Category Archives: Global Warming
No quick climate techno-fixes at Cop28
November each year sees the annual gathering of the Conference Of the Parties, or Cop, to discuss and agree steps at Intergovernmental level to address climate change. This year’s set piece conference, Cop28, took place in the oil-rich state of … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Politics, Sustainability
Tagged COP28, Dubai, IPCC, Livestock, Paris Agreement, Sultan Al Jaber
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An ill wind that blows no good
Cast your mind forward two decades and into the 2040s, what might Ireland be like by then? Let’s just hope it’s nothing at all like the hellscape vividly painted in Irish author Daniel Mooney’s new novel, which I reviewed for … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Psychology
Tagged Business Post, Cli fi, Daniel Mooney
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What economists get wrong about climate
Whether or not you believe that the dangerously foolish advice issued by climate economists will in fact kill billions of people this century, there is little doubt that we have been poorly served and grievously misled on the true costs … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
Tagged Cormac Lucey, DICE, economics, Friederike Otto, Joseph Stiglitz, Panama Canal, Richard Tol, Steve Keen, William Nordhaus
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Mitigation, adaptation – or suffering
Years and decades of dithering, denial and inaction mean that the remaining options open to humanity grow more limited and more unpalatable by the day. I explained in this Irish Examiner piece in late October the crucial differences between climate … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Extreme weather, Global Warming
Tagged adaptation, mitigation, West Antarctic, World Weather Attribution
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Climate impacts hitting home
The below piece ran as full pages in the Irish Mirror and Irish Daily Star in late October, to mark the UN’s International Day Against Climate Change. IT IS ALMOST certain that 2023 will be the hottest year globally since … Continue reading
Posted in Extreme weather, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged flooding, Irish Mirror, Storm Babet
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Nature holds key to tackling flood risks
Flooding remains Ireland’s top climate vulnerability, and it once again came home to bite in county Cork in October 2023 when the town of Midleton and some surrounding areas were inundated, with millions of euros in damages, but thankfully, no … Continue reading
Posted in Extreme weather, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Climate Action Plan, Eamon Ryan, flooding, Midleton, OPW, Pickering
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Planetary lines we shouldn’t cross
I filed this piece with Village magazine in October, charting the growing number of critical planetary boundaries that have now been breached, and why this matters. ON ANCIENT mariners’ maps, areas of uncharted waters were often marked with illustrations of … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged CFCs, nitrogen, ozone, PFAs, Planetary boundaries, Stockholm Resilience Centre
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When it gets too hot, things die
Heat is a silent, stealthy killer. As climate change accelerates, the regions in the world becoming too hot for human habitation or even survival are set to expand rapidly. US journalist Jeff Goodell has been on the climate beat for … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Business Post, Friederike Otto, Jeff Goodell
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Green shoots of climate progress appear
Budget 2024 was announced in mid-October and was, by any stretch, a very good day for the Greens in government. Despite being the perennial butt of political and media jokes, they have by and large kept their heads down and … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Eamon Ryan, Malcolm Noonan, NPWS, retrofitting, Solar energy
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The hazards of homicidal pragmatism
Whatever you may think of the Catholic Church (I’m certainly not a fan), it’s hard to dispute the fact that the current pope is unlike any of his predecessors. As I explained in the Irish Examiner in October, he has … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Politics, Psychology
Tagged climate denial, Ed Hawkins, Laudato Si, Pope Francis
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What happens when the law no longer protects us?
Imagine you could somehow project yourself 10 or 20 years into the future, and were looking back at the world in the 2020s, in full knowledge of the slow-motion catastrophe that was unfolding. What would you have done differently? I … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Politics, Protest, Psychology, Sustainability
Tagged Chris Packham, Emmeline Pankhurst, Extinction Rebellion
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Is insurance the first climate domino to fall?
While most economists and much of the financial system is still living in la la land when it comes to failing to account for the climate emergency, one sector where the impacts are already piling up is the global insurance … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Central Bank, insurance, Swiss Re, William Nordhaus
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Dispatches from a young eco-activist
I filed this review of ‘It’s Not Just You’, by Tori Tsui for the Business Post in August. While it makes a few interesting points, overall it fails to escape the dense tangle of eco-jargon and will be a struggle … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Protest, Psychology
Tagged Business Post, Greta Thunberg, Tori Tsui
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Your time is precious: spend it wisely
While the big ticket changes to move the dial on the climate crisis are generally beyond the reach of most people, that doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do. How we choose to spend our time, including our choices … Continue reading
Lifting the omerta on speaking plainly
Let’s be honest for a moment. We have collectively pussy-footed around the climate and biodiversity emergency for years, decades in fact. Despite the scientific evidence piling ever higher week by week, it has long been taken as read that stating … Continue reading
