Author Archives: John Gibbons
Who’d want to live in a world without us? (hint: everything else)
World Population Day earlier this month threw up some portentous figures. Here’s one to conjure with: today, there are 1.8 billion people between the age of 10 and 24 – almost as many humans as were alive at the beginning … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Sustainability
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Obama turns up the heat on climate change denial, inaction
It has been a long time coming, but it was – just about – worth the wait. Last Tuesday, President Obama finally put climate change front and centre on his critical second term agenda. It was perhaps apposite that he … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Media
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Science does not support rigid anti-nuclear stance
Below, my article, as it appeared in this Thursday’s Irish Times. To date, it has attracted over 180 comments on the site, with a strong pickup on both Facebook and Twitter. Having grown accustomed to having the online discussion of … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear
21 Comments
Ecological Ponzi scheme ignores natural capital
Below, my article, as it appears in today’s Irish Times: AT THE weekend, I took a load of junk from the garden shed up to the local recycling centre. Use of the Ballyogan facility costs €30 per car. Of course, … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Economics, Global Warming, Sustainability
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World’s oceans drowning in plastic sludge
Below, my piece from the latest edition of ‘Village’ magazine. If you haven’t done so yet, dash out and buy it. Village is among the last vestiges of the non-corporatised media still standing in Ireland. It deserves, demands, our support. … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
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The Anthropocene – Age of the Sociopath
First off, this quite wonderful short animated piece by Steve Cutts. I showed it on a large screen by way of a little, ahem, light relief during a meeting earlier this week and it went down a storm, so here, … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Psychology
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How climate change is destroying the Earth
A picture, they say, can be worth a thousand words. I was contacted recently by a group of volunteers who design and research material to help communicate climate change to the general public. They suggested the infographic below might be … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sustainability
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The psychology of bracing for very bad news
Below is my second article from Village magazine’s special issue on climate change: Once upon a time the people wearing the sandwich boards proclaiming that ‘The End is Nigh’ were a reassuringly small, fringe group of individuals, many clearly suffering from … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Psychology
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The human race is almost run
Below, one of my articles from the current edition of ‘Village’ magazine…. ‘Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule’ – Friedrich Nietzsche I like people; indeed, some of my best friends … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Psychology, Sustainability
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Safe bet that this year will be one of the hottest yet
Below, my article from today’s Irish Times, where I took a slightly different tack and asked the ‘real experts’ on risk, i.e. the bookies, to give the odds on 2013 being yet another year for the record books. The results … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
“You must feel vindicated, what with Hurricane Sandy and the way the weather and climate change has gone this year”. That’s how a business acquaintance of mine put it the other day during a pre-Christmas lunch. Her point was that … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Psychology
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Steady as she goes: global climatic denial guarantees chaotic future
Below is the full, 800-word version of my article, a compressed version of same appears in this morning’s Irish Times, which runs to just 600 words, so a quarter of the original piece fell under the subs’ desk knife. This … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
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Humanity’s killing spree about to come full circle
With apologies for an uncharacteristic outbreak of navel-gazing, below, my article as it appears in the current issue of ‘Village’ magazine… My interest in environmentalism is barely 10 years old. For the bulk of my adult life, far meatier concerns … Continue reading
Sandy has the last word in a bitter election
Ever wonder what, in a world where the media took its cues from peer-reviewed science rather than energy industry shills, the front covers of even our business magazines might look like? Well, wonder no more. Below, is the amazing cover … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media
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The Arctic ice cap is melting – and with it goes our future
Below, my article, as it appears in today’s Irish Times. The piece has ‘gone viral’ via social media, with over 2,500 ‘Recommends’ on Facebook alone, and it was No. 3 in the ‘Most Read’ category of Irishtimes.com last week. Not … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Arctic, CO2, Greenland, ice, iceberg, sea-levels
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