Simon L. Lewis | Lightnews

Simon Lewis

@simonlewis.bsky.social

2.4K followers 670 following 140 posts

They say I’m outspoken. Professor of Global Change Science at UCL and University of Leeds. Author, The Human Planet. Trying to understand the world and change it too.

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Simon Lewis may refer to:Simon Lewis (writer), British novelist and screenwriter Simon Lewis , a character in The Mortal Instruments series of novels Simon Lewis, director of communications for PM Gordon Brown Simon Lewis Simon Lewis (lifeguard), Australian volunteer lifesaver .. more

Environmental science 69%

Geography 18%

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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 18h

I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.

Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise

bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...

Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny

Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment

bylinetimes.com

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Simon L. Lewis, David Dunning , and 8 more Lisa W. Fazio, Simon L. Lewis, David Dunning, Steve Peers, Lesley A. Hall, Jacob Montgomery, R. M. Wilson, Roopika Risam, Michael Veale, Michael D. McDonald, Julie Novkov

Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 3d

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Dispensing false information in a confident tone, rather than offering no answer when none is readily available, is a major flaw of generative AI, experts say. An audit of the top 10 generative AI models including ChatGPT, Gemini and Meta’s AI by the media literacy non-profit NewsGuard revealed that the non-response rates of chatbots went down from 31% in August 2024 to 0% in August 2025. At the same time, the chatbots’ likelihood of repeating false information almost doubled from 18% to 35%, NewsGuard found. None of the companies responded to NewsGuard’s request for a comment at the time.

Reposted by Simon L. Lewis

Wolfgang Blau @wblau.bsky.social · 3d

Quite the quote on #COP30, by Professor Michael Jacobs of the think tank ODI Global and the University of Sheffield. Source: ‚Backchannel‘

Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 3d

Indigenous protected areas have much lower deforestation rates than other areas, so lowering emissions from deforestation (second largest cause climate change after fossil fuel emissions).

Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 3d

Huge applause and long standing ovation for Marina Silva, what a life, from rubber tapper in the Amazon to environment minister, and quiet star of COP30. Even though the roadmap to halt deforestation is voluntary, if led by Silva, it will be positive.

Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 3d

Fucked/not fucked is not a binary, many shades here. There is no global ‘we’.

Eg 14 new indigenous territories to be demarcated, announced during COP, as a result of indigenous organization/ protest /international spotlight/ Lula gov. These indigenous cultures ‘less fucked’ now + going forward.

Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 3d

This is just a weird take. There is a palpable lack of optimism here — literally not one person applauded the gaveling of the cover text today — more like keeping a focus on climate and a focus on multilateralism alive. It’s all deeply flawed, but we both know that.

Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 3d

Global CO2 emissions increased 18.4% in the 10 yrs prior to the Paris Agreement, and 1.2% in the 10 years after. The graph is clear, there is an inflection point, see in this doc. ca1-eci.edcdn.com/reports/10-Y.... Today’s deal is really poor. But international agreement on climate do have impacts.

Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 3d

COP30 cover text passed with silence. No applause. Just silence.

Presidency then announced 2 roadmaps, under the Presidency, one on transitioning away from fossil fuels and another on deforestation. To huge applause. Basically a coalition of the willing.

Reposted by Keith C. Hamer

Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 3d

Cover decision text, not passed yet, unfccc.int/sites/defaul...

No mention of roadmaps for transitioning away from fossil fuels or curbing deforestation.

Bitterly disappointing.

unfccc.int

Reposted by Simon L. Lewis, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Thomas Hale

Jessica Green @greenprofgreen.bsky.social · 3d

Final document for #COP30 just dropped and here are some hot takes

1/ No decisive language about FF phaseouts. This is a HUGE loss. The consolation prize is a political process toward phaseouts outside the official decisionmaking of the #ParisAgreement

unfccc.int

Reposted by Simon L. Lewis, Juan Cole, Juan Rocha

Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 3d

A climate deal without explicit language calling for a fossil fuel phaseout is like a ceasefire without explicit language calling for a suspension of hostilities.
#COP30

Simon Lewis @simonlewis.bsky.social · 3d

COP30 final plenary starting very soon, but still no new cover text release