Duncan Stewart The environmentalist tells Andrea Byrne that it’s time for change

After four decade of informing audiences about environmental issues, Duncan Stewart believes the time for change is right now if we are to avoid catastrophe. He spoke to Andrea Byrne about what we all need to be doing

As broadcaster, architect and environmentalist Duncan Stewart states, you can’t argue with facts. “When it comes to the environment, Ireland is the worst of all European countries. Let’s take climate change, Europe set a target in 1990 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% collectively over the whole of the E.U, roughly 500 million people. Ireland had a 20% reduction target to make. Europe actually achieved a 25% reduction between 1990 and 2020. In that 30 years, Ireland’s emissions went up by 10%. But to make things worse, our transport emissions went up by, guess how much?” he asks. My guess is way off. “153%. That is over two and a half times the emissions in 1990 when that target was set. We have not performed. Our transport has gone out of control. We are the most car-dependent country in Europe. We’re driving bigger cars. We’re driving diesel cars, over three quarters of our new cars over the last couple of years were diesel, which is contributing ten times the air pollution of petrol cars for the same engine size. We are in denial about environmental issues.”

Denial, selfishness, apathy, whatever it is that is obstructing change, we better wake up to reality soon, Duncan warns, because the impacts are coming faster than we think. “We are talking about impacts that are 1000 times bigger than Covid. When we get to about 2040/2050, things will have gone out of control. Obviously, storm surges and impacts from hurricanes in the North Atlantic are the types of things that will affect us with massive flooding and storm events. But the big thing that faces us is mass migration of people in their hundreds of millions who will have nowhere to go because they will have to abandon where they are. They will be forced out because of major catastrophes in their countries from climate change. If they move into adjoining territory, they will overwhelm those cities and there will be wars. They will have no choice as they are completely desperate, and these are the very people who are contributing the least to climate change. If we compare ourselves to people in Ethiopia, our greenhouse gas emissions are 80 times that of the people there. We are the ones causing the damage, and it’s our emissions that go up into the atmosphere that are affecting these countries. When we get to 2050/2060, I really can’t tell you how bad it is going to be like.” Duncan has been on our TV screens for nearly 40 years, with two flagship environmental shows, About The House and Eco Eye, the latter of which is entering its 20th season. A father of five, Duncan’s daughter Tania co-presented both programmes for many years. Meanwhile, these days, it’s his son Marcus who runs his TV production company, Earth Horizon Productions, leaving Duncan with “more time to invent, reflect and research.” He is keen to mention a Transition Year module, called Eco Ed 4 All, which he has been working on with a group of volunteers. “I have gone through all the papers of the Leaving Cert and it is so bad when it comes to climate change and environmental issues generally. There is practically nothing in any subject in the Leaving Cert.” I tell him that my primary school-age kids seem to be learning a lot about recycling and biodiversity. “Yes, there are some good things happening at a junior level but as they get older it disappears. Eco Ed 4 All has been delivered in about 20 schools so far. That is going to be rolled out in September. The teachers are responding incredibly well to it.” Conscious that a good portion of our chat has been spent delivering bad news and stark forecasts, Duncan turns to the solutions that can create a sustainable lifestyle, that would shape a positive future for our children. “Transport is the most important. Every time we get into a car we are doing damage. We have to realise that the car is one of the greatest drivers of the problem. We need to minimise our use. In order for more kids to travel to school by foot or by bike, we need to insist on traffic calming on our streets, 20km limits in areas where children cycle to school. We could get to zero carbon very quickly. We can rescue biodiversity. We can ban pesticides. We can reduce our consumption levels. We can stop buying stuff wrapped in plastic. We need to demand more from our politicians. We continue to allow fossil fuels to be cheap, and we’re not putting a value on the damage these fuels are doing. They are up in the atmosphere for 500 years,” he says, explaining that we can move away from fossil fuels very easily. “80% of our cattle farmers can’t make a living, according to a Teagasc report in 2019; those farmers will never make a living out of cattle, but they are very good at growing grass and silage. That silage could be used to create bio gas, and that bio gas could be running our buses and trucks, which account for nearly 35% of our transport emissions. There are many solutions. The time is over for small efforts. Fundamental change is what is needed.”.