Mike Robinson

SCCS is calling for a halt to construction of hyperscale data centres across Scotland until their climate impacts can be fully understood. Dr Kat Jones, director of SCCS member APRS, highlights concerns over the massive quantities of energy required to power them 👇

Bus travel should be "free, fast and accessible". In rural and island communities, free travel could include ferries, trains or community transport. See Holyrood Magazine's article: The Huddle: How do we improve Scotland's transport infrastructure? holyrood.com/inside-politic…

3 Ocean & Earth System Science positions available: New PIK project “The Role of the Ocean in Earth System Stability” explores how ocean heat & carbon uptake, marine biodiversity and biosphere feedbacks shape Earth system resilience. 👉pik-potsdam.de/de/aktuelles/s…

Momentum is building! Thanks to @Euan4Falkirk for raising my Ecocide (Scotland) Bill in the Commons. Great to hear Minister @AlexDaviesJones confirm positive UK Gov talks on criminalising ecocide. Ahead of tomorrow’s Stage 1 Holyrood vote, it’s clear: the time for action is now.

The @Sunday_Mail gets it: Scotland’s at a crossroads. Legendary cameraman Doug Allan has seen the natural world "break down” - now he’s calling on MSPs to fix the law. My #EcocideBill faces a crunch vote this Thursday. The time to protect Scotland’s future from ecocide is now.

BREAKING: Kayla Schultz, the woman who got the closest video of Alex Pretti’s killing from her car, speaks out for the first time. She says she will not be intimidated because that’s exactly what ICE wants from all of us. The moment you show you ARE intimidated is the moment they attack. Source @CNN

We’re one of 60 + orgs supporting the Joint Active Travel Manifesto for 2026. It calls on political parties to invest in active travel and accelerate delivery to reduce congestion and create safer streets for all. Read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1TaPdyy…

The destabilisation of the #AMOC is no longer a distant scenario - it’s a national and global security risk. In a new article in Dagens Nyheter, Iceland’s Climate Minister Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson and I outline actions to tackle this threat: dn.se/debatt/vi-vet-… (in Swedish)

Blackouts🔦 Rocketing energy bills💸 Climate destruction🌡️ Read the blog by Dr Kat Jones, director of SCCS member group APRS, on why gigantic energy-guzzling data centres could bring serious problems to Scotland: stopclimatechaos.scot/why-the-rush-t…

"We need to see the detail showing how measures will bring about the significantly faster progress we desperately need," says SCCS chair Dr Mike Robinson @RSGS_CEO, responding to the draft Scottish budget. stopclimatechaos.scot/response-to-th…

Scotland’s farmers are in a unique position to produce high-quality food for our tables, provide important rural jobs and tackle the climate and nature crises, but they need the right support to do it. SCCS chair Mike Robinson writes in @bellacaledonia bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/01/13/gro…

We are delighted to welcome our first Ambassadors: Tom Ballantine, Chris Hegarty and Gail Wilson 👏 The scheme aims to recognise and retain connections with exceptional people who've made a significant contribution to the coalition. Find out more here: #ambassadors" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">stopclimatechaos.scot/our-team/#amba…

The issue with @jimmycarr’s argument that simply increasing medical school places will solve NHS staffing shortages, is that it ignores what happens after medical students graduate. This year, around 40,000 doctors applied for roughly 10,000 NHS training posts. These posts are not optional. They are the required pathway for doctors to become a GP or Consultant. Without access to training jobs, doctors cannot progress in their careers, regardless of how many years they have already spent working in the NHS. Expanding medical school places without a matching increase in specialty training numbers and post-CCT jobs does not fix workforce shortages. It shifts the pressure further down the system. Today’s additional medical students become tomorrow’s doctors competing for the same limited number of progression posts. This is a structural workforce planning problem, not a problem of motivation or willingness to work. The NHS already has doctors who want to stay, train, and contribute long-term; but there are not enough funded training and senior jobs for them. A credible workforce plan must be joined up. Medical school expansion needs to be matched by expansion in specialty training posts and substantive consultant and GP roles, otherwise we risk worsening career bottlenecks and destabilising the workforce we already have. Alongside this, it is reasonable to prioritise UK trained doctors for NHS training posts while also protecting international colleagues who are already working here and are essential to the functioning of the NHS. These aims are not in conflict. If we want a sustainable NHS workforce, we need planning that looks beyond entry into medicine and focuses on the entire training and career pipeline; from medical school through to senior clinical roles.

A powerful reminder: perspective is everything! I saw this video again today. Created by the Guardian in 1986. Still the smartest lesson in human perception. It hits me every time: We don’t see reality. We see our angle. And a small shift can flip the whole story. In the age of AI, this truth becomes brutal. Two people can look at the same data, the same model, the same output — and walk away with opposite conclusions. Perspective isn’t a soft skill. It’s a survival skill. The leaders who win are the ones who can zoom in, zoom out, and question their own certainty. This old Guardian ad reminds us of a timeless truth: Change the view. Change the meaning. Change everything. #perception #biases

COP30 opened with flooding on the very first day and now, one day before it ends, a fire breaks out. If this isn’t irony, it’s at least a brutal reminder of exactly why this conference exists.

Iran is facing its worst drought since at least 6 decades!😱🔥💧 As a result the iconic Damavand (5,609 m), Iran's highest mtn, was snowfree at mid-autumn, which is likely unprecedented! ❄️😰 This peak had a 3.4 km² ice cover in 2002, all gone today 🧊📈 📽️ @IranIntl_En

#COP30 update: I'm deeply concerned; national delegations have not set in motion a credible workplan for a global fossil-fuel phase-out / ending deforestation. With fellow scientists, we shared our scientific assessment with President Lula yesterday👇 planetarysciencepavilion.org/2025/11/19/sci…

In Ironic news: Iceland is freaking out about… checks notes… Ice! 🧊 News at 11… It’s funny. But there’s truth here. The Atlantic circulation is in danger of collapse in the next couple of decades due to global warming, as per many new studies. Once triggered it’s unstoppable. It would take many decades to completely slow/stop. But the result would be dramatic increases in sea level (feet) here on the US East Coast and Gulf, and ironically much colder weather in Iceland & N Europe, destroying agriculture, among many other impacts. It is the concept the ridiclously overdramatic movie Day After Tomorrow is based on. Will this collapse have big impacts in your lifetime? No. Your kids? Maybe. Your grandkids? Surely. So the question is: If it’s not going to impact us personally (I’ll prob be dead) should we care? I’ll leave it to you to decide if we have a moral obligation to try.

Continuing to pollute our minds & the planet. The world needs to stop this manipulation & denial, & invest in a global counter movement for truth. The truth of existential risks on our watch. Truth of sustainability as the only route to prosperity & equity theguardian.com/environment/20…

Standing ovation for @MockingbirdUK @KingsandRoyal , powerful, poignant, funny. Brilliant cast. Could not recommend it more