Category Archives: Habitat/Species
Bracing for the coming climate refugee crisis
The millions of people displaced by wars and conflict in the 20th century and in the early part of this century are likely to be eclipsed by a vast waves of forced migration in the decades ahead, as rising temperatures, … Continue reading
Cutting down on global deforestation
For as long as I can remember, we’ve been hearing about deforestation, usually expressed as an area of old-growth forest the size of x number of soccer pitches being lost per minute/hour. Globally, more than two billion hectares of forest … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability
Tagged Brazil, deforestation, IPCC, Livestock, Planetary boundaries, WWF
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Giving nature the legal right to exist
Mankind’s relationship with the rest of nature has been overwhelmingly predatory for centuries, with the natural world used as both a quarry from which to extract ‘resources’ and as a dump into which to eject our mountains of waste. The … Continue reading
Biosphere buckling under weight of human pressures
Rapid population growth has seen another billion humans added to world population in just the 11 years since 2011. In tandem with dramatic economic growth and accelerating climate change, these are placing unbearable pressures on the biosphere, foreshadowing a near … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged contraception, nitrogen, overpopulation
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Feeding the planet without destroying the Earth
My review of ‘Regenesis’ by George Monbiot appeared in The Irish Times in mid-June. The author has, since its publication, been on the receiving end of what looks like a co-ordinated campaign to smear and discredit both him and and … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability
Tagged extinction, Monbiot
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Big trouble as world’s tiny empires crumble
As recently as 30, even 20 years ago, when at night across Ireland, by the time you reached your destination, the front of your car would be caked in hundreds, even thousands, of dead insects. Commonly known as ‘bug splat’ … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Pollution
Tagged Dave Goulson, glyphosate, Insects, neonicotinoids, Oliver Milman
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The library of our living planet is burning down
Shortly before the COP26 climate conference began, another global conference, this one on biodiversity, known as COP15, took place in Kunming, China. My piece around the global biodiversity crunch ran in the Business Post in late October. THE NATURAL WORLD is … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Pollution, Sustainability
Tagged Biodiversity, IPBES, IUCN, Kunming, Living Planet Report, Malcolm Noonan, NWPS
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Climate emergency ‘widespread, rapid and intensifying’
I was asked by TheJournal.ie to write a reaction piece to mark the release of the first part of the IPCC’s new climate report in early August. I also recorded an Explainer Podcast with TheJournal.ie later in August. JUST HOW … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus
Tagged heatwave, IPCC, TheJournal.ie, wildfires
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Agri emissions plan a roadmap to nowhere
In the absence of action, the next best thing is to look busy, and Ireland’s agri-industrial sector and its many boosters in politics and the civil and public service have elevated this frenzy of inaction to something of a performance … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture, Economics, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus
Tagged AgClimatise, Dairy emissions, Teagasc
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‘Our relationship with nature is broken’
The below piece ran on TheJournal.ie in late September. It was inspired by a combination of the surreal imagery emanating from the western US and the release of the 2020 Living Planet Report, which chronicles ever sharpening declines in planetary vital … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species
Tagged Insectageddon, Living Planet Report
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Ecocide: the greatest crime against humanity and nature
It is extraordinary that ecocide is not formally recognised and codified as a crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. There are surely few greater crimes than the deliberate destruction of entire ecosystems, in many cases leading directly … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability
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Coronavirus an appetiser for what climate breakdown has in store
The piece below ran on Thejournal.ie in early May, and to my surprise, made quite an impact, with over 83,000 views, 142 online comments and thousands of tweets and reposts on social media. Thejournal.ie is now very much part of … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Pollution, Psychology, Sustainability
Tagged Coronavirus, Green Party, IPCC, pandemic, Paris Agreement, WMO
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Shattering the illusion of control
Below, my piece for Greennews.ie, published on March 26th, just as the grim reality of the Coronavirus pandemic was finally hitting home in Ireland: ========== Right now, millions of people around the world are waking each day with a sensation … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species
Tagged Coronavirus, Covid-19, Zoonotic
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Rout of global biodiversity comes with a heavy price tag
Below, my article as it appeared in the summer edition of ‘Irish Wildlife’, the magazine of the Irish Wildlife Trust, an organisation well worth supporting. I gave a one-hour presentation followed by a Q&A at an IWT ‘Green Drinks’ event … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability
Tagged Biodiversity, EO Wilson, Irish Wildlife Trust, Luquillo
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Window on ecological annihilation closing fast
Below, my article that appeared in the Irish Times at the beginning of this month, inspired by the publication in October of the WWF’s ‘Living Planet Report‘. Even when generally inured to the drumbeat of ecological bad news, the Living … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability
Tagged EO Wilson, Living Planet Report, National Biodiversity Forum, WWF
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