Ireland: Why It Matters to Be an Island <\/p>\n
Author: Michael Cronin <\/p>\n
ISBN-13: 978-1802050516<\/p>\n
Publisher: Royal Irish Academy <\/p>\n
Guideline Price: \u20ac22<\/p>\n
\u201cThank God we\u2019re surrounded by water,\u201d was the refrain of Dominic Behan\u2019s republican ballad The Sea Around Us, which topped Ireland\u2019s singles chart for four weeks in 1966. According to this rather more profound monograph by Trinity College Dublin<\/a> professor Michael Cronin, however, Irish people have sadly forgotten the importance of being an island nation. Not only does mass air travel pollute our skies, it also allows us to visit other countries with barely a glance at the deep blue Neptune below.<\/p>\n Cronin insists that Ireland\u2019s mental retreat from \u201cislandness\u201d is not just an academic concern. Tackling the climate crisis requires a fundamental change in our mindset, he argues, since you cannot really care for a place without understanding its geographical reality. \u201cNo (hu)man is an island, but every (hu)man on the island of Ireland is an islander. This simple fact is widely ignored in Irish life.\u201d<\/p>\n Cronin builds his case through three essays that read like erudite college lectures, quoting from novels and philosophers as much as environmental reports. He begins by explaining how Ireland\u2019s desire to transcend our island status is only natural, given its association with insularity, backwardness and what Father Ted called \u201cbig thickos\u201d. This has been compounded by the digital revolution, which means citizens spending most of their time gazing at screens indoors while nature becomes \u201ca remote abstraction\u201d.<\/p>\n