Category Archives: Global Warming
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
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 Antonio Guterres, heatwave, Irish Examiner, WMO
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
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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
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
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 Antonio Guterres, food security, IPCC, Irish Examiner, Ukraine
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Food and energy insecurity mean double trouble
The long-banished spectre of food insecurity has returned to Europe for the first time since the 1940s. I wrote the below piece for the Business Post in late March which looked at the intersection of energy and food security in … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged ESRI, Horticulture, John FitzGerald, Mark Mellett, Ukraine
1 Comment
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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The ecological point of no return draws ever closer
The first invasion of a sovereign European state since the second world war got underway on February 24th with the Russian assault into Ukraine. Just four days later, the IPCC Working Group 2 report, “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Antonio Guterres, extinction, IPCC, Moneypoint
1 Comment
Big trouble as world’s tiny empires crumble
As recently as 30, even 20 years ago, when at night across Ireland, by the time you reached your destination, the front of your car would be caked in hundreds, even thousands, of dead insects. Commonly known as ‘bug splat’ … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Pollution
Tagged Dave Goulson, glyphosate, Insects, neonicotinoids, Oliver Milman
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Things are Looking Up as climate crunch hits funny bone
It will come as no surprise to regular ToS readers to learn that the biggest ‘story’ of the 21st century, or perhaps 66 million years of Earth history, is the rapidly unfolding climate emergency and simultaneous global mass extinction event, … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Psychology, Sustainability
Tagged Baba Brinkman, Business Post, Don't Look Up, Joe Duffy, Netflix
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Confronting consumerism for a safer future
Among the many challenges we face this decade is how to achieve radical decarbonisation in a way that does not entirely alienate the public. This is no mean challenge. After all, we are all bombarded with constant advertising and promotional … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Psychology
Tagged Climate Action Plan, consumerism, COP26, Kantar, RTE
1 Comment
No national security without food security
We often hear about Ireland’s supposed role in “feeding the world”. The reality is altogether different. Despite the hype, domestic food insecurity is a very real concern in the difficult decades ahead. I explored this issue in detail in a … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Global Warming
Tagged CCAC, Charlie McConalogue, Chatham House, dairy, Livestock, Primetime, tillage
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The library of our living planet is burning down
Shortly before the COP26 climate conference began, another global conference, this one on biodiversity, known as COP15, took place in Kunming, China. My piece around the global biodiversity crunch ran in the Business Post in late October. THE NATURAL WORLD is … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Pollution, Sustainability
Tagged Biodiversity, IPBES, IUCN, Kunming, Living Planet Report, Malcolm Noonan, NWPS
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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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