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adriennebuller.bsky.social
Adrienne Buller
@adriennebuller.bsky.social
4.7K followers 340 following 84 posts
Editor & host of @the-breakdown.bsky.social
Fellow @cmmonwealth.bsky.social
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adriennebuller.bsky.social
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November 29, 2025 at 1:47 PM
adriennebuller.bsky.social
Yes! Sofia's superb essay on it is here

www.break-down.org/the-sunlight...
The Sunlight Managers
By deploying the language of objectivity while evading questions about the social relations that underlie the climate crisis, the science profession is granting legitimacy to a dangerous idea: solar g...
www.break-down.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:12 PM
adriennebuller.bsky.social
And as ever - this piece is free to read, but we're an indie non-profit publication with a small team trying to pay writers as well as we can manage.

If you're into what we do and can spring for a digital or print subscription (digital just over £1/month), it makes this kind of work possible.

👶
November 13, 2025 at 1:13 PM
adriennebuller.bsky.social
PSA: If there is a thinker you want to write about through the lens of climate politics, whether or not they wrote on the environment, send us a pitch!

Guidelines here: www.break-down.org/pitching/
Pitching
What We Publish We’re interested in original ideas and clear, compelling writing that breaks down complex subjects for an engaged but non-expert audience. The best guide to what we might like is to l...
www.break-down.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by Adrienne Buller
sabrinafernandes.com
This discussion follows a few things I discussed with @adriennebuller.bsky.social for the @the-breakdown.bsky.social podcast recently. It just came out and you can check it out here:
www.break-down.org/lulas-dilemm...
Lula’s Dilemmas and COP30
Adrienne speaks to Sabrina Fernandes about the complexities of Brazilian ecological politics at the start of the COP30 climate conference.
www.break-down.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:52 PM
adriennebuller.bsky.social
In 2020 around the time of the 25th anniversary, I wrote this about Shell's legacy in the Niger Delta in a small book with @mathewlawrence.bsky.social, Owning the Future
The Niger River Delta is home to Africa’s largest mangrove forest, a remarkable ecosystem capable of storing twice as much carbon as a terrestrial forest. Between labyrinths of submerged roots, mangroves conceal a dizzying array of plant and animal life, breathing oxygen into waterways and sustaining vast wetlands rich in biodiversity while supporting the livelihoods of millions of local fishers and farmers in the Delta. It is also one of the most polluted places on Earth. Hemmed in by a maze of decades-old, often deteriorating pipelines owned by the likes of Shell, Texaco, and Exxon, the Delta has endured thousands of oil spills since extraction began in 1958. Some estimates suggest that as many as 40 million litres of crude oil pours into the area every year– with near impunity for the companies involved. Gas flares and toxic runoff choke the air and the water table. The result is devastation: thousands of kilometres of mangrove forest have been destroyed or are at risk, wiping out ecosystems and livelihoods, while adjacent farmland has been flooded with oil. Rates of cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and birth defects are all abnormally high. A recent study estimated that in 2012 alone, 16,000 Nigerian infants died within their first month of life due to oil pollution in the Delta. In 1994, a military task force (allegedly with backing from oil giant Royal Dutch Shell) was established to put down a protest against Shell’s operations in Ogoniland. After the protest was crushed, nine local activists were executed for their involvement following a sham trial. Military enforcement continues to cast a long shadow over the region, with residents subject to routine intimidation and violence. Despite the wilful destruction and neglect of the delta’s delicate and vital ecosystem over several decades, and accusations of violence against its people, Shell has come away relatively unscathed, even carving out a place as an apparent ‘leader’ in the oil industry for its much-publicised U-turn to a ‘cleaner’ future. In February 2021, Shell announced it would become ‘net zero’ in its operations by 2050, affirming its commitment to ‘generating shareholder value, achieving net-zero emissions, powering lives and respecting nature’ – in that order. As a cornerstone of this initiative, it began championing ‘nature-based solutions’ to the climate crisis, namely mass tree-planting projects to offset the firm’s emissions. But beneath the glossy press coverage and leafy promotional videos lurked a darker reality.
November 11, 2025 at 2:56 PM
adriennebuller.bsky.social
Bonus - this from @70sbachchan.bsky.social and @katemac.bsky.social in the early Polycrisis days brilliantly set out many questions picked up in Sabrina's essay + interview, in the immediate wake of Lula's 2022 victory.

A shot / chaser for the truly keen

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/lul...
The Polycrisis 002 | Kate Mackenzie & Tim Sahay
Will a Lula victory be better for the climate than anything that happens at COP27?
www.phenomenalworld.org
November 11, 2025 at 11:51 AM
adriennebuller.bsky.social
You can read Sabrina's excellent essay by subscribing for just over £1 a month to support our work:

www.break-down.org/lulas-dilemma/
Lula’s Dilemma
In Brazil, big agribusiness holds the reins of political power. Without confronting this head-on, Lula’s ecological promises will remain just that—promises.
www.break-down.org
November 11, 2025 at 11:14 AM
adriennebuller.bsky.social
You can read Sofia's essay here — a digital subscription is just over £1 a month and enables us to keep publishing these important stories

www.break-down.org/the-sunlight...
The Sunlight Managers
By deploying the language of objectivity while evading questions about the social relations that underlie the climate crisis, the science profession is granting legitimacy to a dangerous idea: solar g...
www.break-down.org
November 5, 2025 at 12:13 PM