Tag Archives: IPCC
2029 – A letter from the future
We live in consequential times. “What we do over the next 10 years will determine the future of humanity for the next 10,000 years”, is how former UK chief scientific advisor Prof David King put it recently. There is no … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Psychology, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged Arctic, heatwave, IPCC, Long Emergency, permafrost, Village Magazine
5 Comments
A tale told by an idiot, full of sound & fury, signifying nothing
In many respects, 2018 has been another thoroughly dispiriting year on the climate and environment beat. The publication in October of the IPCC’s SR1.5 report extinguished any remote hope that the pace and severity of climate breakdown might be less … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media
Tagged Gavin Schmidt, Greta Thunberg, IPCC, Irish Times, Peter Thorne, Ray Bates
7 Comments
Long day’s journey into 1.5º
Let’s get this out of the way first. On climate change, things are worse, a lot worse, than most people have been led to believe. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, … Continue reading
Right here, right now. Climate change impacts get real
Below, the original version of my article, which ran in the Irish Times last week, including some links: THE US National Weather Service is not noted for making alarmist pronouncements. So, when it earlier this week described Hurricane Harvey as “unprecedented … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Conor Murphy, Donegal, EPA, flooding, Harvey, IPCC, Kieran Hickey, OPW
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Choosing to fail: Prof Kevin Anderson interviewed
Prof Kevin Anderson, Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester and deputy Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, is one of the world’s best known and most influential – and outspoken – climate specialists. … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Sceptics
Tagged IPCC, Kevin Anderson, Tyndall
13 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
The meteorologist and the scourge of climate ‘over-alarmism’
Back in March, there was quite a kerfuffle when RTE PrimeTime tried to set up a ‘debate’ about the reality of climate change by initially loading a panel 3:1 in favour of the 3% ‘skeptical’ position that rejects or downplays … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged agriculture, alarmism, climate denial, Harvest 2020, IPCC
11 Comments
Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers: A crosscutting international instrument for advancing sustainability
The current global ecological situation is perilous to humankind. Accumulated releases of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are causing climate change and eco-toxic releases are significantly impacting the environment and human health. Global eco-systems and resources are in decline. There is a … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged carbon, climate, CO2, ecological sustainability, emissions, environment, global warming, green economy, IPCC, material flows, pollution, PRTRs, Sustainability
2 Comments
Hogan’s U-turn on climate is short-sighted and damaging
Below, my article as it appears in today’s Irish Times: WILL THE real Phil Hogan please stand up? On June 16th last, responding in the Dáil to questions from Sinn Féin’s Martin Ferris on whether climate change legislation was being … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Green Party, IBEC, IFA, IPCC, John Sweeney, Mary Robinson, Phil Hogan
24 Comments
A little something for the weekend…
While smoking out climate change deniers can offer a little light relief, it’s important not to lose sight of what exactly is on the line here. For this, I am grateful to Joe Romm over at ThinkProgress for the following … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Arctic, Hadley Centre, IPCC, methane, MIT, permafrost
8 Comments
Media focus on climate disappears even faster than glaciers
Global media coverage of climate change in 2010 fell to levels not seen since 2005, after spiking in late 2009 in the lead-in to the disastrous UN climate talks in Copenhagen and the theft and selective release of fragments of … Continue reading
Sunday Times shows its hand. Again.
Last April, I gave a lecture to the Met Society of Ireland in Glasnevin. A Sunday Times reporter was in the audience, though she did not make herself known to me, ask any questions or attempt to speak to me … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming, Irish Focus, Media, Sceptics
Tagged Arctic, climate change, IPCC, Media, sceptics, Sunday Times
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Doing our best versus doing what’s required
Yesterday afternoon, I was one of a panel of four from the ‘environmental’ field who met under the ageis of Common Purpose with a group of around 25-30 senior figures from the world of business, finance, the semi-state sector and … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Sceptics, Sustainability
Tagged advocacy, Al Gore, climate, IPCC
5 Comments
Pachauri should go?
Claims that Himalayan glaciers would have melted by 2035, and that there would be a rise in hurricanes, typhoons and other extreme weather events were never properly peer reviewed before inclusion in the IPCC’s reports. So-called ‘grey’ literature was used … Continue reading
Posted in Global Warming
Tagged 'grey' literature, IPCC, Pachauri, peer review, wrong claims
3 Comments
Copenhagen a new framework for climate chaos?
The original intention of Conference of Parties (COP) 15 in Copenhagen was to complete negotiations on a new international agreement on climate change to come into force before 2012. What emerged was a slim three page Copenhagen Accord with a … Continue reading
