Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gareth

@grenow.bsky.social

1.7K followers 2.5K following 1.3K posts

Self-reinvention is a way to stay young, as long as you can remember what you were. I recall being an author, journalist, photographer, truffle grower, climate change writer, magazine editor and publisher, but who can be sure? Born at 313ppm

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 6h

I wish I was a better poofreader

#norwester

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 6h

Tonight we had big clouds

#nowester

A double layer of sunset burnished clouds span the sky above our front garden

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 11h

They've been wholly owned subsidiary for years

Reposted by Gareth

Bright Saver plug-in solar @brightsaver.bsky.social · 17h

"The sun delivers its energy for free & that's why solar is exciting in a political sense...think about how the geopolitics of Earth would have been over the past 100 yrs if oil had been of trivial value." - @billmckibben.bsky.social 💛☀️ #solar #listen:
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 15h

Yeah. Tripod, exposure bracket, HDR merge. But that moon of ours moves really fast making alignment between exposures tricky - especially if you need long exposures at one end of the stack. I just relied on IBIS and de-noising in Lightroom. ;-)

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 15h

Last night's moonrise was pretty spectacular, but a bugger to shoot. This is about the best I got. Consider it moody and arty rather than technically accomplished (which it ain't).

An over-exposed moon rises over a ridge, and its orangeness lights up the clouds above and silhouettes some trees on the ridge line

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 15h

"Solar energy is now so cost-effective that it costs as little as £0.02 to produce one unit of power, making it cheaper than electricity generated from coal, gas or wind."

And yet NZ wants to import LNG and burn coal...

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

When sunshine became cheaper than coal

Solar energy is now the cheapest source of power worldwide, driving a massive shift toward renewables. Falling battery prices and innovations in solar materials are making clean energy more reliable t...

www.sciencedaily.com

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 16h

...or making toffee

Brian K. @briank.bsky.social · 16h

This makes it sound like Bob Mould is on a mission from God.

Instagram post that asks "Is Bob Mould Reforming Sugar?"

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 1d

He's not the messiah, he's just a naughty MBA!

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 1d

Ooops...

"In both 2023 and 2024 – the hottest two years on record – early results suggest climate-driven extremes nearly wiped out the land carbon sink."

www.newscientist.com/article/2497...

One of Earth’s most vital carbon sinks is faltering. Can we save it?

For decades, forest, grasslands and other land ecosystems have collectively absorbed up to a third of the carbon dioxide we emit each year - but this climate buffer may be collapsing far sooner than a...

www.newscientist.com

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 1d

Darkling skies

The supermoon, having risen, encounters wispy clouds

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 1d

Clearing...

It's an orange. No, it's a supermoon now clearing the tops of the hills

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 1d

Two more supermoon shots from last night.

Peeping over the hills...

The golden orb of a rising supermoon pokes about the Teviot Hills in Waipara

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 2d

Supermoon rising over the Teviot Hills. Quick and dirty first pass processing.

You can see the atmosphere doing a number on the shape of the moon.

#canonR5mk2 #canonRF100-500L

A yellow and gold supermoon just clears the Teviot Hills

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 2d

That was with iPhone 17 Pro. Still taking shots with the big camera

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 2d

Supermoon rising over the Teviot Hills

The moon glows yellow and gold as it rises over the Waipara valley

Reposted by Gareth

Malcolm RF 💚🇳🇿 @p-no-nwa.bsky.social · 2d

Coal is dying.
Somebody tell Shane Jones.
#nzpol

Electrek @electrek.co · 2d

In a first, renewables generate more power than coal globally

In a first, renewables generate more power than coal globally

Solar and wind power aren’t just keeping up with global electricity demand anymore – they’re pulling ahead. According to a new analysis from energy think tank Ember, solar and wind combined outpaced global electricity demand growth in the first half of 2025. That shift led to a drop in both coal and gas generation compared to the same period last year. For the first time ever, renewables generated more power than coal globally. more…

Reposted by Gareth

George Penney @georgepenney.bsky.social · 2d

🧵Spotted While Cafe Writing and Roaming in Aotearoa New Zealand:

Two burly men (30s?) are sitting across from each other. Both have tiny brand new humans strapped in slings across their chests.
Tucking into fry-up breakfasts, comparing notes on sleeplessness and being new dads. (1)

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 2d

The reason we put a remote control blind at the end of the hall only happens once a year, but when it does it’s special.

A pink flowering cherry glows in the morning sun, seen through a sash window at the end of our hall

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 3d

Grandparental achievement unlocked

A somewhat rickety construction of brightly coloured magnetic tiles supports a network of clear plastic tunnels through which a little girl is propelling a sequence of balls

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 5d

Applied to British cars of a certain vintage. Definitely a real phenomenon 50 years ago.

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 5d

Pickles (I am not a number, I am a free cat) selects the office window for his next exit.

#backfromthecattery

A strikingly handsome ginger tom cat sits on the back of a chair, looking to exit via the window.

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 5d

Pickles spent the last 10 days in Stalag Luft Cat while we were on grandparental duty. He is currently doing his normal "home again" routine of appearing at random doors demanding to be let in, only to go out through another door or window 10 minutes later, thus proving to himself that he is free.

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 6d

Please admire the splendid leonine form of Hunter, the Amesbury School
cat

A grey cat reclines on warm concrete, his eyes closed and a half smile playing on his lips. His left front paw is slightly raised as if resting on a small gin and tonic.

Gareth @grenow.bsky.social · 7d

Rivendell

A grove of tree ferns close to the location of Rivendell in LOTR 1