Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bob Digby @bobdigby.bsky.social · 20h

Calling all A level Geography teachers! Remember the Hazards conferences where experts would present up-to-date lectures on a wide range of hazards topics? They’re back, now organised by kcmconferences.co.uk! Includes locations in London, Manchester and Nottingham. Other subjects available!

KCM Events and Conferences | Enthuse, Empower and Engage students

Our panel of expert speakers will cover the very latest developments in their ever-changing fields, deepening students’ knowledge

kcmconferences.co.uk

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Bob Digby @bobdigby.bsky.social · 25d

You really do make the greatest gingerbread, Tanya! Thank you xx

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Bob Digby @bobdigby.bsky.social · 26d

3WM wood burner alight! #donttellmatt

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Bob Digby @bobdigby.bsky.social · Jun 28

Love love love The 1975 at #Glastonbury

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · May 18

@bobdigby.bsky.social an interesting comment here….

Quite Good, Thank You @qgty.bsky.social · May 18

The Russian demo pyramid, combined with terrible life expectancy and the killing of their youth, is going to end the country in the next decade. Just not enough people to maintain the state

Really can't see the way forward for them

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · May 28

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Sam Burgess @oceanterra.org · May 28

Extraordinary video of the collapse of Birch Glacier - incredible early warnings led to evacuation ahead of time
❄️⚒️🧪🌡️ #ClimateCrisis

Melaine Le Roy @subfossilguy.bsky.social · May 28

INCREDIBLE !!

Here we are... 😱😱😱

After days of overloading and cracks propagating, Birch Glacier collapsed today at 3.24 pm over Blatten and the dammed Lonza river...

Devastating! 😭

www.letemps.ch/suisse/valai...

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Bob Digby @bobdigby.bsky.social · Apr 28

A brilliant read

Steve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · Apr 28

NEW: Who are the voters Labour risks losing to Reform?

How might Lab unite them with the rest of its election winning coalition? How might Reform win them over?

Some big new research out today with @persuasionuk.bsky.social as featured by @greenmirandahere.bsky.social in today's FT 🧵👇

Getting to know 'Reform curious Labour voters'

exploring the attitudes, demography and values of Reform curious Labour voters and the coalitional dilemmas they lose

persuasionuk.org

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Reposted by Bob Digby

Sarah Boon @snowhydro.bsky.social · Mar 30

Well this is bad news...

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Mar 29

💧📉 The water cycle is changing – for good

New research shows a permanent global decline in terrestrial water storage, especially soil moisture.

Climate change is not just altering weather – it is rewiring Earth’s hydrological systems.

🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🧪 #WaterCrisis #SciComm

Abrupt sea level rise and Earth’s gradual pole shift reveal permanent hydrological regime changes in the 21st century

Rising atmospheric and ocean temperatures have caused substantial changes in terrestrial water circulation and land surface water fluxes, such as precipitation and evapotranspiration, potentially lead...

www.science.org

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Mar 9

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · Mar 9

The Niger is the longest river in Western Africa and attracts big settlements. This gorgeous map shows the population density along the flow of the river.

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Reposted by Bob Digby

mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Mar 19

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Carbon Brief @carbonbrief.org · Mar 12

NEW – Analysis: UK emissions fall 3.6% in 2024 as coal use drops to lowest since 1666 | @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org @vernerviisas.carbonbrief.org

Read here: buff.ly/MZcCeds

UK emissions fell 3.6% in 2024 to lowest level since 1872: UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions, MtCO2e, 1850-2024. Note the impact of general strikes in 1921 and 1926; the miner’s strike of 1984 had a smaller impact. Source: Jones et al. (2023) and Carbon Brief analysis of figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

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Bob Digby @bobdigby.bsky.social · Mar 7

Perfect!! Earlier if you like but 11’s fine x

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Bob Digby @bobdigby.bsky.social · Mar 7

Good luck at dentist! How about coffee here next Wed morning?

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Bob Digby @bobdigby.bsky.social · Mar 7

Your gingerbread starts at 10/10!

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Reposted by Bob Digby

mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Feb 28

@bobdigby.bsky.social

50% of The UK's Population Live Inside This Circle

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Reposted by Bob Digby

mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Feb 25

@bobdigby.bsky.social
This is interesting in many ways…..

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Feb 20

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Prof. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · Feb 20

The atmosphere on a hotter planet can hold more water. Each 1°C increase in surface temperature increases the capacity to hold water vapor by about 7%.

1.5°C anomaly ≈ 11% more water vapor.

This graph shows the 12-month running average for the "total column precipitable water." You can see it!

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Feb 4

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · Feb 4

An acre of land can power a car to go 13,000 miles per year using biofuel (corn ethanol), or 900,000 miles per year using solar.

Annual miles traveled from energy generated on an acre of land

Solar 899,922
Corn 13,458

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Reposted by Bob Digby

mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Feb 5

@bobdigby.bsky.social

James Dinneen @jamesdinneen.bsky.social · Feb 5

Indoor cannabis cultivation in the US uses more energy than:
~ Crypto
~ 1/3 of data centers
~ All outdoor agriculture combined 😶

I wrote about a striking new assessment of energy/emissions from indoor cannabis grows, which have ~tripled~ since 2012. 🧪

Indoor cannabis farms in US use more energy than all other agriculture

Two-thirds of US cannabis is grown indoors, requiring lights and temperature control that produce a vast amounts of emissions

www.newscientist.com

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Jan 22

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Leon Simons @leonsimons.bsky.social · Jan 21

Global warming has accelerated, a lot!

The first 19 days of 2025 were on average +1.74°C above pre-industrial.

That's about 0.1°C warmer than the same period last year. Then we had an El Niño, now a La Niña.

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Jan 26

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · Jan 26

Industrial energy use in Europe reduced by 21% since 2000.

Most of this is because of energy efficiency: Without it industry energy consumption would be 37% higher today compared to 2000.

It's not because of deindustrialisation: Industrial activity in 2023 was much higher than in 2000.

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Jan 28

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · Jan 28

Which power generation technologies are the least harmful to the environment & society?

It's wind, solar and geothermal.

Great meta-study provides an overview of negative externalities associated with electricity supply.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Jan 17

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Nick Hedley @nickhedley.bsky.social · Jan 16

Electricity mix across all OECD countries in October 2024:

37% renewables
17% nuclear
-> 54% "clean"

Fossil fuels made up the other 46%, with coal output down 6% from a year before.

- IEA data

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Jan 17

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Jan 17

Air pollution has dropped significantly in #Paris in the last 15 years. Mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social’s leadership has traded car space for green space, safe bike space, kid space.. and traded pollution for people.

Good trade.

Change in Paris air quality between 2007 and 2023 using visuals

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mikegeolhorton.bsky.social @mikegeolhorton.bsky.social · Jan 3

@bobdigby.bsky.social

Dave Petley @davepetley.bsky.social · Jan 3

This is a map of all of the fatal landslides, bar those triggered by earthquakes, that I recorded in 2024.

A map showing the fatal landslides in 2024. There are concentrations in Asia, Central America, South America and central Africa.

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Simon Mayo @simonmayo.bsky.social · Jan 8

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