Economics of climate change must be rooted in real world scenarios

This article appeared on the 18th January 2024 in the Irish Times as https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2024/01/18/economics-of-climate-change-must-be-rooted-in-real-world-scenarios/ Sometimes academics who focus (often quite competitively) on complex theories and problems miss the bigger picture. Take this joke, for instance: How do you confuse an economist? Ask them to explain the real world. When it comes to the “real world”, …

Economics of climate change must be rooted in real world scenarios Read More »

Don’t give into ecological grief. In anger and despair lie the seeds of resistance

This article appeared in the Irish Times on the 23rd January 2024 as https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/01/23/sadhbh-oneill-dont-give-into-ecological-grief-in-anger-and-despair-lie-the-seeds-of-resistance/ It is hard not to detect a sense of hopelessness among younger adults about the ecological and climate crises. These challenges are no longer hypothetical or way off into the future – they are coming to meet us in real-time on what …

Don’t give into ecological grief. In anger and despair lie the seeds of resistance Read More »

Don’t wait for politicians to lead the climate revolution

This article appeared in the Irish Times on the 9th of January 2024 as https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/01/09/sadhbh-oneill-dont-wait-for-politicians-to-lead-the-climate-revolution/ This will be another critical year for climate action. Everything we do as government, businesses and householders must accelerate the end of the fossil fuel era. We need paradigm shifts across the entire economy to favour new business models that are …

Don’t wait for politicians to lead the climate revolution Read More »

What would a roadmap for sustainable aviation look like?

This article appeared in the Irish Times on the 19th December 2023 as https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/12/19/what-would-a-roadmap-to-sustainable-aviation-look-like-for-a-start-dont-make-things-worse/ After a calamitous few years for the aviation industry 2024 looks set to be a boom year for international air travel, with estimates that 9.4 billion passengers will take to the skies, breaking all previous records. Dublin airport is witnessing a resurgence of …

What would a roadmap for sustainable aviation look like? Read More »

Investment in railways has potential to help get climate targets on track

This article appeared in the Irish Times on the 26th of October 2023. We don’t often associate the island of Ireland with world-beating public transport technologies. However, we can boast of some important milestones in the development of railways. The Dún Laoghaire and Kingstown railway, which opened in 1834 and later became the Great Southern …

Investment in railways has potential to help get climate targets on track Read More »

Emergency ethics are required for our rapidly warming planet

[This article appeared in the Irish Times on the 24th of August as https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2023/08/24/emergency-ethics-required-for-our-rapidly-warming-planet/] The dictionary definition of an emergency is an event that is sudden or unexpected that requires fast action in order to avoid harmful results. If governments had acted 30 years ago when climate science was already categorically linking the burning of …

Emergency ethics are required for our rapidly warming planet Read More »

The new land wars

The West’s awake. And angry. At a public meeting organised recently by independent TDs, farmers vented their opposition to the proposed Nature Restoration Law declaring that ‘farmers want to farm, not to participate in agri-environmental schemes’. Such was the hostility towards climate and environmental policies that one farmer was reported as calling for the Minister …

The new land wars Read More »