Monbiot

Milliband’s Reading Cheers Monbiot

by Bryan Walker August 24, 2011

George Monbiot has a striking piece in the Guardian this week, asking how much of the economic growth of the past 60 years is real and how much an illusion created by levels of borrowing that cannot be sustained. Ireland is his exemplar: “Go to Ireland and you’ll see that even bricks and mortar are [...]

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Ratcliffe coal protesters invited to appeal conviction

by Bryan Walker April 20, 2011

The defence of the Ratcliffe coal power plant protesters in the UK, charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass, was that they were acting through “necessity” to prevent death and serious injury caused by carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. James Hansen was among the defence witnesses, testifying to the reality of the danger from [...]

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Waving, not drowning (yet)

by Bryan Walker October 13, 2010

I found myself hesitating over reporting a further attempt on the part of Oxfam to draw attention to the increasing plight of populations in poorer countries faced with the early effects of climate change. In this case it is Oxfam New Zealand’s Wave of Change campaign, highlighting climate impacts in the Pacific region. Why was [...]

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Rees: scientists are citizens too

by Bryan Walker September 25, 2010

The BBC’s HARDtalk interviewer Stephen Sackur engaged this week with the eminently reasonable Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society. The interview covered a range of topics, and climate change was among them.  It could hardly not be, given the seriousness with which Rees regards it.  Sackur chose to introduce the subject by suggesting that [...]

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The politics of failure/the failure of politics

by Bryan Walker September 22, 2010

As an example of contradictory thinking it would be hard to better Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee this week. He was announcing that oil and gas exploration in New Zealand is to get a substantial boost in government resources, including funding to further the possible exploitation of deep-sea methane hydrates. He made a plea [...]

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Report clears IPCC head Pachauri, UK paper apologises

by Bryan Walker August 27, 2010

Back in March I posted on IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri’s stout defence of the IPCC report against the attacks to which it was being subjected by hysterical denialism.  But he has also had to defend himself against accusations in an article by Christopher Booker and Richard North in the Sunday Telegraphin December which claimed that [...]

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Monckton is a fraud

by Gareth August 3, 2010

Christopher, Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, pompous peer of a parish in Kent, not content with threatening legal action against US scientist John Abraham (who had the temerity to point out the huge number of errors and misrepresentations in a talk he gave: see Support John Abraham, now 1050+ comments), has now threatened action for libel [...]

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Fighting for the least bad outcome…

by Bryan Walker August 19, 2009

I watched Stephen Sackur interview James Lovelock on the BBC’s Hard Talk programme on Tuesday evening. It was a depressing experience.  Lovelock largely reiterated the things he said in The Vanishing Face of Gaia, reported in my review here.   I listened to it all again. His familiar and seemingly detached expectation that most of the [...]

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Spinning wheel…

by Gareth May 23, 2009

Feeling lucky? Spin these roulette wheels and see where the future lies: on the left, if the world takes decisive action to reduce emissions over the next 100 years, and on the right if we don’t. If we do: most likely an increase of 2 – 2.5ºC. If we don’t: most likely is 5 – [...]

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There she goes, my beautiful world

by Gareth November 26, 2008

Ian McEwan is one of my favourite writers. By chance, whilst reading George Monbiot’s latest offering in the Guardian this morning, I stumbled on a link to an essay by McEwan welcoming Barack Obama, outlining the considerable climate policy challenge he (and we) face. The world’s last chance is a superb summary of the current [...]

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