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ThinkOrSwim on Twitter
"@swimsure Fair point; I think there's something to be considered in how we accept - or reject - messaging that clashes with beliefs"""Reason many Americans still refuse to believe it is religious fundamentalism - immune to science & reason" http://t.co/71FmvFrI08""Climate change is a highly ideological issue and it is not amenable to the information deficit model..." http://t.co/82r63ofGhF"""When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves" #climatechange"
Category Archives: Habitat/Species
It’s a race to the bottom – we’re winning as the oceans die
To me, nothing says summer down-time quite like finding a shady spot on a warm day and settling in for a great read. This year, I had the good fortune of picking two exceptional books – ‘The Ocean of Life’ … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Callum Roberts, extinction, marine
4 Comments
Life on Earth now under threat as never before
Below, my opinion article, as it appears in today’s Irish Times: WHEN WE put our mind to it, it’s amazing what we can learn to forget. Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 hosted one of the most important international conferences … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Earth Summit, Rio+20, Sustainability
8 Comments
Crutzen’s tough medicine for a sick planet
Arguably one of the most significant figures of the last two centuries was in Dublin last night, where he presented a lecture in TCD, organised by the Royal Irish Academy. The man in question is Prof Paul Crutzen, the brilliant … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species
Tagged Anthropocene, CFCs, Crutzen, GHGs, ozone
12 Comments
Six degrees to annihilation
Below is a news feature as appears on page 14 of this weekend’s Sunday Tribune. Given that global emissions are and will continue to run at or perhaps beyond the IPCC’s ‘worst-case’ (A1F1) scenario, I felt it useful to try … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
42 Comments
Ming shows our bogs no mercy
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it”. So wrote novelist Upton Sinclair, and boy, did he have a clear understanding of human nature. Last Thursday’ PrimeTime on RTE … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
7 Comments
Ireland’s looming bird crisis
Back in 2002, the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity set a target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010. It is now 2010, the declared UN Year of Biodiversity, and although some endangered species have been saved, notably … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged birds, egret, extinction, habitat, habitat loss
1 Comment
The Anthropocene draws to a close
The term Anthropocene was coined by Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen a decade ago to describe the new ‘Era of Man’, a distinct geological epoch shaped almost entirely by our actions and impacts. “The Anthropocence has yet to be accepted as … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Anthropocene, Arctic, climate change, CO2, Crutzen, David McWilliams, emissions, famine, global warming, John Gibbons, methane, New Scientist, permafrost, RTE, species loss, Sustainability
4 Comments
In the frame for Lisbon
Am usually happiest to operate from the safety and relative anonymity of this side of the keyboards, but decided to face the music, so to speak, and contribute to a press briefing held in the dramatic setting of the upper … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
3 Comments
Where have all the fish gone? (we ate them)
The world’s oceans are in deep, deep trouble. Industrialised fishing, in full swing since around 1950, has in essence waged a war against the marine ecosystem. And the bad news is: we’re winning. Species extinctions, population crashes and vast disruption … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Achim Steiner, collapse, extinction, fishing, global warming, marine, maritime, oceans, overfishing, population, sharks, species loss, Sustainability, UN, UNEP
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North East Passage open for business
The fabled North West Passage, allowing shipping from Asia to Europe to navigate via the Arctic Ocean, is now routinely used. This passage cost the lives of many earlier expeditions. Times have changed, and a century of relentless global warming … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged albedo, Arctic, climate change, Greenland, ice, iceberg, melting, Oil
6 Comments
Climate camp – Shannonbridge
Last week’s Climate Camp in Shannonbridge drew around 150 people to a site right beside the Shannonbridge peat-burning power plant. The week, which included workshops, bog walks and practical sessions on sustainability, culminated in a Day of Action on Saturday … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
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Welcome to the New Emergency
They call it the ‘Greenhouse Gamble’. I’d call it the Wheel of Death. Either way, it’s a gizmo that looks like a cheesy prop from the National Lottery show, but in fact it has been developed by scientists from the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, climate change, CO2, emissions, environment, IPCC, MIT, Permaculture
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Life on the far side of the Rubicon
“Electric word life – It means forever and that’s a mighty long time”. Eighties music aficionados will probably recognise this line, from Prince’s Purple Rain. It came to mind when reading a report from the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Nuclear, Sustainability
17 Comments
Sustainability crisis no less critical than climate change
If self-immolation were somehow our collective goal, there is no surer way of expediting this outcome than to allow the rampant clearing of the world’s remaining forests. A critical place to start is in cracking down on imports of illegally … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability
Tagged Biodiversity, climate change, Dimas, Easter Island, EU, forestry, habitat loss, Maya, species loss, Sustainability, timber, WWF
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