Category Archives: Sceptics
Biden throws floundering global climate action a lifeline
The article below appeared earlier this month in the Business Post. One crucial first step in tackling the climate crisis is for politicians to say ‘no’ to dirty money from the powerful fossil fuel lobby (who notoriously have spent freely … Continue reading
Stirring up tensions between farmers and environmentalists
This piece appears in the current edition of Village magazine. As a rule, I steer clear of articles focusing on individuals, preferring when possible to stick to the issues rather than personalities. Given the central role of RTÉ presenter Damien … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
Tagged Countrywide, Damien O'Reilly, IFA, IFJ, RTE
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RTÉ finally spins spotlight onto concerted climate action
Over the last decade and more, I’ve been in an uncomfortable position regarding RTÉ. On the one hand, I’ve long been a stout defender of public service broadcasting as a vital bulwark against total domination of our media landscape by … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged Climate Week, DCU, Irish Times, JOCCA, RTE
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How flawed logic puts the world in danger
Below, my review of ‘The Irrational Ape’ by David Robert Grimes, which was published in the Irish Times on September 22nd last. In an era of fake news, with crackpot theories and conspiratorial nonsense ricocheting around social media at dizzying … Continue reading
Posted in Irish Focus, Media, Psychology, Sceptics
Tagged David Robert Grimes, Homeopathy, Quacks
1 Comment
2029 – A letter from the future
We live in consequential times. “What we do over the next 10 years will determine the future of humanity for the next 10,000 years”, is how former UK chief scientific advisor Prof David King put it recently. There is no … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Psychology, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged Arctic, heatwave, IPCC, Long Emergency, permafrost, Village Magazine
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Thirty years closer to the End of Nature
Below, my review of ‘Falter’, the new book by veteran environmental writer, Bill McKibben, as it appeared in the Irish Times in May. UNLESS you’re an economics graduate or a billionaire, chances are you may have never heard of Ayn … Continue reading
Duck, dither, dodge, delay: the new, improved climate denial
Below, my report as it ran on DeSmog UK on the latest climate denier get-together, involving our old friends at the ICSF, in what is their 10th sort-of-public meeting. For an organisation with no known membership list and no apparent … Continue reading
Incoherent, inconsistent – and not really funny at all
Below, my article as it appeared on DeSmog UK earlier this month. This is my 13th piece to appear on DeSmog since May 2017, when I reported on the inaugural ICSF meeting in Dublin, featuring big-name US denier, Richard Lindzen. … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged DeSmog UK, Gavin Schmidt, GWPF, ICSF, Peter Thorne, Ray Bates
1 Comment
A very British coup: rise and fall of the climate contrarians
In recent months, I’ve been involved as one of a number of authors in an international project for a forthcoming academic publication looking at the state of environmental journalism around the world (my brief covered the UK and Ireland). One of … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics
Tagged GWPF, Irish Times, Nigel Lawson, Richard Black
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Organised denial targets Dáil climate committee
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action (JOCCA) has been in session over the last couple of weeks. It is tasked with reviewing the recommendations of last November’s Citizens’ Assembly section entitled: ‘Making Ireland a leader in tackling climate change’ … Continue reading
Mainstreaming doubt and nurturing climate denial
Fake news has, since January 2017, received a whole new lease of life, with peddlers of misinformation greatly emboldened by the installation of the Liar-In-Chief at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. However, climate science denial has been in full swing for decades; … Continue reading
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
3 Comments
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
