Ben Barclay

Ben Barclay

@benbarclay.bsky.social

3251

Posts

Twitter refugee. Will probably continue posting on climate, energy, Covid, Spain, Brexit and a bunch of other things.

Occasionally post about the transition to a more sustainable world on Substack: https://thegreentransition.substack.com/

Posts Replies Media

I get there’s a lot of bad blood amongst the Dems, but if Trump becomes president, it’s the fault of the people who vote for him, and of mainstream Republicans who have enabled him. Arguments about whether Biden is the best candidate, and about if he can be replaced and by whom, don’t change that.

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It doesn't make my list of the top thousand stupidest things about our country, but here in the land of the free you must be 21 or over to look at the website of a company that makes non-alcoholic beer.

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🔌💡The EU Battery Passport regulation is pushing automakers to build a circular economy for EV batteries, and Japan is moving the quickest! Nissan, Honda, and other Japanese automakers, along with parts suppliers like Denso plan to introduce battery passports by 2027. 👇🏽 #battchat 1/3

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As a retired college teacher, I focused on the education chapter in a piece for @thetyee.ca: thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

Inside the Twisted Fantasy Project of a New America | The Tyeethetyee.ca Conservative heavyweights have published a report on their plans if Trump wins a second term. We should all pay attention.

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Sure, lots of U.S. stations set all-time extreme heat records in the 1930s. But the globe was nowhere near record-hot. Bob Henson provides great context on the records, which were due to a combination of natural variability and poor farming practices. yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/07/why-...

Why were the 1930s so hot in North America? » Yale Climate Connectionsyaleclimateconnections.org Climate skeptics sometimes point to heat records from that decade to dismiss the reality of global warming. They're leaving out crucial context.

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Awful tech bro Thiel disciple becomes Trump’s running mate.

Donald Trump picks Ohio senator JD Vance as 2024 running mate https://www.ft.com/content/aef1a7cf-13ee-4c8a-9509-e7218aa2429a

Donald Trump picks Ohio senator JD Vance as 2024 running matewww.ft.com Former US marine and author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ once described ex-president as an ‘idiot’

If you’re Glad I’ll be Frank probably makes much less sense than a Greek tragedy to anyone under the age of about 40. What is this strange speaking clock supposed to symbolise?

I shit you not. There used to be a phone number you could call to get the time and temperature

China: 4% fall in thermal power generation in May, 7.4% in June. Moving in the right direction.

Good news for the climate: With hydro's return and the massive buildout of solar and wind coming online, China's electricity demand is being met while burning less coal and gas. June 2024 thermal electricity is 7.4% below June 2023. www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/2024...

2024年6月份规模以上工业增加值增长5.3% - 国家统计局www.stats.gov.cn

We watched it with a few hundred Spanish people and most of them sang the "lo, lo, lo-lo lo" version of the lyrics. But the players can't really do that.

From our desk of British Journalists Being Normal:

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The world's electricity mix in May: Fossil fuels: 56.4% Renewables: 34.7% Nuclear: 9%

In the US presidential election, where perhaps 80-90% of people who will vote have completely made up their mind, a swing of say 2% is very significant. 10-20% of the undecideds who will actually vote have changed their mind. It’s very difficult to reliably measure, but still potentially decisive.

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Only 20% of Brits disapprove of Labour's move to scrap the Rwanda scheme, new polling shows It finds widespread support for the new government's asylum and small boats policies and suggests many would support the creation of humanitarian visas www.theguardian.com/uk-news/arti...

UK government urged to offer ‘safe and legal’ route for asylum seekers as poll shows supportwww.theguardian.com Survey finds support for proposal that would allow in up to 40,000 a year with strong asylum claims and ties to Britain

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God knows what this is all about.

Breaking News: Donald Trump was rushed off the stage at his rally in Pennsylvania after pops that sounded like gun shots were heard. Follow live updates.

Live Election Updates: Trump Rushed Off Stage at Rally After What Sounded Like Shotswww.nytimes.com The former president was escorted into his motorcade at his rally in Butler, Pa., a rural town about an hour north of Pittsburgh.

I love geckos. Remind me of Durrell and to me are symbols of Mediterranean life. This is quite a big fella who thinks no one can see him against the tile.

In total, these solar farms will occupy 2,837 hectares. That sounds a lot, but 36,000 hectares are used for biofuels, which is itself only 0.6% of arable land in the UK. So these solar farms are a bit over 0.04%.

Single set of decisions will boost UK #solar photovoltaic capacity by nearly 10% Enough power for around 400,000 homes over a year Encouraging moves from new govt t.co/2iQXrmxyaQ

Government approves three new solar farms that could power 400,000 homest.co The new Labour government has pledged to approve many new infrastructure projects - including on green energy. However, MPs impacted by the changes have already raised concerns.

Does anyone in the UK know what Labour plans to do with biofuels?

Wow: “If you grow an acre of corn, it will produce 900 gallons of ethanol, which will get you about 25,000 miles for a Ford F-150...which is, not bad I guess. But let’s say we put solar on that same acre. It will produce enough electricity every year to drive my Lightning 550,000 miles.”

Forty Acres and a Sense of Hopesubstack.com Sunshine on a Cloudy Week

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Morning Bluesky. He said he wouldn’t but of course he did. The Axis of Awful People.

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Re the latter, a defense / security pact is a good idea. And the overall approach is a big improvement. But what *exactly* does it mean. To be meaningful it has to actually propose tangible (and difficult) things. Not just be a Johnson / Sunak style Atlantic declaration equivalent.

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New post, on how I did in advance of the election. (Summary: mixed) medium.com/@alastair-me...

Auditmedium.com For months I’d said that I was suspicious of the polls. And there was indeed a serious polling miss. On 3 July 2024, the Sky News polling average was: Every single pollster had overestimated Labour’s…

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UK whooping cough cases reported, first half of each year (Weeks 1-26): 2005: 369 2006: 156 2007: 366 2008: 648 2009: 604 2010: 240 2011: 286 2012: 1,590 2013: 2,131 2014: 1,024 2015: 1,334 2016: 2,252 2017: 1,541 2018: 1,273 2019: 1,670 2020: 1,315 2021: 234 2022: 235 2023: 431 2024: 20,545

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What was the Warmest Year for your county? For a good portion of Appalachia, it was 1921. For the record, 1921 was the 2nd warmest year for the con-US behind 1934, for over 60 years! It is now the 12th warmest. Warm years are not uniformly warm for everyone. #gis #gischat #cartography #mapping

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Nobody should be under any illusion that scrapping the 2-child limit will 'fix' the social security system, end food bank use, solve destitution etc. Any welfare wonk can give you a list of a dozen urgent, costly policy changes that are needed just to have a functioning *low-generosity* system.

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Trump mixes-up his words, rambles & gets confused all the time. It doesn't matter because his voters don't care. They don't support him because he's rational or competent, they support him because he's cruel, upsets people they dislike, & makes them feel powerful.

Latest UN population projections. Population in 2100 now projected to be 170 million lower than previously. And they’re still overestimating future population. This is understandable, but not realistic. 1/

Global population is now expected to reach 10.19 billion in 2100, down from 10.36 in the 2022 projection. Nigeria is 70 million lower, and Africa 100 million. Also sharp cuts to the projections for China and the Philippines. Probably still overestimating fertility.

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Corollary to this: in climate change, every fraction of a degree matters because every fraction of warming avoided means lives saved. If 1.5C slips out of reach, we fight to stay below 1.6C. If 1.6C slips out of reach, we fight to stay below 1.7C. And so on.

This might sound obvious but: The longer a heat wave lasts, the higher the risk of more people dying. Also the hotter it gets, the higher the risk of more people dying

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Notably, all can be true: 1. The direct effects of the debate on the polls have been overstated 2. The debate set in motion concerns about Biden's age that are likely to compound as race goes on 3. Ds have few other cards to play; he's an incumbent who is well behind in the EC in a very static race

If anyone wants to pay me to not fly to Japan, please get in touch. I’m also happy to not fly to a variety of other destinations. You get your offsets, I get paid to not do something I wasn’t ever going to do. Everyone’s a winner (except the climate).

BP-owned company is selling carbon credits on trees that aren’t in danger, analysis finds

BP-owned company is selling carbon credits on trees that aren’t in danger, analysis findswww.theguardian.com Satellite analysis looked at credits sold by Finite Carbon, which runs some of North America’s largest offset projects

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QED. First stroke of Ed's pen was to literally delete two policy footnotes and enable onshore wind power development, but he brought out the Sharpie to scrap North Sea expansion. That's going to scupper a lot of fossil fuel lobbyist plans. 😊

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Hospital admissions with Covid in England rose by 66% in June, and hit their highest level since January. However, they now appear to have peaked, with the 7-day average falling in the last days of June.