This is the essence of predatory capitalism. 🎯 Succinct appraisal - and sometimes the obvious needs to be said in diplomacy too.

Many of us have felt this, with floods, fire, volcanism. My own family. People met on fire projects. My intern at the institute I ran, a refugee from Hurricane Katrina whose community+identity vanished. If we’re going to face into the wind, we need surge capacity. open.substack.com/pub/nathanbw...

When everything we know and love is at stake, it’s critical to understand how empathy is often more effective than facts at driving social change. If you’re in London this Tuesday, do consider taking in Bel Jacobs’ marvelous short film, or supporting it in some way. www.theempathyproject.co.uk/film

The world doesn’t have to be this way. We can change it. But the stakes have been really ramped up and time is slipping away. C’mon people. Get out and connect with movements.

@tsakraklides.bsky.social send me a dm please - working on something I think will interest you.

This is truly incredible. We were running an intra-African migration bird research programme (led by my then-postdoc Dayo Osinubi) between SANBI + @africanornithology.bsky.social. If only I’d known that swifts from Beijing could be visiting, I might’ve set mistnets+allocated funding differently!

Open letter by >20 leading economists, businesspeople and scientists such as Johan Rockström & Izabella Teixeira call on Davos attendees to show serious leadership to safeguard humanity from climate+ecological collapse and redefine prosperity in the 21st C. Read ➡️ earth4all.life/open-letter-...

Defending science and democracy: speaking out, not hiding Prof Christina Pagel, @ucl.ac.uk: “We became scientists because we love science. That passion is empowering. Explaining why science matters builds solidarity+agency. The key thing: you don’t have to do it alone.” blog.ucs.org/guest-commen...

Feeling knocked sideways? Unplug. Go for a walk in Nature. Notice what you hear, smell, feel and see. Don’t let yourself be kept hostage by tyrants & idiocy. #birdsofBlueSky

@amightygirl.com on the state of play in Minnesota this week in Facebook: a very important read. www.facebook.com/share/1B5daD...

Climate anxiety into agency: @climatemajority.bsky.social invites you to an evening on teaching climate in a time of crisis. Crucial for teachers, mentors, faith communities, parents. All welcome! 🎬 The Hardest Lesson: powerful new film. Please sign up, bring friends and family, and share! 💙💚

“Without bees, no fruit. Without birds, no dispersal. Without soil life, no nutrients. Without the forest, the serviceberry would disappear…The work ahead requires cathedral time, not grant cycle time…Invest in relationship, produce abundance, trust the network.” open.substack.com/pub/lisagrau...

In tonight's great talk by Tim Lenton, this collection of UK-specific #climateemergency articles was cited by someone in the audience. bylinetimes.com/columns/the-...

"We already live in a world where violence is thoroughly normalized. People are ripped from their homes in the night, separated from their families...Paying for goods by being slapped in the face is absurd but is only a slight shift from what we already accept without question." tinyurl.com/mvhkjh5m

And here's the rub, as any of us who've worked for governments know too well: right arms are at odds with the left. Nigeria, South Africa plan to boost fossil fuel production, risking their climate pledges theconversation.com/nigeria-and-... Thank you Emily Ghosh and Derik Broekhoff of @sei.org

Just in case you still needed any persuasion.

Next week, book talk with #TimLenton on #planetary #TippingPoints +his new book Positive Tipping Points: How to Fix the Climate Crisis - if you're in the Exeter, Dartmoor, Plymouth, Torquay areas. talk: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/bov... book: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/posi... @jamesgdyke.info

1. Reframing the way we think about power dynamics in conservation’s khaki colonial history: a welcome @nature.com paper www.nature.com/articles/s41... by #moreangelsmbizvah and her team including @merynomsa.bsky.social @amydickman.bsky.social …a 7-part personal 🧵 @africanornithology.bsky.social

“The Party told you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, essential command.” - George Orwell. 1984.

In 2025/2026, pleasure is the absence of pain. Science funding isn’t as terrible as the Trump regime wants and that’s a win.

Do you have a very practical land management/ climate community resilience need? @didipershouse.bsky.social’s courses are legendary! Discounts on booking today. Highly recommended, please share 💙🦋🌊🔥🥵☀️ open.substack.com/pub/didipers...

The trouble : eating more than a bit of meat & dairy (even eating any, when our finite planet can’t support 8.2 billion people) is *in itself* a threat to human health too. @emilyatkin.bsky.social - “As RFK Jr used to know, human/planetary health are inextricably linked” heated.world/p/the-proble...

Well, having watched almost $50,000 of hard-earned cash drain away between Aug+Dec 2025, moving from a country under vastly irrational, destructive management to one with a future-minded ecological democracy, it's at least good to know that my scientist friends still in USA can hope for a budget.

I've also been using this language of own goals and rogue states. But it's sadly drawing a hard line in the sand. Countries decide on which side of history (short as it may be from this point) they intend to be. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

And this excellent stuff at the same time as #USA announces its intention to withdraw from @ipbes.net, which @davidobura.bsky.social chairs (as well as @cordioea.bsky.social - when does he sleep?). Now abundantly clear that we'll keep moving forward with civilizational shift, without the USA. 👍

“We wont have a democracy if we don’t have informed citizens.” Always reassuring when Britons 🇬🇧note the sober cautionary tale of the USA’s 🇺🇸 precipitous fall on that line. Leaders sometimes prefer ignorance. But not in Denmark!🇩🇰 #LouisaMunch @warwickuni.bsky.social www.bbc.com/audio/play/m...

"No AI Safety Without Planetary Safety" @neuralfoundry: "The connection between data center opposition+broader movements for energy justice is spot-on..those community groups aren't NIMBYs, they recognize the extraction model before it hardens into infrastucture." open.substack.com/pub/felixder...

Hard hitting piece by @rupertread.bsky.social on the dangers of “climate optimism” - at least 30 years of failure to take the threat seriously has led to multiplying risks and locked-in harm and suffering @climatemajority.bsky.social

At this rate, the future for these babies when they’re my age is somewhere between a pretty significant risk of 3.6-4.4•C hotter and increasing risk of a turbulent arrival of increasing cold conditions and perilous food security with the weakening of the AMOC. Thanks @andyscollick.bsky.social 🫤

@nickbreeze.genn.cc @operaatioarktis.bsky.social @hughhunt.bsky.social @hpacoalition.bsky.social @phoebebarnard.bsky.social @karenmessier.bsky.social @revkin.bsky.social @climaterealityproject.org

In a letter to a friend today - a woman who also feels deeply - I decided to link this brief 2024 #film with me by #MichaelRaimondo. "We are human if we can love. And we need to keep hold of that love now more than ever. Everything we know and love is at stake." www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZny...

“The ocean breathes carbon into the atmosphere. The atmosphere weeps rain onto the land. Plants drink light, exhale oxygen. …We’re in church, not a science classroom.” Beautiful, powerful, lyrical speech by @lgraumlich.bsky.social Pass it on. Respond together. open.substack.com/pub/lisagrau...

In my teens I was a wannabe Keith Jarrett or Chick Corea, if without talent. So like almost everyone whose parents had a TV set in the 1970s, I grew up loving Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas. Great version below! Tx @georgewachsmuth.bsky.social

substack.com/@damiani/not... This couldn’t be more true or more important. Build trust. Build community. Make friends. Look out for each other. Discuss, debate, be humans. The simplest, best act of resistance in a world where autocrats want us at each other’s throats. Tx @jessedamiani.bsky.social

Seriously? Well, it works. But really …. #sciencecomms 🧪 www.facebook.com/share/v/1HFz...

How much more clearly can we state this?

As a planetary/biodiversity scientist and longtime strategist against hyperconsumption I always find the consumerist nature of holidays discouraging. Helping countries like #UK with climate adaptation helps everyone focus on preparing positively for the challenges we face ahead. Please sign & share.

“To understand the impact this is having, our team of science editors in the U.S. reached out to their authors to reflect on how 2025 has affected their work. ‘This year nearly broke me as a scientist,’ one explained.” - @theconversation.com theconversationglobal.cmail20.com/t/r-e-tkddhu...

Pass it on. Please. Time’s a-wasting. youtu.be/M0TPq5XRPBg?... @climatemajority.bsky.social @liamkavanagh.ie @rupertread.bsky.social @planetx.bsky.social @clonalantibody.bsky.social @katharinehayhoe.com

My hometown of Mount Vernon, Washington - although I’ve left there for a while - is an outstanding example of local leadership, community collaboration and preparedness. open.substack.com/pub/revkin/p... Thank you Andy @revkin.bsky.social

Remember that we take important decisions for the viability of our future every time we choose to disparage or encourage. Thank you to the always incisive and wonderful #RebeccaSolnit and Elise Buckle ✨ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I came here to post this as I can't believe it doesn't already have 10,000 signatures - please sign and share! So vital and so utterly crazy that this has to be petitioned for. #climatesky

Yes, we need to stop our lazy practice of dismissing progress as not enough and focus on what we are doing and can do, faster, more comprehensively. These are everything-everywhere-all-at-once moments. See for example Emmanuel Macron in France: a paragon. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/f...

“A very public rupture in a long running alliance is of course, a major geopolitical moment. Still, EU institutions dig their own graves when it comes to (new) policies (on food, climate+environment) that would ensure EU’s ability to survive+thrive in the long run.” open.substack.com/pub/thinink/...

This arises from one of the most remarkable national social change movements. And such movements must be near-universal if humanity is to run the gauntlet of the next centuries. Please sign if you’re a UK citizen or resident. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73... Thanks @clonalantibody.bsky.social

I was about to post about this, but already see a scattering of posts in the last 3 hours. Fantastiskt initiativ, låt det sprida sig vidare. Fantastic initiative. Let it spread far and wide. www.climatenobelprize.org

My small garden in the former old-growth forests of Washington, felled 70-150 years ago to clear land for (colonial) human settlements, had eight giant stumps of trees like these. I kept them there, of course, to honor these "forest ghosts." Beautiful, tragic oases. #STOP www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

It's astonishing to me still that govts and media so willfully allow lobbyists to erode their responsibilities to people, planet and future. @nebriefing.bsky.social

1. When we first started talking about 'critical national infrastructure' while working at S African National Biodiversity Institute, I thought 'how ugly a term.' But when you think about Nature in all her connections, interdependencies, webs & corridors, she really is a gossamer infrastructure.🧵