Category Archives: Global Warming
Taking tea with the President
AN undoubted highlight for me, not just of the last week but of the year, was a Courtesy Call on September 18th to Áras an Uachtaráin to present President Michael D. Higgins with a copy of ‘The Lie of the Land’. … Continue reading
Risky ‘global cooling’ projects mooted
Recording of my Last Word on the Environment with Matt Cooper broadcast on September 11th is below. We began by discussing controversial new plans to cool the global atmosphere artificially, using a range of possible technologies. As I explained, given … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability, TodayFM
Tagged IPCC, Matt Cooper, Phytoplankton, sea level rise
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Finding out the Lie of the Land
IT’S ALMOST two years since I was approached and commissioned by Penguin to write a book – my first – about Ireland and the climate emergency. While genuinely chuffed to be asked, I did also have something of an inkling … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged John Gibbons, Penguin, The Lie of the Land
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The perils of light pollution
Pod of the latest Last Word on the Environment, with Matt Cooper on Today FM, as broadcast on Thursday July 31st is below. We discussed the workings and finances of the hugely popular deposit return scheme for cans and plastic … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability, TodayFM
Tagged aviation, light pollution, Matt Cooper, recycling, Today FM
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ICJ ruling draws a line in the sand on climate action
Pod of The Last Word on the Environment, with Matt Cooper on Today FM, as broadcast on Thursday July 24th is below. We discussed the landmark International Court of Justice ruling on climate, plus a new study on the ‘boiling … Continue reading
Posted in Extreme weather, Global Warming, Media, TodayFM
Tagged food security, ICJ, IPCC, Today FM
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Untapped potential of district heating
Pod of The Last Word on the Environment, with Matt Cooper on Today FM, as broadcast on Thursday July 17th is below. Topics include district heating, ‘last chance tourism and reaction to sentencing of two men in England for cutting … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Media, TodayFM
Tagged District heating, Matt Cooper, Today FM, tourism
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Worst possible time to be led by the worst possible people
I haven’t written for the Business Post in a couple of years, so returned in late June with the below piece, which they headlined: ‘We must stop celebrating climate destroyers as captains of industry’. Among the topics covered was Trump’s … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Extreme weather, Global Warming, Politics
Tagged Allianz, aviation, Donald Trump, heatwave, insurance, NOAA, Texas
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Forty shades of misinformation around solar energy
What better time to write about the wonders of solar energy than during the ultra-sunny month of May 2025? Some 6.5% of total electricity production in Ireland that month was from solar, amounting to 173,000 MWh. This a new record, … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Energy, Global Warming, Renewables
Tagged Darragh O’Brien, James O'Connor, Micheal Martin, Solar energy
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He hasn’t gone away, you know
Regular visitors to ThinkOrSwim may have been wondering in recent months if I’ve finally gotten sense and packed it in, some 17 years and many hundreds of posts later, as the blog ground to a near halt throughout 2024. For … Continue reading
Rain in Spain a harbinger of ever more climate pain
The horrifying floods that killed over 200 people in the Valencia region of Spain dominated the headlines in October 2024, but as I explained in a piece at the time for TheJournal.ie, these were far from isolated incidents. They are … Continue reading
Posted in Extreme weather, Global Warming, Just Stop Oil
Tagged flooding, Friederike Otto, Spain, TheJournal.ie, Valencia, World Weather Attribution
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Another year for the record books?
I filed this piece, a combined review of 2023 and preview of 2024 on the climate and wider environmental front for the Irish Examiner just before the holidays and it ran in early January. And if I sound like a … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Extreme weather, Global Warming, Politics, Sustainability
Tagged COP28, flooding, Libya, Midleton, Storm Babet, World Weather Attribution
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Winning slowly still means we’re losing
I filed my final Irish Examiner report on the Cop28 conference as it came to an end in Dubai. Next stop: Cop28 in Azerbaijan in November 2024 another petro-state, and yes, this event will also be presided over by a senior … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming
Tagged AMOC, CCAC, COP28, Eamon Ryan, Marie Donnelly, Sultan Al Jaber, Tipping points
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Seriously, why not just use a rake?
Have to admit that this one has long been a personal bugbear: the petrol leaf-blower. These are the proverbial solution to which there is no known problem, yet they are now so commonplace as to be unremarkable. I filed this … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Pollution, Sustainability
Tagged air pollution, gardening, Irish Examiner, leaf blower
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Do as I say, just not as I do
While it’s easy to finger-wag and point to the failures of others on achieving climate targets, how does Ireland stack up in terms of delivering on its own legally-binging commitments? In short, not very well, as I explained in this … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Politics, Sustainability
Tagged Charlie McConalogue, COP28, Dubai, Eamon Ryan, EPA, Global Meat Alliance, Livestock, Mary Robinson, Sinn Fein
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