Archive for December, 2009
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
‘Peak Water‘, by Alexander Bell (Luath Press 2009, Hardback 208 pp)
If oil supply peaks and begins to decline times will be hard. Standard of living will decline and people may go hungry but they will be able to adapt by powering down and making do with less.
If water supply – for domestic use but also for irrigation – peaks and declines people have no option but to migrate. UK journalist Alexander Bell spells out his thesis starkly in this fascinating and clearly written book: many of the world’s major regions are past or on the brink of peak water and face growing populations with declining supplies.
The rich world will not escape the catastrophic effects of this as they depend on vast quantities of “virtual water” imported for the most part from the global South in the form of food and goods. They will also have to deal with increasing numbers of water refugees in the future. (more…)
Tags: collapse, Graham Strouts, irrigation, peak water, Sustainability, water
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability, biodiversity | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
If there’s one book you read this winter make it Tim Jackson’s Prosperity without Growth. We can have a stable climate and leave enough resources for future generations. Or we can continue with the fantasy of perpetual economic growth, with all the additional consumption that it entails – but we can’t have both.
That’s Jackson’s central message. In environmental and resource terms, endless economic growth is a slow but sure collective suicide pill. In economic terms it doesn’t work either. Jackson builds up the picture of how global economies were wound into financial freefall in September 2008. The 1980s and 1990s saw the paying down of a large amount of public debt only to be replaced by even greater private debt. Lending rules were deliberately eased in the US to squeeze out a bit more economic growth: contrary to what you might have gathered from other media sources, it was no regulatory bungle, at least in the US. (more…)
Tags: affluenza, consumerism, consumption, debt, economics, growth, James Nix, lending, The Spirit Level, Tim Jackson
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Amid the white noise surrounding last week’s budget, the government made a number of announcements with potentially profound and long-term implications for Irish climate policy. Much as the PD’s allegedly provided the sauce in the meaty Fianna Fail coalition sandwich, it seems that the Greens are now flavor of the day.
The introduction of a carbon tax attracted most comment. A level of €15 per tonne of carbon was chosen. According to Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan: “The yield from the Carbon Tax will be used to boost energy efficiency, to support rural transport and to alleviate fuel poverty. The Carbon Tax will also allow us to maintain or reduce payroll taxes”. (more…)
Tags: Brian Lenihan, carbon tax, Eamon Ryan, Greens
Posted in Global Warming, Ireland focus, Sustainability | 7 Comments »
Sunday, December 13th, 2009
One by one, they’re coming out of the woodwork. Occasional climate sceptic William Reville was the latest to re-surface, this time in his weekly Irish Times column. I read it with dismay; I genuinely have no problem with him having a personal pop at me (all’s fair in the public domain) but his cynical piece, masquerading as an honest scientific review of the so-called ClimateGate deserved to be properly dissected and shown for what it is.
I am indebted to writer Marco Chiappi for the article below, which both deconstructs and eviscerates Reville’s contribution:
=============================================
Professor Reville (Associate Professor of biochemistry and public awareness of science officer, UCC) in his article published 10/12/2009 characterises the debate surrounding anthropogenic global warming as a debate between a ‘majority’ and a ‘minority’ position and regrets the incivility with which both sides engage. (more…)
Tags: climate, climate hoax, climate sceptics, Climategate, CRU, Phil Jones, Reville, UCC
Posted in Global Warming, Ireland focus, Media, climate sceptics | 33 Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
The leaking of hacked emails from one of the most highly regarded climate research units was perfectly timed to coincide with the start of the Copenhagen COP. Without entering into the minute details of just what was or was not exposed by the thousands of leaked emails, it is clear the credibility of one of the world’s most respected institutions of climate science has been undermined.
In a sense this is a reality check for anyone who tend to the view that Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is the greatest threat facing humanity. It poses an important question: is the science behind climate change now more open to question as a result? (more…)
Posted in Global Warming | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
As the Copenhagen conference progresses, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a brief look what’s the various different countries have offered, and reasons why there is some room for optimism about a decent deal being done…
1. The US seems prepared to act, if necessary by bypassing Congress and the Senate. The formal declaration by the US EPA that CO2 (along with other greenhouse gases) is an ‘endangering pollutant‘ means that the EPA can now use it’s powers under the existing Clean Air Act to regulate CO2 as failure to act would “threaten the public health and welfare of the American people”. It appears that if the Senate doesn’t pass the legislation currently before it the EPA will simply regulate greenhouse gases under existing laws instead. The current proposed cut from the US is approximately 17% by 2020 on 2005 levels. Although not ideal, this proposed cut is a dramatic improvement on earlier obstructionism from the US. (more…)
Tags: Barack Obama, carbon, China, climate change, CO2, Copenhagen, emissions, environment, EU, global warming, Ireland, US
Posted in Global Warming | 6 Comments »
Monday, December 7th, 2009
Planning as a concept has become synonymous with “permission to build” in this country. As in: “I got ‘the planning’ for the apartments on the flood-plain at the outer-rim of the commuter belt”. The original meaning – taking a strategic approach to the future – is as common to these shores it seems as cautious property development.
Nevertheless, one can only learn from past mistakes.
One thing we know for sure, irrespective of the outcome of Copenhagen, is that Ireland is legally bound to reduce its “domestic sector” emissions 20% on 2005 levels by 2020. Not only is this the most onerous target among EU countries – our high GDP per capita at the time saw to that – it will rise to 30% if an international agreement is reached in Copenhagen (or subsequently) which demands comparable efforts from other developed countries. (more…)
Posted in Global Warming, Ireland focus, Sustainability | 7 Comments »
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
I’ve had my say on KennyGate, as have a good many other people (to my new cadre of hate-mailers, sorry for not posting all your anonymous spleen. Life’s a bitch, eh? Give my regards to Elvis). Meanwhile, a regular correspondent, Coilin MacLochlainn, sent in a highly original take , which I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I did. Over to you, Coilin…
==========================================
Let’s imagine that Pat Kenny is feeling a bit off colour and decides to visit a psychoanalyst.
Dr Thelme Datruth-Y’Boyo is a bright young thing from Darfur who happens to read a certain column that appears in the Irish Times every Thursday. Her parents and siblings are starving because of drought brought on by climate change and the resulting war in Darfur. She gives John O’Shea of GOAL most of her savings but knows that the war won’t end until the real problem, climate change, is tackled. (more…)
Tags: climate sceptics, Media, Pat K, Pat Kenny, RTE, sceptics
Posted in Global Warming, Ireland focus, Media, Sustainability, climate sceptics | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Hell, it seems, hath no fury like a broadcaster scorned. After my recent adventures with RTE’s Pat Kenny, it was only a matter of time before the veteran broadcaster would try to even the score for what he no doubt perceived as slights to the notion that he is capable of being unbiased, objective and responsible on the issue of climate change.
The COP15 gig commences next Monday in Copenhagen, with the great and the good from science, politics and policymaking gathering from the five continents for the world’s most important climate conference since the Rio Summit in 1992. Pat Kenny’s parody of pre-Copenhagen “coverage” involved bringing on a discredited Australian mining industry hack on as an “expert” to challenge the dreadful scientific consensus that Kenny, in the great tradition of Don Quixote, is determined to unseat.
Click here to listen to the Pat Kenny/Plimer/Gibbons “debate” 2-12-09 (more…)
Tags: climate, climate hoax, climate sceptic, Holford, Ian Plimer, Pat Kenny, RTE
Posted in Global Warming, Ireland focus, Media, climate sceptics | 46 Comments »
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
“We’re eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked” – these were the words of Secretary of State Dean Rusk at the height of the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962.
It may be abhorrent to some, but despite the high stakes international negotiations often come down to extracting the maximum from your interlocutor.
In the case of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the stakes could not have been higher – President Kennedy had played his hand by blockading Cuba and the Soviet Union had no choice but to back down to avoid Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Analysts have interpreted this as a classic instance of a nuclear game of “Chicken” – Khrushchev was convinced that his choice was between turning his fleet home or nuclear holocaust. (more…)
Tags: Joseph Curtin
Posted in Global Warming, Ireland focus | 16 Comments »
