On November 3, 2025, the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, and the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative hosted Eamon Ryan, former Irish Minister for the Environment and Irish Green Party leader, to give an address on hope and the environment as part of the 2025 Notre Dame Forum.
In his address, Ryan emphasized the importance of collective action and cooperation in responding to climate change. He discussed how much progress has been made in Ireland, especially in terms of increasing the usage of renewable energy. He commented on how change is difficult, but resiliency helps to build a brighter future: “We’re resilient, but it’s better to be honest about that in terms of the difficulty. Now we’re getting to the point where we’re not talking about targets, we’re not talking about future plans, we’re talking about delivering the here and now. That’s when it gets tough.”
Ryan also discussed the spiritual side of addressing climate change, noting Ireland’s monastic tradition, which drew on connecting to God through nature and creation. He emphasized that caring for creation is a unifying ecumenical idea that comes from both Catholicism and other major religions and how all faith traditions have a role to play in promoting caring for the Earth: “It’s ecumenical to its core and even to those outside faith traditions. But I think the faith traditions have a particular role, because they can speak to the heart.”
In discussing ways to effect change in the climate crisis, Ryan promoted the idea of “think global and act local.” He noted that no one person could end the climate crisis by themselves, but everyone can make a difference within their own community: “You can’t carry the whole burden of the world on your shoulders. It’s too difficult. It’s too overwhelming. ... But you can change your local.”
He connected this idea to people protecting their home when they protect their local environments, which also helps to build community and bring about social justice. Ryan maintained that large numbers of people doing small things for their homes and communities is both more effective and more attainable than a small number of people taking larger actions: “Clean up your local river, put in your own local pocket park, change your street so that it is a sort of street where you can let go of the hand of a 5-year-old and not be terrified they’d be run down as they run out. And addressing this in that way, I think, is where we need to go.”
Ryan’s visit to Notre Dame extended beyond the public address to meetings with students in many different venues: including classrooms (such as in the Introduction to Global Affairs and the Crafting Research in Europe courses), informal meals with students and faculty, and a presentation session for the Nanovic Study Abroad Sustainability Research Fellows from the spring semester of 2025, where Ryan served as a judge in naming a winner for the panel.
Watch the full conversation from November 3 on the Keough-Naughton Institute’s YouTube channel.