Dr Keith Walker @SteelFolk@qoto.org
Steel industry metallurgical specialist.
Joined Nov 2022
Dr Keith Walker
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Greta Thunberg pulls out of Edinburgh Book Festival over 'greenwashing'
Climate activist Greta Thunberg has pulled out of a much-anticipated event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She cited a sponsor's "heavy" investments in fossil fuel and accusing them of "greenwashing".
"As a climate activist I cannot attend an event which receives sponsorship from Baillie Gifford, who invest heavily in the fossil fuel industry", said the 20-year-old Swedish activist in a statement on the festival website.
Thunberg was due to speak at the event entitled "It's Not Too Late To Change The World" on August 13.
#climate #climatechange #climatecrisis
https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/08/04/greta-thunberg-pulls-out-of-edinburgh-book-festival-over-greenwashing
@freemo I have found it tough to decide on the wages point. There have been some good debates between good politicians about it in the past, but there are few of them now of the same calibre, I'm afraid.
@freemo In the UK, Unions have much wider role than that. They may do elsewhere, I don't know. There is a long history with matters such as safety, welfare and discrimination that they played a big role in, most of it now accepted by most people as reasonable and normal. I think such things need to be treated as a different from your point.
@sciencebase I'd rather have the moths anyway. Trees are big enough.
@sciencebase I've got evidence if it on my apple an cherry trees but I've not seen it. Never known it affect fruiting though - seems harmless.
@sciencebase Always use free cutting brass for your keys. They are much easier to bust off in the lock, but cheaper to make.
Dr Keith Walker
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Billionaires and oil barons can build up tolerance to guillotines. Here’s how.
Dr Keith Walker
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There's been quite a bit of speculation in my timeline & elsewhere about #KierStarmer's pre-election tactic of trying to give the right-wing #media as little policy profile as possible to attack...
Interestingly, @davidallengreen thinks this reflects a certain sort of #litigation mindset.... if DAG is right (& it certainly seems plausible), we're left with the Q. how confident are we that post-election Starmer will have a big reveal of his 'real' political approach?
https://davidallengreen.com/2023/07/sir-keir-starmer-and-the-litigation-turn-of-mind/
Dr Keith Walker
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You like taking a hot bath?
That would typically have a temperature of around 38 °C.
The ocean in the Florida Keys has reached a shocking 38.4 °C.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/25/florida-ocean-temperatures-hot-tub-extreme-weather
Dr Keith Walker
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Eunice Foote, who was the first to measure the solar heating of CO2 already in the 1850s noted: “An atmosphere of that gas would give to our Earth a high temperature“.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a2614102278e77e59a04f26/t/5aa1c3cf419202b500c3b388/1520550865302/foote_circumstances-affecting-heat-suns-rays_1856.pdf
It took scientists still a bit, until IPCC AR4, to prove that #climatewarming is unequivocal and leading to increased frequencies and intensities of extreme events.
Dr Keith Walker
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🏳️🌈🖖🏽
Dr Keith Walker
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The evidence that cars don’t work as primary mass transport in cities is everywhere: traffic jams, air pollution, accident rates, the shocking fraction of city space taken up by parking spaces, safety barriers/bollards etc. This 100 year experiment should be declared over, and we should put proper effort into the systems that HAVE been shown to work and scale: walking, cycling, e-cargo bikes, cheap/accessible/reliable public transport. This “argument” about LTNs is just lazy delay. #LTN #cities
Dr Keith Walker
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A tragedy repeated daily on the edge of the Sahara where migrants are pushed back - too heartbreakingly awful hence cw
‘God willing, we will meet again in Libya.’ A migrant family’s tale shows chaos at Tunisian border
Dr Keith Walker
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If you're already tired of the drumbeat of news about relentless record heat, think how tired climate scientists are about warning about this for decades.
Dr Keith Walker
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Whenever I need cheering up about the climate, things like this really help:
"During the 2010s the levelised cost (that is the average lifetime cost of equipment, per megawatt hour of electricity generated) of solar, offshore wind and onshore wind fell by 87%, 62% and 56%, respectively"
And that dramatic fall in costs isn't stopping.
Even the most short-term thinkers must be convinced by that!
(Quote from this paywalled Economist article: https://www.economist.com/schools-brief/2020/05/23/the-worlds-energy-system-must-be-transformed-completely )
Dr Keith Walker
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Did you know that in the US, labor unions began forming locally in the mid-19th century in response to the social and economic impact of the Industrial Revolution?
With unions at the forefront of everyone’s minds right now, it’s important to understand the history of unions and why we’re seeing such a strong (and necessary) resurgence: https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/usa-labor-unions-worker-rights
Dr Keith Walker
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Scientists - accepting the status quo IS a political position. i.e., being "neutral" in the face of climate and ecological emergency is a stronger, more fucked up political position than the one I'm taking.
H/t to @RebeccaSolnit for the conversation that fomented this rage tweet.
@Drosmel Is it an Orchid?
Steel industry metallurgical specialist.
Joined Nov 2022
