It is the prospect of irretrievable damage to the atmosphere, to the oceans, to earth itself.

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One alternative is to separate activities requiring irretrievable capital investment from the rest.

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He highlighted the importance of companies using "sustainability accounting" to prevent a "more painful, calamitous and, crucially, irretrievable climate crunch".

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Thousands of other messages, including those from the office of Vice President Al Gore, were not captured on tape and are irretrievable.

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The situation was not irretrievable, but required swift action, he added.

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By dwelling upon the irretrievable, we not only guarantee many sleepless nights, we also drain precious energy and focus away from the things we can remedy.

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It believes the Bank's loans are irretrievable, and the Bank thus doesn't need to be compensated for writing off loans that would probably not have been repaid anyway.

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While it is true that bitcoins lost or forgotten are ultimately irretrievable, I view that as a feature not a bug because it is the prevailing trait of a digital bearer instrument.

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