Category Archives: Politics
No good deed goes unpunished as Greens eviscerated
The Greens went into a three-way coalition as the junior partner in 2020 and have, by any reasonable measure, overperformed in terms of bending the national political agenda towards meaningful climate action. Of course, mistakes were made and opportunities missed … Continue reading
Posted in Irish Focus, Media, Politics
Tagged Election 2024, Green Party, Holly Cairns, Roderic O’Gorman
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Armed conflict also means going to war on nature
By any standards, 2024 was a grim year for armed conflict worldwide. At the time I filed this piece in the Irish Times in February of that year, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was bogged down in a bloody stalemate, … Continue reading
Another year for the record books?
I filed this piece, a combined review of 2023 and preview of 2024 on the climate and wider environmental front for the Irish Examiner just before the holidays and it ran in early January. And if I sound like a … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Extreme weather, Global Warming, Politics, Sustainability
Tagged COP28, flooding, Libya, Midleton, Storm Babet, World Weather Attribution
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Do as I say, just not as I do
While it’s easy to finger-wag and point to the failures of others on achieving climate targets, how does Ireland stack up in terms of delivering on its own legally-binging commitments? In short, not very well, as I explained in this … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Politics, Sustainability
Tagged Charlie McConalogue, COP28, Dubai, Eamon Ryan, EPA, Global Meat Alliance, Livestock, Mary Robinson, Sinn Fein
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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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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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Laying waste to Europe in pursuit of short-term profits
The bitter ongoing battle this summer to get the crucial Nature Restoration Law enacted and the dirty tricks campaign orchestrated by the EPP on behalf of agri-industrial lobbyists is not yet over, but below, I reported for the Irish Examiner … Continue reading
Good ancestors demand a Ministry for The Future
While the title for this piece was borrowed from the Kim Stanley Robinson cli-fi classic novel, I wanted to explore our paradoxical relationship with the future and how we struggle to engage in intergenerational stewardship to take into account the … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Politics, Sustainability
Tagged Business Post, Citizens Assembly, Nature Restoration Law, Paul Hawken, Sweden
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