Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Dr Jeremy Walker

Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 10h

#Climate breakdown already having a massive impact on crop yields

By 2050, the world is projected to need 50% more food, at a time yields of key crops could be down 30%

More than a halving of calories per head

Just think about that for a moment

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

One year’s worth of bread lost in UK to wrecked harvests since 2020, report finds

Worsening droughts and floods have destroyed wheat for 4bn loaves of bread and forced record levels of imports

www.theguardian.com

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Yung En Chee @yungenchee.bsky.social · 10h

>200 submissions to Australian Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy

Look forward to having a read of subs from: @caadcoalition.bsky.social, @commsdeclare.bsky.social, @cssn.org, @drilledmedia.bsky.social, @ketanjoshi.co, @pennytangey.bsky.social & more!

Submissions

www.aph.gov.au

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Prof. Amanda Wise @amandawise.bsky.social · Aug 5

Please help us save the discipline of sociology at Macquarie University www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...

SAVE SOCIOLOGY AT MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

We urge Macquarie University management to reverse this decision and preserve the vital disciplines of Sociology and Politics. Sociology has a key place in the social sciences as the broadest and mos...

www.megaphone.org.au

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Mandy Stefanakis @mstefanakis.bsky.social · 14h

I think there are more outcomes than those of which we are made aware because they happen without much fanfare. Barbara Pocock’s work on the corruption of consultancy firms is an example. Importantly, public servant and ministerial misdeeds are made public in all their tawdry glory.

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Dr Jeremy Walker @jeremywalker.bsky.social · 19h

I don't know about this one, but thanks for the alert.

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Birdie Carrington @bcarrington.bsky.social · 4d

‘Changes to the act would remove references to “protecting the environment” and “promoting the social and economic welfare of the community and a better environment”, replacing them with phrases such as “promote productivity through the development and management of the state and its resources”

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Alyssa Harad @alyssaharad.bsky.social · 22h

*closes eyes and considers what kind of resources it would take to truly mitigate the climate crisis*

Techmeme @techmeme.com · 1d

JPMorgan Chase reports that $1.2T of debt is now tied to AI-related companies, making it the largest segment in the investment-grade market (Caleb Mutua/Bloomberg)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

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Triassic @triassic.bsky.social · 1d

If only an investigative journalist could find out what's going on and who is behind all this!!?

Dr Jeremy Walker @jeremywalker.bsky.social · 1d

Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society are 2 of the 550+ member organisations of the #AtlasNetwork in 100 countries. Some 200 are in the US.
#auspol your main Atlas orgs are the Institute of Public Affairs and the Centre of Independent Studies.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15d

Kamala Harris: "It feels chaotic, but what I would offer you is what we are witnessing is the swift implementation of a plan that was decades in the making. Project 2025 didn't just drop out of thin air. That's a product of decades of work. Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation ... "

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Prof. Amanda Wise @amandawise.bsky.social · 18d

1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social

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Kimberley Crofts 🍉 @ktcita.bsky.social · 6d

The EDO have released a briefing note in response to Minns and Scully’s proposed changes to the EP&A Act. They view the Bill as “retrograde” and likely to result in negative consequences for community, the environment, and for planning itself. www.edo.org.au/wp-content/u...

www.edo.org.au

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Elaine Johnson @elainejohnson.bsky.social · 6d

There’s some pretty alarming stuff happening in NSW right now with big changes to the planning laws being rushed through Parliament.

The proposed amendments create major corruption risks and should be closely reviewed by ICAC.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

NSW’s fast-track planning laws could allow mines to be approved without environmental assessment

Environmental assessments could go out the window for mining projects, windfarms and other developments, green groups say

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Jeremy Walker @jeremywalker.bsky.social · 20h

It has drawn out the expert analysts of disinformation as well as its most loopy practitioners

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Thesiswhisperer @thesiswhisperer.bsky.social · 1d

Can you help us boost this signal? UTS colleagues are doing a governance project to talk back to the consultant led 'reform' of their university.

Please repost!! UTS people please have your say!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

UTS Governance Project Survey: A Staff-Led Collaborative Project

The UTS Governance Project is an independent, staff-led initiative to strengthen transparency, accountability and participation in how our university is run. Inspired by the ANU Governance Project, ...

docs.google.com

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

A complete flip of the usual pattern we see in these updates - China's and India's emissions fell, and EU and US emissions increased.....

ember-energy.org/latest-insig...

@ember-energy.org

Global CO2 emissions plateau
Global CO2 emissions from the power sector fell marginally by 12 MtCO2 (-0.2%) to 6,963 MtCO2 in the first half of 2025. The decline was possible because solar and wind power exceeded demand growth and led to a slight fall in fossil fuel use. Without solar and wind growth, emissions would have risen by an estimated 236 MtCO2 (+3.9%) globally, which is equivalent to almost all emissions (251 MtCO2) from Africa in H1-2025.

At the country level, there was significant variation. Among the four economies that account for the majority of global emissions (64%), emissions fell in China (-46 MtCO2, -1.7%) and India (-24 MtCO2, -3.6%), as clean electricity outpaced growth in demand in those countries.

In contrast, emissions rose in the EU (+13 MtCO2, +4.8%), where strong growth in solar was outweighed by shortfalls in wind, hydro and bioenergy, leading to higher gas and coal generation. Emissions also rose in the US (+33 MtCO2, +4.3%), as clean electricity growth was smaller than demand growth, leading to an increase in coal generation, which was exacerbated by gas-to-coal switching.

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Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism @jksteinberger.bsky.social · 5d

and many from actual experts. Absolutely fertile and up-to-date terrain to identify which denial-delay arguments industry actors are turning to now, along with the scholarship that studies their strategies, effects, and how to counter them.

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Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism @jksteinberger.bsky.social · 5d

Would sure be great if any aspiring scholar on the immensely important topic of climate obstruction would study the 193 (!) submissions to the Australian Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy. Many from lobby groups ...
www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

Submissions

www.aph.gov.au

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Dr Jeremy Walker @jeremywalker.bsky.social · 1d

Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society are 2 of the 550+ member organisations of the #AtlasNetwork in 100 countries. Some 200 are in the US.
#auspol your main Atlas orgs are the Institute of Public Affairs and the Centre of Independent Studies.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15d

Kamala Harris: "It feels chaotic, but what I would offer you is what we are witnessing is the swift implementation of a plan that was decades in the making. Project 2025 didn't just drop out of thin air. That's a product of decades of work. Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation ... "

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Dr Jeremy Walker @jeremywalker.bsky.social · 1d

Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society are 2 of the 550+ member organisations of the #AtlasNetwork in 100 countries. Some 200 are in the US.
#auspol your main Atlas orgs are the Institute of Public Affairs and the Centre of Independent Studies.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15d

Kamala Harris: "It feels chaotic, but what I would offer you is what we are witnessing is the swift implementation of a plan that was decades in the making. Project 2025 didn't just drop out of thin air. That's a product of decades of work. Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation ... "

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Reposted by Dr Jeremy Walker

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15d

Kamala Harris: "It feels chaotic, but what I would offer you is what we are witnessing is the swift implementation of a plan that was decades in the making. Project 2025 didn't just drop out of thin air. That's a product of decades of work. Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation ... "

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

The @iea.org's guess at the variable renewable energy share in various countries by 2030 - Denmark will be around 78%.

None of this was meant to be even remotely possible!!

iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/48ecc...

a chart showing various VRE shares by region

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Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 1d

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 by @ember-energy.org finds

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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Senator David Shoebridge @davidshoebridge.bsky.social · 1d

Nice little timeline cleanse. This year global renewable energy generation surpassed coal for first time 💚⚡️
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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The Australia Institute @australiainstitute.org.au · 1d

"What this report says is that flooding will be so common in large parts of Australia, you will not be able to insure.

"You can only insure against unlikely events."

-co-CEO Richard Denniss appearing at the Senate Environment Committee
#auspol @richarddenniss.bsky.social

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Lucy Hamilton @lucyham.bsky.social · 3d

Anyone starting to notice the networked affiliations of rightwing #Auspol might find this entertaining. Andrew Hastie’s Aus pals on the international Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Advisory Board are direct or linked #AtlasNetwork. Footnote from latest piece. open.substack.com/pub/lucyham2...

Footnote: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is linked to the Atlas partner the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS). Tony Abbott is a "distinguished fellow" at the Atlas partner Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) and has been contracted by the Atlas-linked Viktor Orbán thinktank, the Danube Institute. John Howard was revealed to be an MPS member (2010) the last two times the list was leaked. John Anderson launched and is chair of the National Party's linked thinktank, the Page Research Centre (PRC), which co-brands events with Atlas partners. He is a NatCon influencer. Amanda Stoker has been a "distinguished fellow" at the Atlas partner the Menzies Research Centre (MRC), and a "director" at the Atlas partner the Australian Institute for Progress (AiP).

Rupert Murdoch has funded the thinktank that his father co-founded, the IPA, financially and with in-kind support. He was also on the Atlas partner Cato Institute board in the 1990s.

Note big money's Advance, interconnected with Atlas, working to break support for the Voice to Parliament.

Australia's mega rich are fomenting civil war
Pouring gasoline on the fires of bigotry is more dangerous in the USA where guns are ubiquitous. It is still deadly dangerous in Australia.
LUCY HAMILTON
TODAY AT 12:40 PM
The rise of authoritarians around the world is fuelled by the fomenting of civil war. The ultra rich use their messaging operations to create the fantasy that the billionaires and the masses are allied against a supposedly dangerous "enemy within".
'. Australia's ultra-
wealthy are no less implicated. Rupert Murdoch and Clive Palmer have current

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bystander1.bsky.social @bystander1.bsky.social · 2d

".. who ’fessed up to three nights at the five-star London InterContinental; Jacinta Nampijinpa Price; Ted O’Brien; Dan Tehan; James Paterson, and Andrew Hastie, who also was a member of the ARC organising committee advisory board. "
thepolitics.com.au/arc-de-triom...

ARC de triomphe for nuke lovers of the world - THE POLITICS

One year ago, 16 Coalition politicians flew to London on a freebie junket to the inaugural gathering of the world’s ultra-conservatives and their fellow travellers on the libertarian fringe. It was a ...

thepolitics.com.au

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