I dissect the cinematic techniques used by corporate keynotes that purposely confuse fiction and fact in order to make a desired future appear real and inevitable. These techniques persist, even as branding (“metaverse”) falls out of favor, allowing us to trace continuities across hype cycles 4/
Sometimes industry rhetoric involves dehumanizing people.
Other times it involves humanizing AI.
It’s important to recognize how both of these moves work together to serve industry goals.
2/
A truncated map from Argentina to Australia via ZA. (Colours are from the Köppen-Geiger classification.)
Countries publish data on activities & #carbon emissions. So it's convenient to cluster them to demonstrate relationships.
Today i found that countries from Argentina to Australia via ZA emit methane in the same proportion: from cattle then sheep.
(This does not say anything about their #climate.)
Indeed it should be of wide concern if areas used to significant rainfall such as the northern part of the Amazon and southern Asia see significant less rain fall, affecting the crop growing potential for billions of people.
But i doubt people there are aware.
AMOC weakening is of concern notably for European economies. So i suggest that it is a matter that deciders hear about.
New Nature Ecology & Evolution paper out today @natecoevo.nature.com!
We find that models deviate from observations in the weighting of important soil processes. This mismatch has important implications for developing soil carbon models and improving predictions of soil carbon fate in the future 🌍
Being unemployed is associated with *much* higher risk of being a victim of homicide. Unemployed people are 16 times more likely to be victims of homicide than the population as a whole. Unemployed men aged 30–49 make up 0.9% of the population but 16% of all homicide victims.
We discuss how non-native English speakers face invisible labour, higher rejection rates, and limited access to resources and networks, reinforcing structural asymmetries. We also reflect on how open science can unintentionally reproduce inequalities.
🌳 🌱 Nature doesn’t need decades to take root — sometimes just a few years and a little space.
That's what Jocelyn Timperley found when she visited some of the growing network of #WeeForests springing up across Scotland, by NatureScot and Earthwatch Europe.
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
And this graphic published recently by @zacklabe.com shows how extremely overheated the Arctic is at all levels of the atmosphere. Especially high up where the polar vortex and jet stream operate.
A global synthesis of >600 studies finds that across agro-ecosystems, grasslands and forests in temperate and tropical zones, increasing plant diversity has a consistently positive effect on plant performance and the suppression of antagonists 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Changing which crops you plant only works if you have some idea what the climate will give you this year.
Rainfall isn't just changing, it's becoming much more erratic.
New preprint in Earth System Dynamics: When will the northern high latitudes become a net carbon source?
We evaluate using policy relevant SSP scenarios including overshoot, explicitly representing permafrost🌳❄️🔥🏔️
➡️ doi.org/10.5194/egus...
@njsteinert.bsky.social @mathisoncamilla.bsky.social
Since added flame retardants, e.g., in insulation materials, can account for more than 10% of CO2 equivalents, it is worth considering ways to avoid or replace them in construction.
The current practice of using as many plastics as possible, both in homes and as homes, cannot be sustainable 1/3
The UK Data Service will be closed from 17.00 on Tuesday 23 December 2025. All services will fully resume on Monday 5 January 2026. Online services will run unattended during this period. Season's Greetings to all our users.
First time I've come across a dataset that is down for Christmas... ☃️
It also raises the credibility of the journal. So i will look to be reviewed on condition of reproducibility. (But not in psychology: my field is GHG emissions.)
Thank you for pointing to this article!
"So was it too censorious, often priggish, and prone to going way too hard? Absolutely. Did it lead to cringe and unbearably preachy art? Yes. But did it hasten along better social norms, shocking us out of genuine expressions of hatefulness? Also yes."
Thank you for suggesting "warning authors that reproducibility will be checked". Would you tell in which conditions it happens?
The Net Zero Commission’s report on coal mining in NSW is out - and it’s very clear. There’s no more room for coal in NSW.
www.smh.com.au/environment/...
Graph showing: Global Fossil GHG Emissions: Annual Changes (CCA4 by the Global Carbon Project)
Here is a collection of visuals to explain GHG emissions: robbieandrew.github.io/GCB2025/
Compiled by @robbieandrew.bsky.social. CCA4 by the Global Carbon Project
#carbon #emissions #economy #GHG #macroEconomics #CO2 #mining #drilling #coal #oilAndGas #methaneGas #gas #oil #methane #climateChange
Extractive Capitalism, @lalehkhalili.bsky.social argues, is the system by which commodities (oil, ore, bauxite, coal, sand) are excavated, transported, processed and sold at markups that funnel profits to a narrow investor class while externalising costs on to workers, communities & the environment.
A dog is shown an apple core with seeds
AI does not reason. It applies probabilities.
It’s like eating an apple and assuming that everything will be as tasty: http://data.yt/kit/how-ai-is-made.html
The biggest misunderstanding of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), IMHO, is that many assume it is a replacement for emissions reductions. As in, more CDR, less emission reductions. No. Emissions need to go down as fast as possible, even faster, no matter how much (~feasible) CDR you have.
2/
Your statement resonates.
I gather that most people would rather be soothed. If soothing is not available, then many choose ignorance. Some choose to fight back.
Nowadays a popular solution is to create a narrative. (For example i had the luck to participate in the "PMA pour tou·tes" movement.)
Look around you. Do you see policies being implemented at scale? Do you see the end of investment into new fossil energy? Do you see phasing out of existing fossil infrastructure? Do you see massive renewables deployment and the lowering of demand for energy and materials?
You do not.
3/n
The accumulated waste of generations of mass consumption is decaying in landfill, + the chemicals those goods were drenched in - lead, mercury, cadmium, PFAS, PCBs - are seeping slowly back out into water, soil + air.
Our report with @investigate-europe.eu:
euobserver.com/eu-political...
At #COP30, the failed economic orthodoxies embedded in the financial architecture got little attention.
Embracing the role of the state and industrial policy are 🗝️ to scaling up climate action, as explained in this @the-breakdown.bsky.social piece:
www.break-down.org/real-constra...
Screenshot from the RERC report showing text: "It is also brought to our notice that the existing thermal power stations of Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. (RRVUNL) are operating below Page 128 RERC/2298/25 the normative plant availability. Such sub-optimal operation not only results in underutilization of the available generation capacity but also leads to deterioration in station performance parameters, including heat rate and auxiliary energy consumption. In this context, it would be prudent to focus on achieving optimum utilization of the existing thermal assets before considering the addition of new thermal capacity."
From the regulator's report: Why add more coal-fired capacity when the existing capacity is under-utilised?
"While many developed countries, China and India have obtained net forest gains domestically, they have also increased the deforestation embodied in their imports […]. Consumption patterns of G7 countries drive an average loss of 3.9 trees per person per year".
via @esavakkilainen.bsky.social
I should write the argument up properly somewhere, but I think this is fundamentally wrong. A decisive fraction of the capitalist class does oppose addressing the climate crisis, but *not* because it would be bad for profits. If anything, a green New Deal type program would raise aggregate profits.
