Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by David Kitching

Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 1d

#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

4 50 69

Reposted by David Kitching

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 1d

Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow

320 450 1.9K

Reposted by David Kitching

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 2d

Richest 1% has more wealth than 70% of UK population combined.

Top 20% own two-thirds of wealth, receive 36% of income.

Bottom 20% own 0.5% of wealth, receive 9% of income.

Can't grow economy or have social stability.

Poverty is political choice. Which political party wants to address this?

The government must ensure fair distribution of income

'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'

leftfootforward.org

5 140 290

Reposted by David Kitching

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 2d

The UK household debt is over £2 trillion.

Debt once public now loaded to households e.g. student debt. Energy debt rising. People borrowing for healthcare.

Mortgages 7 times salary being issued. Soaring rents.

Real average wage stuck at the 2008 level.

What could go wrong?

7 130 290

Reposted by David Kitching

Dave Jones @cleanpowerdave.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: GLOBAL RENEWABLES OVERTAKES COAL

How the heck did that happen so quickly?!...🧵

14 170 420

Reposted by David Kitching

Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 3d

Climate action is emerging as a wedge that may increasingly separate China from the petrostate alliance of Russia, Saudi Arabia and U.S. (under Trump)

Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 4d

"As America fumbles, China races ahead --
Xi is building the future while Trump pushes tariffs and fights the woke wars."
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | As America fumbles, China races ahead

Xi is building the future while Trump pushes tariffs and fights Harvard.

www.washingtonpost.com

2 37 97

Reposted by David Kitching

Patrick Reynolds for a greater Auckland @patrickreynolds.bsky.social · 4d

Not nearly enough is made of the incredibly impressive feat Indian Railways has made to electrify almost 100% of its 135,000km of track, while also growing renewable sourcing. Huge:

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/ind...

Indian Railways to achieve net zero targets in 2025 itself - 5 years ahead of 2030 goal - Times of India

India Business News: Indian Railways is set to achieve net-zero targets by year-end, surpassing its 2030 goal through extensive electrification. Aiming for 95% electric tr

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

10 170 520

Reposted by David Kitching

Abe Newman @abenewman.bsky.social · 4d

1/Striking speech by Macron: The future of European democracy depends on taking back its digital information space. A remarkable turn from Silicon Valley as source of enlightenment to being a purveyor of slop. And the stakes aren't just ad revenue but the nation.
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

"Europeans, let's wake up!" — Defend Democracy

“We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.” President Macron on the occasion of German Unity Day, 3 October 2025.

defenddemocracy.eu

25 320 850

Reposted by David Kitching

Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 4d

Jane Goodall said she’d like to send off to another planet: Musk, Trump, Putin, Xi & Netanyahu. 🚀

25 260 750

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 4d

This their Achilles' heel. Right or wrong about immigration, the Greens will not defeat Reform, or win a significant portion of the voters over, with this approach to the issue.

2 1

Reposted by David Kitching

Iris Cook @montrose.bsky.social · 5d

Solar becomes main source of electricity in the EU for first time | The Independent share.google/jG9nbinxBEif...

Solar becomes main source of electricity in the EU for first time

More than half of the EU’s electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from renewable energy

share.google

1 36 100

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 4d

Wow.

Climate, Ecology, War & More by Dr. Glen Barry, BigEarthData.ai @bigearthdata.bsky.social · 4d

Before and after images show glaciers vanishing before our eyes
->BBC | #Glacier | More from BigEarthData.ai

Before and after images show glaciers vanishing before our eyes

8 hours ago Share Save Mark Poynting Climate and science reporter, BBC News Share Save BBC When Matthias Huss first visited Rhône Glacier in Switzerland 35 years ago, the ice was just a short walk from where his parents would...

www.bbc.com

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 4d

In percentage terms yes. But that equates to exponential growth if one thinks in terms of numbers.

1

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 4d

Stats for England even more interesting The 2nd most densely populated country in Europe after Malta.
It's quite important to differentiate between UK population stats and those for England. UK as a whole is seventh most densely populated in Europe.

www.ukpopulation.org/england-popu...

England Population 2025 ❤️ | Population UK

www.ukpopulation.org

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 4d

Stats for England even more interesting The 2nd most densely populated country in Europe after Malta.

www.ukpopulation.org/england-popu...

England Population 2025 ❤️ | Population UK

www.ukpopulation.org

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 4d

Regardless of your views on immigration, UK population grew by 750k in the period 06/23 to 06/24 alone. So 150k isn't going to make much impact anyway.
Some stats for interest: www.ukpopulation.org

Population of UK 2025

Population UK will provide you most up to date population figures in both cities and states. We also provide population density, growth, demographics and facts of UK.

www.ukpopulation.org

2

Reposted by David Kitching

Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 4d

Want to see what Reform UK's politics would look like in government?

🇦🇷 Look to Argentina. Massive spike in poverty and a crashed economy.

📉 A template for disorder and chaos.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/02/javier-milei-argentina-nigel-farage-donald-trump-elon-musk

Farage, Trump, Musk: your boy Javier Milei just took one hell of a beating. Why so quiet? | Aditya Chakrabortty

The wild politics and chainsaw made Argentina’s president an economic hero for the right. And now, with his nation’s finances in chaos: silence, writes Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

www.theguardian.com

10 70 170

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 4d

Stop using Amazon now. (it's surprisingly satisfying)

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 4d

This is a shocking read.

edition.cnn.com/2025/10/05/m...

Global outrage has grown after two years of bombardment in Gaza. In Israel, it is a different story | CNN

On a hot Friday morning in September, dozens of Israelis turned up at Gaza’s border fence – not as soldiers, but as dissenters. Their demand: an end to the siege they say is being carried out in their...

edition.cnn.com

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 5d

🌍

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 6d

Earth has breached a critical boundary for ocean acidification, with potentially grim effects for ocean ecosystems and human livelihoods

Humans Just Pushed Earth across Another 'Planetary Boundary'

Earth has breached a critical boundary for ocean acidification, with potentially grim effects for ocean ecosystems and human livelihoods

www.scientificamerican.com

4 8

Reposted by David Kitching

Graphic Granola @graphicgranola.bsky.social · 5d

That's what I keep saying: WE WON'T MAKE IT TO MIDTERMS!

Trump’s 2nd term is dismantling US democracy, deploying troops in cities, censoring dissent, & weaponizing gov't.

EU leaders risk losing public trust & strategic credibility by hesitating to confront the growing threat of a Trump-led US.

American democracy might not survive another year – is Europe ready for that? | Alexander Hurst

Trapped between Putin and Trump, EU citizens understand the grave dangers facing the continent. Their leaders urgently need to face reality, too, says Guardian Europe columnist Alexander Hurst

www.theguardian.com

1 1

Reposted by David Kitching

Political Cartoon Gallery @politicalcartoon.bsky.social · 5d

Ben Jennings @BJennings90 on the #manchesterterrorattack #synagogeattack @officialinews_ – political cartoon gallery in London original-political-cartoon.com

8 22

Reposted by David Kitching

Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 5d

“AI isn’t magic; it’s a pyramid scheme of human labor,” said @adiod.bsky.social, a researcher at @dairinstitute.bsky.social. “These raters are the middle rung: invisible, essential and expendable.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart

Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent

www.theguardian.com

24 48

Reposted by David Kitching

Nonso Obikili @nonsoobikili.com · 5d

World-renowned wildlife photographer against the algorithm

Tech Now meets British wildlife photographer Tim Flach facing new challenges from AI mimicking his images.

bbc.com

1 1

David Kitching @kitchingart.com · 5d

#deepfake

As Scott Rosenberg wrote for Axios, “Feeds, memes and slop are the building blocks of a new media world where verification vanishes, unreality dominates, everything blurs into everything else and nothing carries any informational or emotional weight.”

edition.cnn.com/2025/10/03/m...

Why you need to pay attention to Sora 2 and our future AI unreality | CNN Business

If you work in the media industry or simply care about the quality of the information ecosystem we all inhabit, you need to pay attention to Sora 2.

edition.cnn.com