Category Archives: Sceptics
Tall tales trump Varadkar’s Washington debut
Below, my piece published on DeSmog.uk from March detailing our Taoiseach’s travails when attempting to cosy up to the US president during the traditional St. Patrick’s Day visit. IRISH prime minister, Leo Varadkar dropped a major climate clanger in Washington this … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
Tagged Donald Trump, Doonbeg, Leo Varadkar, wind farms
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Sinking ever deeper into ecological debt and climate denial
Eschatology, or the study of the end of times, is at least as old as the written word. The concept spans many of the world’s major religions, usually referring to some future day of judgement or reckoning. Beyond the realms … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged climate denial, Doomsday Clock, ICSF, WWF
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Pushing back against the tide of junk science
I published two articles over the summer in Village magazine on the subject of the new Irish climate denier group, the self-styled Irish Climate Science Forum (ICSF), founded by retired UCD meteorologist, Ray Bates. The first of these, in the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged ICSF, Press Ombudsman, Ray Bates, Richard Lindzen, Village Magazine, William Happer
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Climate denial and the ‘white male effect’
In recent months I’ve found myself in a bit of a running battle with some of Ireland’s leading (I use the word advisedly) climate contrarians. It stems back to the inaugural meeting of the so-called Irish Climate Science Forum in … Continue reading
An Inconvenient Truth – then and now
Below, my article as it appeared in the Irish Times on August 19th last. I had been, along with my family and some friends, to the preview screening of ‘An Inconvenient Sequel – Truth To Power’ in the Lighthouse Cinema … Continue reading
A goose wrapped in tinfoil, pushed further into oven each year
Earlier in July, New York magazine ran a thumping article titled ‘The Uninhabitable Earth‘, by writer David Wallace-Wells. It was a meticulously researched piece of long-form journalism, based on an extensive review of the scientific literature as well as interviews with leading … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Psychology, Sceptics
Tagged David Wallace-Wells, New York Magazine
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Irish Farmers Journal: fearlessly on the side of fake news
Back in the 1970s, there was striking advertising poster in Kilkenny Mart featuring a powerfully built bull with a ring through its nose. The unsubtle slogan: ‘No bull in the Irish Farmers Journal’. The old Kilkenny Mart building is long … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged ICSF, Irish Farmers Journal, Junk science, Matt Dempsey, Ray Bates
11 Comments
Doubling down on climate denial: ICSF hosts Happer
Below, my latest article on Desmog.uk, covering the recent ultra low-key visit of well known climate contrarian, William Happer to Dublin. Publication was delayed by around a week as Desmog turned its editorial focus to the UK elections – including … Continue reading
Posted in Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged Gerald Fleming, ICSF, Met Eireann, methane, Ray Bates, William Happer
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Ulster says hoax: a short history of the DUP and climate denial
Below, my article as it appeared on DeSmog.uk over the weekend, in the light of the extraordinary decision by the Tories to throw in their lot with Ulster’s not-particularly-Democratic Unionist Party. ============================ Theresa May’s general election gamble has seen a … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
Tagged cash-for-ash, DUP, RHI, Sammy Wilson
2 Comments
The ICSF – Irish Contrarians Serving Farming?
When I first heard about the newly formed climate denier group, the self-styled Irish Climate Science Forum (ICSF), I tipped off my usual Dublin media outlets, but nobody was biting, so from there, I went to the London-based Desmog.uk, part … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged agriculture, climate denial, ICSF, Matt Dempsey, Ray Bates, Richard Lindzen
8 Comments
Dad’s Army of climate deniers rallies in Dublin
My piece below, as published last Friday on the respected climate science website, Desmog.uk. As outlined below, I was tipped off about the meeting early last week, and wrote to the organiser, Jim O’Brien, who informed me I would not … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged climate denial, ICSF, Ray Bates, Richard Lindzen
7 Comments
Engineer Trump leads Human race to the bottom
Below, my article, as it appears in the current edition of Village magazine (ok, apart from adding in the referencing, there were a few other tweaks and alternate adjectives I had probably wished I’d completed with for one final round … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Psychology, Sceptics
Tagged EPA, GOP, Obamacare, Putin, Trump
10 Comments
A new age of endarkenment draws ever closer
Like millions of people all over the world, I’ve spent the last almost two weeks in a state of shock and disbelief. I had sat up with friends late on the evening of Tuesday November 8th into the early hours … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Psychology, Sceptics
3 Comments
Welcome to the Climate Madhouse
Below my article, as published in the September edition of ‘Village’ magazine IMAGINE for a moment the dilemma: you’re a celebrated climatologist whose work has helped shaped the modern science of climate change. In the course of your work, you … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics
Tagged Climate deniers, hockey stick, Michael Mann
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An Inconvenient Truth – 10 years on, it’s truer than ever
How’s this for a deeply unpromising script idea: making a movie about a failed politician trailing around the world presenting wonkish slide shows on his laptop to mostly small audiences about, of all things, climate change? It hardly helped that … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Psychology, Sceptics
Tagged Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, documentary
6 Comments
