Category Archives: Media
Time to push fossil fuel sponsorship beyond the Pale
Below, my article, as it appeared in the Irish Times earlier this month. Having had family members as past winners of the Texaco Children’s Art Competition made me leery about taking on writing about this long-running sponsorship, but then I … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged divestment, greenwashing, Rex Tillerson, sponsorship, Texaco, Valero
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A wealthy, kick-ass climate NGO: what are the odds?
There is never a shortage of stupid things to do with money, especially if you suddenly find yourself with loads of it. US socialite Theresa Roemer, for instance has a three-storey, 3,000-square foot closet; that’s a space twice the size … Continue reading
Toothless watchdog lets its Standards slip
{PROLOGUE} LOCATION: Bord Na Mona conference room* DATE: Early 2016. TOPIC: Ad planning meeting (*fictional) BnaM Marketing Exec: “I’ll cut to the chase. Here’s the challenge: we’re a company that, pound for pound, is the biggest polluter in Ireland. We’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged ASAI, Bord na Mona, Greenwash, peat
18 Comments
A crisis in media and climate communication
Overlaying the climate crunch, there is a parallel full-blown crisis, in Ireland and elsewhere in the Anglophone world in climate change communications. This will not be news to regular visitors to this blog, but happily, there is now a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Media, Oxford, research, RTE
4 Comments
Raising the bar on climate change coverage in Ireland
I’ve often wondered aloud what it might be like to live in a place and in a time where climate change, the world’s biggest, baddest and most persistent crisis, was given media coverage something even vaguely approaching its actual significance. … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged Denis Naughten, Irish Independent, Media
2 Comments
Welcome to the Climate Madhouse
Below my article, as published in the September edition of ‘Village’ magazine IMAGINE for a moment the dilemma: you’re a celebrated climatologist whose work has helped shaped the modern science of climate change. In the course of your work, you … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Sceptics
Tagged Climate deniers, hockey stick, Michael Mann
1 Comment
It’s a Vision thing
Last week the Visions 2100 international roadshow came to Dublin. I first encountered it, driven by the irrepressible John O’Brien, as a side event at last December’s COP21 conference, where, as one of 80 contributors to the book from around … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Psychology
Tagged John O'Brien, Tailors Hall, Visions 2100
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Election 2016: more fudge and waffle on climate change
Below, my article written for Village magazine’s post-election special issue. The election campaign was notable for the fact that environmental issues generally and climate change specifically were completely written out of the political and media script. Twenty, maybe even 10 … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged Election 2016, emissions targets, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael
6 Comments
Met Eireann & climate change: time to break the silence
What is it with Met Eireann and climate change? Take the below, entirely typical, recent comments from forecaster Joanna Donnelly: “It is a global phenomenon that needs to be looked at globally over decades and not days”. Our climate is … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged climate attribution, Julia Slingo, Met Eireann, weather, WMO
7 Comments
Never mind the bullocks, Enda isn’t cowed at COP
And so, to Paris. COP21 kicked off on Monday with each of the almost 200 world leaders chipping in their opening contributions. The feeling at the last mega-COP (in Copenhagen in December 2009) was that leaders only engaged at the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged agriculture, COP21, Enda Kenny, GHGs, IFA, Paris
1 Comment
Brave new world or dystopian wasteland? Visions from 2100
Ever stop to ponder what kind of a world might await our descendants by the end of this century? Irish-Australian entrepreneur and author, John O’Brien has spent more time than most gazing towards the year 2100 through the environmental prism. … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Psychology
Tagged John O'Brien, Mary Robinson, Visions2100
7 Comments
Challenging Ireland’s climate contrarian-in-chief
Back in May 2014, UCD meteorologist, Prof Ray Bates penned a heartfelt plea for continued inaction on climate change, under the lurid headline: “Warning of over-alarmist stance on climate risk“. It was a weak, poorly argued exercise in that most … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged agriculture, COP21, IPCC, Irish Times, John Sweeney, NASA, Ray Bates
2 Comments
Francis speaks frankly on the crisis of civilisation
Below, text of my article that first appeared on TheJournal.ie last night, just ahead of the unveiling of the eagerly awaited Papal Encyclical. Thus far, it has been read over 48,000 times, with well over 1,000 shares via Facebook and … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Media, Psychology, Sustainability
Tagged encyclical, Pope Francis, TheJournal.ie
2 Comments
Guardian seeks to rouse media from its climate torpor
Below is my article as it appears in the current edition of Village magazine: THERE is nothing new about newspapers striking poses over climate change. On December 7th, 2009, some 55 major newspapers from all over the world (including the … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Copenhagen, Guardian, Media
5 Comments
What next for the apes who went to space?
I have no idea where I was on the night of July 20-21, 1969, being far too young to grasp the historic events that were unfolding, as Apollo 11 became the first spacecraft to land humans on a world other … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sustainability
Tagged Apollo 11, Climate deniers, comet, George Lee, Rosetta, RTE
6 Comments
