Rei Takver

Iconic landscape made famous by Vicar of Dibley under threat from solar farm EXCLUSIVE: Residents in Oxfordshire say their idyllic countryside is under threat from huge solar development.

There's also a fair bit of news in the right leaning media sphere the last few days that the Vicar of Dibley's set will be threatened by solar farms. At least in this case BBC hasn't gone there yet, but I haven't liked this angle of leveraging beloved television: www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2090...

Hundreds object to Stroud solar farm plans - BBC News If approved, developers say the panels will power around 11,000 homes.

While the fossil fuel-funded Reform party campaigns against renewables, the BBC sees fit to run a headline on 260 people objecting to a small solar farm in Stroud. This directly bolsters the Reform narrative that renewables are unpopular, despite opinion polls showing the exact opposite.

The renewable energy revolution is a feat of technology | Rebecca Solnit An energy revolution is underway in this century, though most people have not noticed it

An energy revolution is underway in this century, though it’s unfolded in ways slow enough and technical enough for most people not to notice (and I assume it’s nowhere near finished). It is astonishing – a powerful solution to the climate crisis... [Wrote it a while ago; came out yesterday.]

Where does the climate movement go from here? In the face of Trump's climate assault, Bill McKibben proposes a sun-soaked path forward.

“California, the fourth largest economy on planet Earth, is this summer using 40 percent less natural gas than it did two years ago to generate electricity.

If you wanna know why the fossil fuel industry is freaking out and sponsoring every bad politician on Earth, that's why.”

If the BBC was doing its job, it would note in its coverage of Reform that 92% of the party's donations come from the fossil fuel industry.

So, as you might know, I have been in the process of tracking the activities of DOGE staff across the federal government. And now I've built an auto-updating website to browse the data

It's not done (lots more content to write), but news is moving fast, so here it is dogetrack.info

Enjoy!

UNESCO Launches Free Online Course to Tackle Climate Disinformation In response to the escalating climate crisis and growing threat of disinformation, UNESCO and its research institute, the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development

🎓 UNESCO have launched a free online course to help tackle climate disinformation through media and information literacy.

Learn more:

In Honor of Joanna Macy, 1929-2025 I write while staying in one of the great forests of British Columbia, a forest in which the inextricability of life from death is gorgeously evident. Several kinds of fern spring from this soil, some...

Macy once wrote, "It is good to realize that falling apart is not such a bad thing. Indeed, it is as essential to transformation as the cracking of outgrown shells. Anxieties and doubts can be healthy and creative...because they permit new and original approaches to reality."

🚨 🚨

As if the recent obsession with “Alligator Alcatraz”—and the images and memes popping up all over social media in celebration of it—isn’t grotesque enough as it is.

A 🧵

Just look at the images our own government is putting out:

1/

Trump Is Coming for Your Citizenship Your citizenship won’t save you any more than Congress, or the laws, or the courts do.

On the relationship between the manufacture of statelessness and mass atrocities see my book "Black Earth"
www.thebulwark.com/p/can-trump-...

Trump and Miller are intent on building an unaccountable domestic secret police force that would be the world's third-biggest security force by funding levels, after the US and China's *militaries*.

That kind of funding dwarfs its stated purpose, which tells you what its real purpose will be.

Can you post a gift article if the FT does that? I'd like to read it but its paywalled.

Gazans Are Dying of Starvation

My overwhelming memory from Hebrew school is being young and seeing images of ancestors starving in the camps. “Never again” was our religion. Here is the paper of record today. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/w...

Staff Shortages Have Forced Major Cuts to Environment Agency Water Quality Monitoring, Internal Documents Reveal This investigation was published in partnership with Unearthed and the BBC The Environment Agency (EA) has dropped 10,000 water quality tests from its work to ensure the health of England’s rivers and...

🔴 NEW - Staff Shortages Have Forced Major Cuts to Environment Agency Water Quality Monitoring, Internal Docs Reveal

Conservationists warn that cancellation of thousands of tests since May will leave a “regulatory and ecological blind spot”

📝 @clarecarlile.bsky.social & @ellieodonnell.bsky.social

A New Era for WIRED—That Starts With You As of today, there are even more ways to enjoy WIRED’s journalism, including premium newsletters and livestream Q&As. Join us.

Wired rules. Just an incredible group of journalists who are completely meeting the moment. And you can subscribe for $2 a month, which is insane www.wired.com/story/a-new-...

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

“Active Hope is not wishful thinking.
Active Hope is not waiting to be rescued
by the Lone Ranger or by some savior.
Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life
on whose behalf we can act."

— Joanna Macy (May 2, 1929 – July 19, 2025)

In Honor of Joanna Macy, 1929-2025 I write while staying in one of the great forests of British Columbia, a forest in which the inextricability of life from death is gorgeously evident. Several kinds of fern spring from this soil, some...

I wrote a memorial essay in praise of the great Joanna Macy over there at my newsletter.....

“If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.”

RIP, Joanna R. Macy (May 2, 1929 – July 19, 2025)

🚨Vital reporting. Rei is one of the few serious journalists in the UK writing about what Reform is *actually* doing. Give her a follow.

Newspapers need to be leading with the headline "Senior Reform party figure claims climate change is a hoax", alongside wildfire and flood imagery.

“No Such Thing as a Free Lunch”: Opposition Outcry over Reform’s Secretive DOGE Unit Councillors in West Northamptonshire last night slammed Reform UK’s plan to access council data as part of its ‘DOGE’ drive to reduce local “fraud and waste”. In a key test of Reform’s battle to acces...

🔴 NEW - ‘No Such Thing as a Free Lunch’: Opposition Outcry over Reform’s Secretive DOGE Unit

Councillors have raised the alarm over West Northamptonshire’s controversial deal with Reform’s Musk-inspired DOGE team.

📝 @rtakver.bsky.social

‘No Such Thing as a Free Lunch’: Opposition Outcry over Reform’s Secretive DOGE Unit Councillors in West Northamptonshire last night slammed Reform UK’s plan to access council data as part of its ‘DOGE’ drive to reduce local “fraud and waste”. In a key test of Reform’s battle to acces...

Reform is demanding that councils hand over their data to a bunch of “experts” - without revealing any of their identities.

Highly recommend this story from @rtakver.bsky.social on the cautionary tale of Reform’s West Northamptonshire takeover 👇🏻

How far Reform gets into restricted information over time, Musk-DOGE style, depends on the opposition of local people in local governments and communities, like councillors.

Get loud now before Reform gets farther.

What they're doing now is practice for a national stage.

New story @desmog.com

Fun fact: Chris Wright is former CEO of oil company Liberty Energy and ex-director of oil & gas lobby group Western Energy Alliance.

Not mentioned by @economist.com

Heatwave is a weird time to publish climate denial from a fossil fuel lobbyist

www.desmog.com/2025/02/17/u... @desmog.com

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds Reform UK’s oil industry interests are a major turn-off for voters, new research reveals. The think tank Persuasion UK tested five anti-Reform messages on 6,000 adults. According to the research, “by ...

🔴 NEW - Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds

Voters recoil at Farage’s fossil fuel funding.

📝 @writesbright.bsky.social

Trump and the Energy Industry Are Eager to Power AI With Fossil Fuels At a Pittsburgh summit, the Trump administration, energy executives, and tech barons joined as one to promote AI as the future of fossil fuels.

wrote about the ongoing neverending AI-fossil fuel hype cycle, which we seem doomed to live through for the next few years at least

Pie chart of Nigel Farage’s income based on register of interests

❓Who does Nigel Farage work for?

Since 2024 election:

£93,904 — MP salary (8.7%)

£981,173 — outside income (91%)

GB News (£394k) Direct Bullion (£280k) Cameo (£134k) Telegraph (£48k) Nomad Capitalist (£40k) News Corp Australia (£25k) Arizona LibertyNetwork (£25k)

www.desmog.com/2025/07/15/w...

Reform UK slam solar energy – then miss the meeting to stop it Reform UK say they’re against solar farms. But when it came time to discuss one in Lincolnshire this week, their top councillors on a planning committee didn’t even show up.

🚨NEW 🚨 Reform UK say they’re against solar farms. But when it came time to discuss one in Lincolnshire this week, their top councillors on a planning committee didn’t even show up.

hopenothate.org.uk/2025/07/16/r...

With Friends Like These: Nigel Farage’s Year of Speaking at Radical Right-Wing Groups Nigel Farage has spent his first year in Parliament giving speeches to radical right-wing groups close to President Donald Trump, making multiple trips to the U.S. to push his anti-climate agenda. As ...

🔴NEW: Nigel Farage’s Year of Speaking at Radical Right-Wing Groups

The Reform UK leader has addressed several anti-climate outfits with ties to Donald Trump – while making nearly £1 million on top of his MP’s salary

Me with @rtakver.bsky.social

www.desmog.com/2025/07/15/w... @desmog.com