Tag Archives: IBEC

Epic emissions targets failure: it’s the politics, stupid

Below, an article I ran in a well-known satirical publication in mid-June: FOR YEARS, whiny environmental types have been warning repeatedly that the Irish state is treating its legally binding international obligations to cut our carbon emissions as a bit … Continue reading

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

Unmasking Ireland’s real ‘climate radicals’

Below, my article as it appeared earlier this month on the OpEd page of the Irish Times. I’ve been intrigued for many years at the way some people are automatically pigeon-holed as outliers and ‘radicals’ in certain debates. Nowhere is … Continue reading

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

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

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 , , , , , , | 24 Comments

The Viscount, the architect and Phil Hogan

The shocking images from Japan since Friday are a frightening reminder of the fact that, for all our sophistication, even the most technologically advanced societies exist at the caprice of nature. Seeing large tracts of the north coast of Japan … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

A Climate Bill Post-Mortem

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

Denial and self-interested delusion on Climate Bill

The prolific US author, Upton Sinclair was a shrewd observer of human nature, as evidenced in his classic retort to vested interests: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments