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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 5h

A sensible response to the climate/habitat destruction/environment crises by governments would seem to me to include a big effort on creative ways to help people realise that their lives can be more fulfilling without overconsumption.

Reposted by Matt Berkley

Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · Mar 8

Perhaps there are concepts which can usefully replace the idea of "climate" anyway, for some purposes.

To a large extent people are concerned about more-chaotic weather.

People may see the word "weather" and think of the situation and risks as less stable and predictable than "climate".

Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · Mar 8

Let's talk of change to climates, plural.

It's more accurate. The Earth has many climates.

It may help people understand that the processes are complex, varied, and hard to understand or predict.

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · Feb 11

Perhaps it's eaier to understand climate risks through the idea of "weather disruption".

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · Feb 11

As with climate disturbance, uncertainty provides a good argument to take more action, not less.

Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · Feb 4

Our new paper led by @manusaunders.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... takes stock of the evidence-base for global insect declines 🦋🐝🪳🪰🦗 and how uncertainty is being leveraged by science denialists to undermine efforts to reverse biodiversity loss 🌍🧪.

Figure from a paper - legend: Figure 2. Measuring changes in insect biodiversity can be achieved by focusing on drivers that directly or indirectly impact insect biodiversity metrics and trends (left). Where data on insect populations specifically are unavailable, data from other species and ecological processes can provide inferential support for changes in insect biodiversity (right).

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 8h

Shouldn't there be a system where all academic papers include one or more links to web pages for post-publication review comments, to reduce the rewards from inadequate statistical and other methods?

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 10h

Let's think of other ways to conceptualise this.

"Unlimited irresponsibility"
"Unlimited damage potential"
"Unlimited recklessness"

"Limited liability" concerns the welfare of the offender, rather than others.

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 8h

Shouldn't there be a system where all academic papers include one or more links to web pages for post-publication review comments, to reduce the rewards from inadequate statistical and other methods?

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Reposted by Matt Berkley

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 10h

It's the 'Scientists Responsibility Summit' today.

Here's a live thread with some take aways from each talk... 🧵

Scientist Rebellion Germany @scientistrebger.bsky.social · 1d

Tomorrow: Scientists Responsibility Summit!

What is the appropriate stance of scientists in the polycrisis? Let's develop practical paths for a transformative role of academia.

🏛️Attend in-person at HU Berlin: blogs.fu-berlin.de/scientistsre...
💻 Streaming (Webex): tinyurl.com/nh5kpt4e

Scientists Responsibility Summit
Berlin
11. October 2025 9:00-18:00
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Dorotheenstr. 24, 10117 Berlin
https://blogs.fu-berlin.de/scientistsresponsibilitysummit/

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 10h

"Freedom to harm"

Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 10h

Let's think of other ways to conceptualise this.

"Unlimited irresponsibility"
"Unlimited damage potential"
"Unlimited recklessness"

"Limited liability" concerns the welfare of the offender, rather than others.

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Reposted by Matt Berkley

JazzReads📚 @jazzreads.bsky.social · 13d

So exhausting..

210 3.9K 9.8K

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · Feb 25

Agreed. Incentivising the wrong behaviour is already a risk if people look at, for example, Retraction Watch without also looking at other sources for possible problems in unretracted work (eg PubPeer) or seeing retractions in a proper context of what's known about common research defects.

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UCL News @uclnews.bsky.social · Jan 9

Species living in the same places tend to have similar heat tolerances, so when certain warming thresholds are passed, catastrophic losses of biodiversity may be likely, writes Dr @josephwilliamson.bsky.social @uclcber.bsky.social in @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/shared-heat-...

Species reach their heat limits at similar temperatures, leaving ecosystems at risk of sudden climate-driven collapse

Plants and animals that live in the same community share the same heat tolerance – new study.

theconversation.com

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 29d

"Which climate scientists think that what you are

1) doing, and

2) telling the public, and

3) suggesting the public do,

are adequate?"

is perhaps a useful type of question to governments.

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 2d

Politician:

Voters won't let me do what I think is right/science says on animal welfare/climate/environment/refugees.

Journalist can ask:

Are you not experienced in persuasion?

Are you not paid to be a leader?

Are you giving voters the relevant facts?

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 3d

Which national governments have done best on

a) informing people about the climate/habitat destruction/planetary boundary crises, and

b) suggesting/nudging appropriate action,

which other countries can learn from, in your opinion?

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · Feb 11

Precise or definite-sounding climate predictions intended to alert people, obscuring the uncertainty, may paradoxically reassure people into doing less because they do not understand the real inadequacy of science to predict complex systems.

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · Feb 11

Let's take a little time to consider what Trump and his allies may be doing behind the scenes, in the form for instance of instructions to agencies on surveillance.

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 4d

When someone gives you statistics, consider the words.

Andrew Mercer @awmercer.bsky.social · 4d

Terrific piece from @gelliottmorris.com this morning.

Whenever you ask if something “might” happen or “may” be necessary, it’s very easy for respondents to think of scenarios where the answer is yes, no matter how unlikely.

Why most polls overstate support for political violence

Misperceptions about the popularity of violence increase public support for it — but you can help change that.

www.gelliottmorris.com

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 1d

It would never be sensible to give a peace prize to someone where there is reasonable suspicion that:

a) the relevant behaviour has been significantly due to the desire to get one,

and

b) there is significant risk that afterwards they would feel freer to engage in unjustified violence.

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 23h

The six legal deposit libraries in the UK and Ireland may be of interest - might you be inspired by a seaside town in Wales with a human population around 15,000 - or Dublin, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Oxford, London?

www.library.wales/about-nlw/ab...

www.nls.uk/about-us/who...

About NLW - National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales is located in Aberystwyth. We are a legal deposit Library, and specialise in collections relating to Wales and the Celtic nations

www.library.wales

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Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 1d

On #WorldMentalHealthDay, all governments should commit to moving away from coercive mental healthcare practices.

Human Rights Watch has documented coercive mental healthcare practices, including shackling people with mental health conditions, in more than 60 countries across the world.

On Mental Health Day, End Coercion, Embrace Dignity

Hauwa, a 25-year-old woman, was lying on the floor, shackled, and barely alive when Human Rights Watch found her in November 2024 in a state-run institution in Kano, Nigeria. She was deaf and had a me...

www.hrw.org

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · Jan 20

A proposal for

Animal welfare including human health
Climate
Environment
Biodiversity
Economy

Governments provide free nutritional supplements (eg B12, DHA, EPA) and/or mandate fortification of foods

- to improve health and reduce cravings when people reduce/eliminate animal products from diet.

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 1d

It would never be sensible to give a peace prize to someone where there is reasonable suspicion that:

a) the relevant behaviour has been significantly due to the desire to get one,

and

b) there is significant risk that afterwards they would feel freer to engage in unjustified violence.

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Matt Berkley @mattberkley.bsky.social · 2d

Is there anything of interest in the parallel grooves/cracks?

For scale, roughly what is the distance between them?

Thank you.

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