Do People Really Care About the Environment?

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My view of it that different countries are going to need different solution to achieve eco-friendliness without necessarily making huge sacrifices to quality of life.

Ireland's development patterns aren't unique. We have a preference for lower density housing and more spread out quasi rural suburban development. That pattern is similar to a lot of small/mid scale US and Canadian cities, New Zealand, Australia and also to a lot of the UK and even France and Scandinavia.

The solution in those kinds of places is likely to be ultra-efficient cars and ultimately electric vehicles powered by mostly non CO2 producing green energy.

That doesn't mean that mass-transit doesn't have a role to play here. In Dublin, Cork and elsewhere there are plenty of examples where effective use of trams and trains would make a hell of a lot of sense. A big part of the problem here is that we haven't spent enough money on public transit or planned it into development which means that it's useless and unattractive. The prospect of sitting on an Irish bus on a cold winters' day with condensation running down the interior windows (they're very badly ventilated) is pretty grim. Likewise, the prospect of standing at a wind-swept bus stop in driving rain for a bus that often runs late or doesn't arrive reliably is very off-putting and this is why people who aren't on Luas, DART or commuter rail services tend be very car bound. Cork's outer suburbs are a prime example of that. The bus network's not very developed and people assume it doesn't work and then it gets lower traffic volumes and that spurs less investment - it's a vicious cycle.

Unless public transport is an attractive, efficient alternative to driving, people won't use it. It has to make some kind of economic and practical sense to them and I don't believe you will achieve this by just making car driving more expensive or parking harder to get with congestion charges and so on, as in Ireland in a lot of cases people simply don't have viable alternatives at present.

We could also do a lot more with Irish buildings and housing to improve efficiency. That would mean more comfortable houses and lower bill sand is a win-win for everyone if it's done right. I know people who've moved into a new-build Irish house that meets very high energy conservation standards and their bills are really low for heating. They're managing to keep very cozy on about €250-300 per year, which is brilliant for any family.

On recycling, we need to push a lot of the issues with that back to retailers and producers. I am getting fed up with the notion that I am supposed to somehow be punished for generating excessive packaging when the supermarkets insist on packing thing that I don't need packed - fruit in trays and plastic wraps, boxes inside other boxes, multipacks inside boxes etc etc.

We also have a major issue with ultra-cheap, rubbishy electronics and electrical goods that are being produced by near slave labour at almost below costs and last for ridiculously short times. Things that were durables like washing machines and fridges are ending up in landfill after a couple of years because they're being produced for insanely cheap prices with low quality components.
That e-waste stuff is not really being tackled and there's now an expectation that a washing machine costs €200 which is absolutely nuts.

I was talking to someone about this recently as they were moaning that their new washing machine was broken down after 2 years. They paid €249 for it. If you compare that to a 1970s or 80s washing machine, which probably would have lasted at least 10 years, you were paying prices that are equivalent to what you would pay for Miele nowadays - probably up around €1000 to 2000 in modern terms.

It would actually make more sense to have easy availability of credit to purchase better quality machines and spread the cost over time. As it stands it's just creating miserable low paid jobs in the far east and causing untold levels of pollution both abroad and closer to home when they end up in the dump.

The massive elephant in the room, and the one with all the political power that is causing a huge % of Irish pollution is agriculture and we seem utterly unwilling to tackle that. To be fair, the state has tried with all sorts of initiatives like Origin Green and so on.

Ireland has to reposition itself as a clean, green, luxury producer of very good quality agricultural products and not a supplier of cheap dairy and meat. I never understand why Irish agriculture is even attempting to compete with the likes of Brazil for. We should be selling a lot of branded, high end food and drink products - we have EVERYTHING we need to do that! It would mean less intensive farming and higher incomes if it's done right.

There's a lot more that could be done at national, EU and international level that's just not being done because it's all about quarterly results.

It's not that most people don't care, it's that they're mostly operating with limited choices.

@Permabear:DON'T THINK ABOUT MENTIONING THE LATE LATE TOY SHOW.

People care until the livelihood is threathened. Therefore the task for mankind is to have the same quality of living with a reduced, or zero, carbon output. I think thats achievable.