Author Archives: John Gibbons
Tesco changes its tune on Unicef
Great to see a happy resolution to the bitter two-month long dispute between Tesco and Unicef over the slogan ‘Change for Good’. Below is the wording of a letter in Today’s Irish Times from Tesco’s marketing director, Kenny Jacobs: “I … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged clone town, competition, Everylittlehelps, hubris, monopoly, Multiples, Tesco
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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
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged censorship, Ireland, John Gibbons, Multiples, supermarket, Sustainability, Tesco, Tescopoly, Unicef
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Climate camp – Shannonbridge
Last week’s Climate Camp in Shannonbridge drew around 150 people to a site right beside the Shannonbridge peat-burning power plant. The week, which included workshops, bog walks and practical sessions on sustainability, culminated in a Day of Action on Saturday … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
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In denial on the Nile delta
“The Nile Delta is a kind of Bangladesh story,” says Dr Rick Tutwiler, director of the American University in Cairo’s Desert Development Centre, quoted in a recent article in the Guardian by journalist Jack Shenker “You’ve got a massive population, … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Guardian, Karen Coleman, Newstalk, Nile
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Moving Heaven and Earth to expose climate charlatan
Jim Hoggan chairs the David Suzuki Foundation in Canada. Here is an excellent piece he penned for the Vancouver Sun on the hoary old saw about environmentalism being some kind of ‘new religion’. Regular readers of this blog will be … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged David Suzuki Foundation, Ian Plimer, sceptics
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Black, white – and green
Like most people whose musical influences were formed in the 1970s, I admired Michael Jackson as a musician, especially his 1979 solo album, Off the Wall. In the early to mid-1980s, he moved from pop star to icon, selling hundreds … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Amazon, deforestation, Jackson, music, Sustainability
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A sunny day on Sandymount strand
I’ve always loved Sandymount strand. When I first arrived in Dublin donkeys years ago, the first place I stayed was a ‘digs’ on Claremont Road in Sandymount. It might as well have been Ballydehob, for all I knew of the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged climate change, Dublin, protest, Sandymount, SCC
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Breaking free of a vicious, narrow Theocracy
“Life for us children was to become one long hard struggle, trying to overcome the enormous disadvantage bestowed on us by being institutionalised. Our education was totally deficient – so much so thousands left the institutions illiterate. “We left the … Continue reading
Welcome to the New Emergency
They call it the ‘Greenhouse Gamble’. I’d call it the Wheel of Death. Either way, it’s a gizmo that looks like a cheesy prop from the National Lottery show, but in fact it has been developed by scientists from the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, climate change, CO2, emissions, environment, IPCC, MIT, Permaculture
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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 carbon, CO2, electricity, Energy, Ireland, John Gibbons, nuclear, Spirit of Ireland, Sustainability, Walton
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They haven’t gone away, you know
Some extraordinary recent findings from an 11-year Gallup tracking poll of US public opinion regarding global warming. The question was framed as follows: ‘Thinking about what is said in the news, in your view is the seriousness of global warming … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged fear, Gallup, global warming, Limbaugh, propaganda, Rebublican
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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
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged CO2, emissions, environment, EU, Ireland, Jim Hansen, John Gibbons, NASA, Obama, Sustainability
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Life on the far side of the Rubicon
“Electric word life – It means forever and that’s a mighty long time”. Eighties music aficionados will probably recognise this line, from Prince’s Purple Rain. It came to mind when reading a report from the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Nuclear, Sustainability
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Out with the old…
And so, out with the old, in with the new. According to insurance giant, Munich Re, 2008 has been one of the worst ever for natural disasters. Overall global losses ran to around $200bn, with uninsured losses totalling $45bn, about … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Anglo Irish Bank, Brian Lenihan, climate change, Fianna Fail, finance, globalisation, Iceland, insurance, Lenihan, Munich Re, Obama, Sean Fitzpatrick
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