It’s important that Europeans get used to sitting in the dark so that energy-hungry data centres have an uninterrupted supply of electricity. Ireland, lest we forget, has Europe’s highest percentage of data centre electricity usage. Don’t forget to buy some candles 🕯️

Am due on @wlrnnews.bsky.social very shortly to discuss findings of new @irishexaminer.bsky.social research on Irish attitudes to #climate, sustainability.

Instead of whining about diesel prices and demanding taxpayer handouts, we need to *urgently* transition our HGV fleet to all-electric. Better on emissions, air pollution, cost, noise and quicker, smoother trucks with superior torque into the bargain. www.goodnewsnetwork.org/all-electric...

“The research delivers a sharp rebuke to the Government on its #climate record. This is particularly strong among women, with two in three saying it is not doing enough”. My take in today’s @irishexaminer.bsky.social on new research on public attitudes. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Interesting to see how enshittification of even mainstream media outlets gathers pace. Whether or not you like its politics, the Economist has long been a bulwark of ‘traditional’ journalism. Then along came MAGA, and we end up with execrable headlines like below.

"Despite blasé demeanour of the Taoiseach & his ministers, missing our legal #climate targets is not a trivial matter. Govt’s own expert advisers have warned the state is facing a “staggering” EU non-compliance bill of €8-€26 billion" My take in @thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie/readme/clima...

Pod of this week’s Last Word on the environment with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social on Today FM now available. I argue that a blitz of one-off housing is a quick fix that will backfire badly, also discuss how data centres are pushing up your electricity bills. www.todayfm.com/podcasts/the...

This week’s Last Word on the environment with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social on Today FM coming up after 5.30 today. We’ll discuss EPA #climate report, one-off housing blitz and what data centres are sending domestic electricity prices soaring.

Every bank holiday this year has seen some or all of Dublin Dart service shut down, causing chaos for thousands and huge congestion across city. The Dart shuts down for 5-6 hours EVERY night, mind boggling that routine maintenance can’t be carried out then. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/t...

“Now, at the 11th hour, our best and final chance to avoid a fossil-fuelled collapse of global #climate system by mid-century has arrived, in the form of renewable energy & advanced battery technology” My take in today’s @irishexaminer.bsky.social www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Ireland vs Netherlands today: Ireland's peak of #solar power: 30.3% of total electricity production, using 85% of our installed 1.34GW capacity In tiny, crowded Holland: solar peak of 78.1%, using 58% of its whopping 29GW solar capacity. They have 20x our solar installed. T W E N T Y times.

Looks like one of those terrifying 2050 #climate projection graphics, but no, that’s a short-term forecast for France until… May 29th.

Am gasping for air at the sheer recklessness and utter stupidity of this article. You wonder why we’re absolutely and totally fuc#ed as a species? This is why. www.irishtimes.com/culture/2026...

No podcast produced of this week’s Last Word on the environment with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social on Today FM. To listen back, click link below & scroll forward to 1’05’40” We discussed game-changing renewables, plus UK struggling to cope with heatwaves. www.goloudplayer.com/episodes/las...

If ISIS or another Jihadi terror gang were doing this, the world would be literally up in arms, but hey, it’s the actual Israeli army, so nothing to see here. Again and again and again.

Pretty sure there was a Black Mirror episode about something as profoundly creepy and unnerving as this.

Destroying our national credibility at EU level, while helping to destroy the #climate system, that’s quite the double whammy from Ireland ahead of taking over the EU Presidency in July. www.euractiv.com/news/ireland...

At this stage, even if Israel actually started bombing EU countries, Ireland included, we’d *still* refuse to impose sanctions on this terrorist regime, for fear of hurting their feelings. www.rte.ie/news/2026/05...

Well, as the great Michael McDowell told us recently, Ireland needs even more one-off housing, presumably so we can have even more groundwater contamination. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

"Two banners frame him as he talks, with no notes nor slides, for some 90 minutes, commanding the full attention of his audience". A report from Sabine McKenna of Sustainable Skerries on yesterday's #climate talk. sustainableskerries.com/2026/05/17/t...

Enjoyable afternoon in Waterford yesterday recording a podcast with Mick Kelly of GIY. Off to Balbriggan this morning to give a talk from 11-12 as part of Dublin Climate Week.

Pod of this week’s Last Word on the environment with Matt Cooper on Today FM now available. We discussed soaring temperatures globally & for World Cup, plus methane hydrate hazard, Cuban solar revolution - and more. (We also celebrated 192,000 daily listeners). www.todayfm.com/podcasts/the...

This week’s Last Word on the environment with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social coming up within the hour on @todayfm.bsky.social. We’ll discuss heat at World Cup, extreme weather in 2026, Cuba & more. p.s. Great to see the show hit a new daily listenership high of 190,000 in latest JNLR survey.

The sooner Ireland and the EU end all economic & political relations with this terrorist state, the better. Kudos to Haaretz, a rare voice of truth, for reporting on Gestapo-style Israeli policing.

More than 4 in 5 vans sold in Holland in the first quarter of 2026 were fully electric, with around 1 in 3 in Denmark, Sweden & Finland. And Ireland? Yet again we’re stuck at foot of the table as tar-loving FF/FG gov’t asleep at the wheel as renewables revolution sweeps Europe.

This really is quite something. In the 15 years @carbonbrief.org have tracked UK media, 2025 was first ever year where more newspaper editorials opposed #climate action than supported it. Meanwhile, the *actual* climate crisis deepens by the month. Go figure.

Now there’s a bullet the nation happily dodged. Every time you think Bertie has hit rock bottom, out comes his shovel.

If there were a Pulitzer Prize for columnists in the category of being Consistently Wrong, week after week, I reckon this guy would have a shelf heaving with them by now. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

The real price of Ireland’s toxic car culture: woefully poor infrastructure makes cycling dangerous as billions flood into road funding. Meanwhile, incidence of diabetes, asthma & heart disease largely due to car-centric sedentary lifestyle is a major killer. www.thejournal.ie/oireachtas-s...

Great to meet President Connolly at today’s DCU conference; she attended my session with Prof Pat Breteton on #climate & agriculture. Was delighted to present her a copy of my book, The Lie of the Land afterwards.

Just attended a spellbinding one-hour presentation by Sean ‘Nature Boy’ Ronayne at today’s DCU #climate conference.

Really enjoyed presenting at this year’s DCU #climate conference. Great to hear the speech by President Catherine Connolly, with a strong emphasis on urgent action on climate, biodiversity.

Looking forward to taking part in tomorrow’s Annual Conference of DCU’s Institute for Climate and Society @dcuclimate.bsky.social, where President Connolly will deliver the keynote address Will be discussing The Lie of the Land in a morning session on #Climate & farming.

“Icebergs be damned! What we need to talk about is what we’ll do when the Titanic berths in New York”.

Another triumph for the NIMBYS…this offshore wind farm would have powered 350,000 homes, but no, we’d rather burn the world down with foreign oil, gas. RTÉ chatshow host Tommy Tiernan among the objectors. Well done, Tommy, as long as you’re ok. Joke’s on the rest of us.

Amazing the hysteria over a €127k spend on a bike shed, yet just by looking at photo, it's quite clear this is a substantial structure. Meanwhile, actual millions are spent building car parks, but what have commentariat got to say about it? Absolutely nothing. www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41...

Sat down with @deshocks.bsky.social of @irishexaminer.bsky.social for an in-depth chat on whether now is the time, as the Taoiseach suggests, for Ireland to go nuclear. This sudden interest in nukes is, I suspect, just a tactic to stymie our solar roll-out. www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlig...

Of all the knuckleheaded “expert advice” you’ll read today, this is undoubtedly top of the pile. BTW, the “Irish Academy of Engineering” is NOT an academic or official engineering entity, it’s essentially a club, mostly of #climate contrarians. www.irishtimes.com/business/202...

Pod of this week’s Last Word on the environment with Matt Cooper on Today FM now available. We discussed Attenborough at 100, the devastation caused by bottom trawling, rubbish disposal in Dublin - and more. www.todayfm.com/podcasts/the...

This week’s Last Word on the environment with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social coming up shortly on @todayfm.bsky.social. We’ll be discussing Attenborough at 100, bottom trawling, Dóchas #climate survey - and more.

Who says there are no winners in war? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/b...

Looks like the day Micheál Martin’s ship comes in, he’ll be waiting at the airport. Ireland has among world’s best quality renewable energy resources - cost effective & ready to deploy. Nuclear makes no sense whatever, unless real aim is to do nothing. www.irishexaminer.com/news/politic...

No surer sign that Greens are shaking up UK politics than when the billionaire newspaper owners unleash their attack dogs on @zackpolanski.bsky.social with vile “anti-Semitic” smears against a leader who is Jewish. Same racist media owners have cheered on Israel’s genocidal rampage in Gaza.

I sat down with Theo & Philip Jebb some time back to discuss my book, ‘The Lie of the Land’ and to focus in particular on our agri-food system, from emissions to water quality, food security etc. The conversation extends to c.45 minutes; hope you find it useful. open.spotify.com/episode/5mUA...

Pod of this week’s Last Word on the environment with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social on @todayfm.bsky.social is now available. We took a deep dive into the pros & pros of solar energy, and also discussed new moves to boost nature restoration. www.todayfm.com/podcasts/the...

The Last Word with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social on @todayfm.bsky.social coming up around 5.30. We’ll discuss nature restoration, bottom trawling and Copernicus #climate report

🗣️ “For some reason, the carbon tax… has become the piñata in rural Ireland,” says @thinkorswim.bsky.social. #TonightVMTV

🗣️ “We're in a permacrisis… if we don't look at what's getting us into this emergency, then we're just stumbling into the next one,” says @thinkorswim.bsky.social  #TonightVMTV

On #TonightVMTV with Fionnán Sheahan 🚨 Fuel supports for farmers and hauliers due by June, but with 317,000 homes in arrears, should households get help sooner? 🚨 Oil above $117 as Hormuz remains blocked. 🚨 Short-term lets rules delayed - will it worsen the housing squeeze?

Pod of today’s chat with @seanmoncrieff.bsky.social around global ozone depletion and recovery is now available, via @newstalkfm.bsky.social www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...