Category Archives: Global Warming
Where greenwashing meet brainwashing
The piece below appeared in mid-December on the investigative website, DeSmog UK. I wanted to shine a light on the subtle agri-industrial marketing machinery which is cranking out ever increasing quantities of material aimed at the youngest and most impressionable … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Global Warming, Irish Focus
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Agri emissions plan a roadmap to nowhere
In the absence of action, the next best thing is to look busy, and Ireland’s agri-industrial sector and its many boosters in politics and the civil and public service have elevated this frenzy of inaction to something of a performance … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture, Economics, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus
Tagged AgClimatise, Dairy emissions, Teagasc
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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
1 Comment
Biden throws floundering global climate action a lifeline
The article below appeared earlier this month in the Business Post. One crucial first step in tackling the climate crisis is for politicians to say ‘no’ to dirty money from the powerful fossil fuel lobby (who notoriously have spent freely … Continue reading
Stirring up tensions between farmers and environmentalists
This piece appears in the current edition of Village magazine. As a rule, I steer clear of articles focusing on individuals, preferring when possible to stick to the issues rather than personalities. Given the central role of RTÉ presenter Damien … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
Tagged Countrywide, Damien O'Reilly, IFA, IFJ, RTE
1 Comment
Close, but no cigar: Climate Bill comes up short
My report on expert reaction to the eagerly awaited Climate Bill was published for a British audience on DeSmog UK in mid-October. A DRAFT climate change bill designed to put Ireland on a path to net zero emissions has been … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Andrew Jackson, Climate Bill, DeSmog UK, Diarmuid Torney, John Sweeney, Sadhbh O’Neill
1 Comment
Green in name, but not in nature
Despite huge ongoing investment of both political capital and marketing euros in selling the message that Irish agriculture is green, climate-friendly and sustainable, it still keeps on running into the knotty problem that this simply isn’t the case. Recent comments … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged agriculture, Bord Bia, EPA, Irish Wildlife Trust, Origin Green
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A race between climatic and political tipping points
Some weeks back, in the course of researching an article on ecological grief, I reached out to US author, David Wallace-Wells for comment, and this led to a wide-ranging discussion that ran to over 90 minutes. I had filed a … Continue reading
Eco-plenary indulgences won’t save our souls or environment
The below is a guest post from an occasion ToS contributor and concerned citizen who uses the pseudonym ‘Jeremy Hughes’. He takes a wry look at the new trend towards establishing tiny pockets of biodiversity while the bigger picture is one of … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Biodiversity, Wildlife
1 Comment
Under Trump, Republican war on science escalates
The below comment piece ran in the Business Post in mid-September, tallying the all-out war the Trump regime has waged not just on client science but on decades of cross-party consensus on basic environmental protection. US elections almost always feel … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Biden, Business Post, Coronavirus, Paris Agreement, racism, Trump
1 Comment
‘Our relationship with nature is broken’
The below piece ran on TheJournal.ie in late September. It was inspired by a combination of the surreal imagery emanating from the western US and the release of the 2020 Living Planet Report, which chronicles ever sharpening declines in planetary vital … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species
Tagged Insectageddon, Living Planet Report
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Good grief: grappling with eco distress
The feature piece below appeared in this week’s Business Post Magazine, under the heading ‘Distress signals from Earth: the new condition of ‘eco-grief’. This is a subject that has long been close to my heart and no doubt for most … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Psychology, Sustainability
Tagged Ailise Bulfin, David Wallace-Wells, eco grief, eco-anxiety, John Sharry, Padraic Fogarty
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Can the farmer and the environmentalist really be friends?
The piece below ran in the Farming Independent in early September. It started out life as a rebuttal of a recent piece by a Findo columnist and dairy farmer, which did a lot of indignant huffing and puffing about an An … Continue reading
Overshooting ourselves in both feet
How much money have you got in your current account? What about your savings? Imagine if by now, you had already spent all your income for 2020, and you were forced to live on borrowings for the next four months. … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged deforestation, Overshoot, plastic
3 Comments
SUV fad puts us into fast lane towards climate breakdown
I’ll admit to having never been a big fan of SUVs. It’s fine if you’re one of a tiny handful of people who actually need a 4×4 in your trade, but there seems little reason for regular folk to be … Continue reading
