Category Archives: Sustainability
The decline and fall of the Human Empire
Below is my article, as it appears over four pages in the current edition of ‘Village’ magazine: Doomsday cults are as old as human civilisation. The Bible is a rich sourcebook for ‘End Times’ enthusiasts, who pore over Iron Age … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Armageddon, CO2, Peak Oil, Village
13 Comments
In the world, at the limits to growth
By David Korowicz* We imagine this country is in crisis, yet crisis is relative. Most people in the world would envy our material austerity and be thankful for our endlessly ‘collapsing’ health service. But, with our expectations thwarted and in … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged collapse, David Korowicz, Feasta, Peak Oil, Sustainability
4 Comments
Could climate change be linked to freak weather? Never!
By Bill McKibben* Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week’s shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, … Continue reading
Tipping the Scales towards Sustainability
The Stockholm Memorandum – 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium* on Global Sustainability, Stockholm, Sweden, 16-19 May 2011 I. Mind-shift for a Great Transformation The Earth system is complex. There are many aspects that we do not yet understand. However, we are … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Sustainability
5 Comments
2084: An Oral History of the Great Warming
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future”, the famous Danish physicist Niels Bohr once quipped, only half in jest. Scientists, as we know, are a dry lot, preferring to leave the purple prose to the scribes while they pore … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Sceptics, Sustainability
21 Comments
Fukushima a godsend for anti-nuclear bandwagon
I’ve been following the unfolding nuclear “crisis” in Japan with growing alarm. People who call themselves environmentalists have been jumping up and down with thinly disguised glee, pointing and waving and saying: “there, we warned you, nuclear is GONNA KILL … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear, Sustainability
Tagged Coal, earthquake, Energy, Fukushima, Japan, nuclear, radiation, tsunami
45 Comments
Fine Gael and climate change – what’s the story?
Fine Gael will almost certainly comprise all or most of the incoming government, therefore what they have to say about policy matters a hell of a lot more than FF, Sinn Fein or the Greens, none of whom are likely … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged climate, election, Fine Gael, policy
13 Comments
A Climate Bill Post-Mortem
Now that the Climate Change Response Bill 2010 has officially been consigned to the scrap heap, it is a good time to take stock of how the public debate around the Bill played out. As has already been discussed on … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged abatement, farming, IBEC, ICMSA, IEA, IFA, Oil, SEAI, Teagasc, Voiceireland.org
11 Comments
Mary Robinson – Reshaping the debate on climate change
For those of you who missed it in November, Mary Robinson’s lecture ‘Reshaping the debate on climate change’ is available to watch on YouTube now: John has covered this lecture in a previous post, which I have taken the liberty … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
11 Comments
Denial and self-interested delusion on Climate Bill
The prolific US author, Upton Sinclair was a shrewd observer of human nature, as evidenced in his classic retort to vested interests: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Climate Bill, Danny McCoy, farming, Gavin Harte, IBEC, IFA
14 Comments
Septic tanks: another nettle in the long grass
It’s now more than a year since the European Court of Justice condemned Ireland for its dysfunctional approach to waste water treatment at some 500,000 premises across the State. While work is underway to address the judgment, it will now … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged EU law, septic tanks, Village Magazine, waste water treatment
2 Comments
As Cancun begins, deep pessimism abounds
Frank McDonald has a timely overview of state of near-paralysis that has engulfed global efforts to arrest climate change in today’s Irish Times (including a good plug for ThinkOrSwim), though I might quibble with the statement: “many scientists now say … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Antarctic, Cancun, CO2, Frank McDonald, Greenland
5 Comments
Calling the media to account for climate change coverage
Based on measurements for the first ten months of this year, 2010 is now reckoned to be tied with the scorching 1998 as the two hottest years globally since reliable record-keeping began in 1850. This of course is on top … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics, Sustainability
11 Comments
Of climate, slavery and tobacco
What, you might well ask, could climate change, slavery and tobacco possibly have in common? Quite a bit, it appears. The article below, courtesy of The Daily Climate, reports on a new study that compares current attitudes on climate change … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
7 Comments
Energy constraints will collapse global economic recovery
We may rail against the regulators, politicians, and others who failed to understand and manage past risks, but we are just as culpable for our failure to engage with severe, well-signposted, imminent ones. Impassioned arguments over bank nationalisation, the austerity-stimulus … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Energy, ESRI, Feasta, Hirsch, Korowicz, Nama, Peak Oil
15 Comments
