Author Archives: John Gibbons
Where have all the fish gone? (we ate them)
The world’s oceans are in deep, deep trouble. Industrialised fishing, in full swing since around 1950, has in essence waged a war against the marine ecosystem. And the bad news is: we’re winning. Species extinctions, population crashes and vast disruption … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Achim Steiner, collapse, extinction, fishing, global warming, marine, maritime, oceans, overfishing, population, sharks, species loss, Sustainability, UN, UNEP
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Which part of ‘conserve’ don’t conservatives get?
Let’s hear it for Connie Hedegaard. Connie who? She’s the Danish minister for climate and energy and, crucially, will host the UN-sponsored global climate treaty negotiations in Copenhagen this December. That puts her in the hottest of hot seats in … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, climate, climate change, Energy, environment, John Gibbons, pollution, species loss, Sustainability
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North East Passage open for business
The fabled North West Passage, allowing shipping from Asia to Europe to navigate via the Arctic Ocean, is now routinely used. This passage cost the lives of many earlier expeditions. Times have changed, and a century of relentless global warming … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged albedo, Arctic, climate change, Greenland, ice, iceberg, melting, Oil
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Where will you be when the lights go out?
Prices in Ireland have, mercifully, started to ease back from the highs of a year or two ago, yet some things remain extraordinarily cheap. The two things that contribute probably more than anything else to our overall well-being, comfort, security … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, climate change, electricity, emissions, extinction, famine, global warming, John Gibbons, MacKay, nuclear, Sustainability
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Unicef’s change (for good?) of heart
Following last week’s piece, I was more than surprised that neither Tesco nor Unicef Ireland issued any response whatever on the day of publication (Thursday). It wasn’t until the Friday afternoon that Tesco submitted a letter to the Irish Times … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged charity, Everylittlehelps.ie, John Gibbons, multiple, supermarket, Tesco, Unicef, website
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Tesco changes its tune on Unicef
Great to see a happy resolution to the bitter two-month long dispute between Tesco and Unicef over the slogan ‘Change for Good’. Below is the wording of a letter in Today’s Irish Times from Tesco’s marketing director, Kenny Jacobs: “I … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged clone town, competition, Everylittlehelps, hubris, monopoly, Multiples, Tesco
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Every little helps?
Had been planning to write about the power of the multiples for some time, but what finally pushed me over the edge was a report in The Ticket in last Friday’s Irish Times, to the effect that the DVD cover … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged censorship, Ireland, John Gibbons, Multiples, supermarket, Sustainability, Tesco, Tescopoly, Unicef
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Climate camp – Shannonbridge
Last week’s Climate Camp in Shannonbridge drew around 150 people to a site right beside the Shannonbridge peat-burning power plant. The week, which included workshops, bog walks and practical sessions on sustainability, culminated in a Day of Action on Saturday … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
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In denial on the Nile delta
“The Nile Delta is a kind of Bangladesh story,” says Dr Rick Tutwiler, director of the American University in Cairo’s Desert Development Centre, quoted in a recent article in the Guardian by journalist Jack Shenker “You’ve got a massive population, … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Guardian, Karen Coleman, Newstalk, Nile
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Moving Heaven and Earth to expose climate charlatan
Jim Hoggan chairs the David Suzuki Foundation in Canada. Here is an excellent piece he penned for the Vancouver Sun on the hoary old saw about environmentalism being some kind of ‘new religion’. Regular readers of this blog will be … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged David Suzuki Foundation, Ian Plimer, sceptics
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Black, white – and green
Like most people whose musical influences were formed in the 1970s, I admired Michael Jackson as a musician, especially his 1979 solo album, Off the Wall. In the early to mid-1980s, he moved from pop star to icon, selling hundreds … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Amazon, deforestation, Jackson, music, Sustainability
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A sunny day on Sandymount strand
I’ve always loved Sandymount strand. When I first arrived in Dublin donkeys years ago, the first place I stayed was a ‘digs’ on Claremont Road in Sandymount. It might as well have been Ballydehob, for all I knew of the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged climate change, Dublin, protest, Sandymount, SCC
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Breaking free of a vicious, narrow Theocracy
“Life for us children was to become one long hard struggle, trying to overcome the enormous disadvantage bestowed on us by being institutionalised. Our education was totally deficient – so much so thousands left the institutions illiterate. “We left the … Continue reading
Welcome to the New Emergency
They call it the ‘Greenhouse Gamble’. I’d call it the Wheel of Death. Either way, it’s a gizmo that looks like a cheesy prop from the National Lottery show, but in fact it has been developed by scientists from the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, climate change, CO2, emissions, environment, IPCC, MIT, Permaculture
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Spirit of Ireland – Divine wind or hot air?
Last week, something pretty unusual showed up in a number of national newspapers. This was a full-page advert under the title ‘Spirit of Ireland‘. This tied in with the launch of a website and a big PR push through the … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Irish Focus, Nuclear, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, CO2, electricity, Energy, Ireland, John Gibbons, nuclear, Spirit of Ireland, Sustainability, Walton
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