Category Archives: Habitat/Species

Ssssh, don’t mention the ‘E’ word

Posted on March 10, 2008 by John Gibbons

There’s an episode of the 1970s comedy, Fawlty Towers, in which German visitors come to stay in the hotel. Basil Fawlty goes to great lengths to avoid any references to World War 2 (it was then barely 30 years after … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Drowning in an ocean of rubbish

Posted on March 7, 2008 by John Gibbons

Nobody likes living near a rubbish dump. Fewer things are quicker at getting Irish people out to protest than the prospect of a new dump or incinerator opening anywhere near them. Earlier today, around 400 people in Nobber, Co. Meath … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability | 4 Comments

Feast or famine

Posted on March 3, 2008 by John Gibbons

Food, or more precisely the lack of food, is deeply ingrained in the Irish psyche. Small wonder, having been victims of the worst western European famine of the last 250 years. In today’s world of plenty, where the local Tesco … Continue reading →

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There Will Be Oil!

Posted on February 28, 2008 by John Gibbons

The prolific American author Upton Sinclair died 40 years ago, but his novel Oil, published in 1927, has recently had a second coming, being the book upon which the Oscar-winning film There Will Be Blood is based. Another of Sinclair’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A vision of beauty

Posted on February 20, 2008 by John Gibbons

Nature is under relentless assault, entire ecosystems are being obliterated, an area of natural forest the size of Croke Park is burned or cleared every second. Around every 12 minutes, yet another species goes extinct. The news is, to put … Continue reading →

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Time to put a lid on bottled water

Posted on February 18, 2008 by John Gibbons

‘Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former’. That’s the view of no less an observer than Albert Einstein. Though his judgement may seem a little harsh, the strange story of … Continue reading →

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Forget chocolate – 40 steps to cut carbon for Lent

Posted on February 8, 2008 by John Gibbons

The Tearfund is a UK-based development agency which has come up with a novel idea for this Lent. Instead of cutting down on treats, how about reducing your carbon instead? They are clearly placing the effects of climate change as … Continue reading →

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At the edge of the Olduvain abyss?

Posted on February 7, 2008 by John Gibbons

The year 1900 is little more than two generations ago. It’s the year before my maternal grandmother was born. At that time, she was one of some 1.6 billion people then alive on the earth. A hundred years, two World … Continue reading →

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Under pressure

Posted on February 5, 2008 by John Gibbons

Our closest living relatives on this planet are the 625 species of primates. We share over 98% of our DNA with them, so the similarities are more than skin deep. In the whole of the turbulent 20th century, not a … Continue reading →

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Is the Lucky Country’s luck running out?

Posted on January 28, 2008 by John Gibbons

Australia is, and has been for generations, a paradoxical place. Though it’s more than ten thousand miles and 12 time zones from England, it has still looked longingly over its shoulder to the ‘Mother ship’, many decades after the British … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability | 1 Comment

A Giant step backwards

Posted on January 22, 2008 by John Gibbons

It’s not the easiest place on the island to locate, and when you do eventually get there, your first impression may be to wonder what all the fuss is about. But as you head on foot from the visitor area … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability | 1 Comment

Wising up to the reality of biofuels

Posted on January 17, 2008 by John Gibbons

The EU is next week due to propose a ban on imports of many kinds of biofuels. If approved by European governments, the law would prohibit importing fuels made from crops grown on certain kinds of land – including grasslands, … Continue reading →

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