Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
@nickcowern.bsky.social
We're beginning to see the true sensitivity of climate to greenhouse gases, and it's bigger than almost anyone expected. A huge challenge to us all to avoid runaway climate. Energy transition, justice, sustainable buildings / agriculture / horticulture.
Pinned
Hottest January on record mystifies climate scientists
EU monitor says global temperatures were 1.75C above preindustrial levels, extending run of unprecedented highs
www.theguardian.com
Rapid climate change is absolutely no surprise. Earth's energy imbalance has been rising as atmospheric aerosol concentrations fall and global temperature rises, creating clearer skies > more incident solar radiation. Noticed the frequent bright white evening sun? www.theguardian.com/environment/...
How the fossil fuel industry drives right wing politics and suppresses action on climate and environment - happy to destroy knowledge and democracy in the process.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Dark forces are preventing us fighting the climate crisis – by taking knowledge hostage | George Monbiot
The fundamental problem is this: that most of the means of communication are owned or influenced by the very rich, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:34 AM
How the fossil fuel industry drives right wing politics and suppresses action on climate and environment - happy to destroy knowledge and democracy in the process.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Climate disinformation is shameful
November 14, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Climate disinformation is shameful
Here's why I sold my petrol car for an electric one and ditched my old oil fired boiler for a heat pump. Both have saved me money and added convenience, but that is SO not the point.
The world's on track for absolute climate catastrophe. I'm horrified by people's inertia, still heating their homes, driving their cars and flying around with fossil fuels as if there were no tomorrow. BLOODY WAKE UP FOLKS! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature rise, report finds
Fossil fuel emissions have hit a record high while many nations have done too little to avert deadly global heating
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Here's why I sold my petrol car for an electric one and ditched my old oil fired boiler for a heat pump. Both have saved me money and added convenience, but that is SO not the point.
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
The world's on track for absolute climate catastrophe. I'm horrified by people's inertia, still heating their homes, driving their cars and flying around with fossil fuels as if there were no tomorrow. BLOODY WAKE UP FOLKS! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature rise, report finds
Fossil fuel emissions have hit a record high while many nations have done too little to avert deadly global heating
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:52 AM
The world's on track for absolute climate catastrophe. I'm horrified by people's inertia, still heating their homes, driving their cars and flying around with fossil fuels as if there were no tomorrow. BLOODY WAKE UP FOLKS! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The world's on track for absolute climate catastrophe. I'm horrified by people's inertia, still heating their homes, driving their cars and flying around with fossil fuels as if there were no tomorrow. BLOODY WAKE UP FOLKS! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature rise, report finds
Fossil fuel emissions have hit a record high while many nations have done too little to avert deadly global heating
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:52 AM
The world's on track for absolute climate catastrophe. I'm horrified by people's inertia, still heating their homes, driving their cars and flying around with fossil fuels as if there were no tomorrow. BLOODY WAKE UP FOLKS! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
“If even one story can help save a lake, river or wetland from drying up, that’s a pretty powerful effect,” I wrote for @ConversationUK 🎤☘️
The media’s role on raising awareness on the environment is critical.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#Media
The media’s role on raising awareness on the environment is critical.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#Media
Why climate is an everyday story – but media coverage still spikes around special environment days and UN summits
International media reporting of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations is sporadic.
theconversation.com
June 4, 2025 at 5:23 PM
“If even one story can help save a lake, river or wetland from drying up, that’s a pretty powerful effect,” I wrote for @ConversationUK 🎤☘️
The media’s role on raising awareness on the environment is critical.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#Media
The media’s role on raising awareness on the environment is critical.
#WorldEnvironmentDay
#Media
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
Drought, sand storms and evacuations: how Iran’s climate crisis gets ignored
theconversation.com/drought-sand...
theconversation.com/drought-sand...
Drought, sand storms and evacuations: how Iran’s climate crisis gets ignored
Tehran is facing its worst water shortages for ten years, but there is little reporting on it outside Iran.
theconversation.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Drought, sand storms and evacuations: how Iran’s climate crisis gets ignored
theconversation.com/drought-sand...
theconversation.com/drought-sand...
Excuse my ignorance but can't Salford council just revise the bins rule to allow an extra charged-for bin for homes with more than (say) 8 occupants? Wouldn't that be sensible anywhere - a rare example of administrative good sense?
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Councillor’s radical plan for Salford’s bin problem sparks claims of ‘Jewish council taking over’
Andrew Walters has proposed a new town council in Broughton Park to meet the unique needs of the growing Orthodox and Haredi populations
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Excuse my ignorance but can't Salford council just revise the bins rule to allow an extra charged-for bin for homes with more than (say) 8 occupants? Wouldn't that be sensible anywhere - a rare example of administrative good sense?
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
In our current context of a drying climate with mainly wetter winters and much dryer summers, taxing the installation of domestic water storage (20% VAT in the UK) looks seriously counterproductive.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
England facing drastic measures due to extreme drought next year
Government and water companies are devising emergency plans for worst water shortage in decades
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:31 AM
In our current context of a drying climate with mainly wetter winters and much dryer summers, taxing the installation of domestic water storage (20% VAT in the UK) looks seriously counterproductive.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
What if the path to ending fossil fuels looked like the fight to end slavery?
share.google/nnE0JeXeZH2l...
share.google/nnE0JeXeZH2l...
What if the path to ending fossil fuels looked like the fight to end slavery?
Paying off slave owners was an imperfect compromise. But it worked.
share.google
November 8, 2025 at 5:49 AM
What if the path to ending fossil fuels looked like the fight to end slavery?
share.google/nnE0JeXeZH2l...
share.google/nnE0JeXeZH2l...
What if the path to ending fossil fuels looked like the fight to end slavery?
share.google/nnE0JeXeZH2l...
share.google/nnE0JeXeZH2l...
What if the path to ending fossil fuels looked like the fight to end slavery?
Paying off slave owners was an imperfect compromise. But it worked.
share.google
November 8, 2025 at 5:49 AM
What if the path to ending fossil fuels looked like the fight to end slavery?
share.google/nnE0JeXeZH2l...
share.google/nnE0JeXeZH2l...
Key insight for understanding and modelling water transport in soils and groundwater systems: not just diffusion but flow via fast & slow pathways. Much in common with glacier melt models I guess!
"Young water recharges aquifers while old water feeds crops, study finds" share.google/Np8eBhF58gCv...
"Young water recharges aquifers while old water feeds crops, study finds" share.google/Np8eBhF58gCv...
Young water recharges aquifers while old water feeds crops, study finds
Groundwater replenishing beneath temperate farmland fields may come from very recent rainfall, merely one to two weeks old, whereas the water actually taken up by crops is drawn from much older source...
share.google
November 4, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Key insight for understanding and modelling water transport in soils and groundwater systems: not just diffusion but flow via fast & slow pathways. Much in common with glacier melt models I guess!
"Young water recharges aquifers while old water feeds crops, study finds" share.google/Np8eBhF58gCv...
"Young water recharges aquifers while old water feeds crops, study finds" share.google/Np8eBhF58gCv...
Dutch voters have been seduced by positivity – liberals elsewhere, take note
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Dutch voters have been seduced by positivity – liberals elsewhere, take note | Simon van Teutem
By selling hope alongside progressive patriotism, the centrist D66 party widened its appeal and beat the far right, says Dutch journalist Simon van Teutem
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Dutch voters have been seduced by positivity – liberals elsewhere, take note
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
Interesting article on the indigenous "Three Sisters" veg growing method. We tried it on squash, corn & beans this summer and found clear signs of success. We partly overlapped the corn & squash plants, with part of each squash growing outside the corn planted area. /1
share.google/XHfX2LJSrc0E...
share.google/XHfX2LJSrc0E...
What is the ‘three sisters’ growing method and does it work?
This ancient companion planting technique may help fruit and vegetable growers who are short of space.
share.google
November 2, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Interesting article on the indigenous "Three Sisters" veg growing method. We tried it on squash, corn & beans this summer and found clear signs of success. We partly overlapped the corn & squash plants, with part of each squash growing outside the corn planted area. /1
share.google/XHfX2LJSrc0E...
share.google/XHfX2LJSrc0E...
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
In the open area the squashes produced only male flowers all summer, but under the sweetcorn flowers were of both sexes and so all the squash fruits formed in the shade. Granted it was a hot dry summer, so more similar to Mexico than usual, but we'll repeat next year with more corn shade than ever.
November 2, 2025 at 3:07 PM
In the open area the squashes produced only male flowers all summer, but under the sweetcorn flowers were of both sexes and so all the squash fruits formed in the shade. Granted it was a hot dry summer, so more similar to Mexico than usual, but we'll repeat next year with more corn shade than ever.
Interesting article on the indigenous "Three Sisters" veg growing method. We tried it on squash, corn & beans this summer and found clear signs of success. We partly overlapped the corn & squash plants, with part of each squash growing outside the corn planted area. /1
share.google/XHfX2LJSrc0E...
share.google/XHfX2LJSrc0E...
What is the ‘three sisters’ growing method and does it work?
This ancient companion planting technique may help fruit and vegetable growers who are short of space.
share.google
November 2, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Interesting article on the indigenous "Three Sisters" veg growing method. We tried it on squash, corn & beans this summer and found clear signs of success. We partly overlapped the corn & squash plants, with part of each squash growing outside the corn planted area. /1
share.google/XHfX2LJSrc0E...
share.google/XHfX2LJSrc0E...
As a non religious person with a passion for nature and our place in it, I find this story hard to take but it has significant lessons for us all. How can we integrate scientific rationality with that spiritual sense of connection, for those who don't feel it?
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Britain one of least ‘nature-connected’ nations in world – with Nepal the most
Others languishing near bottom of 61-country study include Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan and Spain
www.theguardian.com
November 1, 2025 at 9:34 AM
As a non religious person with a passion for nature and our place in it, I find this story hard to take but it has significant lessons for us all. How can we integrate scientific rationality with that spiritual sense of connection, for those who don't feel it?
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Remember the Great Storm that destroyed 15 million trees in the Uk? A storm of that rare intensity is more probable now that Atlantic waters have been warmed by ongoing climate change.
October 29, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Remember the Great Storm that destroyed 15 million trees in the Uk? A storm of that rare intensity is more probable now that Atlantic waters have been warmed by ongoing climate change.
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
Sharing some fire rhythms for my first post. 36 years of AVHRR burnt area data. A regular alternating rhythm between the northern and southern tropics, and an increasingly prominent 'third-beat' in equatorial Indonesia.
🔥🛰️ #fireseason #wildfire #EO
🔥🛰️ #fireseason #wildfire #EO
October 28, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Sharing some fire rhythms for my first post. 36 years of AVHRR burnt area data. A regular alternating rhythm between the northern and southern tropics, and an increasingly prominent 'third-beat' in equatorial Indonesia.
🔥🛰️ #fireseason #wildfire #EO
🔥🛰️ #fireseason #wildfire #EO
Call me a repulsive old realist, but these people are not meeting the moment. Marina Hyde, The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
It's the noblest battle of our new free-speech age: Sarah Pochin's anti-woke couch crusade | Marina Hyde
The Reform MP was driven ‘mad’ by the number of black and Asian people on the telly. What totally settled non-issue will her party tackle next, asks Guardian columnist Marina Hyde
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Call me a repulsive old realist, but these people are not meeting the moment. Marina Hyde, The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Renewable energy investment should come from the 'critical infrastructure' component of imcreased defence budgets, say retired European military leaders
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Renewable energy investment should come from defence budgets, say retired military leaders
Former European officers say spending on low-carbon power would make nations more resilient to threats from potential aggressors
www.theguardian.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Renewable energy investment should come from the 'critical infrastructure' component of imcreased defence budgets, say retired European military leaders
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Are profits today REALLY worth the risk of passing a civilisational collapse-level tipping point within a decade or two? The full impacts may take decades to centuries, but will social stability be possible in the face of oncoming collapse? Let's not go there!
share.google/c7MKVknKhXeD...
share.google/c7MKVknKhXeD...
Shutdown of northern Atlantic overturning after 2100 following deep mixing collapse in CMIP6 projections - IOPscience
Shutdown of northern Atlantic overturning after 2100 following deep mixing collapse in CMIP6 projections, Drijfhout, Sybren, Angevaare, Joran R, Mecking, Jennifer, van Westen, René M, Rahmstorf, Stefa...
share.google
October 27, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Are profits today REALLY worth the risk of passing a civilisational collapse-level tipping point within a decade or two? The full impacts may take decades to centuries, but will social stability be possible in the face of oncoming collapse? Let's not go there!
share.google/c7MKVknKhXeD...
share.google/c7MKVknKhXeD...
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
Avec le cyclone #Melissa, la Jamaïque s’apprête à affronter l’une des pires catastrophes climatiques de son histoire. Les autorités emploient déjà les mots « catastrophique », « potentiellement mortel ». Pourquoi ?
1/7
1/7
October 26, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Avec le cyclone #Melissa, la Jamaïque s’apprête à affronter l’une des pires catastrophes climatiques de son histoire. Les autorités emploient déjà les mots « catastrophique », « potentiellement mortel ». Pourquoi ?
1/7
1/7
I'd like to see a merit-based MFF in which the definition of 'merit' incorporates a full social and environmental cost/benefit analysis. This should give poorer European nations fairer access to funding support.
secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...
secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...
🔴 Stand with Jewish voices for justice in Palestine
Members of the jewish community from across the globe are calling for sanctions on Israel. Join them here!
secure.avaaz.org
October 23, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I'd like to see a merit-based MFF in which the definition of 'merit' incorporates a full social and environmental cost/benefit analysis. This should give poorer European nations fairer access to funding support.
secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...
secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...