Recent research estimates that the aid cuts of the Trump administration will cost millions of lives.

Huge recommendation: Historian @timothysnyder.bsky.social in a remarkable interview in Austrian public television about the first 100 days of the second Trump administration (*English audio version*).

What a great success story - Must-read, must-share!

Major news from France!

As so often ... clear and easy to understand information on manmade climate change provided by Austrian meteorologist @marcuswadsak.bsky.social. Definitely recommend following!

New data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association shows Tesla sales plummeting by almost 50%.

Land of the free ...

A North Dakota jury on Wednesday awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to the Texas-based pipeline company Energy Transfer, which had sued Greenpeace over its role in protests nearly a decade ago against its Dakota Access Pipeline.

9 out of 10 cars sold in Norway are electric. Copenhagen in Denmark has become one of THE biking cities worldwide. Skandinavia as a whole leads in heat pump installations (thanks for sharing @janrosenow.bsky.social). The northern countries of Europe show: There is no excuse for climate inaction.

The United States recorded $315 billion in clean energy investments last year. About 80 percent of the investments tied to the "Inflation Reduction Act", the key climate bill of the Biden administration, have gone to Republican congressional districts. Climate and economy CAN go hand in hand.

The richest man on earth taking food and medicine from the poorest of the poor: "When you meet those dying children and look into their eyes and hold their hands and feel faint heartbeats flutter, you can’t bear the gleeful laughter. You see children just like your own and hang your head in shame."

Remarkable climate news from Germany! Conservatives (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) agreed in principle with the Green Party on plans for a massive increase in state borrowing for infrastructure and military. The Greens secured a €100 billion fund for climate and economic transformation.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright gave a remarkable speech these days. Not that his unreflected pro-fossil-fuels standpoint was in any way surprising (Wright is a fracking magnate). But telling ... as even he admitted: “We have indeed raised global atmospheric CO2 concentration by 50 percent..."

I have always been an advocate for publicly funded broadcasters like the BBC in the UK or the ORF in Austria. This excellent interview of ORF anchorman @arminwolf.at with virologist @cdrosten.bsky.social reminds me why.

“The climate crisis that is coming our way is not just about polar bears, and it’s not just about green jobs. It actually is coming through your mail slot, in the form of insurance cancellations, insurance nonrenewals and dramatic increases in insurance costs.” Great reporting from the @nytimes.com

AUSTRIA DISPATCH 🇦🇹 On Monday, a new coalition government will be inaugurated in Austria - consisting of Conservatives, Social Democrats and Liberals. What might be interesting for international readers? - The government was formed after talks with the far-right Freedom Party had failed.

Friendly reminder because it is more important than ever: A 2021 survey of 90.000 (!) peer-reviewed articles found more than 99 percent agreement on human-caused climate change.

Sometimes, I wonder what people will think in 50 or 100 years when they take a look into a news archive or a history book ...

Being a citizen of Austria, the birthplace of Adolf Hitler, and having personally talked to survivors of the Nazi regime, I must emplore you: Stand up against this madness or it might be too late!

A little reminder for everyone who says, "It takes more time to prove or disprove manmade climate change". The greenhouse effect has been experimentally observed ... ... BEFORE the US Civil War began ... BEFORE Darwin’s Origin of Species was published ... BEFORE Charles Dickens died

BREAKING NEWS: The negotiations of the Conservatives and the right-wing Freedom Party to form a coalition government in Austria have FAILED. Plans to role back climate legislation and to end independent funding of the public broadcaster ORF are halted for now. © C.Stadler/Bwag

The "Heartland Institute", a lobbying organization infamous for denying the overwhelming scientific consensus on manmade climate change, is getting a foothold in Europe - aided by Austrian politicians.

@nytimes.com climate alert: E.P.A. Tells More Than 1,000 They Could Be Fired ‘Immediately’ www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/c...

In the negotiations to form a coalition government in Austria, the right-wing Freedom party pushes to end public funding for the public broadcaster ORF (the Austrian equivalent to the BBC) and make it depend on the goodwill of the government. This petition aims to stop these dangerous plans:

In just one year (2024), China has newly installed more solar power capacity than the entire existing solar power capacity of the United States.

The Austrian right-wing Freedom Party (who is currently negotiating a coalition government with the Conservatives) is pushing to defund the public broadcaster ORF, the Austrian equivalent to the BBC. Journalists are asking politicians and civil society to stop the "destruction of the ORF":

“Homeowners’ insurance is where many Americans are now feeling the financial effect of climate change directly, in their pocketbook. Nature doesn’t really care whether people are living in a blue state or a red state or another state, or whether you do or don’t believe in climate change.”

@derstandard.at is a major source of climate information in Austria. Now a top member of the right-wing Freedom Party (which is currently negotiating a coalition government with the Conservatives) threatened to end press subsidies for the newspaper - because of unwelcome (but factbased) reporting.

A must-read and a great source for data and quotes from the @nytimes.com:

Recently, Elon Musk said only the far-right political party AFD could "save Germany". Today, their frontrunner Alice Weidel pledged to tear down all windmills in Germany if her party should succeed in the Parliamentary Elections on February 23. She called them "windmills of shame". No joke ...

(1/2) Dear fellow supporters of a fact-based society! A wave of (climate) misinformation has swept over social media in connection with the horrific wildfires in Los Angeles. My question to all of you: Do you suggest ignoring these false claims (to not further create traffic on these pages or ...

These days, my thoughts are with all the people in California who are in grave danger because of massive wildfires! But much more than "Thoughts & Prayers" they (and we all) need "Mitigation & Adaption" to address climate change and its most disastrous effects.

“We put a little sticker on wherever we spend the money. It says ‘Brought to you by the Climate Commitment Act.’” Thought-provoking article on the difficulties of climate communication - and how approval for pricing greenhouse gas emissions was secured in the state of Washington:

"One day, we will tell our grandchildren that there were vehicles in which we injected a mixture of gasoline and air, ignited it, and made it bang. They will listen to us in disbelief." Great piece on the electrification of city busses and how it is aided by EU policies:

"It may be possible to deny global warming, but it is impossible to deny the positive (side) effects of measures against climate change" That is the message of this great article from the Austrian newspaper @derstandard.at (by @dernaro.bsky.social and colleagues). *in German, but worth translating

"Build it and they will come" is not just a quote from a legendary Kevin-Costner-movie but also the stunningly successful approach of the city of Copenhagen towards biking infrastructure. What an inspiring story!!

The idea of natural gas as a "remotely green bridge technology" on the way to a carbon-free economy is more and more crushed by mounting research.

A: "Measures against climate change are so expensive" Texas house insurance prices after natural disasters increase in quantity/intensity because of climate change: "Hold my beer" (Shoutout to the @houstonchronicle.com for the great reporting!)

Small patches of urban wildflowers boost bee populations and biodiversity, study shows theprogressplaybook.com/2024/11/26/s...

Fighting polarization and misinformation is insanely tough, but one approach: We can never get tired of demanding from others and OURSELVES to differentiate between opinion and fact. Tariffs against half of the world - bad idea maybe, but a legitimate opinion China made up climate change - a lie

Sometimes, journalism can be just excellent at bringing you an overview of a topic - what a visually appealing and informative piece from @zhonggg.bsky.social and @rjnskl.bsky.social for the @nytimes.com:

As many studies have shown, fighting against and adopting to man-made global warming will not be successful without change. But change is often an amazing opportunity to create something better anyway ...

A good reminder of what is possible. China had a goal of 1,200GW of renewable electricity generation capacity by 2030. They will pass that this year and are expected to hit 3,000 GW by 2030.

Great post from meteorologist @marcuswadsak.bsky.social. Climate change deniers have repeatedly claimed that there is no rise in temperatures, just more (heated up) concrete near weather stations. Data from the "Sonnlick"-weather station (located high up in the Austrian Alps) disproves the claim.

This is a story a lot of reporters have been chasing: Starting in 2015, a massive cyberespionage campaign targeted some of America's most prominent environmentalists. Now, we can reveal that the FBI has been probing whether a longtime Exxon lobbyist was involved. www.reuters.com/business/ene...

If somebody calls science-based worries about the effects of climate change "fearmongering" again, maybe those before-and-after-pics might come in handy ... Thanks @fisherdanar.bsky.social for sharing another great piece from @theguardian.com!

“Compared with areas with no wetlands, wetland areas can reduce surface runoff by 15 to 30% and enhance soil retention by 30 to 50%, thereby decreasing flood peak levels by 10 to 25% and lowering the risk of mountain floods and debris flows.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The NY Times has published a fascinating article "How China become the world's largest car exporter"? The growth curve is impressive. The question of our lifestyles remains at the heart of it What kind of city do we want to live in? Car-centric? Human-centred? 🚘 | 🚴🏼‍♀️🧍🧍🏻‍♀️ www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Man-made climate change is much more than just a matter of natural sciences. It's also a question of social justice. Thank you @andrewlfanning.bsky.social for this important post:

News for the record books: US installed 32GW of solar PV in 2024. 🧪🔌💡☀️💨🔋 electrek.co/2024/11/29/2...