Getting the green message out is no Picnic

Posted on August 31, 2008 by John Gibbons

I gave the eco credentials of the Electric Picnic an enthusiastic write up in Thursday’s Irish Times column, describing it as “probably one of the most impressive environmental showcases ever assembled in Ireland”. The theme was taken up later that day on Today FM’s ‘The Last Word’ with Matt Cooper, when I and journalist Kathy Foley joined Cooper in a discussion on whether the Picnic was really just a good old-fashioned piss-up in a field, or could you seriously use it as a place to open a discussion about climate change, peak oil, etc?

As I arrived down to Stradbally in mid-Saturday morning, I ended up listening to a repeat of the radio piece in the Very Last Word, their weekend highlights show. It seemed like the right place to be hearing this; now all I had to do was find my way around the place (easier said than done, as it transpired) but I did manage to locate the ‘Rethink Tank’, a dome-shaped enclosure within the ‘Global Green’ area of the Picnic. Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The only way is up?

Posted on August 28, 2008 by John Gibbons

Today’s news report by Harry McGee in the Irish Times will come as a shock to those of us who had hoped against hope that the runaway carbon emissions train was at least being brought to a halt, whatever about being turned around.

Latest estimates from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) are that Ireland’s CO2 emissions shot up by 4.6% in 2007. These estimates have been developed by Prof Richard Tol of the ESRI using a mathematical model he developed. Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming | 11 Comments

Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t?

Posted on August 17, 2008 by John Gibbons

The McAleer/McElhinney bandwagon pulled into town on Thursday evening, with an appearance on TodayFM’s The Last Word with Anton Savage. The station had asked me to appear to challenge/counter some of his ‘global-warming-is-all-a-big-conspiracy-to-keep-you-poor-and-raise-taxes’ line of, for want of a better word, logic.

Click here to listen to TodayFM interview Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus | 9 Comments

Not Evil, just Cynical

Posted on August 13, 2008 by John Gibbons

Climate scepticism is good business indeed. Especially if you’re a struggling film maker anxious to make a quick name and buck for yourself. An Irish duo, Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney are the latest to hop on the bandwagon with their movie, Not Evil, Just Wrong – it is, we are told, “a feature length documentary which shows how extreme environmentalism is damaging the lives of vulnerable people, from the ban on DDT to the campaigns on Global Warming”.

If you thought Martin Durkin’s mockumentary, The Great Global Warming Swindle was a vile piece of work, step to one side, Mr Durkin, McAleer and McElhinney have composted a steaming pile of propaganda that would by comparison make Swindle read like a chapter of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report. Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming | 5 Comments

Thumbs down for Top Gear

Posted on July 23, 2008 by John Gibbons

The TV license currently costs €160 a year. That money allows RTE to deliver its public service commitment, including expensive programming such as Prime Time that, were cost and crude ratings the only consideration, might be ditched in favour of more Failte Towers.

The 100% commercial TV3 gives a clearer picture of what purely pay TV gets you – wall-to-wall US and Australian soaps during the day and imported soft porn later in the evening (still, at least they can’t be blamed for Failte Towers). Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Taking the Mick on aviation and climate change

Posted on July 17, 2008 by John Gibbons

A week ago my column in the Irish Times dared to suggest that maybe, just maybe, dirt cheap aviation à la the Ryanair model (now aped by our former national carrier as well) is perhaps not the world’s best idea from an ecological standpoint. Nor indeed is it such a smart move to consume more and more of our strictly finite (and diminishing) oil reserves in a binge of largely needless, prodigal flying.

Let’s be honest, there’s nothing remotely cheap about global aviation, other than the ticket prices. And since airlines dump a toxic trio of key emissions (high-altitude CO2, nitrous oxide and the manufacture of aviation contrails, which are also exercising a warming effect) without paying a penny towards dealing with this growing emissions mountain, maybe it might be time, whisper it, to consider getting the airlines to ‘fess up and pay up their share – no more, no less (and we won’t even mention the massive subsidies they receive in, among other things, tax free fuel). Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Whatever you do, do nothing

Posted on July 9, 2008 by John Gibbons

And so the G-8 Summit draws to a close in Japan. This Group of Eight major nations somehow manages to exclude from membership both India and China, which between them account for more than a third of humanity, as well (in China’s case anyhow) as the up-and-coming industrial powerhouse of the world. It’s quite the exclusive club, this G8.

Great news then that they took the massive step forward of promising to “do something” about climate change at some future point, ideally between now and 2050. This takes the form of a ‘long term commitment to halving emissions by mid-century. This has been described as a ‘shared vision’ – as ambiguous a phrase as any you’re likely to hear from the lips of a politician. Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Only treehuggers need apply?

Posted on July 2, 2008 by John Gibbons

Once upon a time, the phrase ‘green’ implied wide-eyed extremism. You know the types, living in the trees in the Glen of the Downs or rolling in the mud at some bizarre eco hug-in festival in deepest rural Roscommon.

Yes, just as the Dutch wear clogs, the Swiss love their cuckoo clocks and the Irish are all violent alcoholics, so anyone who gives a toss about the world in which we live and which our children shall inherit is an unemployable treehugger. QED. Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Still singing the same sad old song

Posted on June 19, 2008 by John Gibbons

Denial is a powerful thing. Climate change deniers these days are, like the polar bears, an endangered species, as wave after wave of science fact gradually washes away the last stubborn traces of our excuses for inaction.

Of course, there are some folk for whom this whole climate denial lark is very good indeed for business. Bjorn Lomborg has spun not one but two complete works of science fiction out of the subject, and along the way, made himself a tidy sum, and secured his place on the happy-clappy lecture circuit for the foreseeable future. Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sceptics, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

A big step backwards for Europe

Posted on June 15, 2008 by John Gibbons

And so the electorate has spoken. It’s a resounding ‘huh?’, with misunderstanding and misinformation carrying the day by a 9% spread. The clearest message to emerge even at this early stage is that Lisbon has split along class lines, with the middle classes backing it and the working classes roundly rejecting the treaty.

The shock waves are being felt, not just across the 27 EU states, but right around the world. Ireland, with 0.8% of the EU population, has derailed a treaty that has taken the last seven years to painstakingly construct. The ‘no’ camp covered a spectrum of rejectionist positions, from abortion, homosexuality, immigration and even euthanasia. Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Weaning ourselves off the fetish of growth

Posted on June 12, 2008 by John Gibbons

A cynic, according to Oscar Wilde, is a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. He could have easily been talking about economists. It’s hard to open a newspaper or turn on the radio these days without some economist or other telling us exactly what needs to be done to get ‘the economy moving’ or to achieve ‘more growth’.

And what, you might ask, is wrong with that? For as long as any of us can remember, we’ve been conditioned to believe that the solution to all Ireland’s ills lay in ‘growth’. As the last decade has shown, explosive growth brings damage and disruption as well as undoubted economic benefits to many. Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity, Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Soaring oil price sinks iconic Hummer

Posted on June 5, 2008 by John Gibbons

Nothing says vulgarity or hubris quite like a Hummer. Clocking in at an average of 13 miles per gallon (21.7 litres per 100km), they are no longer the biggest monstrosity on the roads these days, if you really want to give the planet the finger, you can’t top the alan of a Hummer

Shock then to learn that General Motors in the US has announced it is planning to offload its Hummer business. Petrol prices approaching $4 a barrel have seen sales of the tank-like range of SUVs take a nosedive. GM is scaling back production of SUVs by canning four of its big vehicle plants. Continue reading →

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

If you care about climate, Lisbon matters

Posted on May 30, 2008 by John Gibbons

What is it about us Irish and referenda? One minute the national discourse is rattling along as usual, and the next, there are swarms of (previously unheard of) groups popping up out of the woodwork to warn us of the hell and brimstone that will surely ensue if we vote Yes/No to the proposition at hand.

Lisbon Treaty

Irish politics back in the 1980s was blighted by a series of pointless, vicious and divisive referenda on the abstraction of abortion and the reality of divorce. They succeeded in raising the decibel level while lowering the quality and tone of the debate with every day that passed. Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Water shortages add to list of critical pressures

Posted on May 20, 2008 by John Gibbons

With oil prices steaming towards $130 a barrel, CO2 emissions climbing relentlessly, food shortages and major commodity price hikes hitting the world’s poor, “the last thing anyone needs is another crisis”, according to the current issue of Business Week.

But that’s exactly what we’ve got – in spades. The crisis in question is dwindling supplies of safe fresh water. Right now, 2.8 billion people – 44% of the world’s population – live in areas of high water stress, according to a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development [OECD]. Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Habitat/Species, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

In Spain, no rain means real pain

Posted on May 14, 2008 by John Gibbons

Right now, there is a tanker somewhere in the northern Mediterranean, heading for Barcelona from its home port of Marseilles. Its cargo is due to be connected to a brand new pipeline installed in the dock area of the Catalan capital. Its consignment, the first time this has happened, is fresh water.

Even though in in the very North east corner of Spain, Barcelona and its hinterland is parched. Spain itself is in the grip of its worst drought in a century. Total rainfall in the year to date is down 40% below average. The country’s reservoirs contain barely a third of capacity. In Barcelona, it’s less than a fifth – and the long, hot summer has yet to begin. Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments