Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Carly Reddington

Mongabay @mongabay.com · 11h

The U.K. government has rejected calls to fully ban bottom trawling in its offshore marine protected areas, despite evidence that the fishing practice tears up seabed habitats and releases large amounts of carbon.

UK rejects total ban on bottom trawling in offshore marine protected areas

The U.K. government has rejected calls to fully ban bottom trawling in its offshore marine protected areas, despite evidence that the fishing practice tears up seabed habitats and releases large…

news.mongabay.com

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 17h

6/ We hope the (Co)Benefits Portal supports better, more integrated climate decisions.
🌍 Evidence-based
📈 Policy-relevant
🤝 Equity-focused
Explore it here: priestleycentre.shinyapps.io/climatecoben...
@priestleycentre.bsky.social @envleeds.bsky.social @earthandenvleeds.bsky.social

[BETA] Climate (Co)benefits Portal

priestleycentre.shinyapps.io

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 17h

5/ But not all #climate actions are risk-free.
⚠️ Trade-offs exist e.g. bioenergy can displace pastoral land use by vulnerable communities, CCS may harm local air & water quality.
Equity matters. Context matters.

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 17h

4/ Examples of win–win interventions:
✅ Active & electric transport
✅ Watershed ecosystem adaptation
✅ Improving agricultural efficiency
These offer benefits across health, equity, ecosystems, and economy.

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 17h

3/ How was it done?
1. Extracted data from peer-reviewed literature & analysed 1785 rows of evidence
2. Used a confidence assessment framework to highlight where evidence is strong, where it's context-sensitive, & where gaps remain.
📊🌍 Built for global & regional scales, with a UK policy case study.

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 17h

2 / Why is it needed?
#Climate actions often have wide-ranging effects - some beneficial, some negative. The (Co)Benefits Portal helps policymakers navigate these benefits and trade-offs across 40 interventions, from urban greening to dietary shifts.
🔗 priestleycentre.shinyapps.io/climatecoben...

[BETA] Climate (Co)benefits Portal

priestleycentre.shinyapps.io

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 17h

🚨 New paper in #ERL led by Bianca van Bavel presenting the (Co)Benefits Portal - a decision-support tool that synthesises evidence on health, ecosystem, economic, energy, and socio-cultural impacts of climate mitigation & adaptation actions.
📄 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

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Reposted by Carly Reddington

Priestley Centre for Climate Futures @priestleycentre.bsky.social · 8d

Priestley member Professor Oliver Phillips and University of Leeds lecturer Professor Timothy Baker have co-authored research that has found the biggest trees in the Amazon are growing larger and more numerous due to climate change.

Guardian Environment @environment.theguardian.com · 13d

Study shows big trees in Amazon more climate-resistant than previously believed

But while Amazon rainforest is a key ally in struggle to stabilise the climate, it remains under threat from fires and deforestation

www.theguardian.com

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 2d

Forest clearing in South-east Asia [is associated with] more heat-related deaths than in other tropical places 🌳🌡️
🔗https://str.sg/KXHH

Forest clearing in South-east Asia causes more heat-related deaths than in other tropical places

Each year, 15,680 rural residents die of heat-related complications worsened by deforestation. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

str.sg

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 6d

7/ Explore the images for your city and see how air pollution has changed over time:
🔗 airqualitystripes.info
Let us know what you think – and share your stripe!
#AirQualityStripes #CleanAir #ScienceCommunication

Air Quality Stripes

airqualitystripes.info

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 6d

6/ Very grateful to have been involved in a fantastic team:
@kirstypringle.bsky.social, @jimmcquaid.bsky.social, Richard Rigby, @sturnock.bsky.social, Meruyert Shayakhmetova, Malcolm Illingworth, Denis Barclay, Neil Chue Hong, @edhawkins.org, Douglas Hamilton, Ethan Brain

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 6d

5/ The images are designed to be intuitive, engaging, and informative.
They’re not just data – they’re conversation starters.
We hope they’ll spark action on clean air, equity, and environmental justice.

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 6d

4/ The #AirQualityStripes show air pollution trends clearly:
📉 Big declines in PM2.5 in Europe, North America & China
📈 Worsening air pollution in parts of Asia, Africa & South America

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 6d

3/ 💻🛰️ Climate model simulations were combined with satellite data to build a global PM2.5 dataset from 1850–2022. The data was then visualised for 170+ cities using specially designed colour palettes informed by public perception of air pollution.

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 6d

2/ 😷Long-term exposure to outdoor PM2.5 pollution is linked to millions of premature deaths each year.
Yet most people don’t know how air quality has changed over time in their city ➡️ cue the #AirQualityStripes.

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · 6d

🚨Our new paper introduces the #AirQualityStripes – a visual tool to show how outdoor air pollution (PM2.5) has changed in 🌍 cities since 1850. Inspired by the iconic #WarmingStripes. Led by @kirstypringle.bsky.social & @jimmcquaid.bsky.social
🔗 airqualitystripes.info
📄 doi.org/10.5194/gc-8...
🧵👇

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Reposted by Carly Reddington

Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · 7d

Visualising historical changes in air pollution with the Air Quality Stripes

Website: airqualitystripes.info

And paper led by @kirstypringle.bsky.social and @jimmcquaid.bsky.social now published which visualises trends in air quality across many global cities: gc.copernicus.org/articles/8/2...

Visualising historical changes in air pollution with the Air Quality Stripes

Abstract. This paper introduces the Air Quality Stripes, a data visualisation project which presents historical changes in outdoor particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) concentrations across major ...

gc.copernicus.org

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Reposted by Carly Reddington

Helen Macintyre @drhelenmac.bsky.social · Sep 1

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... #climate #science #drought #heat

Summer 2025 was hottest on record in UK, says Met Office

Unprecedented weather was made about 70 times more likely by human-induced climate change, say agency

www.theguardian.com

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · Sep 8

6/ This post is a bit delayed because I was on parental leave when the paper came out... 😅

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · Sep 8

5/ I was lucky to be part of a brilliant team to produce this research! @domspracklen.bsky.social, Callum Smith, Edward Butt, & @jesstreebaker.bsky.social at @envleeds.bsky.social, UK; Beatriz Oliveira at @oficialfiocruz.bsky.social, Brazil; and Edmund Yamba at KNUST, Ghana. 💚🌳

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · Sep 8

4/ 🌳 Protecting tropical forests could save lives by maintaining cooler local temperatures and reducing the risk of deadly heat exposure.
Our findings highlight the urgent need for tropical forest #conservation and climate-health #adaptation, especially for vulnerable communities.

Tropical forest in SE Asia. Photo credit: Carly Reddington

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · Sep 8

3/ 📍Southeast Asia has the highest estimated heat-related mortality burden linked to deforestation, but tropical Africa and Latin America are also heavily affected.
In the DRC alone, 42 million people are exposed to deforestation-induced warming.
#ClimateVulnerability #EnvironmentalHealth

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · Sep 8

2/  🌡️Deforestation causes local warming that can be comparable to or even > global warming.
 345 million people across the tropics were exposed to local warming from deforestation between 2001–2020, accounting for 39% of heat-related mortality in deforested areas.  #ClimateJustice #HealthInequality

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Carly Reddington @drcarlyreddington.bsky.social · Sep 8

🌍 Our new study in @natclimate.nature.com shows tropical #deforestation may cause ~28,000 heat-related deaths/year.
🌳🌡️💻🛰️ Using satellite data & mortality models we quantified the impact of deforestation-driven local warming on human health in the tropics.
 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🔗 rdcu.be/eEUbI

Deforestation in a SE Asian tropical forest. Photo credit: Carly Reddington

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Reposted by Carly Reddington

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Aug 27

Deforestation has killed half a million people in past 20 years, study finds

Localised rises in temperature caused by land clearance cause 28,330 heat-related deaths a year, researchers find Deforestation has killed more than half a million people in the tropics over the past two decades as a result of heat-related illness, a study has found. Land clearance is raising the temperature in the rainforests of the Amazon, Congo and south-east Asia because it reduces shade, diminishes rainfall and increases the risk of fire, the authors of the paper found. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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