Category Archives: Arctic
Ozone recovery offers sliver of optimism on climate action
Good news stories on the climate beat are few and far between, and offer occasional relief from the quickening drumbeat of bad news on the climate and biodiversity front. I didn’t have to be asked twice to file this piece … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Global Warming, Pollution, Sustainability
Tagged Montreal Protocol, ozone, WMO
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The 1.5C danger line draws ever closer
I contributed the article below to TheJournal.ie in mid-May to mark the publication of a worrying new report from the World Meteorological Organisation. Tried to stress for the umpteenth time that physics is indifferent to the many political, economic, social, … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Energy, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged heatwave, Sinn Fein, TheJournal.ie, Ukraine, WMO
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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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No time to lose as climate clock approaches midnight
This article was published in the Irish Times in late October, just days before the start of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. AHEAD OF the upcoming UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, many countries are now revising their nationally … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Chatham House, COP26, IPCC, Peter Thorne
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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
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Better late than never for Irish political action on climate
My take on the Programme for Government and why I think it represents a real opportunity to break the decade-plus logjam on meaningful climate action was published in late June on Thejournal.ie THE BATTLE FOR the hearts and votes of … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Arctic, Energy, Irish Focus
Tagged emissions, Extinction Rebellion, Green Party, Paris Agreement, politics
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Running Amoc – uncertain future for Atlantic current
Below, my first article to appear in Passive House Plus magazine: IF YOU LOOK at Ireland on an atlas, one thing that is striking is just how far north the island is located. Follow the lines of latitude east across … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged AMOC, James Hansen, Kieran Hickey, Myles Allen, World Weather Attribution
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Mann on a mission – Hockey Stick scientist interviewed
Michael Mann is one of the world’s leading climate scientists. He is director of the Earth Systems Science Centre in Penn State University and has been a lead IPCC author since 2001. His ‘Hockey Stick graph’ became the defining symbol … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Global Warming, Media, Psychology, Sceptics
Tagged denial, fossil fuel, hockey stick, Michael Mann
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Climate change fuelling our weather extremes
Below, my article as it appeared in the Irish Times this week: IN THE FIRST week of January last year, I placed an 80 euro bet that 2013 would be among the top ten hottest years since global instrumental records … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
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