Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Barry McMullin

Ariel Brunner @arielbrunner.bsky.social · 3d

I'm old enough to remember warning about all of this as far back as 2005, alongside @transportenvironment.org & @eeb.org For 2 decades we've been told not not to negative and believe in fairy tales. Guess what, all of our warnings have come true...

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T&E @transportenvironment.org · 3d

NEW: Biofuels globally emit more than the fossil fuels they replace, our latest study shows.

The first-of-a-kind study looks at global biofuels production today and the potential impacts of government biofuel targets.
🧵⤵️

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Aaron Aardvark @laughinglemon.bsky.social · 2h

If this was some drunk on the street, shouting at passers-by, nobody would have paid any attention. Or called the cops. But this is a rich guy so someone has to write an article.

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Reposted by Barry McMullin

Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 3h

BBC News explain that because of Brexit, Brits will be photographed and have their fingerprints taken when going into the EU, as the UK now is a third country

BBC News forget to explain that the UK helped create these rules when we were part of the EU because we wanted stronger border control

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Barry McMullin @autofac.bsky.social · 1h

Ah this is an easy one - right in my lane. The Doors - "This is the End", with the opening sequence from Apocalypse Now. 🙂😱 www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIrv...

Apocalypse Now intro: The Doors, The End {1979}

YouTube video by VirtualVisitor999

www.youtube.com

Barry McMullin @autofac.bsky.social · 7h

This is such an extraordinarily bad idea - and I suspect would have very little popular support across the EU: so not just bad in itself, but very bad for EU democracy as a whole...

Matthias Monroy @matthimon.bsky.social · Aug 29

The EU-Commission wants to negotiate a very sensitive agreement that would allow US authorities direct (!) access to police-stored fingerprints & facial images in Europe.
Potentially, all travelers could be affected by this #EBSP – and people in need for protection.
digit.site36.net/2025/08/29/e...

"Border Security" with USA: Brussels ready to give deep access to biometric data in EU states | Matthias Monroy

The European Commission wants to negotiate an agreement that would allow US authorities direct access to police-stored fingerprints and facial images in Europe. Potentially, all travelers could be…

digit.site36.net

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Yung En Chee @yungenchee.bsky.social · 1d

I like "malignant normality" that i first heard via Dave Vetter (Ben Franta used it in their discussion; think he said it came from a law prof)

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · May 29

Here's Ben, John and myself discussing climate litigation vs. "malignant normality"
@oxfordsmithschool.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

Climate futures: Will fire be the beginning and the end of our story?

YouTube video by OxfordSmithSchool

www.youtube.com

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

We have truly not yet figured out how to cope with a person or institution that is "aware" of climate change, "accepts the science", but then decides to continue actively worsening it anyway

We don't even have a word or a phrase for this!

theconversation.com/mark-carneys...

Mark Carney’s climate inaction is at odds with his awareness of climate change’s existential threat

Climate action no longer seems to be a priority for Prime Minister Mark Carney, despite his previous activism. This is bad news for Canadians and the climate.

theconversation.com

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Paul Price @swimsure.bsky.social · 10h

New Zealand's agri methane Government decision betrays its Paris Agreement global commitments to limiting global warming equitably.

It says, the short-term profits of NZ agri-food corporations are far more important to them than national promises to protect the future wellbeing of people & nature.

ECO NZ - Environment & Conservation Orgs @econz.bsky.social · 16h

NZ Govt decision to reduce the agriculture methane target ignores the science & will just add to cooking the planet & makes farming even more affected by extreme weather events. This is a lose-lose decision for the planet & NZ. #methanecookstheplanet #ClimateEmergency www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Government lowers methane target, rules out methane taxes

The government is lowering its biogenic methane target for the next 25 years, a move opposed by the Greens and environmental activists.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · 1d

If you think you know why US newspapers died, this feature documentary now streaming for free on PBS might surprise you. It wasn't the Internet. Newspapers were specifically targeted by vulture capitalists.

I composed the score for the film, which features electric cello & Crowfoot guitars.

Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink

A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.

www.pbs.org

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Peter du Toit @peterdutoit.com · 8h

It CANNOT be said that we didn't have the technology AND know-how to radically cut emissions.

As per this example from the #EnROADS simulator, we could, if we wanted, to slam the brakes on our current emissions trajectory by acting on these areas!

Test it for yourself!

en-roads.climateinte...

Screenshot of the En-ROADS climate simulator dashboard showing all the areas we can act on to reduce emissions:

Energy Supply
Transport
Buildings & Industry
Economic & Population Growth
Carbon Dioxide Removal
Agricultural Emissions
Waste & Leakage
Deforestation

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Reposted by Barry McMullin

Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign @ipsc.bsky.social · 8h

Great article by our friend Sarah
Clancy, who was kidnapped by apartheid Israel in international waters trying to get aid into Gaza. Our governments' complicity in the genocide of Palestinians compels us to act in all the different ways we can. #FreePalestine
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Sarah Clancy: Flotillas show that ordinary people must be the antidote to toxic world powers

After arrest, imprisonment, and deportation from Israel, Sarah Clancy, an Irish Gaza flotilla participant, reflects on solidarity, conscience, and the power of ordinary people

www.irishexaminer.com

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Barry McMullin @autofac.bsky.social · 8h

And there's more! bsky.app/profile/righ...

Children's Rights Over Flights @rightoverflight.bsky.social · 1d

Between lifting the cap and new Derry flights, is Darragh O'Brien minister for climate, or just transport? www.thejournal.ie/readme/opini...

Opinion: Between lifting the cap and new Derry flights, is Darragh O'Brien minister for climate, or just transport?

Darragh O’Brien needs to make sure that his transport portfolio isn’t making things harder for his climate portfolio, Dr Catherine Conlon

www.thejournal.ie

Barry McMullin @autofac.bsky.social · 8h

IE #SameSame
bsky.app/profile/joen...

Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 2d

“I don’t think we can mitigate for climate change.”

- Mícheál Martin, Taoiseach.

www.independent.ie/business/tec...

Taoiseach says some climate projects will not be fulfilled because they risk polarising society

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has rowed back on climate change commitments, saying Ireland may not be able fulfil all current initiatives due to the polarising effect it could have on society.

www.independent.ie

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lucasgeese.bsky.social @lucasgeese.bsky.social · 10d

Bit of an awkward coincidence that our paper comes out on the day Kemi Badenoch pledges to scrap the UK Climate Change Act, but perhaps provides also a bit of an explanation:

Many UK politicians, and Tories especially, still don't fully grasp the urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions!
👇👇👇👇👇👇

John Kenny @johnkenny.bsky.social · 10d

New paper with @lucasgeese.bsky.social at @commsearth.nature.com

UK MPs + publics in Britain, Canada, Chile & Germany underestimated the urgency of peaking global GHG emissions when surveyed in 2023.

@tyndallcentre.bsky.social @cast-centre.bsky.social
@climateuea.bsky.social

rdcu.be/eI4J3

Publics and UK parliamentarians underestimate the urgency of peaking global greenhouse gas emissions

Communications Earth & Environment - UK members of parliament overestimate the time available to mitigate climate change, with notable partisan differences, and a similar lack of knowledge is...

rdcu.be

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Anna Pringle @annapr.bsky.social · 10h

Waving at NZ from Ireland…

Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 10h

One of the symptoms of the 'resource curse' is that Govt becomes captured by one industry. In NZ that is dairy. Methane is the dominant GHG for NZ but it is now exempt from prices or regulations to cut it, which means all other sectors have to carry the weight of emissions reductions.

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Wendy Ly🎃n @wendylyon.bsky.social · 18h

Have just seen a post on X featuring a screenshot of a house share offer in Kerry, digitally altered to say “No Irish”. The actual ad can be found online easily and of course says no such thing, but the target audience hasn’t checked and is reacting predictably.

This will only get worse.

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Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 1d

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 1d

We’re entering a fascinating new phase of the #climate end-game, one where leaders, from Mark Carney in Canada to Micheál Martin here, perfectly understand how dire the situation is, yet decide - choose - to do absolutely nothing.

theconversation.com/mark-carneys...

Mark Carney’s climate inaction is at odds with his awareness of climate change’s existential threat

Climate action no longer seems to be a priority for Prime Minister Mark Carney, despite his previous activism. This is bad news for Canadians and the climate.

theconversation.com

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

It is really, really, really stunning to me how the first part in particular has already become so incredibly noticeable.

In the climate space alone I am spending more of my precious remaining life hours convincing ppl that the output of a word generating program is not the default truth......

onion person @junlper.beer · 1d

i’ve been trying to think of the real actual applications of generative ai in it’s current state and the two things i have so far is it makes everyone more dumb and also every more paranoid

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Josef O'Shea @josefoshea.bsky.social · 1d

Out of control supertanker on collision course with our lives.

Rob Bowley @robbowley.net · 1d

BBC News - 'It's going to be really bad': Fears over AI bubble bursting grow in Silicon Valley

A tangled web of deals stokes AI bubble fears in Silicon Valley

Some are worried that the rapid rise in the value of AI tech companies may be a bubble waiting to burst.

www.bbc.com

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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 1d

He votes Humphreys.

Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 2d

“I don’t think we can mitigate for climate change.”

- Mícheál Martin, Taoiseach.

www.independent.ie/business/tec...

Taoiseach says some climate projects will not be fulfilled because they risk polarising society

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has rowed back on climate change commitments, saying Ireland may not be able fulfil all current initiatives due to the polarising effect it could have on society.

www.independent.ie

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Reposted by Barry McMullin

umsonst.bsky.social @umsonst.bsky.social · 1d

No shit!

"New research warns that modern agricultural methods are placing the global food supply at increasing risk by weakening the natural resilience of the world’s soils."

#climate #earth #food #uöäü1soils

Agricultural practices can threaten soil resilience through changing feedback loops - npj Sustainable Agriculture

npj Sustainable Agriculture - Agricultural practices can threaten soil resilience through changing feedback loops

www.nature.com

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Children's Rights Over Flights @rightoverflight.bsky.social · 1d

Between lifting the cap and new Derry flights, is Darragh O'Brien minister for climate, or just transport? www.thejournal.ie/readme/opini...

Opinion: Between lifting the cap and new Derry flights, is Darragh O'Brien minister for climate, or just transport?

Darragh O’Brien needs to make sure that his transport portfolio isn’t making things harder for his climate portfolio, Dr Catherine Conlon

www.thejournal.ie

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Reposted by Barry McMullin

Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 1d

Ivan’s intervention “teaches the next generation of campaigners that integrity is a liability and that reputational violence is a sign of savvy.
It tells the public that truth is optional, empathy expendable, and that politics is just performance warfare.”

No

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/colu...

Colin Sheridan: Smear v journalism — One intends to wound, the other to inform

When Ivan Yates went on a widely shared podcast and said he would 'smear the bejaysus out of her', meaning presidential candidate Catherine Connolly, he was injecting the virus, writes Colin Sheridan

www.irishexaminer.com

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