ZOOM QUIZZES, SOCIAL distancing, and limiting your contacts… Everyday life looks quite different right now to the way it looked a year ago.

But thinking ahead to this time next year, or even five years from now, what would you like daily life to look like? Which pandemic habits will you be happy to see the back of? And which parts of the ‘new normal’ will you try to keep around?

Climate change is real and it’s happening right now. From melting ice caps in the Arctic to localised flooding in Ireland. You simply need to turn on the news to see how it’s impacting people around the world.

While the issue might seem overwhelming and out of our control, we have one powerful tool in our arsenal – science.

An Irish scientist has been appointed by the United Nations to oversee the next international review of global climate goals.

Dr Tara Shine is one of two facilitators selected to guide key discussions involving hundreds of scientists and policymakers from all over the world in a massive undertaking expected to take two years.

While the science is complex and the logistics unwieldy, Dr Shine says there’s a simple way of viewing the process.

rish climate expert Dr Tara Shine has been appointed to a senior UN role with a brief to improve co-ordination between climate scientists and policymakers in meeting key Paris Agreement targets on containing global temperature rise.

Dr Shine has been appointed co-facilitator of the Structured Expert Dialogue under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

On Wednesday 2nd September (7pm on RTE 1) Nationwide will include a feature filmed in Kinsale with Tara as she helps a family to live more sustainably, drawing on her book ‘How to Save Your Planet One Object At A Time

On Wednesday 2nd September (7pm on RTE 1) Nationwide will include a feature filmed in Kinsale with Tara as she helps a family to live more sustainably, drawing on her book ‘How to Save Your Planet One Object At A Time

Are we going to say the Anthropocene was the time that humans destroyed the planet,” Shine said. “ Or are we going to say it was the time that humans nearly destroyed the planet and just pulled it back from the brink?

In this year’s Christmas Lectures from the Royal Institution, three expert scientists from different fields will present a unique ‘user’s guide’ to Planet Earth. They will unravel astonishing global systems and remarkable natural wonders that combine to keep life on Earth alive

Dr Tara Shine is an environmental scientist, broadcaster and co-founder of Change by Degrees, which promotes convenient sustainability for communities and businesses. Her new book, How to Save Your Planet One Object at a Time, is out now.

Dr Tara Shine joins Matt Cooper to discuss her new book “How to Save Your Planet One Object at a Time”