Robert McDougall
@sylvanheathcote.bsky.social
Researcher in sustainable agriculture. Hoping to save the world, maybe through science, maybe though politics.
Full of laughing gas and ennui.
Full of laughing gas and ennui.
That’s some great sovereignty we have here.
December 16, 2025 at 8:16 AM
That’s some great sovereignty we have here.
Aren’t cheques still widely used in USA? When I lived there a mere 5 years ago my landlord insisted I pay rent that way. Was quite a process getting my bank to send him one from me every month.
December 16, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Aren’t cheques still widely used in USA? When I lived there a mere 5 years ago my landlord insisted I pay rent that way. Was quite a process getting my bank to send him one from me every month.
The tech bros donate huge amounts to political parties. Clean energy developers don’t. That’s it.
December 15, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The tech bros donate huge amounts to political parties. Clean energy developers don’t. That’s it.
Good to see the ABC remain totally uncritical of our “most important ally” descending further into facism.
December 12, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Good to see the ABC remain totally uncritical of our “most important ally” descending further into facism.
A depressing fact I realised living in the US at the height of the BLM protests is that a greater proportion of the Aboriginal population in aus has been killed by police than the black population in USA. But is aus it happens behind prison doors, not on the streets, so there’s no mass protests.
December 11, 2025 at 2:24 AM
A depressing fact I realised living in the US at the height of the BLM protests is that a greater proportion of the Aboriginal population in aus has been killed by police than the black population in USA. But is aus it happens behind prison doors, not on the streets, so there’s no mass protests.
That’ll lower grocery prices!
December 10, 2025 at 1:30 AM
That’ll lower grocery prices!
Also, no chance that dems, no mater how big a majority they have, will ever have the courage to stand up to their donors (who are also trump’s donors) and undo anything but the most minor parts of this.
December 9, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Also, no chance that dems, no mater how big a majority they have, will ever have the courage to stand up to their donors (who are also trump’s donors) and undo anything but the most minor parts of this.
Not “the Brexit deal”, Brexit itself. Unless he’s planning a new deal that makes us like CH/NO (I.e. not in EU but effectively so - what we were told we could have by BoJo but then told after the fact we couldn’t) any deal will remain this damaging.
December 2, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Not “the Brexit deal”, Brexit itself. Unless he’s planning a new deal that makes us like CH/NO (I.e. not in EU but effectively so - what we were told we could have by BoJo but then told after the fact we couldn’t) any deal will remain this damaging.
Why did a guy who says renewable energy doesn’t will get solar panels for an organisation he likes?
November 29, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Why did a guy who says renewable energy doesn’t will get solar panels for an organisation he likes?
Yet another time where’s I have to ask “what’s actually different now to what it would be if Dutton had won?”. Wish I weren’t asking that so often..,
November 25, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Yet another time where’s I have to ask “what’s actually different now to what it would be if Dutton had won?”. Wish I weren’t asking that so often..,
5/5 thus I care about climate change in part because, despite all its flaws, human society is great, and I’d like to see it persist. But sadly I don’t think it will.
November 24, 2025 at 10:52 PM
5/5 thus I care about climate change in part because, despite all its flaws, human society is great, and I’d like to see it persist. But sadly I don’t think it will.
4/x now we’re not a society, we’re just a bunch of subsistence farmers and hunter gatherers spending all our efforts to find enough to eat in a blighted landscape. It’s not how I want to live my old age, and to have my son live, but it’s the choice govs are all making.
November 24, 2025 at 10:51 PM
4/x now we’re not a society, we’re just a bunch of subsistence farmers and hunter gatherers spending all our efforts to find enough to eat in a blighted landscape. It’s not how I want to live my old age, and to have my son live, but it’s the choice govs are all making.
2/x at some point it’ll go beyond luxuries. At some point we won’t be able to afford to give a proportion of how earnings away to society in the form of taxes, and suddenly we lose everything else. No schools, roads, hospitals etc. And pesto…
November 24, 2025 at 10:50 PM
2/x at some point it’ll go beyond luxuries. At some point we won’t be able to afford to give a proportion of how earnings away to society in the form of taxes, and suddenly we lose everything else. No schools, roads, hospitals etc. And pesto…
2/x The fact that food is so cheap is what allowed society as we know it to exist, with diverse jobs and luxuries that we all take for granted, like time off and access to entertainment. But climate change will make food harder to grow and thus more expenses, so we won’t be able to afford those..,
November 24, 2025 at 10:48 PM
2/x The fact that food is so cheap is what allowed society as we know it to exist, with diverse jobs and luxuries that we all take for granted, like time off and access to entertainment. But climate change will make food harder to grow and thus more expenses, so we won’t be able to afford those..,
1/x I often talk about how I expect society to collapse in my lifetime, and this is why. Right now, food is a trivial expense for people in developed countries with decent wages. This is very unusual historically, for the vast majority of human existence, obtaining food was basically everything…
November 24, 2025 at 10:46 PM
1/x I often talk about how I expect society to collapse in my lifetime, and this is why. Right now, food is a trivial expense for people in developed countries with decent wages. This is very unusual historically, for the vast majority of human existence, obtaining food was basically everything…
And yet Starmer does nothing to undo any of it. Yes, officially rejoining would be a long slow process, but getting back frictionless trade and freedom of movement could be achieved very quickly.
November 24, 2025 at 9:36 PM
And yet Starmer does nothing to undo any of it. Yes, officially rejoining would be a long slow process, but getting back frictionless trade and freedom of movement could be achieved very quickly.
But climate change takes away food water and shelter, which was my point.
November 24, 2025 at 9:11 AM
But climate change takes away food water and shelter, which was my point.
But it is everything. Every other plan governments make for the future rely on climate change being sorted, yet at the same time they actively refuse to sort it out…
November 24, 2025 at 6:22 AM
But it is everything. Every other plan governments make for the future rely on climate change being sorted, yet at the same time they actively refuse to sort it out…
Wait, but I thought countries couldn’t function if leaders faced consequences for their actions…
November 23, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Wait, but I thought countries couldn’t function if leaders faced consequences for their actions…
Why are we suddenly concerned about his racist part when the media has spent years studiously ignoring his racist present?
November 22, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Why are we suddenly concerned about his racist part when the media has spent years studiously ignoring his racist present?
This was Mamdani expertly playing trump, and not him capitulating right? Right?
November 21, 2025 at 10:23 PM
This was Mamdani expertly playing trump, and not him capitulating right? Right?
So Starmer has just now realised farage is racist hey? I wonder if it was the fact that he’s supporting a Labour policy that tipped him off..,
November 20, 2025 at 12:14 PM
So Starmer has just now realised farage is racist hey? I wonder if it was the fact that he’s supporting a Labour policy that tipped him off..,
It certainly creates more questions than it answers about how it works.
November 20, 2025 at 3:22 AM
It certainly creates more questions than it answers about how it works.
There may be a line about it somewhere but I don’t recall. Not a very memorable episode apart from the fact it makes the rare comment on federation economics (without any further explanation) noted above.
November 20, 2025 at 2:12 AM
There may be a line about it somewhere but I don’t recall. Not a very memorable episode apart from the fact it makes the rare comment on federation economics (without any further explanation) noted above.