-powered change but we’ll need faster turnarounds for future projects.
The most heart-warming outcome of the coronavirus is the response from the community.
There has been a ground swell of support for frontline workers, the sick, the elderly and those isolating.
There is also huge empathy for businesses, artists, event organisers, charities, clubs and societies that have been forced to close their doors.
We are rediscovering our community values and this needs to continue through the recovery. Supporting local needs to be more than a slogan. It needs to be discussed in our schools, in our homes and in our workplaces.
It means supporting our local clubs, societies, charities, businesses and community organisations. The big international ecommerce companies aren’t going to be worried if rural Ireland fails.
They aren’t the ones looking after our most vulnerable right now and they won’t be the ones that make sure our clubs, societies and community organisations get back on their feet.
We need to have a long hard think about what it means to support local and spend local, because we need thriving local economies if we are going to develop a greener and most prosperous future. Money spend locally is an investment in our future.
The world is going to transition to renewable energy, and we can either be ahead of the curve or behind the curve.
This transition is difficult and will require dialogue and concessions from all sides, but we must get on the right side of this change.
Community ownership of renewable energy projects, as advocated by the Kerry Sustainable Energy Co-op (KSEC), are a great way to increase involvement and awareness of the community benefits of renewable energy.
As a county we need to take a zero-tolerance stance against pollution and environmental damage of any kind. We live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet and building on that will increase the prosperity of the county by attracting more tourists, inward investment, people and jobs. Local groups under the umbrella of Tralee Tidy Towns are doing great work in this area and deserve more support.
The covid-19 crisis has forced a lot of companies to adopt remote working practices, many of whom are reporting no loss to productivity.
This forced change in work practices will result in a catalyst for more remote working policies which means people will be able to work from anywhere. No longer will people be forced into the cities looking for work.
People will choose where they want to live, and the jobs will follow them. People will choose to live in clean, sustainable, scenic areas with thriving communities. We all need to play our part to make this happen.
The philosopher and poet John Moriarty told us to embrace the wildness around us, embrace nature and all its wonder because “unless there is wildness around you, something terrible happens the wildness inside of you, and if the wildness inside of you dies, I think you are finished”.
A green and wild Kerry will attract people back, and our towns and villages will become a hive of activity once more. There is no other way forward.
• Brian Stephenson is a community activist and technology professional based in Tralee, Co. Kerry.
Great article l think l met u some time ago