Posts by helenczerski@fediscience.org
(DIR) Post #AY4DX7fBRKMXgsS1Z2 by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-07-25T16:25:27Z
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The ocean engine has one "big beast" component, on top of all the smaller components: a sinking of surface water in some places that is very slowly shunted around the deep until it eventually returns to the surface. There is a lot of debate about how much climate change might make it slow down or stop, but the idea that it's even a remote possibilty in the next few decades is very scary. We must decarbonise ASAP.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/25/gulf-stream-could-collapse-as-early-as-2025-study-suggests#ocean #AMOC #climate
(DIR) Post #AY7mLRSe5ORLUGdEzw by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-07-27T13:40:13Z
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So many reasons for forbidding deep sea mining, but I think one of the biggest is also least discussed: accountability. Yes, some mines on land are bad, but we can look, check, demand explanations. In the deep sea, it’s incredibly hard to track actions/impacts. If miners behave badly when seen, how badly will they behave when invisible? #ocean https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/27/james-cameron-supports-deep-sea-mining-activists-say-its-a-disaster-whos-right?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
(DIR) Post #AYC0E1lcndVVDWualk by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-07-29T12:21:21Z
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And here's another book I’ve just finished, for anyone who has studied (or is studying) maths. It’s a lovely gallop through the parts of mathematical history that we don’t hear about, steering away from the stories that focus on the “Great Men” of the white western world, and digging around in a far more global and diverse view of how mathematics was developed. Especially highly recommended for anyone teaching maths at any level. It’s out in a couple of weeks. #maths #books #history
(DIR) Post #AYDSgvq8uJH36hYWtE by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-07-30T09:45:14Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
The evidence that cars don’t work as primary mass transport in cities is everywhere: traffic jams, air pollution, accident rates, the shocking fraction of city space taken up by parking spaces, safety barriers/bollards etc. This 100 year experiment should be declared over, and we should put proper effort into the systems that HAVE been shown to work and scale: walking, cycling, e-cargo bikes, cheap/accessible/reliable public transport. This “argument” about LTNs is just lazy delay. #LTN #cities
(DIR) Post #AYFsgr7xPnBPcDQtbk by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-07-31T08:06:03Z
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ARGHHH.
(DIR) Post #AYH9jdjPZOJ7JfpCfA by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-07-31T22:46:06Z
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“By announcing hundreds of new oil and gas licences, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has become a “dangerous radical” pursuing “moral and economic madness”.That is not the judgment of Just Stop Oil, or any other environmental campaign group, but the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/31/new-oil-gas-licences-rishi-sunak-un-climate-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other#climate #oil
(DIR) Post #AYSXfP4pQJuT8DHTnc by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-08-06T13:11:44Z
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My membership of British Cycling has come around for renewal and I have no hesitation in telling them to get lost. The fact that they took on a major sponsorship deal with Shell (SHELL!) in October and have refused to reverse that decision is appalling. This is classic greenwashing - Shell are continuing to extract all the oil they can. Cycling should not offer shelter to the fossil fuel companies putting profit ahead of the planet.https://bikebiz.com/a-shocking-decision-industry-reacts-as-british-cycling-signs-deal-with-shell/#Cycling #UCI #Shell
(DIR) Post #AYUMHNobkhRF5ZxQEy by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-08-07T10:31:11Z
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Well. "Open sesame" is actually a thing. Just googled where sesame seeds come from (it never occurred to me to ask before) and found that they grow in pods that are hung upside down to ripen until they burst open and release their seeds. The treasure is revealed.https://awkwardbotany.com/2022/03/30/dispersal-by-open-sesame/#seeds #science #OpenSesame
(DIR) Post #AYdBD7oDyEnXDPBUTg by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-08-11T16:52:32Z
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We generally think that over-fishing is about fish that humans eat. But around a third of all wild-caught fish are turned into fishmeal, because fishmeal is around 65% protein and therefore in demand for for feeding farmed fish and pigs. It's an almost invisible trade with huge consequences. But it's not an efficient way to make more protein. We need to re-think these links and ask whether it's really worth the damage to the ocean & communities.#ocean #fish #fishmealhttps://hakaimagazine.com/news/the-fervent-fight-over-fish-meal/?omhide=true&utm_source=Hakai+Magazine+Weekly&utm_campaign=f37dd9c2c5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_06_COPY_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0fc1967411-f37dd9c2c5-121628661
(DIR) Post #AYlYHRlUH4GrcGjJ6e by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-08-15T17:18:45Z
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Some questions that should be asked about every new piece of tech:- Does it actually work?- What are its side effects, especially for ecosystems, communities and the physical/chemical state of the natural environment?- What’s the lifetime carbon cost?- What’s the lifetime energy cost? If renewables, how much capacity is that taking away decarbonising the grid?- Will scale-up cause damage?- Who benefits most from it and who will control/regulate it for the public good?#climate #tech
(DIR) Post #AYnKoL3ZE7OrKBtcmG by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-08-16T16:30:42Z
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A significant problem with a lot of geo-engineering/carbon dioxide removal ideas is that they go like this:1. A lecture about how meddling with the planet has caused massive problems.2. A second lecture about how meddling with even more things (previously unmeddled with) is going to make the situation better.This highly interventionist approach, treating the Earth as something to be improved, rather than to be understood and fixed- this IS the problem. #climate #geoengineering #CDR
(DIR) Post #AZ858Y6mtJkoeJAyye by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-08-26T15:10:33Z
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The solution to “autobesity” is NOT to change car parking spaces. It’s to fix the root of the problem and get rid of these over-sized, wasteful, dangerous and unnecessary vehicles. “More than 150 car models are now too big to fit in average car parking spaces, according to analysis conducted by Which?.”https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/26/more-than-150-car-models-too-big-for-regular-uk-parking-spaces?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other #cars #cities #SUV
(DIR) Post #AZItCn5a4fCpYdQXM8 by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-08-31T19:16:54Z
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The earthworms in North America are invaders. There used to be native earthworms, but they were wiped out by glaciers around 10,000 years ago and all the current worms arrived accidentally (via humans) from Europe and Asia in the past few centuries.https://ecosystemsontheedge.org/earthworm-invaders/And now global warming is causing “global worming”, as worms spread northwards into a warmer Arctic:https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/climate/invasive-worms-arctic-environment.htmlThe consequences aren’t clear yet. But it’s a lot of change.#climate #Earth #worms
(DIR) Post #AZZ2rFeQuuvph0iZay by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-09-08T13:05:48Z
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Listen up, UK. THIS is how you do bikes on trains. Well done Germany.#bikes #train
(DIR) Post #AZh6WeL62nyBXxS4ES by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-09-12T01:50:55Z
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Reasons why a fossil-fuel-free life is better, number 31724: far fewer “colourless odourless poisonous gases” floating around. In a century, people will look back on us tolerating/normalising this situation like we look back on people throwing human faeces out of upper floor windows on to the street below, as a disposal mechanism.#climate #FossilFuel
(DIR) Post #AaQehWTfFZrhMU4xO4 by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-10-04T10:17:03Z
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I think I'm still in recovery from learning a few weeks ago that Canadian fossil fuel companies tell people that because it's "natural" gas that they produce, burning it can't hurt the environment. And people believe them. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, remember that and 🤯🤯🤯🤯 #climate #oil #gas #natural
(DIR) Post #Ab3NBNDwCWRcHBFOpk by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-10-22T18:58:54Z
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Maybe you all knew about this, but @davidho has just introduced me to this useful tool for expanding your Mastondon world:https://followgraph.vercel.app/#searchFormIt looks at the people you follow and the people they follow and ranks them by the number of follows from your followed. Hopefully you will find some people who were on here all along but who you hadn't found yet - I did.#mastodon #network
(DIR) Post #AcjqhSUVqDIMRRXfRA by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-11-16T12:39:40Z
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If you're one of those organised people who is already thinking about Christmas presents, the FT has just named Blue Machine as one of its best science books of 2023. And one of the nicest things about the reaction to it has been that even people who have no initial interest in the ocean really love it, as well as those who start as fans. Do give the gift of the ocean this festive season!https://www.ft.com/content/03cccd68-3eb7-4ea2-bbde-dfc567ecdf4b#science #books #ocean
(DIR) Post #AcjqtP0KdARV6Q7Wls by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-11-12T20:24:11Z
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Hooray for better solar technologies! But we should not speak or design on the assumption that covering water is automatically a cost-free option - underwater ecosystems rely on light. It is true that in some places, reducing evaporation would be really helpful. But the tone here is that anything underwater has no value, and we should be well past making that sort of mistake."Floating factories of artificial leaves could make green fuel for jets & ships"https://tinyurl.com/2y5pehnu
(DIR) Post #Acu4XVcJosMPfWG7sm by helenczerski@fediscience.org
2023-12-17T14:08:54Z
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Still on the research ship, and not posting about it here because of ship rules, but here's my bubble buoy on deck yesterday, just before it went over the side to measure lots of lovely bubbles in fairly horrid stormy seas. #science #ocean #snow