Monthly Archives: October 2009
Now we’re getting somewhere
Earlier today, at a very well attended press conference in Leinster House, the all-party Oireachtas Committee on Climate Change and Energy released their report, ‘The case for a climate change law’. Committee rapporteur, Liz McManus likened the position we now … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Climate law, EPA, ESRI, Labour, Liz McManus, Media, Rachel English, radio, Richard Tol, RTE, Sunday Times
29 Comments
A smart tax, on so many levels
James Tobin had a very, very good idea. So good, in fact, they named it after him. And that’s the Tobin Tax. It’s a small tax with very big potential. And best of all, it’s a damn good idea, in … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged bankers, banks, foreign currency, Germany, greed, speculation, tax, Tobin tax
3 Comments
Cool, sparkling sense comes dropping slow
Amazing the things you never knew you never knew. This morning, for instance, I found out that if you spell ‘naive’ backwards, you come up with Evian, the cool, sparkling spring water that is full of, er, volcanicity – this … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged bottled water, David McWilli, David McWilliams, economists, Newstalk, Peak Everything, Tom Dunne, water
Leave a comment
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
Blowing up a political s**t storm
Fintan O’Toole is, for my money, the most insightful commentator on Irish life, and has been for years. Like any of the rest of us, he has his hobby horses, and I’ve often been disappointed that he rarely turns his … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged Daily Mail, Fintan O'Toole, Gormley, Green Party, Kevin Myers, Nama, RTE
6 Comments
A fair wind for renewable energy sector?
The Green Party seems to have snatched an unlikely victory at the weekend – they somehow maneuvered themselves from being pinned between the proverbial rock and a hard place and wriggled free with party unity intact and a hatful of … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Andris Piebalgs, Arklow Bay, car, carbon, CO2, Eamon Ryan, elect, electricity, Energy, fossil fuels, Green Party, interconnector, supply, wind, wind farms
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
A good day for Ireland, but where’s Copenhagen?
I was in the city centre on Friday night, just as the polls were preparing to close, and happened upon the hugely impressive illuminated Liberty Hall (hard to miss, in fact, and far and away the most dramatic installation the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged carbon, climate change, CO2, collapse, Comhar, Convery, Gormley, Irish Independent, Lisbon, Media, RTE, Sustainability
4 Comments
Comhar’s Green New Deal makes sense
At 11am today in the Irish Academy in Dublin’s Dawson Street, Comhar, the sustainable development council formally launches its Green New Deal for Ireland. It’s a genuinely impressive document, as I’ve outlined in the Irish Times today, with much to … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged climate change, CO2, Comhar, Convery, emissions, Energy, environment, Green New Deal, pollution, Sustainability, sustainable
2 Comments
