Damien Irving
@drclimate.bsky.social
Climate scientist. Data science educator. Tasmanian. Interested in Green politics. https://damienirving.github.io/
Reposted by Damien Irving
How ludicrous for Labor to cut $5 billion in public services during a cost of living crisis. Every six months the government pays around $5b in Fuel Tax Credits to mining corporations to burn fossil fuels. If Labor is going to cut spending, cut handouts to fossil fuel barons.
November 25, 2025 at 11:45 PM
How ludicrous for Labor to cut $5 billion in public services during a cost of living crisis. Every six months the government pays around $5b in Fuel Tax Credits to mining corporations to burn fossil fuels. If Labor is going to cut spending, cut handouts to fossil fuel barons.
Reposted by Damien Irving
Millions wasted by Labor on outsourcing core govt work to consultants for rubbish results. The BoM website & Deloitte’s AI bungle are a joke. Where is value for taxpayer money? Instead Labor could invest in strengthening our public service or keeping CSIRO scientists employed.
November 25, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Millions wasted by Labor on outsourcing core govt work to consultants for rubbish results. The BoM website & Deloitte’s AI bungle are a joke. Where is value for taxpayer money? Instead Labor could invest in strengthening our public service or keeping CSIRO scientists employed.
Reposted by Damien Irving
Labor has backflipped on its 2022 election promise to rebuild the public sector with its intentions to slash 5% of spending off the public service. If Labor wants to tighten the public purse then rein in overspending on consultancy firms instead of cutting the public service.
November 25, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Labor has backflipped on its 2022 election promise to rebuild the public sector with its intentions to slash 5% of spending off the public service. If Labor wants to tighten the public purse then rein in overspending on consultancy firms instead of cutting the public service.
Reposted by Damien Irving
Minister Murray Watt asks Australians to believe we can better protect nature by facilitating faster exploitation with less regulation and less scrutiny.
Read Virginia Young’s full op-ed on The Point: thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...
Read Virginia Young’s full op-ed on The Point: thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...
November 25, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Minister Murray Watt asks Australians to believe we can better protect nature by facilitating faster exploitation with less regulation and less scrutiny.
Read Virginia Young’s full op-ed on The Point: thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...
Read Virginia Young’s full op-ed on The Point: thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...
Reposted by Damien Irving
"As Mumbai sees increased energy demand from new datacentres, particularly from Amazon, the filthiest neighbourhood in one of India’s largest cities must keep its major coal plants"
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘It’s hell for us here’: Mumbai families suffer as datacentres keep the city hooked on coal
As Mumbai sees increased energy demand from new datacenters, particularly from Amazon, the filthiest neighbourhood in one of India’s largest cities must keep its major coal plants
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:06 AM
"As Mumbai sees increased energy demand from new datacentres, particularly from Amazon, the filthiest neighbourhood in one of India’s largest cities must keep its major coal plants"
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
So business leaders are urging members of the Legislative Council to let a Trojan Horse into the state? 🤔 #politas
Macquarie Point stadium a ‘Trojan horse’ for investment, leaders say
‘The bit that makes me so enthused is the younger generation wanting this’…
pulsetasmania.com.au
November 25, 2025 at 4:54 AM
So business leaders are urging members of the Legislative Council to let a Trojan Horse into the state? 🤔 #politas
Reposted by Damien Irving
My latest: #COP30, global climate politics, and what happens next — for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 24, 2025 at 12:25 PM
My latest: #COP30, global climate politics, and what happens next — for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Damien Irving
Please read this & help save the State Library of Victoria, entering its 'now fully trashed' era. I didn't go to uni - for me the Library was higher education in later life, research for my job, a revelation about what ordinary people could have access to. It changed my life. Not just a building.
The State Library of Victoria’s ‘major’ proposed cuts include slashing the number of reference librarians and free computers for public access. Some staff are shocked.
Proposed cuts at State Library of Victoria go against its mission – and will hurt the disadvantaged
theconversation.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Please read this & help save the State Library of Victoria, entering its 'now fully trashed' era. I didn't go to uni - for me the Library was higher education in later life, research for my job, a revelation about what ordinary people could have access to. It changed my life. Not just a building.
Reposted by Damien Irving
My seat estimate for this poll Lib 13 (-1) ALP 10 Green 6 (+1) SFF 1 IND 5. Green gain from Lib in Braddon. In Bass the Greens go deeper into cutup but I'm not convinced they win. #politas
November 24, 2025 at 5:59 AM
My seat estimate for this poll Lib 13 (-1) ALP 10 Green 6 (+1) SFF 1 IND 5. Green gain from Lib in Braddon. In Bass the Greens go deeper into cutup but I'm not convinced they win. #politas
Reposted by Damien Irving
#EMRS Tas (state)
"🔵 Lib 34 (-4)
🔴 ALP 25 (+1)
🟢 Grn 17 (+4)
⚪️ Ind 19 (=)
Net Favs
🔵 Rockliff -1 (-19)
🔴 Willie -4 (-8)
n=1,000 50% CATI 50% CAWI Nov 17-21"
An ordinary poll for the govt after a good run lately but again Labor doesn't pick up much and the winners are the Greens. #politas
"🔵 Lib 34 (-4)
🔴 ALP 25 (+1)
🟢 Grn 17 (+4)
⚪️ Ind 19 (=)
Net Favs
🔵 Rockliff -1 (-19)
🔴 Willie -4 (-8)
n=1,000 50% CATI 50% CAWI Nov 17-21"
An ordinary poll for the govt after a good run lately but again Labor doesn't pick up much and the winners are the Greens. #politas
November 24, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Damien Irving
‘She’s a shrewd Green’: meet Alice Springs’ new mayor, determined to rewrite the story of her beloved home town
‘She’s a shrewd Green’: meet Alice Springs’ new mayor, determined to rewrite the story of her beloved home town
Criminal defence lawyer Asta Hill says she is putting human rights at the centre of her leadership – without shying away from addressing community safety
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When Asta Hill drives into Alice Springs after swimming in one of the waterholes that dot the red centre, she is still struck by the shades of blue and purple in the Macdonnell Ranges that wet the brushtrokes of Albert Namatjira.
“There is a reason that many of the most prolific artists in the world are from this Country – we have such an incredibly beautiful palette that they can work with,” Hill says.
Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
‘She’s a shrewd Green’: meet Alice Springs’ new mayor, determined to rewrite the story of her beloved home town
Reposted by Damien Irving
"But now, the fact the BOM has been hiding the true cost of its white elephant and initially lying about the total figure is deeply concerning, considering that the BOM should be all about trust."
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt has asked the weather agency's new boss to examine how the website's cost and redesign went so wrong.
BOM's new website and $96.5m cost-blowout under renewed scrutiny by minister
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt has asked the weather agency's new boss to examine how the website's cost and redesign went so wrong.
www.abc.net.au
November 23, 2025 at 11:15 AM
"But now, the fact the BOM has been hiding the true cost of its white elephant and initially lying about the total figure is deeply concerning, considering that the BOM should be all about trust."
Reposted by Damien Irving
As harrowing as this, it felt like a relief to read it. The commentariat's refusal to grapple with what climate change will do to us, if we don't phase out fossil fuels, has been driving me insane.
This should help break the collective amnesia.
This should help break the collective amnesia.
November 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
As harrowing as this, it felt like a relief to read it. The commentariat's refusal to grapple with what climate change will do to us, if we don't phase out fossil fuels, has been driving me insane.
This should help break the collective amnesia.
This should help break the collective amnesia.
"A voluntary agreement to begin discussions on a roadmap to an eventual phase-out of fossil fuels."
Have you ever read such an absurd sentence?
Have you ever read such an absurd sentence?
End of fossil fuel era inches closer as Cop30 deal agreed after bitter standoff
Wealthy countries should triple funds for countries to tackle climate impacts, but deforestation and critical minerals blocked from final deal
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:49 PM
"A voluntary agreement to begin discussions on a roadmap to an eventual phase-out of fossil fuels."
Have you ever read such an absurd sentence?
Have you ever read such an absurd sentence?
Reposted by Damien Irving
As I argue in The Language of Climate Politics: we are stuck not because climate politics are polarized, but because they’re UNIFIED (across the right and center-left) on the lie that we can keep using oil and gas but still deal with climate change anyway.
Here’s a good example of that discourse.
Here’s a good example of that discourse.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today that the fight against climate change was not against the fuels that cause it — only the pollution they emit.
Von der Leyen says EU is not fighting fossil fuels, only emissions
The comment could undermine European countries’ push at COP30 to move away from coal, oil and gas.
www.politico.eu
November 21, 2025 at 7:24 PM
As I argue in The Language of Climate Politics: we are stuck not because climate politics are polarized, but because they’re UNIFIED (across the right and center-left) on the lie that we can keep using oil and gas but still deal with climate change anyway.
Here’s a good example of that discourse.
Here’s a good example of that discourse.
Reposted by Damien Irving
An utter disgrace. A Trumpian level of destruction being wrought at the CSIRO under Albo.
"The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150. Four of its nine research focuses will not continue"
"The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150. Four of its nine research focuses will not continue"
Climate of fear: are CSIRO’s sweeping job cuts a sign Australia doesn’t care about the extinction crisis?
Ever decreasing funding for the globally respected government agency mirrors an industry-wide trend that could hinder scientific breakthroughs
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:07 PM
An utter disgrace. A Trumpian level of destruction being wrought at the CSIRO under Albo.
"The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150. Four of its nine research focuses will not continue"
"The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150. Four of its nine research focuses will not continue"
20% of research staff in the Environment Research Unit (water, climate, biodiversity, oceans, waste, etc) to go!
“The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150"
“The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150"
Climate of fear: are CSIRO’s sweeping job cuts a sign Australia doesn’t care about the extinction crisis?
Climate of fear: are CSIRO’s sweeping job cuts a sign Australia doesn’t care about the extinction crisis?
Ever decreasing funding for the globally respected government agency mirrors an industry-wide trend that could hinder scientific breakthroughs
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Sweeping job cuts across the nation’s science agency this week have been foreshadowed for months, but the sheer scale of them has left many researchers within laboratories and offices across the country shocked.
Up to 350 research roles are on the cutting room floor across key areas – including environment, human health and minerals – as leaders of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) attempt to steer the agency from a steep funding cliff. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
20% of research staff in the Environment Research Unit (water, climate, biodiversity, oceans, waste, etc) to go!
“The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150"
“The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150"
“It was revealed in Tasmanian Budget Estimates this week that salmon farming companies had released some 700 kg of florfenicol into the D’Entrecasteaux Channel in less than two weeks.” #politas
Public health concerns raised about antibiotic use in salmon farms www.croakey.org/public-healt... #publichealth
Public health concerns raised about antibiotic use in salmon farms
www.croakey.org
November 21, 2025 at 10:31 AM
“It was revealed in Tasmanian Budget Estimates this week that salmon farming companies had released some 700 kg of florfenicol into the D’Entrecasteaux Channel in less than two weeks.” #politas
Reposted by Damien Irving
Quick!!!! Someone purchase some fire reduction offsets
A fire erupted in a pavilion of the UN’s climate talks in Brazil today, forcing panicked delegates to run for the exits and disrupting tense negotiations among ministers from around the world.
jrnl.ie/6881395
jrnl.ie/6881395
November 20, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Quick!!!! Someone purchase some fire reduction offsets
We're not funding creative arts, but at least we're inspiring them, I guess. 🙃 #politas
Ground Up: Tasmania’s stadium saga becomes ABC comedy series
Ground Up will take aim at Tasmania’s bid for an AFL team…
pulsetasmania.com.au
November 20, 2025 at 9:32 PM
We're not funding creative arts, but at least we're inspiring them, I guess. 🙃 #politas
Reposted by Damien Irving
Yes, the president of the United States endorsed hanging senators and representatives.
Trump endorses hanging Democratic members of Congress
"Their words cannot be allowed to stand."
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Yes, the president of the United States endorsed hanging senators and representatives.
Reposted by Damien Irving
Incrementalism for progressive reform; pedal to the metal on neoliberal bastardry.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Government playing down impact of CSIRO job cuts
The prime minister, when in opposition, accused the Coalition of "hollowing out" the CSIRO. Now, following the announcement 350 research positions at the organisation will be cut, he is being accused ...
www.abc.net.au
November 20, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Incrementalism for progressive reform; pedal to the metal on neoliberal bastardry.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Reposted by Damien Irving
This is why for a long time I've found the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science a rather insulting propaganda exercise
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
CSIRO funding as a percentage of GDP:
1982-83 = 0.17
2024-25 = 0.03
...
Scientific extinction event imminent?
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
CSIRO funding as a percentage of GDP:
1982-83 = 0.17
2024-25 = 0.03
...
Scientific extinction event imminent?
The CSIRO cuts are just the tip of the iceberg for Australia's science funding
Australia is known as a country of innovators, but with a combination of brain drain, continuous cuts, and a loss of critical science projects, is Australia losing its edge?
www.abc.net.au
November 19, 2025 at 7:01 AM
This is why for a long time I've found the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science a rather insulting propaganda exercise
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
CSIRO funding as a percentage of GDP:
1982-83 = 0.17
2024-25 = 0.03
...
Scientific extinction event imminent?
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
CSIRO funding as a percentage of GDP:
1982-83 = 0.17
2024-25 = 0.03
...
Scientific extinction event imminent?
Reposted by Damien Irving
Better approve some more gas fields and coal mines.
Scientists say they are "speechless" after witnessing significant coral death at the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef.
Survey finds 60 per cent of Ningaloo coral has turned to stone
Scientists say they are "speechless" after witnessing significant coral death at the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef.
www.abc.net.au
November 19, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Better approve some more gas fields and coal mines.