Monthly Archives: September 2026
Slaying some persistent myths about ‘rural Ireland’
I was back on the op-ed page of The Irish Times in mid-September with a piece looking at the disproportionate influence of the farm lobby on Irish politics and public life. This followed an Irish Times investigation earlier in the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming
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Too much and not enough – water woes worsen
Almost uniquely in the western world, Ireland doesn’t charge for domestic water, preferring instead to lump the multi-billion euro cost of water treatment onto the general taxpayer. As our climate warms quickly, even Ireland’s famously wet climate is changing, with … Continue reading
Posted in Extreme weather, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged drought, Irish Water, Liffey, Uisce Eireann
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Ireland needs national food stockpiles – now
It has been a grim year globally for food production. And with a major El Niño building, 2027 is almost certain to be worse again. The globalised food system has worked well for decades in moving stocks around; if one … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming
Tagged Finland, Germany, National Oil Reserves Agency, Nora, Norway, Poland, Russia, stockpile, Sweded, Switzerland, Teagasc
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Slouching towards ruin with our eyes wide open
Bill McGuire is a volcanologist and prolific author who has been ringing the alarm bell on the climate emergency for decades. I filed a review of his latest oeuvre, The Fate Of The World, for the Books section of the … Continue reading
Posted in Extreme weather, Global Warming, Psychology
Tagged Bill McGuire, Irish Times
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When feeding the world is a fact, not a slogan
In June, I took the car ferry to Dunkirk, then drove from there to Amsterdam where I was based for several days of touring and visiting sites in Holland mainly related to their food sector, more specifically the famously productive … Continue reading
