Charlotte Ravenscroft

In summer 1945, the UK prime minister wrote an extraordinarily prescient memo about the strategic consequences of the atomic bomb

Eighty years later, as a new climate reality dawns, something similar needs to happen

Read my latest @overshootpod.bsky.social bonus essay👇

Cc: BBC

Flooded and forgotten: the UK’s waters are rising and we’re being kept in the dark | John Harris Rescue operations in Wales, submerged railway lines in Cornwall – these events are ever more common. So why have we utterly failed to prepare, asks Guardian columnist John Harris

Flooded and forgotten: the UK’s waters are rising and we’re being kept in the dark | John Harris

The thing to understand about this is that this catastrophe in the UK has redounded to the political benefit of the very same people and political movement that pushed for it! Extremely perverse.

A lot of people have invested in their skills and created green businesses in good faith.

You want to increase the capacity of the heat pump market *so* they become more accessible and affordable.

I hope this is reconsidered by the 26th.

Hundreds of thousands to lose heat pump subsidies in Reeves’s budget plan Exclusive: chancellor plans to fund energy efficiency levies via warm homes plan as part of drive to lower energy bills

This will kill the heat pump market.

And that means cuts in investment in the whole system: tech, skills, supply chain, business investment.

And the subsidy is not a *benefit*, it's designed to equalise the choice between gas and electric.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I’ve just announced I’ll be leading a National Emergency Briefing on 27 November . At a time when climate is in free fall on the political agenda , it’s vital our leaders realise what is at stake if we do not accelerate a just , green transition for all .

@nebriefing.bsky.social 🇬🇧

Saying we need massive CO₂ removal is like saying we need fusion power. We might need them but we ain’t got ‘em.

The fact that rich people are buying up the media and politicians, and using up the remaining carbon budget is very bad for everyone.

Here's the report that I mention that estimates that the number of super-rich living in London actually *increased* by 10% last year. So much for an exodus!

www.cnbc.com/2025/10/22/w...

UK opts out of flagship fund to protect Amazon and other threatened tropical forests Decision is bitter blow to Brazil ahead of fund’s launch at Cop30 – and an embarrassment to Prince William

This is absolutely appalling.

"The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit."

Absolutely pathetic.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

NPR REPORTER: “I’m in Gaza for the first time after two years of war, looking at this devastation up close… We are here accompanied by Israeli troops — more than two years after the war began, Israel is not allowing journalists into Gaza independently.”

I can't really bear to watch most political speeches but this is a must-watch for progressives.

Mamdani sets his promises - freezing rent, universal childcare, free buses - funded by wealth tax

Against the politics of "big money and small ideas" that's doing nothing to improve most people's lives

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to acquire TikTok and his family could soon own both Paramount and Warner Bros.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

Maybe the most powerful thing from @zackpolanski.bsky.social right now is seeing him not be afraid of the right, even when he is surrounded on all sides, it feels like. I think this calmness under pressure is really working, because lots of us want to be less afraid

Towns may have to be abandoned due to floods with millions more homes in Great Britain at risk Every constituency projected to be at greater risk, with many areas likely to be uninsurable, Guardian investigation finds

Crazy that many of our politicians think we should just put our heads in the sand about climate change

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The end of support for Windows 10 is creating an e-waste disaster This post is by Ugo Vallauri, co-director, at the Restart Project.

Today, security support for Windows 10 ends, rendering up to 400 million computers unsecure to use in the largest case of premature, planned obsolescence to date.

Latest blog from Ugo Vallauri, co-director @therestartproject.org, on why this is such a big issue and what's being done to solve it:

“Total destruction”

Its not monsters from outer space
Its humans scraping the bottom floor and sucking up every life form that exists, leaving nothing
Fish often in vain flee for their lives

Also releases 370 million metric tons of planet-warming c02 every year, roughly same as running 100 coal power plants

Are the standard at-home tests still reliable for latest variants?

World mental health day

If you're struggling there are people who will listen

Mind - 0300 102 1234

Samaritans - 116 123

National Suicide Prevention - 0800 689 5652 (6pm to midnight)

CALM - 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight every day)

Papyrus - 0800 068 4141 (under 35)

Switchboard (LGBT+) 0300 330 0630 (10am–10pm)

Nothing says Nobel Peace Prize-worthy than an individual leveling threats against Norway if he doesn't get it.

What’s stopping community retrofit?  - Collective Works Community-led projects are powering forward on retrofitting buildings. They are cutting carbon, improving comfort, and protecting public assets.

Communities are powering forward on retrofitting buildings 🏗️

But many are held back.

Can supporting them be a win-win for investors & built environment professionals too?

Read the new piece by Ellie Davies (Footwork), Sara Edmonds (National Retrofit Hub) & Alasdair Ben Dixon (Collective Works).

Climate change is going to wreck sport too.

Data centers are all the rage these days, but there are also very strong economic and environmental arguments for placing limits on their growth, as Delaware is considering in an era of skyrocketing electric bills. (1/2)

*gasp*

Harrowing

All political tribes can be hypocritical but the right's current level of hypocrisy on free speech is deliberate. It's an assertion of power not a blindspot.

Thousands of tonnes of toxic landfill liquid added to sewage and spread on English farms Exclusive: Leachate is tankered to treatment works where it mixes with sewage and industrial effluent

Another piece reminding us that England's seas and rivers are some of the most poluted in Europe. We live on a toxic island.

"Currently all of England’s rivers fail to meet legal standards for chemical pollution."
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Thought this was an interesting chart in @economist.com highlighting how mayors have such different roles in different cities.

www.economist.com/united-state...