Category Archives: Global Warming

Global Warming

A walk on the wild side in the Beara peninsula

Ever wonder what Ireland might look like in its primordial condition? One man set about not just finding out, but recreating this, in a remote corner of south-west Ireland. I filed this review of the book he has just written … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Global Warming, Sustainability | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Coming up short on fanciful sectoral emissions goals

As the controversial sectoral budgets for Ireland were published, the Irish Examiner asked for my take on how they measured up, particularly the ultra-low 25% target assigned to Ireland’s largest polluting industry. This piece ran at the start of August. … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The future is green, Soylent Green

Back in the early 1970s, even the year 2000 seemed an infinity away; for many, it conjured images of a glittering high-tech future. For others, a grim dystopia. The latter view definitely inspired the only film of that era to … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Psychology, Sustainability | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

We can feel the heat, but are we getting the message?

As the scorching summer of 2022 swept across Europe (it was to be the hottest summer ever recorded on the continent) I filed the below piece for the Business Post at the end of July, framing it around my own … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Doffing the ministerial cap to the lobbyists

I contributed the below piece to The Journal in late July by way of a commentary on the ongoing battle by Ireland’s agri-industrial lobby to dodge having to play its fair share in meeting Ireland’s emissions reductions standards. What’s most … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Media needs to step up on covering the climate emergency

They say that if you’re not part of the solution, you’re likely part of the problem, and that certainly seems to hold for much of the media when it comes to the climate and biodiversity emergency. Whether it’s as a … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Media | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Austerity or catastrophe: options grow ever narrower

Our chronic dependence on an invented system of growth-based capitalism that is destabilising the global climate system and laying waste to the natural world looks increasingly like a Faustian bargain, and metaphorical Mephistopheles is now knocking at the door looking for … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Psychology, Sustainability | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Putting our bodies on the line to save everything

I contributed the below piece to the Business Post in mid-June looking at the extraordinary phenomenon of climate scientists taking to the streets and risking professional ridicule, arrest and more in order to ring the alarm bells on the ever-deepening climate … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Psychology, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Feeding the planet without destroying the Earth

My review of ‘Regenesis’ by George Monbiot appeared in The Irish Times in mid-June. The author has, since its publication, been on the receiving end of what looks like a co-ordinated campaign to smear and discredit both him and and … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability | Tagged , | 1 Comment

How financial sector fails to grasp climate risks

It has been described as a classic case of saying the quiet bit out loud, but jaws dropped when a senior banker (and former FT financial journalist) let his guard down and shared with his audience everything we’ve feared about … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Sceptics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Message remains the same, but who’s listening?

I filed this comment piece for the Irish Examiner in May to coincide with the publication of the WMO ‘State of the Climate’ report. The science gets clearer and clearer, the direct evidence of global climate destabilisation is now evident for … Continue reading

Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Sustainability | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Shadow of war throws new focus on nuclear energy

One source of near-zero carbon for energy production that is often overlooked and excluded from serious consideration is that of nuclear energy. In ordinary circumstances this might be understandable, but in a dire climate emergency, I find it baffling that … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Nuclear | Leave a comment

Turf wars signal betrayal on climate action

The bizarre and pointless recent ‘turf wars’ are a throwback to an Ireland many of us thought was gone forever. The scramble by politicians to outdo one another in capitulating to a handful of industrial turf cutters and their noisy … Continue reading

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Psychology | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The magic porridge pot is finally running out

To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of the landmark ‘Limits to Growth’ book, I contributed the below article to the Business Post. We are now precisely half way through the century modelled by the Club of Rome, and … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Sustainability | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Can we reimagine a better, safer world?

It sometimes feels like our collective inability to respond to the global climate and ecological emergency is first and foremost a failure of imagination. We are conditioned to see the world the way it is, and can easily assume there … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment