Tag Archives: Arctic
Polar heatwaves sound global climate alarm bells
Polar heatwaves are, as you would imagine, rare events, but in March, simultaneous heatwaves were recorded at both poles, an event without precedent in the instrumental record. I wrote the following Opinion piece for the Irish Examiner discussing the phenomenon and … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Global Warming
Tagged Antarctic, Antonio Guterres, Arctic, Irish Examiner, James Hansen, Vostok
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Epic Arctic meltdown portends radically altered future
I first wrote about the fate of the Arctic region in April 2008, in the wake of huge melt events in 2005 and September 2007. I returned to the topic in September 2012, a year in which an area of … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Global Warming
Tagged Arctic, Greenland, James Hansen, permafrost, Siberia
1 Comment
2029 – A letter from the future
We live in consequential times. “What we do over the next 10 years will determine the future of humanity for the next 10,000 years”, is how former UK chief scientific advisor Prof David King put it recently. There is no … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Psychology, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged Arctic, heatwave, IPCC, Long Emergency, permafrost, Village Magazine
5 Comments
Nine years later, and deeper in debt
It’s nine years to the week since my first posting on ThinkorSwim went live – on the last day of November 2007. It was, in many ways, a different world. The mood was radically different too. For starters, the Greens … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged 2007, Arctic, Green Party, NASA, Trump
17 Comments
The Arctic ice cap is melting – and with it goes our future
Below, my article, as it appears in today’s Irish Times. The piece has ‘gone viral’ via social media, with over 2,500 ‘Recommends’ on Facebook alone, and it was No. 3 in the ‘Most Read’ category of Irishtimes.com last week. Not … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Arctic, CO2, Greenland, ice, iceberg, sea-levels
9 Comments
A little something for the weekend…
While smoking out climate change deniers can offer a little light relief, it’s important not to lose sight of what exactly is on the line here. For this, I am grateful to Joe Romm over at ThinkProgress for the following … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Arctic, Hadley Centre, IPCC, methane, MIT, permafrost
8 Comments
Baby, it’s cold outside
News comes through this morning via John Gormley and Ciaran Cuffe that the Climate Change Response Bill has at last been published. A public consultation period on the Bill is to run until January 28th next, with a view to … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Arctic, Ciaran Cuffe, Climate Bill, John Gormley, John Sweeney, Kieran Hiickey, Potsdam Institute, snow
8 Comments
The not-so-strange paradox of global warming’s northern freeze
My article, below, as it appears in today’s Irish Times: OPINION: The thaw is on (apparently); can this year’s two extreme cold snaps be linked to wider climate change? AS 2010 draws to a close, globally it will enter the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged anomaly, Arctic, freeze, Greenland, jet stream
4 Comments
Is the chilling truth that we’re to blame for the big freeze?
The Irish Independent this morning has a useful full-page piece by Ed Power in its ‘Weekend Review’ section on the extreme cold spell. He canvassed three perspectives, and I find myself, not for the first time, somewhat at odds with … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Arctic, freeze, Irish Independent, meteorology, Ray Bates
12 Comments
Sunday Times shows its hand. Again.
Last April, I gave a lecture to the Met Society of Ireland in Glasnevin. A Sunday Times reporter was in the audience, though she did not make herself known to me, ask any questions or attempt to speak to me … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged Arctic, climate change, IPCC, Media, sceptics, Sunday Times
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Reporting our changing world
I nearly missed the report below. In yesterday’s the Irish Times the near one-third rise in arctic methane emissions wasn’t reported in world news; rather it was on the bulletin page, a fine page – no quibbles here – but … Continue reading
Challenging the infallible economist
Colm McCarthy chaired the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, better known as An Bord Snip Nua. It issued its various prescription for what ails us in July, and much of the national discussion since then has … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Arctic, Bord Snip Nua, carbon, climate change, collapse, Colm McCarthy, Convery, emissions, Energy, Sustainability
6 Comments
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
Hot air, melting ice, ticking clock
Hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Declan Ganley of Libertas until yesterday. Well, Declan is of course a stickler for accuracy, so perhaps ‘encountering’ would be a more accurate term. The brief encounter occurred around noon yesterday, as I was … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Arctic, climate, CO2, Coleman, Ganley, Greenland, IPCC, Karen Coleman, Lisbon, Nature, Newstalk, sea-levels, warming
3 Comments
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
