Yay Oceans and Ireland!

 The United Nations signed off on the “High Seas Treaty” on February 3, 2023.

From their announcement:

“The agreement reached by delegates of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, better known by its acronym BBNJ, is the culmination of UN-facilitated talks that began in 2004.”  

It places 30% of the ocean under protection and provides funds for protecting biodiversity.

From the New York Times February 4, 2023 article:

“A Greenpeace statement called the treaty “a monumental win for ocean protection” and an important one for multilateralism in a world that can feel ever more divided. Laura Meller, an oceans campaigner for Greenpeace who attended the talks, said, “Protecting nature and people can triumph over geopolitics.”

The Irish aren’t nearly as susceptible to disinformation, propaganda and science denial as Americans are.

In a recent report on “The Four Irelands,” Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency and Yale Climate Communications researchers found that in surveys done in 2021  84% in Ireland were “concerned” (48%) or “alarmed” (36%) about climate change. Only 3% were “doubtful.”

In the United States there are six groups, “The Six Americas.” The “alarmed” group in 2021 in the United States was 33%, about the same as Ireland, but “concerned” in the United States was only 25%. The two groups combined were 84% in Ireland, 58% in the United States!

In Ireland the “cautious” group was 12% and “doubtful” 3%; in the United States they were 17% and 10% respectively.  

There were too few in Ireland who responded as “disengaged” or “dismissive” to have as separate groups, but those groups were 5% and 9% respectively in the United States.

So let that settle in: 3% doubtful and too few who are dismissive to count in Ireland, versus 19% for those two groups combined in the United States.

Way to go Ireland! Time for some real consideration of what creates such differences between English-speaking nations in the developed world.

What are we missing in the United States? Why are we so gullible? Fear? Greed? Entitlement? Poor education? Other agendas? Distorted values? All of the above?

On the positive side, maybe we can hope to be like Ireland someday. Dare to dream.