Presenter Liz Bonnin joined Ray D'Arcy on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss COP26, climate anxiety, and the new series of Future Island which airs as part of Science Week on RTÉ One on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7pm.
The science broadcaster described COP26 as '"exciting, thought provoking, and frustrating in equal measure".
"There's a lot going on," she told Ray. "There's pledges being announced and commitments to commit still, but there's a lot behind the scenes that makes you scratch your head because we're not there with the tech that everybody is talking about with respect to getting us to net-zero and all of that."
"Sadly, despite what we now know and where we're are at, there's still a lot of kind of... commitments to commit, as I call it, as opposed to actual, real action."
Speaking about the upcoming series of Future Island, Liz says that she's busy rehearsing with her co-host Professor Luke O'Neill, and finds it hard to believe it's been a year already since the last series.
"We announced the Pfizer vaccine on the show this time last year and, obviously, lots has happened and that's great, and then also here we are wearing masks still - it's a strange old time, but I'm delighted to be back."
With so much news to take in, Liz says that climate anxiety is to be expected but she hopes the show will inspire viewers to look beyond their worries and empower themselves to take action.
"Empower yourself to know how you as an individual - with your family, with your kids in school, with the business that you run - you have a lot more clout than you think. You can change things at the level at which they need to be changed by making your voice heard."
"With action, that's where the hope lies, so don't shy away from it," she continues. "Inform yourselves. Hopefully, this programme will help viewers understand the main challenges, the main obstacles that remain and then, from that, what can you do as an individual to help that change in time."
You can listen to the full interview below:
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