Dahami Gunathilake

Cyclone Ditwah brings worst flooding in decades to Sri Lanka, killing hundreds Sri Lanka is facing one of its worst flood disasters in two decades, with nearly one million people affected and more than 400 reported dead or missing after Cyclone Ditwah unleashed catastrophic floo...

I never grasped the true weight of “Extreme weather events are the new norm” until last week. Sri Lanka is facing its worst flooding disaster in decades, 355 people dead, 366 missing, and over 1.1 million affected.

news.un.org/en/story/202...

Sri Lanka on High Alert as Cyclone Death Toll Reaches 56 Heavy rainfall was forecast for nearly all of the island nation as Cyclone Ditwah churned northwest toward India.

Sri Lanka was on high alert on Friday, with rail services suspended and government offices shut, as the death toll from floods and landslides caused by a cyclone reached 56.

From Crisis to Comeback: How Climate-Smart Growth Can Power Sri Lanka's Recovery In April 2024, as a severe heatwave swept across Sri Lanka, temperatures climbed into the mid-30s °C. Malani, who lives in a small flat in Colombo, began leaving home earlier each day to avoid the worst of the midday sun...

From Crisis to Comeback: How Climate-Smart Growth Can Power Sri Lanka's Recovery
->World Bank | More from Lil Dr Glen EcoChat at BigEarthData.ai

After sitting through all those talks at the Royal Society this week, I'm pretty sure this is a more effective use of rocks to solve climate change.

“Data Crunch”: AI Boom Threatens to Entrench Fossil Fuels and Compromise Climate Goals A new report titled “Data Crunch: How the AI Boom Threatens to Entrench Fossil Fuels and Compromise Climate Goals” from the Center for Biological Diversity warns the booming artificial intelligence in...

Here at #COP30, attendees are lauding AI as an antidote to the climate crisis. While AI can deliver benefits, countries must address AI’s grave costs to our climate, water, & planet.

Happy to unpack this w/ @democracynow.org @amygoodman.bsky.social

www.democracynow.org/2025/11/19/j...

As the dams feeding Tehran run dry, Iran struggles with a dire water crisis Iran spends 90 percent of its water on low-yield agriculture in a pursuit of self-sufficiency that exacerbates drought.

'As the dams feeding Tehran run dry, Iran struggles with a dire water crisis...

A whopping 19 dams – up from 9 3 wks ago – are on the verge of drying out, filled to less than 5% capacity. Dozens of others are not faring much better, according to data'

www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11...

Is limiting the temperature increase to 1.5°C still possible? - Glen P. Peters, 2024 It is always possible to find arguments to make 1.5°C forever possible, but they increasingly diverge from reality. It is time to admit that the world will cros...

Seeing calls "to keep 1.5°C within reach" at #COP30 and am unsure what to make of them. What would a failure to recognise reality mean? Does it mean we are also not recognising the need to adapt to a 1.5°C world?

Recommended read by @glenpeters.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

From today's @financialtimes.com #cop30

Born #OnThisDay in 1934 was astronomer, astrobiologist and science communicator Carl Sagan. As well as being one of the world's greatest science communicators, he worked on the Viking and Mariner missions. Listen to his famous 'Pale Blue Dot' monologue: https://bit.ly/2ANRX30

The English edition of the Water Atlas, published by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, presents the complexity and urgency of global water issues in a visually compelling, accessible format. It provides facts, trends, case studies, and political context to inform public discourse and shape policy. From the unequal distribution of water and industrial pollution to climate-linked water insecurity and geopolitical tensions, the Atlas aims to sharpen understanding and support action toward more sustainable and equitable water governance. Read it now: https://eu.boell.org/en/WaterAtlas

🟢 Overuse, pollution & the #climate crisis are fuelling a global #water crisis 🥵
💧 The new #WaterAtlas 2025 by @boell.de reveals the scale, urgency & politics of global water challenges – and how fairer, sustainable governance is possible 👉 eu.boell.org/en/WaterAtlas
#COP30 @cop30brazil.bsky.social

This week's full moon, known as the Beaver Moon, will be a #supermoon. It will reach full phase a few hours before perigee (its closest approach to Earth). As the closest super moon of 2025 it will be the brightest as well. (via @rtphokie.bsky.social)

Anyway, we need some joy, so here's the Egyptian foreign minister being given a Lego Pyramid by the Danish foreign minister.

New study in Nature by Lin et al shows how the sea-level rise from the melting Ice Age ice (a total of 120 meters rise) ended thousands of years ago.
Until our fossil fuel use started a new phase of rising seas.
Graph shows the global mean rate of sea level rise.
🌊
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Carl Sagan sitting on a wooden bench.

After the earth dies, some 5 billion years from now, after it's burned to a crisp, or even swallowed by the Sun, there will be other worlds and stars and galaxies coming into being -- and they will know nothing of a place once called Earth.

― Carl Sagan

Damaging effects of Trump becoming president?

African maize is facing a drought crisis, but new ideas are taking root EDITOR’S NOTE: Global Perspectives is a CNN editorial and live event series exploring the dynamic economies at the frontlines of global transformation. The first Global Perspectives live event, taking place in London on November 3, 2025, will explore Africa’s role...

African maize is facing a drought crisis, but new ideas are taking root
->CNN | More from Lil' Dr Glen EcoChat at BigEarthData.ai

Excited to share that our latest study on "global crop water footprints" is featured on the front cover of Nature Food, October edition!
OS Full Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
@iwmi.bsky.social
#IWMI #CropWaterUse #cropproduction #Wateravailability

"Data centers draining resources in water-stressed communities"

Agriculture is the world’s biggest water user, and understanding how that water is consumed is key to shaping food systems. A new study maps blue and green water use for 46 crops at 10 km resolution, revealing where and how water powers our plates.
👉 on.cgiar.org/3IUbK6L

@davyvanham.bsky.social

Open access model and data on blue and green water consumption of crops to help close water data gap IWMI researchers found a 9% increase of global crop blue and green water consumption between 2010 and 2020. The spatially distributed data and the model will benefit decision-making in agricultural wa...

Open access model and data on blue and green water consumption of crops to help close water data gap www.iwmi.org/news/open-ac...

Proud to have contributed to this impactful IWMI-led global study on crop water consumption.

Today's Cartoon- Jane Goodall

‘Revolutionary’ AI tools rescue old weather data to improve climate models Specialist machine-learning models are helping researchers to transcribe centuries-old handwritten records.

AI tools are starting to help scientists fill gaps in our knowledge of how weather and climate has varied in the past, with a focus on instrumental weather observations stored in paper archives worldwide

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Climate models need more frequent releases of input data — here’s how to do it Annual updates to ‘climate forcing’ data sets would allow simulations to keep pace as global warming accelerates.

Climate models need more frequent releases of input data — here’s how to do it

Protect Antarctica — or risk accelerating planetary meltdown To keep Earth habitable, humanity must recognize the value of Antarctica and seek to save it from irreversible damage.

To keep Earth habitable, humanity must recognize the value of Antarctica and seek to save it from irreversible damage.

go.nature.com/41PkgKn

Professor Michele Dougherty.

The Royal Astronomical Society is pleased to congratulate Professor Michele Dougherty on her appointment as the first female Astronomer Royal. 🔭💫🪐

Read more at: ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

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Making global academic connections from your desk Early-career academics don’t need senior titles or travel budgets to make a global impact. Here’s how to use what you have to build international partnerships from the ground up – starting with your i...

You don’t need a senior title or a travel budget to make an international impact as an early-career #academic. Here’s how to start forming global partnerships using the tools you already have – beginning with your inbox: www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/makin... #highered #academicsky #edusky

Four polar stereographic maps showing Arctic near-surface air temperature anomalies for the month of July in 1985-1994, 1995-2004, 2005-2014, and 2015-2024. Most all areas are observing long-term warming, which is largest at the edges of the Arctic Ocean on the Atlantic and Pacific facing marginal seas.

Changes in July temperatures in the #Arctic by decade...

Data from @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social ERA5 reanalysis.

Carl Sagan on why books are human’s greatest invention:

If you put googly eyes on the Pillars of Creation you get muppets 😄😄