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Reposted by Brendan Jones

Yale Environment 360 @yalee360.bsky.social · 7h

The E.U. is mandating the treatment of micropollutants in wastewater, with the cost to be borne by polluters.

But the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, which are responsible for most of those contaminants, are pushing back.

An E.U. Plan to Slash Micropollutants in Wastewater Is Under Attack

Earlier this year, a European Union directive mandated advanced treatment of micropollutants in wastewater, with the cost to be borne by polluters. But the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, whi...

e360.yale.edu

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 1d

The report lists the underlying causes of biodiversity loss as:
1. Concentration of wealth and power
2. Prioritisation of short term, individual and material gains
3. Disconnection from and domination over nature and people

Go a level deeper, please. What are the causes of those? 🤔

Environmental Information: Use and Influence (Dalhousie Univ.) @eiui.bsky.social · 3d

Global efforts to stem #biodiversity loss have failed repeatedly. Drawing on the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment Report, @annelarigauderie.bsky.social et al. explain why past efforts failed, outline 5 key strategies to address this issue, & highlight roles for everyone doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Title, authors’ names, and first page of a perspective paper about biodiversity loss and the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment

Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 2d

It's quite shameful how far the high emissions countries are behind on this, given their responsibility for the problem in the first place. China is showing it's entirely possible, it's just a matter of priorities.

Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 2d

"The world’s wind and solar farms have generated more electricity than coal plants for the first time this year"

"China added more renewable energy generation than the rest of the world combined"

So, all thanks to China, in other words.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time

Record solar expansion and steady wind growth driving world’s shift away from fossil fuels in 2025, report finds

www.theguardian.com

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 2d

Once again, carbon offsets don't reduce emissions.

Companies should do them only if they:
1. Are voluntary. Sure, do offsets for marketing purposes or investor requirements, but companies should ...
2. Still pay for their emissions (e.g. carbon taxes)

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Brendan Jones

Paula Surridge @psurridge.bsky.social · 3d

Maybe the answer to political apathy, trust, and populism is for everyone to be a local councillor for a few weeks.

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 3d

*gasp*

“Everyone thought we’d come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren’t,” said a third senior Reform cabinet member in Kent.

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 3d

A bit of sortition sure would help. Especially for more local governmental bodies, and/or temporary bodies like citizens assemblies advising on difficult issues.

People would either be selected to take part at some point, or know someone who was. The experience would be educational, I’m sure.

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Reposted by Brendan Jones

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 5d

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

Defend Democracy @defenddemocracy.bsky.social · 5d

President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

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Reposted by Brendan Jones

Jeffrey J. Hall @mrjeffu.bsky.social · 20d

Video: a Japanese scientist was attacked by flies while giving the acceptance speech for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research paper that proved painting Zebra-like stripes on cows led to a decrease in biting fly attacks.

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Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 5d

Here’s a good chart showing how soybeans are used globally. About 3/4 is for feeding the animals we eat (especially for chickens, pigs, and farmed fish), about 1/5 directly feeds humans, and 4% is for biofuel or other industrial uses. ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-d...

The World's Soy: is it used for Food, Fuel, or Animal Feed?
Shown is the allocation of global soy production to its end uses by weight. This is based on data from 2017 to 2019.
Our World in Data
Global soy production
Direct human food
20%
• Tofu (2.6%)
•Soy milk (2.1%)
•Other e.g. tempeh (2.2%)
oil (13.2%)

Animal feed
76%
Soybeans processed to soy cake for feed
Poultry (37%)
Pig (20.2%)
Aquaculture (5.6%)
Other animals (4.9%)
- Dairy (1.4%)
— Beef (0.5%)
- Pets (0.5%)
Soybeans fed directly
•to livestock (7%)
Industry 4%
•Biodiesel (2.8%)
— Lubricants (0.3%)
- Other (0.7%)
Data source: Food Climate Resource Network (FCRN), University of Oxford; and USDA PSD Database.
OurWorldinData.org - Research and data to make progress against the world's largest problems.
Licensed under CC-BY by the author Hannah Ritchie.

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 4d

“A car produced with renewable energy is just a few hundred euros more expensive than one produced with fossil fuel energy”

Why is that? I presume it’s something to do with current grid economics, not that producing with renewables will always be more expensive than with fossil fuels?

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Kees van der Leun @sustainable2050.bsky.social · 4d

The Dutch offshore wind programme is in trouble. While 4.5 GW is in operation and another 1.5 GW under construction, the plan was to rapidly build out capacity to 21 GW by 2032. That is now out of reach.
My thoughts on how this happened, and what to do about it!
www.commonfutures.com/en/insights/...

Putting the Dutch offshore wind train back on the tracks

www.commonfutures.com

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 6d

What’s the difference there between ‘insider’ and ‘off-screener’ visualisation?

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 6d

I wrote this in 2019:

"When it comes to the long-term economics of power generation, it isn’t a fair fight. There is no clear way natural gas can compete with renewables on an economic basis in the coming decades."

6 years later and the economics aren't even close.

Ember @ember-energy.org · 6d

#Electrotech gets cheaper as it scales with costs falling ~20% every time deployment doubles – unlike fossil fuels, which get costlier the more we extract them 💰

It already captures 2/3 of global energy investment & drives all net growth in energy jobs.

https://loom.ly/XP_xA0c

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Reposted by Brendan Jones

POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 6d

Even if the world stopped burning coal, oil and gas tomorrow, what we eat would still be enough to heat the climate beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, warns the EAT-Lancet Commission.

Food is wrecking the planet. And Europe has lost its appetite for change.

A landmark study says food systems are breaching Earth’s limits. Europe once promised to lead the way, but the revolution fizzled.

www.politico.eu

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 6d

Completely agree, I eat vegetarian and mostly vegan for exactly those reasons.

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Pascoe Sabido @pascoesabido.bsky.social · 7d

The mask is OFF 🎭 ! EU Commission President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu admits that "simplification" actually means "deregulation" (surprise surprise - we've been saying this for a long time).

From her speech yesterday at the Copenhagen Competitiveness Summit ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 6d

To back that up with a start from the article: “The wealthiest 30% of the world’s population generates more than 70% of food-related environmental damage”.

Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 6d

(Additional note to say it’s not *actually* the entire world that need to change their diet, just the high-meat-and-dairy-eating people. Poorer people still need their protein sources)

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 6d

This is why it’s naive to only call for systems change. Dietary change is an individual choice. There’s literally nothing stopping the entire world shifting their diet today. Systems change and individual change are linked. You changing your diet today helps change the global food system.

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 6d

“a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from the global food system and taming the climate crisis is impossible without changing how the world eats. Food production is also the biggest cause of the destruction of wildlife and forests and the pollution of water.”

Change your diet.

Camille Perrin @perrincam.bsky.social · 6d

Thinking of European Commission staff behind the Farm to Fork Strategy when they'll read the new #EATLancet report.... They had it all right, and it's a real shame the EU's blueprint for healthy, fair and environmentally friendly #FoodSystems was derailed.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Planetary health diet’ could save 40,000 deaths a day, landmark report finds

Diet allows modest meat consumption and would also slash food-related climate emissions by half, says report by 70 leading experts from 35 countries

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Brendan Jones

Garry Peterson @resiliencesci.bsky.social · 6d

The EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems
Rockström+
dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01201-2

"food is the single largest cause of planetary boundary transgressions, driving the transgression of five of the six breached boundaries."

Redirecting

dx.doi.org

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Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 7d

Yet another lesson in never privatising public goods and services.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 7d

Thames Water creditors ask for up to 15 years’ leniency from river pollution rules

Lenders say a ‘full return to legal, regulatory and environmental compliance’ under new rescue plan would not be completed until at least 2035-2040 * Business live – latest news Thames Water may not fully comply with rules on pollution of England’s waterways for as long as 15 years, according to a new plan by creditors who are scrambling to avoid the utility being forced into government administration. The creditors who in effect own Thames Water have said they will commit to paying fines for pollution, as well as writing off more of their loans and investing more in the company, in new proposals published on Thursday. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Brendan Jones @brewenjon.bsky.social · 7d

Hi Kate, by “annual global monitor” do you mean it’ll be updated annually from now on? Great news if so!

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Kate Raworth @kateraworth.bsky.social · 7d

Big Doughnutty News.
Just out in Nature: the all-new 2025 Doughnut. Transformed from a single-year snapshot to an annual global monitor of 21st century social & ecological thriving. Available to all in an open-access paper by @andrewlfanning.bsky.social and me. 🧵 1/
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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