Category Archives: Sustainability
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
4 Comments
Running Amoc – uncertain future for Atlantic current
Below, my first article to appear in Passive House Plus magazine: IF YOU LOOK at Ireland on an atlas, one thing that is striking is just how far north the island is located. Follow the lines of latitude east across … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged AMOC, James Hansen, Kieran Hickey, Myles Allen, World Weather Attribution
2 Comments
Creed gets creamed over dodgy dairy data
Going right back to late last year, a concerted campaign has been led by folks in the Department of Agriculture to create ‘alternative facts’ about emissions emanating from our rapidly expanding dairy herd. A new phrase “decoupling” was rolled out … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Irish Focus, Media, Pollution, Sustainability
Tagged Dairy emissions, DeSmog UK, Michael Creed
3 Comments
The Big Questions that Irish broadcasters shy away from
Other than on the very odd news bulletin wearing my An Taisce hat, I very rarely appear on Irish TV talking about climate change. Much as I might like to paint this as some sinister conspiracy against me personally, the … Continue reading
Citizens’ Assembly has spoken on climate change: Ireland must listen
Below, my article as it appeared in the Irish Times on June 1st, in which I pitched strongly for the findings of the Citizens’ Assembly on climate change to be taken on board via an Oireachtas committee in the same … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged 8th Amendment, Citizens Assembly, democracy
3 Comments
RTE bog broadcast sinks into mire of low standards
Below, a piece I ran in a well-known satirical magazine in May 2018. It was subsequently picked up by the Sunday Times, who also gave the show a bit of a scalding under a piece headed: ‘RTE turfed into trouble … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Bord na Mona, Derek Mooney, RTE
2 Comments
Day of reckoning on global extinction crisis draws near
Below, my article as it was published in the Irish Times last month, with some referencing added back in. To borrow one of my own lines, “A solitary species has, in a heartbeat of geological time, overturned and routed half … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability
Tagged Anthropocene, extinction, Irish Times, northern rhino, WWF
7 Comments
All talk, no action: agri sector’s spin over substance
My article, which ran in the Irish Examiner in early February, is below IRISH agriculture faces enormous threats, both from direct climate change impacts and the urgent need to sharply reduce emissions, yet the sector has been remarkably slow to … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged agriculture, ICOS, Irish Examiner, Phil Hogan
8 Comments
Sinking ever deeper into ecological debt and climate denial
Eschatology, or the study of the end of times, is at least as old as the written word. The concept spans many of the world’s major religions, usually referring to some future day of judgement or reckoning. Beyond the realms … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged climate denial, Doomsday Clock, ICSF, WWF
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2017: yet another year of living dangerously
And so 2017 comes, at last, to a close. From a climate and wider environmental standpoint, it has been an unmitigated disaster. It hardly bears repeating that the installation of the Trump regime in Washington was the worst possible news, … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability
Tagged Attenborough, Fisheries, Simon Coveney
6 Comments
Don’t give up on democracy just yet
Below, my article from the November edition of Village magazine, looking back on the historic proceedings of the Citizens’ Assembly: It’s been a bad couple of years for democracy. The Brexit fiasco was the most humiliating British retreat from Europe … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Citizens Assembly, Denis Naughten
2 Comments
The Citizens have spoken: no more excuses, climate action now
I spent all day Saturday November 5th in the Grand Hotel, Malahide, covering the penultimate session of the Citizens’ Assembly hearings on climate change. Having watched much of the previous weekend’s deliberations via live stream, I had the sense that … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
3 Comments
Eating the future, one bite at a time
Futurology is a favourite journalistic parlour game, usually reserved for a slow news week or the lifestyle section. When I saw the following bold opening statement in a recent Irish Times magazine cover story, “Half of the babies born today … Continue reading
When our leaders won’t lead, can Citizens’ Assembly step up?
Below, an article I ran in a well-known magazine earlier this month in the light of what we learned from the first weekend of the Citizens’ Assembly. I wasn’t able to attend the session in Malahide, but spent much of … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Citizens Assembly, Joseph Curtin, Marie Donnelly, Met Eireann
7 Comments
An Inconvenient Truth – then and now
Below, my article as it appeared in the Irish Times on August 19th last. I had been, along with my family and some friends, to the preview screening of ‘An Inconvenient Sequel – Truth To Power’ in the Lighthouse Cinema … Continue reading
