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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 13h

The FT today, Bloomberg a few days ago.

Screenshot of Financial Times story:

OpenAI’s computing deals top $1tn

Partners including Nvidia, AMD and Oracle have signed up to Sam Altman’s huge bet on the future of artificial intelligence

Screenshot of Bloomberg Story:

Why Fears of a Trillion-Dollar AI Bubble Are Growing

Investors have parted with unprecedented sums of money to help AI fulfil its lofty promise. But no one really knows how it will all pay off

Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 14h

There is so much evidence from around the world about how beavers can help improve our ecosystems, including those adjacent to agricultural lands, and yet farm groups still turn a blind eye to it. The old ways die hard. But the Welsh Government is doing the right thing!

@emilyfairfax.bsky.social

Farm groups 'disappointed' as Welsh Gov announces protection for European beavers

The Farmers' Union of Wales said Welsh Government had failed to address its concerns

www.farmersguardian.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 16h

And yet another piece doing a deep dive into why we're on AI bubble watch.

Why Fears of a Trillion-Dollar AI Bubble Are Growing

Investors have parted with unprecedented sums of money to help AI fulfil its lofty promise. But no one really knows how it will all pay off

www.bloomberg.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 18h

The number of these "is AI a bubble?" stories is really growing.

"As long as tech-firm valuations keep soaring into the stratosphere and investors keep getting rich, the incentives remain for Wall Street to bless the boom and ignore the doomsday scenarios."

Sound familiar?

The AI boom's reliance on circular deals is raising fears of a bubble

A spate of recent deals among AI's biggest players has tightened the circle of companies and investments underpinning the technology’s explosive growth.

www.nbcnews.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 21h

Economic growth always wins.

"...efforts to dissuade people from air travel have been all but abandoned amid an absence of alternatives and a need to generate economic growth."

“The green agenda is dead.... The idea...that we should all cycle or go by train or go by motorway, those days are over.”

How politicians and passengers gave up on greener air travel

A renewed push for economic growth has added to technological challenges and problems with carbon offset schemes

www.ft.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 1d

Our climate has changed so much that now the Swiss are producing ... olive oil.

Warming Weather Gives a Boost to Swiss Olive Cultivation

Switzerland is another central European country where warming weather has favored the cultivation of olive trees.

www.oliveoiltimes.com

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Reposted by Climate Disconnect

J. Mijin Cha @jmijin.bsky.social · 1d

This is something EJ/CJ advocates knew from the start and the mainstream movements did not listen. We don't have time to keep making the same mistakes. The only way to reduce emissions is to STOP fossil fuel use. No more of this offset/negative emission bs

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

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 1d

Bubble watch.

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year. AI companies have accounted for 80 per cent of the gains in US stocks so far in 2025."

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 2d

Goodness me, why would anyone let *safety rules* get in the way of progress, I mean more robotaxis?

Unleash the robotaxi revolution

Across the West, safety rules are standing in the way of progress

www.economist.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 2d

2/2 Some late-season bumblebees are the queens who hibernate over the winter, while the rest die off. That's why late-blooming flowers are critical, because it's food the bumblebee queens can fatten up on for the winter ahead. Even the asters are gone, now -- only chickweed flowers remain.

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 2d

We let the "living pathways" in our gardens grow this year, rather than mowing them. The clover eventually gave way to chickweed, whose white flowers have been a pollinator favorite for months. Now, well past our 1st frost, chickweed flowers are all that's left for our late foraging bumblebees. 1/2

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Jacek Debiec, MD, PhD, DPhil 🌎 🧠 @drjacekdebiec.bsky.social · 4d

" We are consuming and polluting the biophysical basis of our own #existence. #ClimateChange is the best-known symptom of #overshoot, but mainstream ‘solutions’ will actually accelerate #climate disruption and worsen overshoot."

- William Rees, The human ecology of overshoot...

Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 5d

In 30 years the climate COPs have done nothing to reduce emissions

This year, most countries can't even be bothered to make an effort

Expect COP30 in Brazil to be another washout compromised by hordes of fossil fuel lobbyists

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Backsliding’: most countries to miss vital climate deadline as Cop30 nears

Developing countries urge biggest polluters to act as Trump’s return to the White House heightens geopolitical turmoil

www.theguardian.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 2d

Nightmare product.

"... a device the size of a smartphone that users would communicate with through a camera, microphone and speaker ... [maybe] multiple cameras. ...it would be “always on” rather than triggered by a word or prompt. The device’s sensors would gather data throughout the day..."

OpenAI and Jony Ive grapple with technical issues on secretive AI device

ChatGPT maker is working with former Apple design boss to launch a palm-sized personal assistant next year

www.ft.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, and thankfully the human population may start shrinking by 2080 ... but only *after* we've added another two billion people to the planet by then.

As usual, not a word in this article about the impact of 8 billion humans on our planet and fellow species. It's always, and only, about us.

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 3d

This is one of the strangest pieces yet on declining birth rates. She seems to argue that we need more babies because ... we need more moms. And if we don't have more babies, the remaining moms will face more anxiety.

Maybe @popnbalance.bsky.social has heard this take before, but it's new to me.

Can the World Handle Having Fewer Moms?

Demographers at the United Nations predict that the number of humans on Earth will begin shrinking as soon as 2080 — the culmination of a global decline in birthrates that began two generations ago. I...

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Climate Disconnect

Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 3d

My new book - The Fate of the World: a Deep-Time History of the Climate Crisis - will be published by @HarperNorthUK next year

Hardback and ebook out in May, paperback to follow

Register interest at: thefateoftheworld.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 3d

So data centers don't just suck up all available electricity and enormous amounts of water. They spread lots of PFAS chemicals, too.

Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from datacenters amid AI boom

Tech companies’ use of Pfas gas at facilities may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought

www.theguardian.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 4d

Xerces also had a fascinating podcast on this very subject a few weeks ago ... I learned a lot in this 34-minute episode. The number of insects and other critters who depend on leaf cover for the winter astounded me. When we rake it all up, we kill them. Let's not do that.

Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 4d

These data centers are going to do us in.

Imagine having to add enough electric power for a city the size of L.A. -- and do it in 5 years. This is just in one state. For data centers.

The Insatiable Energy Demands of Data Centers Could Increase Fossil Fuel Emissions in California

By 2030, the centers could consume the equivalent of adding another city the size of L.A. to the state’s power grid.

capitalandmain.com

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Reposted by Climate Disconnect

Beyond Pesticides @beyondpesticides.org · 4d

🌱 Research published in the European Journal of Nutrition finds that the consumption of #organic animal-based and plant-based #foods is positively #associated with higher cognitive scores and lower mild cognitive decline (MCI)! #organic #diet #women #health ➡️ Blog: ow.ly/Gm9F50X6gif

Study Reports Higher Cognitive Scores with an Organic Diet - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog

A study finds that organic animal-based and plant-based food consumption is positively associated with higher cognitive score.

ow.ly

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Reposted by Climate Disconnect

Beyond Pesticides @beyondpesticides.org · 4d

🐝 This year marks an advancement of state-level #neonic laws and regulations, including in #Maine, #Vermont, and #Connecticut—emphasizing public support for #pesticide #reforms to protect #bees and #pollinators as comprehensive legislation fails to move forward. ➡️ Blog: ow.ly/2kli50X5AfF

With State Legislation Focused on Restricting Bee-Killing Pesticides, Advocates Call for Organic Transition - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog

This year marks an advancement of various state-level neonicotinoid laws and regulations, including in Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut.

ow.ly

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 7d

We just had a Xerces partner biologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service prepare a pollinator conservation plan for our own land. I got a very detailed 45 page report on what we can do to improve our habitat. Check with your local NRCS office to see if you can access this resource.

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation @xercessociety.bsky.social · 7d

Many of our members are incredible forces for invertebrate conservation in their own right! Today we are spotlighting Michael McIntyre, who has spent the past 25 years converting his family’s suburban lawn into a pollinator paradise!🌼🐝
Discover Michael’s story ⤵️
xerces.org/news/organiz...

Michael McIntyre of Christiansburg, Virginia: From Lawn to Life with a Pollinator Paradise

Xerces member Michael McIntyre has spent the past 25 years converting his family’s suburban lawn into a pollinator paradise.

xerces.org

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 8d

Somehow the Blackstone guy actually thought this sounded like a positive thing.

Oh, and also: Insurers are investing heavily in ... data centers.

Insurers Are Embracing Private Credit Like It’s the 1920s, Blackstone’s Sherrill Says

The insurance industry’s embrace of private credit is an echo of how it used to invest in the early 20th century, says Blackstone’s Phil Sherrill, the company’s head of insurance.

www.bloomberg.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 8d

Bubble watch: "... much rides on debt and hope."

"...Oracle would have to borrow *$25 billion a year* over the next four years. And Oracle is already highly leveraged. The company had long-term debt of about $82 billion at the end of August, and its debt-to-equity ratio was about 450%."

Debt Is Fueling the Next Wave of the AI Boom

For aspiring artificial-intelligence competitors such as Oracle, much rides on debt and hope.

www.wsj.com

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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 9d

Anyone but the carbon capture bros surprised by this?

"Climeworks, owner of the world’s largest direct air capture station, said it was still far from meeting cost-cutting targets...
Climeworks’ cost projections of capture also do not include storing the carbon underground..."

It will never scale.

Direct carbon capture falters as developers’ costs fail to budge

Some experts say the technology is crucial for climate change goals but scaling up is proving hard

www.ft.com

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