Category Archives: Irish Focus

Postings with a specific Irish angle

Things are Looking Up as climate crunch hits funny bone

Posted on December 26, 2021 by John Gibbons

It will come as no surprise to regular ToS readers to learn that the biggest ‘story’ of the 21st century, or perhaps 66 million years of Earth history, is the rapidly unfolding climate emergency and simultaneous global mass extinction event, … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Psychology, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Confronting consumerism for a safer future

Posted on December 18, 2021 by John Gibbons

Among the many challenges we face this decade is how to achieve radical decarbonisation in a way that does not entirely alienate the public. This is no mean challenge. After all, we are all bombarded with constant advertising and promotional … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Psychology | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

No national security without food security

Posted on November 10, 2021 by John Gibbons

We often hear about Ireland’s supposed role in “feeding the world”. The reality is altogether different. Despite the hype, domestic food insecurity is a very real concern in the difficult decades ahead. I explored this issue in detail in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Global Warming | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The library of our living planet is burning down

Posted on November 5, 2021 by John Gibbons

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 , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No time to lose as climate clock approaches midnight

Posted on October 25, 2021 by John Gibbons

This article was published in the Irish Times in late October, just days before the start of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. AHEAD OF the upcoming UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, many countries are now revising their nationally … Continue reading →

Posted in Arctic, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Latest chapter in one man’s journey into climate obscurity

Posted on October 15, 2021 by John Gibbons

This piece ran in Village magazine in mid-October, tracking the latest moves by Ireland’s climate denier-in-chief in his continuing mission to spread doubt on the science of climate change and the help stymie effective climate action. OVER FOUR decades ago, … Continue reading →

Posted in Irish Focus, Sceptics | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Which part of ‘Code Red’ don’t we understand?

Posted on August 25, 2021 by John Gibbons

The publication of the first working group report (physical sciences) of the IPCC’s keenly awaited AR6 report in mid-August came against the backdrop months of genuinely alarming extreme weather events across multiple continents, from killer floods in Europe and China … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Climate emergency ‘widespread, rapid and intensifying’

Posted on August 15, 2021 by John Gibbons

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 , , , | Leave a comment

Feeling the heat, then seeing the light

Posted on August 5, 2021 by John Gibbons

The story of RTÉ’s Damascene conversion on climate coverage has continued to gather pace. Below is a piece I wrote for the Business Post in early August explaining the background and context. AS THE STATE broadcaster, RTÉ occupies a special … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Winds of (climate) change finally blow through Montrose

Posted on July 31, 2021 by John Gibbons

I filed the article below for DeSmog, the international website specialising in climate denial and disinformation, in late July, in the wake of the sudden about-turn within RTÉ’s senior management over its climate coverage. IRELAND’S NATIONAL broadcaster has publicly apologised … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Climate emergency still failing to capture sustained media focus

Posted on July 24, 2021 by John Gibbons

Here’s a piece I filed with the Business Post in July which took a look at how the alarming extreme weather events ramping up this summer are still failing to raise a red flag in the media, both here and … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media | Leave a comment

More power to our fledgling solar industry

Posted on July 15, 2021 by John Gibbons

The missing piece of the puzzle from Ireland’s transition to clean and renewable energy has long been solar power. While wind energy has grown in just a couple of decades from almost nothing to providing more than two fifths of … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Do we care enough about nature to bother saving it?

Posted on May 15, 2021 by John Gibbons

This piece ran in the Business Post in early May, inspired at least in part by the devastating fires that swept many of Ireland’s uplands yet again this Spring, an annual ritual, it seems, that comes around with depressing regularity, … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hard cheese for environment as Big Ag juggernaut steamrolls NGOs

Posted on April 15, 2021 by John Gibbons

This piece ran on Desmog.com in mid-April. This site has, since 2006, sought “to clear the PR pollution that is clouding the science and solutions to climate change”. And in Ireland, nowhere is this pollution more pervasive than the smog … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Beyond denial and grief and towards solidarity on climate

Posted on April 4, 2021 by John Gibbons

This piece ran in the Business Post in late March as my take on the revised – and considerably improved – Climate Bill. Since it was written, it has become clear that the absolute maximum ambition the agri sector is … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment