Monthly Archives: December 2010

Baby, it’s cold outside

News comes through this morning via John Gormley and Ciaran Cuffe that the Climate Change Response Bill has at last been published. A public consultation period on the Bill is to run until January 28th next, with a view to … Continue reading

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Carbon budget – yes, but Climate Bill remains elusive

Oisin Coghlan of FOE tweeted earlier today from Dáil Eireann: “Carbon Budget. 4 Green TDs and all 3 senators in chamber/gallery. Phil Hogan for FG. 0 FF, 0 Lab, nobody else yet. Oh, and no journalists.” Yes, climate change may … Continue reading

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The not-so-strange paradox of global warming’s northern freeze

My article, below, as it appears in today’s Irish Times: OPINION: The thaw is on (apparently); can this year’s two extreme cold snaps be linked to wider climate change? AS 2010 draws to a close, globally it will enter the … Continue reading

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Septic tanks: another nettle in the long grass

It’s now more than a year since the European Court of Justice condemned Ireland for its dysfunctional approach to waste water treatment at some 500,000 premises across the State. While work is underway to address the judgment, it will now … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Is the chilling truth that we’re to blame for the big freeze?

The Irish Independent this morning has a useful full-page piece by Ed Power in its ‘Weekend Review’ section on the extreme cold spell. He canvassed three perspectives, and I find myself, not for the first time, somewhat at odds with … Continue reading

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Debate on COP 16 in Cancún has been muted at best. The IIEA research and design teams have prepared a simple info-gram which illustartes the negotiation positions of the seven key actors, including their commitments, priorities and respective emissions as they enter … Continue reading

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Greetings from 1930: a book extract

You might have thought that the last decade, and back in the 1980s, were the first occasions that banking in Ireland lost the run of itself, throwing our collective future in jeopardy. Not so. Or that the decade to 2008 was … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments