Author Archives: John Gibbons
Monckton – not forcibly detaining Aids victims for life a mistake
The right honourable Lord Christopher Monckton, Third Viscount of Brenchley, former advisor to Maggie Thatcher, current the deputy leader of the UK Independence Party and darling of the US Tea Pary climate denialist circuit has done us the great honour of dropping … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics
1 Comment
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 Climate Bill, Danny McCoy, farming, Gavin Harte, IBEC, IFA
14 Comments
Media focus on climate disappears even faster than glaciers
Global media coverage of climate change in 2010 fell to levels not seen since 2005, after spiking in late 2009 in the lead-in to the disastrous UN climate talks in Copenhagen and the theft and selective release of fragments of … Continue reading
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
Carbon budget – yes, but Climate Bill remains elusive
Oisin Coghlan of FOE tweeted earlier today from Dail Eireann: “Carbon Budget. 4 Green TDs and all 3 senators in chamber/gallery. Phil Hogan for FG. 0 FF, 0 Lab, nobody else yet. Oh, and no journalists.” Yes, climate change may … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Leave a comment
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
As Cancun begins, deep pessimism abounds
Frank McDonald has a timely overview of state of near-paralysis that has engulfed global efforts to arrest climate change in today’s Irish Times (including a good plug for ThinkOrSwim), though I might quibble with the statement: “many scientists now say … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Antarctic, Cancun, CO2, Frank McDonald, Greenland
5 Comments
Calling the media to account for climate change coverage
Based on measurements for the first ten months of this year, 2010 is now reckoned to be tied with the scorching 1998 as the two hottest years globally since reliable record-keeping began in 1850. This of course is on top … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics, Sustainability
11 Comments
Out of his depth in Deepwater thinking…
According to a tweet from John Gormley in the last couple of hours, a climate change bill will finally make its way to the Cabinet next Tuesday (16th). Much credit here is due to Labour’s Liz McManus, rapporteur on the … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Conor Lenihan, deepwater horizon, Eamon Ryan, Oil, renewables
12 Comments
Yee haw! We’re gonna lynch us some Scientists!
Climate change denial is an article of faith for Tea Party candidates in today’s mid-term US elections, the New York Times reports. “Skepticism and outright denial of global warming are among the articles of faith of the Tea Party movement… … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics
3 Comments
Of climate, slavery and tobacco
What, you might well ask, could climate change, slavery and tobacco possibly have in common? Quite a bit, it appears. The article below, courtesy of The Daily Climate, reports on a new study that compares current attitudes on climate change … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
7 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
Science trumps journalism
Article below appears in the current edition of ‘Village’ magazine. It is a response of sorts to an unusually poor contribution in a previous edition by a journalism lecturer in an article purporting to offer critical insights into the interplay … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
16 Comments
A new champion for climate justice
Below is the interview as published over two pages in the main section of yesterday’s Sunday Tribune: Mary Robinson doesn’t scare easily. In the course of more than four decades in public life, it’s easy to forget that she has … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics, Sustainability
11 Comments
