One of the most important decisions to be taken by any Local Council anywhere in Ireland in the last 12 months was the adoption by Kinsale Town Council of an energy descent action plan.

The tendency to reproduce distress across generations is the unfortunate but necessary outcome of the ways we are “wired” for action. As a result of our evolution as animals we have at least three powerful and distinct internal prompts or urgings that motivate our behaviour: instinct, conditioning and human intelligence. The first two we share with all animals.

In spite of the huge volume of visitors over many decades to British National Parks such as Snowdonia and the Lake District, these areas are extremely well looked after and are an impressive example of how National Parks can and should be run.

Given the unbounded curiosity of infants, the constant probing and experimentation of toddlers, and the natural delight humans take in learning there seems to be enough evidence to suggest that the inherent human relation to the natural world is one of curiosity and attention to all its wondrous details. This is, no doubt, one of the reasons for humanity’s success (so far) in learning how to thrive in nearly every ecological zone on earth.