Dr Keith Walker @SteelFolk@qoto.org

The crunch comes when Labour publish the GE manifesto. Whatever it says IS what they will try to do, unforeseen circumstances aside. They have to. If a party wins, it is deemed to be because people liked what you pledged in that document. It is what has got you elected. The will of the people, you might say.
That's when hoping for all this Tory-lite rhetoric to have been a cunning disguise may have to end.

Greta Thunberg: „After a summer full of extreme weather and shattered records, the world is still gearing up towards climate catastrophe. We need climate activists now more than ever. On Sept 15th we’ll once again strike for climate justice, to #EndFossilFuels.“
More info at: ➡️ http://fridaysforfuture.org
#KlimaStreik #FFF #FridaysForFuture

Hottest sea surface temperatures on record this year. By far.
Brutally hot August land surface temperatures.

https://climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-temperature-august-2023

Ørsted, world OSW leader, needs a lrg jump in guaranteed prices to $150-200 per MWh or it will abandon its immense wind farms off the US East Coast.

Yet Mass, NJ, & NY just closed excellent #nuclear plants making just as much #energy, but costing $35-55 per MWh. Estimates of costs of energy produced by extended operations of Diablo Canyon Power Plant are ~4c/kwh, or $40/MWh.

Need I say more?

#climatechange #science

Climate Change Is Driving Ever-Higher Food Prices

"The standout example of how extreme weather can drive up food prices is olive oil. The Mediterranean staple has more than doubled over the last 12 months to $8,000 a metric ton, a record high according to statistics tracked by the International Monetary Fund back to 1990. Extreme heat was the culprit as Spain, the world’s largest producer, was hard hit by drought."

#climatechange #climateimpacts

https://www.barrons.com/articles/food-prices-inflation-2023-17f99f5

When Thomas Mann learned in 1937 that the University of Bonn had voided his degree in compliance with the bestial regime, he wrote a letter to the Dean, from exile.

It still stands as a monument to dignity in the face of atrocity.

https://www.pro-europa.eu/europe/mann-thomas-god-help-our-darkened-and-desecrated-country/

Anyone else feels like we need to delete the label 'carbon-neutral' from any sustainability vocabulary because, well, it's an enormous, gigantic lie whose only purpose is to shield business-as-usual and to make individuals feel good without them having to engage in any meaningful substancial change?

#ClimateDiary #Greenwashing

Trumpism has all the trappings of a classic cult of personality: a charismatic figure at the center who is worshiped as a modern messiah by his followers; a leader who seemingly can do no wrong, even while engaged in patterns of criminal behavior to grift money from them; a master manipulator who controls the behavior, thoughts, information, and emotions of his flock.

So, how do we stop this cult from spreading further? https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trumpism-maga-cult-deprogram-democracy

Inaccessibility Cycle

‼️ With 400 scientists we've written a call to politics:
a) our climate policies are not "ambitious", as is commonly claimed
b) climate politics is mired in partisan manoeuvring & infighting
👉 We call for 3 things:
1) Limited pollution: a transparent commitment to a CO2 budget
2) Justice: no self-serving CO2 budget, it has to be internationally fair
3) Responsibility: exceeding it raises liabilities for losses & damage
👉 needs coalitions across society & party lines
https://info-de.scientists4future.org/keine-parteigrenzen-fur-die-klimapolitik

This Guardian podcast is worth a listen, esp in light of recent crumbling concrete revelations. MPs can't even get on with fixing the place they work in, when next falling stone chunk might hit one of them (though ofc it's far more likely to be some poor sod who does the catering or whatever). Some want the repairs done round them, despite the increased cost & timeline. No wonder they're letting schools crumble!

Rats, fires and floods: why Parliament is falling down https://www.podbean.com/ea/dir-cq4dc-1a83eef7

So let me get this straight. Mark Meadows testified that he got involved in the fake electors scheme because (checks notes) he would be afraid Trump would yell at him if he didn’t? That’s his defense? Trump is mean and I was scared of him?

For fans of the show, truly iconic.
https://www.comicsands.com/heather-morris-naya-rivera-strike-2664433384.html?utm_source=threads&utm_medium=infeed&utm_campaign=linkprogram

A win for reason & the Earth!

A California lawsuit brought by the anti-nuclear group Friends of the Earth, to prevent the extension of Diablo Canyon #nuclear power plant, has been roundly rejected 'w/o leave to amend'.

Next, we must make it legal again to build more safe nuclear power plants California. Otherwise we'll be using more #gas & possibly even #coal into the future.

https://tinyurl.com/3e69uu92

#climatechange #environment #science #energy

A couple more next generation Covid vaccines are heading into clinical trials. That's some of the news in my monthly update (No 10) @PLOS https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2023/08/25/more-next-generation-covid-vaccines-are-heading-into-clinical-trials-update-10/

Both those new vaxes are supported by national health research agencies - a mucosal vax by NIH in the US, & a pancoronavirus vax by INSERM in France.

Other news includes US Project NextGen's first $1b for vax development, & the first clinical trial results for a pancoronavirus vax are around the corner (from Canada).

#Covid #vaccine

Stochastic terrorism is "the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted." Donald Trump has been using social media to blast prosecutors, judges, and witnesses, and his followers have answered with calls for violence. If the ex-president is a stochastic terrorist, what should we do in response? https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/donald-trump-stochastic-terrorist-threats

Who would have thought 🙄

A study (https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU22/EGU22-2562.html) shows that women are more likely to win awards that are not named after men.

#UnconsciousBias #genderequality #academicchatter

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01506-4

@davidallengreen There is no way to compel a monster or contrarian to be the performatively cowed repentant that some crave. Having the guilty laugh in the faces of victims is the inevitable outcome.
Justice is not a personal service.

#CatsOfMastodon
#Cat41267

Banking the #unbanked: focusing on commercial banks misses an opportunity. #Banks won't provide financial incentives such as lottery schemes for the poor to use banks. But another sector could - and should.

My new Coppola Comment post (paywall/free trial)
https://coppolacomment.substack.com/p/banking-the-unbanked-focusing-on