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Nobel expert: Global warming causing Irish floods, climate change

By
PATRICK REYNOLDS
,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Friday, November 27, 2009, 9:23 PM
Updated Friday, November 27, 2009, 10:44 PM

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Nobel expert: Global warming causing Irish floods, climate change | Irish News | IrishCentral




Read more: Ireland, Climatology, Earth Science, Science and Technology, Sciences, Environmental Issues and Protection, Global Climate Change, Nature and the Environment, John Sweeney, Nobel Prizes
800 year floods: Cars submerged in Cork after the River Lee burst its banks and flooded the city center
800 year floods: Cars submerged in Cork after the River Lee burst its banks and flooded the city center

Ireland's massive flooding has almost certainly been the result of climate change, says Nobel Prize-winner and Ireland's leading climatologist, Prof. John Sweeney.

"We have reaped what we have sown," he said.

Devastating floods  have swept large parts of the country. Areas of the  south and west of Ireland have been under water in the worst flooding in 800 years, according to experts. Major rivers such as the Shannon and the River Lee have burst their banks and thousands have been evacuated.

Sweeney, of Maynooth College, was one of the climatologists who formed part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and won the Nobel Prize in partnership with Al Gore in 2007 because of their warnings about climate change

He pointed out that, per capita, Ireland is one of the largest  contributors to climate change, as  the country has fa- greater greenhouse emissions than Germany, France and Britain.

Sweeney was  was also the main author of a report published by the Environmental Protection Agency about the effect on climate change in Ireland. Among his predictions was that winter rainfall amounts would rise steeply in Ireland, which seems to be happening.

"Floods have always been with us and we can't point the finger at any human agency, but the effects of climate change will mean that events like this will become more frequent,"he said referring to the flooding

He stated that in some parts of the west of Ireland, it has rained in each of the last 30 days.

Sweeney said that "serious lessons must be learned from this.

"There needs to be more care on where we build new infrastructure and new housing. I have been quite struck in the last number of days by the number of modern housing estates I have seen flooded that are located on flood plains."

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Nobel expert: Global warming causing Irish floods, climate change | Irish News | IrishCentral


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Most recent comments - See all comments

Report abuse
Posted by PatrickLee on Dec 01, 2009, 03:56 PM EST
To Downunderyan: Unlike you and a frog, we skeptics actually think and know when we are being scammed.
Report abuse
Posted by PatrickLee on Dec 01, 2009, 03:54 PM EST
To Downunderyan: Unlike you and a frog, most skeptics acutally think and know when we are being acammed.
Report abuse
Posted by Downunderyan on Dec 01, 2009, 07:06 AM EST
There's an old, illustrative joke that seems to fit well with the so-called climate change sceptics - How do you boil a frog? Slowly! It's well known that if you throw a frog into an open pot of boiling water it will jump straight out again. However, if you put it in a pot of cold water and turn up the heat slowly under it, the frog will stay put until it's too late to act. Climate change sceptics are like the proverbial frogs who deny what's happening until it will be too late to do anything about the problem. Maybe they think they're relaxing in a nice, warm, spa bath tub? Ribbitt, ribbitt!
Report abuse
Posted by vincentruane on Nov 30, 2009, 07:11 PM EST
The global corporations with their billions of dollars behind them can't get the weather forecast for tomorrow right most of the time as anyone who watches weather reports on television should know let alone understand weather patterns over centuries. The major question here is what other big lies are the government controlled pientists peddling us with. They have morally and intellectually forfeited the right to be considered scientists by their blatant acts of lies, cover ups, deception and scandalous fraud in relation to the disgusting global warning hoax. The major giant question here is what other lies are the pientists peddling in the world's universitys?
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Posted by Maoleitigh on Nov 30, 2009, 07:09 PM EST
Bull!
Report abuse
Posted by PatrickLee on Nov 30, 2009, 05:38 PM EST
In a paper By Michael R. Fox, Ph.D. February 25, 2007 The "Hockeystick" The Global Warming Scandal of the Decade "The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a UN organization formed within the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). This should sound alarms for those familiar with the politics of some of the power brokers within the UN itself." "This international global warming lobby is large, organized, heavily funded, and mean. Whatever their the agenda may be, it is not science." So to Ireland's leading climatologist, Prof. John Sweeney.... PROVE IT.


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