Tag Archives: Ireland

Ireland after Durban

After Durban, how Ireland will deliver its 20 per cent emissions cut moves centre-stage. We need to move quickly from the headline figure to a hard-minded sector-by-sector approach. The new climate agreement reached in Durban is bitterly disappointing for its … Continue reading

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John Tyndall – Ireland’s Greatest Climate Scientist

Science in 1861 was very different to now, and entire fields of study and concepts that are now taken for granted – quantum physics, the theory of relativity, continental drift, the big bang, DNA, the uncertainty principle, black holes, an … Continue reading

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15 Reasons to be (Mildly) Optimistic about COP15

As the Copenhagen conference progresses, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a brief look what’s the various different countries have offered, and reasons why there is some room for optimism about a decent deal being done… 1. The … Continue reading

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Full steam ahead!

While the mud flies to the left and to the right, now, with just 12 days to the opening of the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen, looks like it’s all hands on deck, women and children first, etc. etc. as … Continue reading

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Every little helps?

Had been planning to write about the power of the multiples for some time, but what finally pushed me over the edge was a report in The Ticket in last Friday’s Irish Times, to the effect that the DVD cover … Continue reading

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Spirit of Ireland – Divine wind or hot air?

Last week, something pretty unusual showed up in a number of national newspapers. This was a full-page advert under the title ‘Spirit of Ireland‘. This tied in with the launch of a website and a big PR push through the … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Irish Focus, Nuclear, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

A grandfather’s appeal to Obama

Politicians worry about the next election; business people worry about the next quarter. Who does that leave to worry about the longer term future? One top scientific expert believes the people who really do think ahead are parents, more specifically … Continue reading

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Weaning ourselves off the fetish of growth

A cynic, according to Oscar Wilde, is a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. He could have easily been talking about economists. It’s hard to open a newspaper or turn on the radio these … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity, Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

ESB finally sees the light

Ireland, it appears, is at last starting to get serious about tackling our huge energy requirements, and the dagger that our massive dependence on imports of oil and gas in particular holds to our collective throat. We are reckoned in … Continue reading

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Getting some real wind in our sails

You only have to look at a map of Ireland’s rugged western seaboard to get some idea of the power of wave and wind in shaping our coastline. In Connemara the sparse tree cover leans away from the sea at … Continue reading

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