Category Archives: Global Warming
Higher emissions? Or empty roads and emigration?
Monday 26 April is the last day to make a submission on the public consultation process for the largest section of motorway yet to be proposed in Ireland – some 80 km between Cork and Limerick. Submissions must be with … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Ireland's National Debt, motorway construction, policy coherence
14 Comments
Argument versus Proselytising: Developing and defending a rational debate on energy and survival.
The debate on climate change faces a number of inherent handicaps. Human nature is perhaps the most important. At our best, we deal reasonably well with the present and the immediate future. If next Christmas seems remote, our abilities to … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged Climategate, CRU, denial, Energy, Peak Oil
3 Comments
Ireland among most vulnerable to peak oil
HERE’S A conundrum: restarting global economic growth will, by definition, push up energy costs. Rising energy costs will in turn choke off that economic recovery, leading to a fall in energy prices. Try to restart growth again, and the brick … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Energy, Feasta, Forfas, Hirsch, Korowicz, Peak Oil
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Heavy weather for climate science
You would think that people whose business is the weather would be pretty informed about climate change. The reality is a great deal more complex. In the US, weathermen, for many the very public, trusted face of science, are split … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged forecast, John Coleman, Met Eireann, meteorology, Pat Kenny, sceptics, Sunday Times
7 Comments
Suspend democracy to tackle emissions – Lovelock
From the Guardian: In his first major interview since the climate-change emails scandal, James Lovelock says he is disgusted by the actions of some scientists, applauds ‘good’ climate sceptics, and warns that global warming could even lead to war Leo … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, democracy, emissions, Gaia, James Lovelock
1 Comment
Low future price for carbon puts us on the wrong route
Transport investment is particularly expensive. And two points are emerging in Ireland. First, some facilities are significantly overcapacity. Second, there isn’t enough capacity in areas set to grow as the price of carbon emissions rise: the failure to adequately price … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged pricing, roads, Shadow price of carbon, transport emissions
3 Comments
Decreasing carbon emissions without affecting the quality of life
There are a couple of simple ideas, which if implemented could make deep and long term cuts in our carbon emissions, while maintaining (or even increasing) the quality of life for all. In no particular order, they are: 1. Immediately … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, climate, climate change, CO2, emissions, global warming, Sustainability
4 Comments
Doing our best versus doing what’s required
Yesterday afternoon, I was one of a panel of four from the ‘environmental’ field who met under the ageis of Common Purpose with a group of around 25-30 senior figures from the world of business, finance, the semi-state sector and … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged advocacy, Al Gore, climate, IPCC
5 Comments
Attack on climate science has its OJ Simpson moment
Bill McKibben has been at the forefront of efforts to alert the public to the dangers of climate change for more than two decades. Today he fronts 350.org, a website dedicated to setting a global CO2 ceiling of 350ppm. Below, … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics
Tagged bill mcKibben, China, Coal, Energy, Monckton, sceptics
2 Comments
Ireland’s looming bird crisis
Back in 2002, the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity set a target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010. It is now 2010, the declared UN Year of Biodiversity, and although some endangered species have been saved, notably … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged birds, egret, extinction, habitat, habitat loss
1 Comment
Permafrost retreats further north
Buried in the ‘Weather Eye’ page of our paper of record again… Climate change forcing frozen soil retreat Mon, Feb 22, 2010 THE PERMANENTLY frozen ground known as permafrost is retreating northward in the area around Canada’s James Bay, a … Continue reading
Now there’s an App to zap the sceptics
The always useful site Skeptical Science, with its handy list of the most common arguments used by climate change sceptics and detailed rebuttals of them, is now available as an iPhone app. So next time a discussion occurs and one of … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics
Tagged climate, climate change, climate hoax, sceptics
2 Comments
Do you believe in miracles?
Bill Gates is for many the Dr Evil of the corporate world. His Microsoft behemoth has had a stranglehold on the world’s personal computer market for the last two decades, and wrung hundreds of billions out of users in the … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear, Sustainability
Tagged climate, collapse, Energy, nuclear, Peak Oil, Sustainability
7 Comments
Copenhagen & beyond: where now for the EU?
The EU was marginalized amid the realpolitik which dominated at Copenhagen. As a consequence the Copenhagen Accord neither conceptually nor substantively reflected the EU’s negotiating position. In a recent policy brief (available here) I argue that this failure must lead … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
3 Comments
Pachauri should go?
Claims that Himalayan glaciers would have melted by 2035, and that there would be a rise in hurricanes, typhoons and other extreme weather events were never properly peer reviewed before inclusion in the IPCC’s reports. So-called ‘grey’ literature was used … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming
Tagged 'grey' literature, IPCC, Pachauri, peer review, wrong claims
3 Comments
