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Reposted by Dr Courtney Babb

The War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social · 25d

Slower speeds save lives: "...there were 2,638 people injured, including deaths, on low-speed roads in the most recent 18 months, compared with 3,520 injuries between April 2022 and September 2023, a reduction of 25%."

Nearly 900 fewer people injured since 20mph introduction in Wales

Figures show a 25% reduction in the number of injuries on Wales' roads in the past 18 months.

www.bbc.com

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Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · Sep 12

They know the climate chaos coming, they know their decision will make it worse, and kill any hope of mitigation, but they did it anyway - for their own benefit.
Not a principle among them.

Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · Sep 12

A Friday afternoon special from the Albanese government.
Literally the worst environmental decision imaginable.

Australia's largest gas project given final approval to operate until 2070

Australia's biggest gas project, Woodside's North West Shelf, has received final approval to extend operations through until 2070.

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Dr Courtney Babb

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Aug 17

Welcome to the enshittification of cars. This is the worst thing to happen to cars since SUVs.

VW introduces monthly subscription to increase car power

The German car-maker says its

www.bbc.co.uk

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Dr Courtney Babb @courtneywbabb.bsky.social · Aug 17

#carbloat

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Professor Euan Ritchie @euanritchie.bsky.social · Aug 15

No, Jim, their primary purpose is to PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT. Kinda important during dual climate change and biodiversity extinction crises, which are an existential threat to humanity…and your precious economy. www.theguardian.com/business/202... Just another neoliberal Labor politician.

Jim Chalmers says environment laws need overhaul to stop people ‘burning cash waiting for approvals’

Treasurer says ‘status quo is no longer acceptable’ on Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as Labor pushes to build 1.2m new homes by 2029

www.theguardian.com

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The War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social · Aug 15

We need to talk about oversized trucks and the aesthetic of fascism.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Aug 14

ICE used your taxpayer dollars to trick out a bunch of trucks in new livery, all painted black with "ICE" and a logo printed in gold on the side (and Trump's name in gold on the back window), then shoot a rap video in DC to post on social media.

I am not making this up.

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Dr Courtney Babb @courtneywbabb.bsky.social · Aug 15

“Expanding freeway networks undermines efforts to reduce emissions and encourage cleaner transport. It points to a deep-seated flaw in Australia’s urban planning systems which must be solved.”

theconversation.com/australia-wh...

Australia, why are you still obsessed with freeways – when they’re driving us away from net zero?

Expanding freeway networks undermines climate action. It points to a deep-seated flaw in Australia’s urban planning systems which must be solved.

theconversation.com

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Dr Courtney Babb @courtneywbabb.bsky.social · Aug 15

1.3 billion tonnes of GHG emissions and critical risks to Perth’s water security and the Northern Jarrah forests. There’s a few more days to make a submission on Alcoa’s plan to expand mining in Perth hills.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Perth council rejects Alcoa bauxite drilling over water, forest concerns

US aluminium giant Alcoa's proposed expansions to its mining operations near Perth could lead to the release of three years' worth of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions — in Australia and downstream...

www.abc.net.au

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Yung En Chee @yungenchee.bsky.social · Aug 12

CCWA will hold a “requiem for our reefs” at @wamuseum.bsky.social's Woodside Open Day to highlight the “devastating impact of Woodside’s emissions on WA’s coral reef system" & call for public support to stop WoodCIDE from "drilling for new gas under the pristine Scott Reef in the Browse Basin”

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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · Aug 12

Five years ago today, I wrote my first of 50+ stories about car safety.

My motivation was simple: I couldn't understand why e-scooters were capped at 12 mph, but hulking SUVs could go 10x faster.

The passage below still feels true.

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

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Reposted by Dr Courtney Babb

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · Aug 12

The UK government, which is going all-in on AI, is asking people to delete emails in order to save water, claiming it will lighten the load on data centres.

UK Asks People to Delete Emails In Order to Save Water During Drought

As Britain experiences one of its worst droughts in decades, its leaders suggest people get rid of old data to reduce stress on data centers.

www.404media.co

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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · Aug 11

Pls stop what you are doing and read this entire report on Israel's murder of journalist Anas al-Sharif and five colleagues in Gaza City.

"He characterized Israel’s threats as 'Silence or Death,' and he vowed not to be silent."

It ends with his final message. www.dropsitenews.com/p/anas-al-sh...

The Israeli Assassination of Journalist Anas al-Sharif and Five Colleagues in Gaza City

“We understand these are our last days.”

www.dropsitenews.com

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Dr Courtney Babb @courtneywbabb.bsky.social · Aug 8

The best way to cap off a week is by walking around with a bunch of geography teachers talking urban infill, the housing crisis, gentrification, laneways and vegetable worshipping churches.

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Megan Herbert @meganjherbert.bsky.social · Jul 20

Join the dots.
My cartoon in today's @theageaustralia.bsky.social and @sydmorningherald.bsky.social (both newly arrived to Bluesky)

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · Jul 9

A new study of vehicular crashes in the UK shows that—after accounting for driver characteristics, road conditions, & more—adult pedestrians & cyclists had a 14% higher fatality rate when hit by an SUV rather than a regular car.

Children had a shocking 77% higher fatality rate when hit by SUVs.

Do Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) Cause More Severe Injuries to Pedestrians and Cyclists than Passenger Cars, in the Case of a Crash? Findings from Great Britain, 2004-2023 | Published in Findings

By Anna Goodman, Phil Edwards & 1 more. In Great Britain, road crashes involving SUVs cause more severe injuries to pedestrians and cyclists than crashes involving passenger cars. The effect is strong...

findingspress.org

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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Jul 10

The Maintainers have released their “Maintainers Study Guide: A Guide to Ground Your Practice in Principles of Maintenance, Repair + Care” — a resource that “reflects nearly a decade of work” across The Maintainers’ conferences, fellowships, research networks, etc

themaintainers.org/study-guide/

The study guide cover — white background, photo of a garage packed with tools, and the title

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Royce Kurmelovs @roycerk2.bsky.social · Jul 10

Who gets to define "false and distorted narratives"? How can we be sure these sweeping powers won't be misused to silence criticism of the Israeli government over its actions or defame dissenters? What definition of anti-Semitism will be applied? Will we get similar protections against Islamophobia?

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Dan O'Dowd @realdanodowd.bsky.social · Jun 24

Tesla's Supervised Robotaxi launch was a pathetic flop.

Tesla's Supervised Robotaxi launched yesterday to much acclaim from the Tesla Cult. Since nobody who was at the event has properly summarized the first day, we thought we would do it.

Below are our findings. 🧵

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Drilled @drilledmedia.bsky.social · Jun 19

Thrilled to be partnering with the great folks over at @crikey.com.au to get some of @roycerk2.bsky.social's excellent reporting, like this deep dive on the fight to get Monash to break up with Woodside, out to more Australian readers! www.crikey.com.au/2025/06/19/m...

Inside the fight to get Monash University to divorce fossil fuels for good

As Monash's partnership with Woodside comes up for renewal, the university is facing pressure from students and staff to ditch the company for good.

www.crikey.com.au

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · Jun 14

Excellent article by Rock Morton in the Saturday Paper this morning, on consultants Nous. These guys are so endemic in university managements I ended up writing a whole paper about them. They're basically vampires www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/educati...

‘Mind-boggling stupidity’: The consultancy that captured universities

Nous Group has slowly taken over the university sector, filling VCs’ offices with ex-staff and buying ‘incredibly sensitive’ data that is sold back for benchmarking.

www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au

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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · May 28

The truly sad thing is absolutely no one thought the ALP would reject the NWS extension. Everyone knows the ALP deny climate change, everyone knows the ALP always does what gas companies demand.

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · May 28

"The chatbot’s instructions tell it to “de-emphasize the climate catastrophe narrative,” to focus on “real pollution, not CO2.” The bot is told to frame these arguments in the most reasonable possible way"

"chatbots are useless" is wrong. They're very, very useful, for a certain kind of person:

A weaponized AI chatbot is flooding city councils with climate misinformation

Internal instructions accessed by Canada’s National Observer show that the chatbot produces tailored scripts, petitions, reports and even speeches for council chambers. The messaging is all framed to ...

www.nationalobserver.com

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Reposted by Dr Courtney Babb

The Australia Institute @australiainstitute.org.au · May 28

Don't believe the spin from the WA Government. Pollution from the gas export plant is destroying the ancient Murujuga rock art.

Rock art expert Professor Benjamin Smith read the report and set the record straight.

Video from Friends of Australian Rock Art. #auspol

Scientist outraged at "doctored" report on gas industry pollution at Murujuga

YouTube video by The Australia Institute

youtube.com

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Professor Euan Ritchie @euanritchie.bsky.social · May 28

Labor, finding new ways to bring shame upon Australia.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...

UN set to knock back World Heritage bid for rock art over emissions concerns

The UN is proposing to knock back Australia's bid to add the Murujuga Cultural Area to the World Heritage list, instead asking the federal government to address concerns about emissions degrading the ...

www.abc.net.au

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · May 28

Very much related to today's pod: Sightline has just released a guide on persuasive rhetoric for parking reformers.

Do not discuss: density, driving, cars
Do discuss: more homes, more community, less waste

How to Talk About Parking Reform—and Win | Sightline Institute

Our road-tested messaging guide to gain more great neighborhoods and the homes we need, and to kick costly empty asphalt to the curb.

www.sightline.org

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