“God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created, for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters. What will be our answer?” Pope Leo has given his first speech on the climate. He also “noted that some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming.”
Meanwhile, the US Energy Department sent an email instructing staff to avoid “terminology that you know to be misaligned with the Administration’s perspectives and priorities”, with a list of banned words that includes climate change, green, carbon and sustainability.
Britain has a target to run on 100% clean energy by 2030, and the grid continues to set new records on the way to that. So far clean energy supply has exceeded demand for 87 hours this year.
Hannah Ritchie points out some positive news that hasn’t made any headlines: record breaking harvests are expected in most parts of the world this year.
Some book news: my online bookshop, Earthbound Books, now has ebooks. I’ve been waiting for this for a while. Fill your eboots.
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Book review: Beyond Techno-Feudalism, by Cédric Durant
Cédric Durant is a French economist with a special interest in digital capitalism. He was invited to present a series of lectures for the thinktank La Boétie Institute, and those have been expanded into this short book, Beyond Techno-Feudalism: The Path to Cyber-Ecosocialism. Before we get to any beyonds, a word on ‘techno feudalism’. You…
Would you live in a wind turbine?
I recently read Aaron Betsky’s book on reuse in architecture, and enjoyed pursuing the idea across the internet. One project that caught my eye isn’t reusing a building per se, but reusing decommissioned wind turbines. Swedish energy giant Vattenfall is a major installer of wind power, and it has been moving towards a circular economy…
Book review: Recomposed, by Kyle Devine
Kyle Devine is a professor of environmental studies with a particular interest in the music industry. He investigated the ecological impact of the music industry in a previous book, Decomposed. It didn’t cover the solutions, and that has become a follow-up. As the opening sentence spells out, “this book is about people in music who…
Am looking at data for Virginia’s crops. We had, between 2023 and 2024, 40 and 47% declines for corn and winter wheat yields, respectively. 12% decrease for tobacco. Increases for soybean yields by 22% and cotton, too. Need references for the past 60 months in order to see a pattern.