Category Archives: Economics

Ecological Ponzi scheme ignores natural capital

Posted on April 29, 2013 by John Gibbons

Below, my article, as it appears in today’s Irish Times: AT THE weekend, I took a load of junk from the garden shed up to the local recycling centre. Use of the Ballyogan facility costs €30 per car. Of course, … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity, Economics, Global Warming, Sustainability | Leave a comment

Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will

Posted on December 14, 2011 by John Gibbons

Any lingering sense, however slight, that humanity could shake itself from its collective somnambulation in time to arrest the coming twin ecological and resource catastrophes was finally snuffed out this month in Durban. Here, the nations of the world in … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity, Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Hogan’s U-turn on climate is short-sighted and damaging

Posted on November 7, 2011 by John Gibbons

Below, my article as it appears in today’s Irish Times: WILL THE real Phil Hogan please stand up? On June 16th last, responding in the Dáil to questions from Sinn Féin’s Martin Ferris on whether climate change legislation was being … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Survival of the fairest?

Posted on July 4, 2011 by John Gibbons

Greed, in the immortal words of Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street, is good. Or, as we were told over and over again in this country during the heady days of the Bubble, we just needed to free our … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity, Economics, Global Warming, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

The decline and fall of the Human Empire

Posted on June 11, 2011 by John Gibbons

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 , , , | 13 Comments

In the world, at the limits to growth

Posted on June 7, 2011 by David Korowicz

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, Peak Oil, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Transforming the system: Is eco-innovation enough?

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Mark Keenan

The challenge of the 21st century is to align our political, economic, social and technological systems with the science of sustainability and the reality of resource limits, while maintaining wellbeing for citizens. In 2011, we are facing the decade of … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

A Climate Bill Post-Mortem

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Tara Connolly

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 , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Greetings from 1930: a book extract

Posted on December 1, 2010 by James Nix

You might have thought that the last decade, and back in the 1980s, were the first occasions that banking in Ireland lost the run of itself, throwing our collective future in jeopardy. Not so. Or that the decade to 2008 was … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Restructure debt, and phase out compound interest – that’s what our environmental and financial crises tell us

Posted on November 15, 2010 by James Nix

Agree or disagree with him, Morgan Kelly’s analysis in the Irish Times last week is a must read. Closing Ireland’s €20 billion deficit by €6 billion in 2011 spending is all fine and well, but it won’t do enough to stave off … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Energy constraints will collapse global economic recovery

Posted on October 14, 2010 by David Korowicz

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, Peak Oil, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

The economics of climate change: discounting the future, ignoring the poor?

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Paddy Morris

Economists looking at climate change face a difficult task, with uncertain climate models, chaotic climate systems and possible catastrophic threshold effects. Often, when looking at the impacts of climate change different mitigation/adaptation options and emission scenarios will be looked at, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Sceptics | Tagged , , , , | 61 Comments

Oil: supply shortfall & getting a sense of the scale of BP’s spill

Posted on June 21, 2010 by James Nix

We’re now beginning to see government agencies put figures on the oil supply deficit in coming years. The US Department of Energy information agency say that current data points to a supply deficit of 5 million barrels a day by … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Peak oil – what happens next?

Posted on May 28, 2010 by John Gibbons

Wednesday night last saw an interesting session to kick off several days of the 15th Convergence Sustainable Living Festival, organised by Cultivate. The two-hour session was entitled: ‘Planning our retreat from fossil fuels: exploring the ramifications of Peak Oil’ and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Peak Oil, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Low future price for carbon puts us on the wrong route

Posted on March 30, 2010 by James Nix

Transport investment is particularly expensive. And two points are emerging in Ireland. First, some facilities are significantly overcapacity. Second, there isn’t enough capacity in areas set to grow as the price of carbon emissions rise: the failure to adequately price … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments