Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 13h

This is more recent. Section 3.3.2: net zero emissions and implications on page 51 is relevant.

www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/s...

www.ipcc.ch

1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 13h

I guess you don’t have to deal with roving packs of adolescents driving class 2 bikes on roads as if they were motorcycles. I’ve never seen one of them pedal.

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 13h

White House to issue false report on Trump‘s health and mental state on Monday, October 13..

Reuters @reuters.com · 15h

Trump to get routine yearly checkup on Friday, White House says reut.rs/4q1zaI3

Trump to get routine yearly checkup on Friday, White House says

U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday and undergo his routine yearly check up, the White House said on Wednesday.

reut.rs

2 2

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 13h

If we could even get to those benchmarks, we would’ve made significant progress compared to our current trajectory. The public might complain when temperatures don’t magically drop, but we would be so committed to cheaper,cleaner renewable energy that it may not matter.

2

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 14h

Grim truth here.

1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 14h

That’s the way I remember it.

1 1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 14h

I believe that more recent work showed that temperatures could stabilize considerably faster than that, but I haven’t been able to retrieve the source. That said, the caveat you noted leave a lot of gray area.

1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 14h

Agreed on both accounts. But, that’s where we need to be in order to stabilize temperatures. As long as we rely on the oceans to absorb a significant amount of our emissions, we’re going to see that carbon again.

1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 16h

The IPCC discussed this in its 2001 synthesis, but the information is dated.

archive.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/...

What is known about the inertia and time scales associated with the changes in the climate system, ecological systems, and socio-economic sectors and their interactions?

archive.ipcc.ch

2 1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 17h

My understanding based on recollection from earlier post by Zeke Hausfather is that once we hit net zero, the ocean and other system will begin to achieve a net absorption of CO2. This will result in a (slow) temperature reduction. Perhaps a couple of decades lag…

2 1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 18h

It’s a great story. Here’s a video that tells it in half an hour.

www.biointeractive.org/classroom-re...

The Day the Mesozoic Died

www.biointeractive.org

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 18h

Rediscovered by Alvarez in 1989. Discovered by Chevron in 1978 which kept the information proprietary because…well, you know…oil.

SPOOKY Mistress Usili (Sage) 🏳️‍⚧️ @usili.bsky.social · 21h

As a fun reminder, the paper to come out with the first hard evidence that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs didn't come until 1980 *and* the Chicxulub crater wasn't officially identified as the source until 1990 (despite its discovery in 1978).

1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 19h

When you do the math, China is exporting 150% in energy products compared to what the US does.

And, those energy products deliver energy to their customers for decades. Ours are burned up in a moment.

Donald Trump is playing a losing game with US citizens dragged along as victim.

Hearts and Minds @nocoguy.bsky.social · 19h

Trump is ceding the world's energy future to China, and Republicans are too cowardly to call him on it.

'China is now exporting more clean energy than the U.S. is exporting dirty energy.'
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

China Is Beating the US in the Battle for Energy Export Dominance

China’s exports of clean energy technology hit a record in August, with $20 billion shipped globally.

www.bloomberg.com

2 2 1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 1d

A pattern that is likely to change in future years.

Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 1d

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

www.nobelprize.org

1

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 1d

They’re starting to feel that way, which is why there’s talk of an agricultural bail out to buy them back into the fold.

1

Reposted by Scott Wahlstrom

Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 1d

The best way to get beyond the "it's just politics" mentality is to avoid framing our current crisis as left vs. right and instead frame it as decency vs. indecency.

19 99 380

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 1d

It’s part of the disease that advanced stage capitalism has become. All participants in society are trained from birth to serve the machine, while the machine returns less and less to them. That’s the profit motive driving the Ponzi scheme we live in.

1 6

Reposted by Scott Wahlstrom

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 1d

I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?

It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?

Tim Worthington @outonbluesix.bsky.social · 1d

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

44 220 1.1K

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 1d

Educators saw damage from smart phones back when they were still flip phones. We watched it play out in schools in real time.

We’ve been ringing alarm bells for more than a decade, and the response has been to demonized education for “its” failures. It’s blaming the victim to benefit the wealthy.

Reposted by Scott Wahlstrom

Michael R Lambert @mrl53.bsky.social · 1d

Not Ai.
It has been on my roll forever.
The photog wrote a blog post about it.
You can find it.
Wild.

1 2

Reposted by Scott Wahlstrom

Aarne Granlund @aarnegranlund.bsky.social · 1d

The Soviet Union fell once, in a time before social media, in the early nineties. The nuclear weapons were not used. We did not get a huge migration mess in Finland then.

What are we afraid of this time? History is on the correct side with the Ukrainians. Give them more support.

#SlavaUkraini

10 69 300

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 2d

“If we lose the ability to treat TB with existing drugs, the whole world, including the United States, is at risk.”

Trump shooting executive orders from the hip is not a good substitute for thoughtful medical research policy.

David Tobin @tobinlab.bsky.social · 3d

Important piece from Sarah Stanley at Berkeley on new NIH definitions that can be construed to arbitrarily halt research that is both safe and important to public health and future cures www.statnews.com/2025/10/06/g... via @statnews.com

The NIH ordered me to stop my ‘dangerous’ gain-of-function research. It isn’t dangerous at all

Safe gain-of-function research is necessary to identify new treatments for diseases like for tuberculosis — but the NIH has imposed unfounded stops.

www.statnews.com

1

Reposted by Scott Wahlstrom

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 2d

“Electricity demand is growing around the world but the growth in solar and wind was so strong it met 100% of the extra electricity demand, even helping drive a slight decline in coal and gas use.”

U.S. and E.U. Holding back this trend with growing FF use.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity

Renewables overtook coal as the world's leading source of electricity this year, a think tank analysis shows.

www.bbc.com

2 4

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 2d

Canbabis Kills

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

Nearly half of drivers killed in crashes had THC in their blood

Over 40% of fatal crash victims had THC levels far above legal limits, showing cannabis use before driving remains widespread. The rate didn’t drop after legalization, suggesting policy changes haven’...

www.sciencedaily.com

Scott Wahlstrom @scottwahlstrom.bsky.social · 2d

“Electricity demand is growing around the world but the growth in solar and wind was so strong it met 100% of the extra electricity demand, even helping drive a slight decline in coal and gas use.”

U.S. and E.U. Holding back this trend with growing FF use.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity

Renewables overtook coal as the world's leading source of electricity this year, a think tank analysis shows.

www.bbc.com

2 4