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ClimateBook

@climatebook.bsky.social

980 followers 170 following 1.8K posts

This is the BlueSky feed of Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, Professor of Planetary Physics at the University of Oxford. Tune in for news about Principles of Planetary Climate, and diverse science and political commentary. (Also folk music news)

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ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 1h

To say we are a force of geologic proportions is a vast understatement.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 1h

magnitude that the natural deep carbon cycle is equipped to deal with. It is pretty much what has kept the Earth habitable for billions of years, with a few major breakdowns during Snowball events of the distant past. In comparison, fossil fuel burning is putting out around 40 times as much CO2.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 1h

This helps put the magnitude of the human impact on the carbon cycle in perspective, and the news isn't good. That roughly billion tonnes of CO2 sink by natural silicate weathering is roughly what compensates volcanic outgassing, and it is sinks and sources of this

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 11h

Electric would be great for narrowboats on the UK canals, too. Onboard solar panels won't charge up fast enough, so there would need to be charging points by moorings or marinas. On the canal, there are practically none. (The onboard solar panels are mostly for domestic electricity needs)

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 11h

I prefer to paddle or row myself, but my neighbors have a small electric cruiser that they use on the Thames. It's not fast (but you can't go fast on the Thames anyway) but very quiet and doesn't make noxious smells. The main limitation is sparse availability of charging on the river.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 11h

Signing the compact would be even worse than selling your birthright for a mess of pottage. At least, pottage would be something you could eat.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 11h

Karpalo (cranberries) are OK, but me, I prefer puolukka. Sounds like a nice trip, though. It wasn't clear to me -- were these growing wild or are they cultivated? The ditching suggests cultivation.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 11h

... but I have to keep faith that democracy, compassion and basic human decency are as sturdy and mutable, and will always force their way through the concrete authoritarians try to pour over it.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 11h

God bless the grass
That grows through the crack
They roll the concrete over it
to try and keep it back.
The concrete gets tired
of what it has to do,
It breaks and it buckles
and the grass grows thru,
And God bless the grass.

Yeah I know invasive species are a problem, ...

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 13h

I'll still be at Oxford half time.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 14h

MIT just rejected the compact decisively, so you can cut off that part of the snake. It will live.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 14h

Too Crowded At L2

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 14h

Here is the full text of Kornbluth's response, as sent out to the MIT community:

orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 14h

Breaking: MIT president Sally Kornbluth decisively rejects Trump's coercive "compact" for higher education. Here is an excerpt from her letter, following on a description of the principles by which MIT has already abided. I'm proud to be re-joining their faculty in 2026.

Sally Kornbluth's response to Trump "compact" for higher education. (Excerpt)

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 14h

Their life is so short, but the experience, and give such joy while they are around. And do no harm while they are at it. I wish more of humanity could do as well with the time they are alotted on Earth.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 22h

was the one who boasted of taking a "chain saw" to government programmes. And look where that led. So, who will bail out the U.S. when we go the same way as Argentina?

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 22h

We can give $20 billion to Argentina to bail it out from the ravages wrought by its governments Trump-like policies but we fed USAid to the wood chipper, keeping it from saving the lives of countless African babies, among many other critical functions provided. Argentina's Milei , before Elon Musk,

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 1d

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 22h

(according to site conditions) on all the land currently used for biofuels, we could easily supply all the world's energy needs. Richard appeared to be talking about energy in total, not just electricity; I haven't yet re-done the calculation myself, but Richard is usually careful and reliable.

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 22h

This makes a lot of sense, because photosynthesis is far less efficient than photovoltaics, even before you factor in the additional overhead in producing biofuel from biomass. At the Comer Climate Conference, Richard Alley offered up the sound bite that if we just put photovoltaics or wind ...

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

Psst: Stop burning stuff on Earth for energy. Let the burning fireball in the sky be your energy source.

T&E @transportenvironment.org · 4d

NEW: Biofuels globally emit more than the fossil fuels they replace, our latest study shows.

The first-of-a-kind study looks at global biofuels production today and the potential impacts of government biofuel targets.
🧵⤵️

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 3d

It's preposterous and tragic that there is no governance that can control this kind of deployment.

Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that Reflect Orbital's fucking stupid giant mirror satellite, with absolutely NOTHING useful to offer, which will cause countless safety issues, ecological disasters, and destroy the night sky, is going to launch.

A bunch of astronomers and I have sent out […]

Original post on mastodon.social

mastodon.social

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 6d

(I say perovskite-structure, because these things are not made of the same mineral that geologists call "perovskite," though they do have a related structure.)

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 6d

Tip of the hat to Oxford Physics, which has been in the forefront of developing perovskite-structure photovoltaics. Another reminder that cutting edge transformative technology comes from curiosity-driven basic research, not from short-term programmatic funding of research on yesterday's tech.

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 7d

Exciting developments in solar.

Just read this fascinating FT article on perovskite solar panels – the next-gen innovation that's lighter, more flexible, and up to 20% more efficient than traditional silicon ones.

Imagine panels turning everyday surfaces into power generators

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 6d

No, I'm not the one panicking you're the one! (Now where can I put that 200GB of exomol line lists I suddenly find I need???)

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 6d

ocean than K2-18b, in fact probably less likely. A problem with the conventionally defined HZ is that it's too often forgotten that this applies only to a particular form of Earthlike habitability maintainence, which may not even apply to all rocky planets, and certainly not to subNeptunes

ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 6d

through suppression of convection, as shown by work in my group led by then-student Hamish Innes and confirmed by further calculations. This newly characterized planet is an interesting one, in that it's undoubtedly on the cooler end of subNeptunes, but is no more likely to have a habitable