“The Chinese “overcapacity” decried by European and American economists is a measure of the slowdown of investment in the world as a whole, spelling decreasing worker consumption and demand for industrial equipment.”

Thursday's blog post (02/07) is now posted (12:38 EAT) - What the new British government needs to do to get the unions on side with climate action - billmitchell.org/blog/?p=63249

How many years lost, how many 00s of billions squandered through the blatant scientific corruption here, in the writing of a paper that became the backbone of government policies around the world? It still informs UK govt policy, as @thecccuk.bsky.social leans heavily on its unproven CCS claims.

Either you get angry and sad INSIDE your privilege, now, or you will act too late. Yes, you have access to some of things that make heat more bearable, but that's only a problem if it blocks others from having the same access.

For related arguments about the ubiquitous use of concrete in the built environment, concrete as a “grey box” hiding structural maladies, and “concrete as a weapon” (Sérgio Ferro) against skilled craft labour, see our recent study for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation >> www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rl...

GMB and Unite want to drill for oil. Less than 1% of workers are employed in those sectors. But 90% of the pop use healthcare, and 23% are in education. Climate action is both pro-worker and pro-bloody-everyone action 2/2

I especially love this diagram.

Why do unions hate net zero? Business and bankers have come out against Ed Miliband as Chancellor, but why do two of the largest unions oppose him? It's not "just" the oil - it's about power. But their opposition may well just empower the right tinyurl.com/4bxk5r97

Car-centered policies turbocharge climate dangers

For more on this, see Simon Pirani's article from Feb on @peoplenature.bsky.social >> peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2025/02/07/p...

My pamphlet from last year: “Remaking Home Heating in the UK” Relevant for the heatwave too…

JUST DROPPED: For years I thought industrial electrification potential was limited. How wrong I was. Engineering studies point to 90%+. Long term scenarios support this. Technology is much further ahead than we think. Question is whether policy keeps up. janrosenow.substack.com/p/industry-f...

Studie der Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung verweist auf die Kosten des billigen Bauens: aussterbende Tierarten, unsichtbare Ausbeutung, versinkende Städte. www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1199...

Und vor allem 3.wie sehr wir insgesamt Baustoffe einsparen können indem... 👉 Luxus- & Spekulationsprojekte eingespart werden 👉 Die vorhandenen Gebäude umverteilt & effizienter genutzt werden 👉 Angebaut, umgebaut & renoviert wird ... 8/x

Denn die Grundlage für den Baustoff ist Kalkstein, der mainly aus den Überresten von Korallen & anderen Lebewesen über Jahrmillionen entstanden ist, ein fossiles Material. Dementsprechend ist darin CO2 gespeichert: im Zementwerk geht pro Tonne Kalkstein direkt eine halbe Tonne CO2 in die Luft. 3/x

Portlandzement und der damit produzierte Beton sind heute das Fundament moderner Gesellschaften. Diese #Betonhegemonie ist neu. Erst nach 1945 wurden traditionelle Baustoffe und Bauweisen zu großen Teilen verdrängt. Und jedes Jahr werden weiter 25 Mrd Tonnen Beton produziert - mit Folgen... 2/x

* Concrete Destruction: Costs and Damages of the Concrete and Cement Industry and the Future of Construction * By me, @urbanusnils.bsky.social, @conradkunze.bsky.social, Paulina Orozco & @matthiasschmelzer.bsky.social Read the full study here: www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rl...

Wir müssen über den #Zementausstieg reden Diese Woche haben wir (u.a. @conradkunze.bsky.social & @matthiasschmelzer.bsky.social ) deshalb bei der @rosaluxstiftung.bsky.social eine Studie veröffentlicht zu den... 🔥 Kosten & Schäden der Zementindustrie, ⚡ Alternativen und ✊ Politischen Hebeln 1/x

We analyze: → The full scale of costs and damages across the cement value chain → Why industry 'green' solutions like CCS are a distraction → Concrete alternatives: timber, bamboo, earth, hemp, stone → Political levers for a genuinely regenerative built environment www.rosalux.de/en/publicati...

Concrete Destruction: Costs and Damages of the Concrete and Cement Industry and the Future of Construction Excited to share a study I co-authored, together with Tom Ackers, Conrad Kunze, Paulina Orozco, and Nils Urbanus, published by the @rosaluxstiftung.bsky.social www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rl...

Die Bilanz ist verheerend: #Beton ist für 8-9% der globalen CO₂-Emissionen verantwortlich, für zerstörte Ökosysteme, vergiftete Luft, absinkende Städte, Berge von Abfall. Dennoch wachsen Produktion und Verbrauch. Mehr dazu in unserer neuen Studie 👇 www.rosalux.de/publi...