Category Archives: Irish Focus
It’s not fair! I can prove I’m better than BOD…
In a recent newspaper article, I wondered aloud if maybe, just maybe, the tide was finally beginning to turn regarding Ireland getting real about climate change. As if to answer the question, the producer of Today FM’s The Last Word … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
48 Comments
Gravity of climate crisis has yet to sink in nationally
Below, my article more or less as it appeared in the Irish Times last Friday. The day it appeared, rain bucketed down across the country, and maybe this is why the article struck a chord – it was the ‘Most … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
1 Comment
A welcome Eye on the climate crisis
Last Tuesday evening, Duncan Stewart’s excellent Eco Eye series turned its focus on climate change, and specifically, the impacts already manifesting themselves on Ireland’s weather. You can watch the full show below: Among the experts directly interviewed for the show … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
3 Comments
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
4 Comments
IPCC AR5 set to reiterate bleakest of messages
Below, my article as it appeared in yesterday’s Irish Times. I had a bit of a swipe at Fine Gael’s former Environment spokesman, Simon Coveney, having sat down recently to re-watch a clip I recorded for Climatechange.ie back in January … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Psychology
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Sensationalist ice-age story may betray covert media agenda
[This is a slightly extended and fully referenced (hyperlinked) version of an article which first appeared in Village Magazine on 14th August 2013.] GHOST: But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged Climate Change Denial, Irish Times
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The psychology of bracing for very bad news
Below is my second article from Village magazine’s special issue on climate change: Once upon a time the people wearing the sandwich boards proclaiming that ‘The End is Nigh’ were a reassuringly small, fringe group of individuals, many clearly suffering from … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Psychology
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Safe bet that this year will be one of the hottest yet
Below, my article from today’s Irish Times, where I took a slightly different tack and asked the ‘real experts’ on risk, i.e. the bookies, to give the odds on 2013 being yet another year for the record books. The results … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics
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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
“You must feel vindicated, what with Hurricane Sandy and the way the weather and climate change has gone this year”. That’s how a business acquaintance of mine put it the other day during a pre-Christmas lunch. Her point was that … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Psychology
8 Comments
Steady as she goes: global climatic denial guarantees chaotic future
Below is the full, 800-word version of my article, a compressed version of same appears in this morning’s Irish Times, which runs to just 600 words, so a quarter of the original piece fell under the subs’ desk knife. This … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
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Humanity’s killing spree about to come full circle
With apologies for an uncharacteristic outbreak of navel-gazing, below, my article as it appears in the current issue of ‘Village’ magazine… My interest in environmentalism is barely 10 years old. For the bulk of my adult life, far meatier concerns … Continue reading
The Arctic ice cap is melting – and with it goes our future
Below, my article, as it appears in today’s Irish Times. The piece has ‘gone viral’ via social media, with over 2,500 ‘Recommends’ on Facebook alone, and it was No. 3 in the ‘Most Read’ category of Irishtimes.com last week. Not … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Arctic, CO2, Greenland, ice, iceberg, sea-levels
9 Comments
Myths and mischief-making in renewable energy reporting
I couldn’t have claimed to be Ireland’s greatest fan of wind energy. Not because I don’t think it’s a good idea – it is – but rather, my concern is whether it will ever be deployed on a scale sufficient … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged emissions, Energy, GWPA, Pat Rabbitte, RTE, wind farms
7 Comments
Doom with a view? Trap tightens on our diminishing prospects
In the current issue of ‘Village’ magazine, editor Michael Smith has explored at length and in some depth the array of formidable challenges that humanity (and all other species on Earth) face in the years and decades ahead. It’s a … Continue reading
Posted in Biodiversity, Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged doomer, Michael Smith, Sustainability, Village
9 Comments
An interview with Irishenvironment.com
Robert (Bob) Hernan is the man behind Irishenvironment.com, an online resource for all things in the environment and ecology field on the island of Ireland. Bob was formerly Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Protection Bureau, and his professional scalps … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
2 Comments
