Author Archives: John Gibbons

About John Gibbons

ThinkOrSwim is a blog by journalist John Gibbons focusing on the inter-related crises involving climate change, sustainability, resource depletion, energy and biodiversity loss

They haven’t gone away, you know

Some extraordinary recent findings from an 11-year Gallup tracking poll of US public opinion regarding global warming. The question was framed as follows: ‘Thinking about what is said in the news, in your view is the seriousness of global warming … Continue reading

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A grandfather’s appeal to Obama

Politicians worry about the next election; business people worry about the next quarter. Who does that leave to worry about the longer term future? One top scientific expert believes the people who really do think ahead are parents, more specifically … Continue reading

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Life on the far side of the Rubicon

“Electric word life – It means forever and that’s a mighty long time”. Eighties music aficionados will probably recognise this line, from Prince’s Purple Rain. It came to mind when reading a report from the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Nuclear, Sustainability | 17 Comments

The new order begins

Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address today at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC took just over 20 minutes to deliver, and runs to 2,400 words. As you would expect from one of the greatest political orators in a generation, he delivered a … Continue reading

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Out with the old…

And so, out with the old, in with the new. According to insurance giant, Munich Re, 2008 has been one of the worst ever for natural disasters. Overall global losses ran to around $200bn, with uninsured losses totalling $45bn, about … Continue reading

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Thought for the day!

An image snapped on a wall earlier today in Dun Laoghaire… First posting shot on and uploaded direct from my iPhone! Well, television ain’t all bad. Take last night’s Prime Time Special on the murky world of Declan Ganley, lately … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics | 3 Comments

The onward march of ignorance

Despite there being no shortage of hard news to cover right now, RTE’s Prime Time last night took a curious detour to air clips from a propaganda film, Not Evil, Just Wrong, made by two Irish filmmakers. It is, for … Continue reading

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A night to remember

The last 24 hours has passed by in a blur, punctuated by less than 3 hours’ sleep. It was 6am today before we could drag ourselves away from TV screens and assorted laptops, to drift off, still smiling, into a … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The waiting is very nearly over…

OCD is the term that could be used to describe a new political creature, the Obsessive Compulsive Democrat. As we now enter the last day before what has perhaps been the world’s longest (and certainly most expensive) election campaign, OCD … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Global Warming | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sustainability crisis no less critical than climate change

If self-immolation were somehow our collective goal, there is no surer way of expediting this outcome than to allow the rampant clearing of the world’s remaining forests. A critical place to start is in cracking down on imports of illegally … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

John Bull takes climate change by the horns

We’re the ones with the Greens in Government, yet it’s Britain that has gone and set up a new department of Energy and Climate, headed by Ed Miliband. The UK is also to adopt a more severe target to cut … Continue reading

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Half-baked Alaskan science bears closer scutiny

They say the first casualty in war is the truth. The same surely applies to elections, and none more so than the crucial US election on November 4th next. Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has shown a startling contempt for … Continue reading

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Not watching the road

Today FM’s The Last Word yesterday evening featured two items with a climate twist, I was involved in one (a discusssion as to why, according to a UK survey, people who profess green credentials still engage in lots of long-haul … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Eco nuts/clowns deliver a message to Michael

In July I wrote what I thought was a fairly measured article about the environmental impacts of our culture of low-cost flying. The main focus of the piece was on comments made by Aer Lingus boss, Dermot Mannion decrying EU … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Sleepwalking across the climate ‘Red Line’

As of three years ago the Earth was already committed to rise of global mean temperatures by 2.4°C. This is the shocking conclusion of a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). This is … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments