Rhydian Cowley

A CHART SHOWING RENEWABLE OUTPUT VS PROJECTIONS

Australia's renewable revolution is 'unstoppable' but it is EXTREMELY slow-downable

Emissions are ending up comfortably worse than even recent projections. And it's not likely to get better soon. First step = admitting there's a problem! Me in @crikey.com.au -->>

www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/12/w...

Charlie Kirk spent his life‘s work and all of his energy and time targeting out-groups while arguing for a world in which gun massacres would be easy to enact, plentiful, and inevitable, and he became famous and wealthy doing it, and we’re now not supposed to mention that because it’s not polite.

Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

An aside: journalism exists in an attention economy where demand drives editorial decision making. If you find something you enjoyed, learned from and that moved you, share and share widely -- even four days late. I, and others, don't get to keep doing this stuff if no one reads it.

🚨BREAKING! 🚨

🌍 The Fossil Free Declaration is a new global initiative inviting athletes & sports organisations to sever ties with the industries driving climate breakdown.

Get involved by inviting your favourite athlete or team to join. ✍️

More 👉 cooldownclimate.org/the-fossil-f...

Here's how the real two-tier Britain works:
1. Whatever Nigel Farage says, however stupid, is looped and discussed by the media, while left-wing voices are treated as noises off.
2. Tiny far-right protests get massive airtime, while 10s of 000s gathering for Palestine or green causes are ignored.🧵

It's Minnesota State Fair time! It's time for Minnesotan folk art! Here, for example, is Saturn Devouring His Corn, in the seed art category!

America Tips Into Fascism Today is different than before.

The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...

Au contraire! The fastest animal on earth relative to its body size is an ex-Minister for Resources running to their new job at a mining company.

Coal is losing ground but not letting go: Structural inertia and the struggle to shift coal’s role in China’s power system – Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air

V v important new @globalenergymon.bsky.social + @creacleanair.bsky.social report on coal in China:

"Coal power construction and commissioned projects remain high, with no clear signs of slowing"

Renewables *are* displacing coal to some degree - but the pipeline of new projects threatens that

What is happening with Australia’s emissions? Electricity is improving. Transport is not According to latest government figures, heat-trapping pollution dropped by 1.4% in the year to March

You're likely to hear a lot about Australia and climate and emissions next month.

Here's part of the backdrop.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

My favourite stat is that Australia’s domestic use is equal to that of the gas used to compress gas into liquid for export.

a group of people smiling and eating ice creams in front of TV screens. Mostly men in suits.

The Norwegian Oil Ministry and several fossil fuel companies celebrating the approval of 19 new oil/gas projects with ice creams and big smiles.

Collectively, the projects will unlock > 800MTCO2-e of emissions; more than Germany emits in 1 year. The longest-running will pump out oil+gas until 2060.

TREATY NOW, jesus christ how long are we supposed to wait

Shame! we still don’t have one! shame!

A comic called Types of Moths. A small green and white moth is labeled bird poop. A moth with huge antennae is labeled gets wifi. A huge moth is labeled large friend. A tiny micromoth is labeled beautiful pattern, probably. A tussock moth is labeled impossible to ID to species. A generic brownish beige moth is labeled tha tone, you know, with the thing - arg, I forget the name. A pink and yellow moth is labeled stuffed toy. A sphinx moth is labeled so dizzyingly complex that it consumes your soul. A green moth is labeled ooh, green.

A drawing called puppy vs moth. A cute puppy and a fuzzy moth are both labeled cute, fuzzy, and small but only the moth is labeled quiet.

Arched Hooktip (Deprana arcuata), American Dagger (Acronicta Americana), ?, Bold-feathered Grass Moth (Herpetogramma pertextalis) Black Zigzag Moth (Panthea acronyctoides), Drexel's Datana (Datana drexelii), Harris' Three-Spot (Harrisimemna trisignata), Waved Sphinx (Ceratomia undulosa) Painted Lichen Moth (Hypoprepia fucosa), Scarlet Underwing (Catocala coccinata), Large Lace-border (Scopula limboundata), Rosy Maple Moth (Dryocampa rubicunda) ?, Red-fringed Emerald (Nemoria bistriaria), Large Maple Spanworm Moth (Prochoerodes lineola), Clemens' Grass Tubeworm Moth (Acrolophus popeanella)

Happy National Moth Week. I've been mothing for many years now and I love them so much.

Join the dots.
My cartoon in today's @theageaustralia.bsky.social and @sydmorningherald.bsky.social (both newly arrived to Bluesky)

Gigantic SUVs are a public health threat. Why don’t we treat them like one? The anti-tobacco playbook could help turn the US public against their beloved oversized cars.

Gigantic SUVs are a public health threat. Why don’t we treat them like one?

The anti-smoking playbook is worth studying and learning from, and is completely applicable to oversized cars.

This is a good article, worth reading.

Via @davidzipper.bsky.social in @vox.com #CarBloat

Ken Henry calls for urgent environmental protection overhaul Australia's environment protection laws have both failed to stop the degradation of nature and also held back economic growth, former Treasury secretary Ken Henry warns.

It's quite remarkable & maddening how essentially nothing that Ken Henry is saying is at all new. There's been so little progress by Labor & LNP governments, & now we're placing huge hopes in highly questionable market-based solutions & saying 'nature positive' a lot. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Energy giant drops offshore wind project amid global 'headwinds' International energy companies are reconsidering their investments in Australian offshore wind projects as the Trump administration's disruption of the industry causes global uncertainty.

The fact that Equinor (a fossil fuel company, not an "energy giant") recently dropped its renewable energy targets feels kind of relevant to this article, but isn't mentioned

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Remember when conservatives hated 18C for its curtailment of the ‘right to be a bigot’?
Good times.

What we should really be talking about is how the steady warming of the planet--which will continue until carbon emissions cease--is leading to increasingly dangerous, damaging & deadly heat and weather extremes. That's where my messaging is focused right now.
#TheTruthIsBadEnough

Computers used to scream every time they connected to the Internet. They knew. They tried to warn us. We did not listen.

You don't understand! The ALP government has to support Israeli genocide, US war crimes, the destruction of the rule of law, and the north west gas shelf, because it only has a 51 seat lead on the Coalition. Something something Murdoch. They're really progressive, I swear.

He's trying to do what Windschuttle couldn't and publish volumes 2 & 4 of The Fabrication of Aboriginal History? Lol

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH

Just remember, when you see arguments lamenting the ‘cost of the transition’ that cite apparently eye watering figures, that we continue to spend even more each year on the continued expansion of fossil fuel production.

4pm 🕓 Tally for the #WorldRefugeeDay #Telethon powered by the #ASRC. ❤️🙏🏼

4 ways to support:

💜 CALL 1300 692 772 (1300 MYASRC)
💜 TXT ‘HOPE’ to 0476 000 111 to donate $20
💜 DONATE ONLINE at asrc.org.au/telethon
💜 Bid on an auction item at asrc.org.au/auction

🤦‍♂️

5 things we need to see in Australia’s new nature laws A group of prominent environmental scientists devised this list of 5 things we must see in Australia’s new national environmental laws, if we are to avoid calamity and hasten recovery.

Today is #WorldEnvironmentDay 🌏.

A message for @albomp.bsky.social, Senator Watt, & Labor, we urgently need:

* The long promised but yet to be delivered environmental law reform, & reform that’s strong & consistent with the recommendations of experts. theconversation.com/5-things-we-...