Our approach: Science & culture

Our Project follows two distinct but intertwined paths.

One path, rooted in science, outlines the ecological impacts of climate change in Ireland. We describe climate changes witnessed in the later decades of the 20th century and the most likely scenarios for change in this current century. We do not offer a primer on climate science, nor do we provide great detail on the methodology used to downscale global climate models for modeling the Irish climate. We instead attempt to tell a simple story of how the Irish climate is likely to change, relying exclusively on peer-reviewed scientific literature.

The other path, rooted in culture, describes how these ecological changes may affect the look and feel of the Irish landscape, and how they may affect life in Ireland. Here, we do not rely on peer-reviewed literature; we instead rely on an intuitive sense of those things that matter greatly to the Irish. We include discussions of music and poetry because they explain the intense connections between the Irish landscape and Irish culture, and how changes to one can affect the other.

The science can help people know these issues; the cultural approach may help people feel them. For the Irish, a culture that reveres its poets, these two forms of understanding seem equally important, equally valid.  And who but the Irish would think to bring poets into a climate discussion? 

We believe this hybrid approach may be an important contribution to the community of climate scientists and to the community of leaders, policymakers and activists focused on the climate crisis.  The cultural voices – interpreters who play a role similar to the Greek chorus in ancient tragedies – can help scientists reach a broader audience.  They can help the scientific community find new and better ways of explaining the potential consequences of unchecked global warming. This is no small challenge.

About the Project

The Irish American Climate Project is a project of the Rockefeller Family Fund. Funding support for the project comes from the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Henry P. Kendall Foundation and the Rockefeller Family Fund. The Project’s science team is affiliated with the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units (ICARUS).

The Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units (ICARUS) is the leading center for climate change research in Ireland. It was established in 2001 to improve our scientific understanding of climate change and its impacts, with particular emphasis on Ireland. Based at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, ICARUS works on climate analysis, regional climate modeling and climate change impact assessments. Through research-led activities it has developed significant expertise and capacity in this strategically important area, and ICARUS researchers are recognized nationally and internationally for their significant contribution to climate change research. Since 2001, ICARUS personnel have published over 30 scientific research publications and 4 climate reports for Ireland. Key personnel are also involved with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and report to the United Nations under the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). For more information, please visit http://icarus.nuim.ie.

About the team

KEVIN SWEENEY is director of the Irish American Climate Project. He lectures at the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He directed the National Security and Climate Change Project, which funded a 2007 report assessing the implications of climate change from the perspective of U.S. admirals and generals. As a management consultant, his clients have included Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Chiquita and Ford Motor Co. He was an executive at Patagonia, directing the company’s environmental strategies and marketing efforts. Earlier, he held senior positions at the U.S. Department of the Interior, worked as a staff member in both houses of Congress and was an on-air television reporter. His essays have appeared on Salon.com and in Sustainable Industries, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Newark Star-Ledger and many other newspapers.

ROWAN FEALY, PH.D. is a lecturer in the Department of Geography at National University of Ireland, Maynooth. A graduate of NUIM, he also completed his Ph.D. there in 2004. He has published over 21 papers and chapters on all aspects of climate, climate change and its impacts. His particular area of interest is in regional climate modeling and the uncertainties associated with “downscaling” global climate scenarios to the regional or local level. He is chairman of the Institute of European Affairs’ working group on the Science of Climate Change and is a committee member of the Royal Irish Academy’s Irish Committee for Climate Change. He has participated in the Irish delegation reporting to a United Nations expert panel under the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as acting as an Irish representative/negotiator at meetings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

LAURA MCELWAIN , PH.D. works in Met Eireann, the National Meteorological Service, as a post-processing scientist with the aim of enhancing the quality of the Numerical Weather Prediction data by correcting for systematic biases. A first class honors graduate of NUIM, she completed her Ph.D. there in 2004. Her primary research interests are in the area of Irish climate change and the identification of possible causes of these changes. She has published a number of reports on the key indicators of climate change for Ireland and has also undertaken research on the implication of the EU 2ºC climate protection target on Ireland.

LORNA SIGGINS is a staff reporter with The Irish Times based in the West of Ireland, where she specializes in issues relating to the marine environment. She covered the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia, famine in Somalia and Irish expedition to climb Everest and to re-create Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic rescue trip in the Southern Ocean. Her first book, “Everest Calling: Ascent of the Dark Side” (1994), is an account of the first successful Irish mountaineering expedition to Everest. “The Woman Who Took Power in the Park: Mary Robinson” (1997) is a biography of the former Irish president. Her most recent book is “Mayday! Mayday!: Tales from the Irish Air-Sea Rescue Service” (2004).

JOHN SWEENEY, PH.D. has taught at the Department of Geography at NUIM since 1978. A graduate of the University of Glasgow, he has been an active researcher in climatology and climate change in Ireland for 30 years and has published over 60 scientific papers and edited or written four texts on these topics. He has served as president of the Irish Meteorological Society; president, secretary and editor for the Geographical Society of Ireland; treasurer of the Irish Quaternary Association; and chairman of the Royal Irish Academy’s Irish Committee on Climate Change; the adhering committee for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, which promotes research into global climate change and its consequences. He was also a review author and contributing author to the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report and the Irish representative on various other national and local bodies.

VICTORIA TRINIES is a research assistant for the Irish American Climate Project. She served as a Peace Corps Public Health Volunteer in Guinea, West Africa (‘06-’07). Before joining the Peace Corps, she provided research support for species protection with Defenders of Wildlife in California’s central valley and helped the Friends Committee on Legislation on environmental and criminal justice lobbying efforts. While a student at the University of California, Davis, she coordinated the Health Education Program at the Cowell Student Health Center and founded Project Peace, a community coalition of peace advocates. Victoria has a bachelor of arts in political science from UC Davis.