Author Archives: James Nix
Ireland after Durban
After Durban, how Ireland will deliver its 20 per cent emissions cut moves centre-stage. We need to move quickly from the headline figure to a hard-minded sector-by-sector approach. The new climate agreement reached in Durban is bitterly disappointing for its … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming
Tagged agriculture, carbon levy, Durban, Ireland, law, Minister Hogan, policy, transport
4 Comments
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 EU law, septic tanks, Village Magazine, waste water treatment
2 Comments
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
Restructure debt, and phase out compound interest thats what our environmental and financial crises tell us
Agree or disagree with him, Morgan Kelly’s analysis in the Irish Times last week is a must read. Closing Ireland’s €20 billion deficit by €6 billion in 2011 spending is all fine and well, but it won’t do enough to stave off … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged carbon dioxide emissions, climate change, debt, economic growth, GDP, restructuring
6 Comments
EU “may adapt” 10% biofuel target
The scientific perspective could “kill biofuels” – that’s what the head of the EU’s agriculture unit said to colleagues in response to data showing the global ramifications of dedicating land in Europe to biofuels. The new Commissioner has said “if … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Biofuels, climate change, emissions, indirect land use impacts
5 Comments
Next stop: make up our mind time
In the last post Paddy Morris noted that we need a vision and implementation strategy along the lines of the Marshall Plan to shield us from the worst of the energy and climate crises. He’s right. Avoiding oil consumption and … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged carbon emissions, Energy, metro north, transport
4 Comments
Notes from a conference: ‘The need for road research’
There was a seminar yesterday morning jointly organised by TCD + UCD titled “The need for road research”, and held in Foster Place. Overall, it was biased in favour of transport by private vehicle with insufficient recognition of the capability … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming
Tagged carbon emissions, climate change, economic growth, equilibrium, loose assumptions, transport
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Higher emissions? Or empty roads and emigration?
Monday 26 April is the last day to make a submission on the public consultation process for the largest section of motorway yet to be proposed in Ireland – some 80 km between Cork and Limerick. Submissions must be with … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Ireland's National Debt, motorway construction, policy coherence
14 Comments
Suspend democracy to tackle emissions – Lovelock
From the Guardian: In his first major interview since the climate-change emails scandal, James Lovelock says he is disgusted by the actions of some scientists, applauds ‘good’ climate sceptics, and warns that global warming could even lead to war Leo … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, democracy, emissions, Gaia, James Lovelock
1 Comment
Low future price for carbon puts us on the wrong route
Transport investment is particularly expensive. And two points are emerging in Ireland. First, some facilities are significantly overcapacity. Second, there isn’t enough capacity in areas set to grow as the price of carbon emissions rise: the failure to adequately price … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged pricing, roads, Shadow price of carbon, transport emissions
3 Comments
Permafrost retreats further north
Buried in the ‘Weather Eye’ page of our paper of record again… Climate change forcing frozen soil retreat Mon, Feb 22, 2010 THE PERMANENTLY frozen ground known as permafrost is retreating northward in the area around Canada’s James Bay, a … Continue reading
Pachauri should go?
Claims that Himalayan glaciers would have melted by 2035, and that there would be a rise in hurricanes, typhoons and other extreme weather events were never properly peer reviewed before inclusion in the IPCC’s reports. So-called ‘grey’ literature was used … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming
Tagged 'grey' literature, IPCC, Pachauri, peer review, wrong claims
3 Comments
Reporting our changing world
I nearly missed the report below. In yesterday’s the Irish Times the near one-third rise in arctic methane emissions wasn’t reported in world news; rather it was on the bulletin page, a fine page – no quibbles here – but … Continue reading
Plimer vs Monbiot
From the website of Australian TV network ABC. Click here to view the debate. Transcript TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Here is some background notes to tonight’s debate. When Professor Ian Plimer’s outright denial of man-made global warming was championed in the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics
Tagged climate change, climate debate, climate science, George Monbiot, Ian Plimer, Media, sceptics
15 Comments
