Nicholas Haslam

This evening at 6pm, the second event of #TheEarthConvention's autumn climate series - how to transform the big systems of energy and finance for global benefit? @MattCrossmanUK @farhanaclimate @MikeBernersLee @jonathonporritt @5x15stories

Global temperatures in 2023 were really weird. For almost every other year we can pretty reliably predict temperatures (red dot and bars) based on the long term trend, the prior year, and the El Nino / La Nina conditions at the start. For 2023 this model completely breaks down:

İstanbul, 28 Haziran 1934

.@CSkidmoreUK shows in his resignation statement the best side of our democratic tradition. He has decided that his principled opposition to new oil and gas exploration means he cannot in good conscience remain a Tory MP, or indeed an MP at all, when the government is about to legislate to permit the development of new oil and gas fields. You may agree or disagree with his commitment to achieving net zero, but surely it is admirable when an MP says that some compromises demanded by party fealty are too great

It is difficult to see how this text will help to achieve the deep and rapid cut in emissions we need by 2030 to keep 1.5c alive With so many countries backing clear language on fossil-fuel-phase-out, who does this text actually serve? #COP28

My reaction to the latest #COP28 draft Global Stocktake text: The text is a monument of schizophrenia: It first acknowledges, recognises, or notes the numerous and gigantic gaps between what is needed and what has been delivered up to now. Those gaps are in every sector: emission reductions, adaptation, climate finance from developed countries, capacity building, greening of the energy system… And then, after such a clear diagnosis, it decides almost NOTHING. It is striking that this draft « decision text » contains 115 occurrences of the verbs « acknowledge », « recognise », and «note », while the verb « decide » is used only five times, and in relation to minor issues. There seems to be a total disconnect between the diagnosis and the treatment. The diagnosis is that of a potentially deadly cancer, due to abuse of fossil fuels. The prescribed treatment is a mixture of wishful thinking and magic. To say that governments are called to take actions that « could include », « inter alia » « reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels so as to achieve net zero (…) around 2050 in keeping with the science » amounts to actually neglecting the science that says that anything short of phasing out fossil fuels almost completely by 2050 will not allow respecting the 1.5°C target with a serious probability. I invite the negotiators of all Parties to read again the letter I wrote the other day with @MichaelEMann on behalf of the climate system: michaelmann.net/content/our-le… You cannot negotiate with the laws of nature. @uaeclimateenvoy @COP28_UAE @simonstiell

“December 9, 1917 is one of the most difficult, painful and heartbreaking historical days that Turks have experienced. Today, British armies have given one of the greatest gifts to the Christian world before Christmas by capturing Jerusalem, which had been under Ottoman rule for 401 years. As a result of General Allenby's attack on Turkish positions in Jerusalem, which took advantage of the weather on December 8, which was also a rainy and foggy night, Ottoman Army’s the 20th Corps commander Ali Fuat Pasha requested permission from the German General Falkenhayn, the supreme commander of the Ottoman armies at the time, to withdraw from the city due to the fatigue of its soldiers and the lack of ammunition and provisions. Falkenhayn, who was astonished by this unexpected situation, thought that the front could hold out, and even hoped to hold out until the reinforcements of the 1st Division and the German Asian branch, which were expected to arrive by December 13, reached the front. However, it was not possible for the 20th Corps to resist. Because, against three British divisions consisting of 15-20 thousand people, Ali Fuat Pasha could hold on for a maximum of 12 hours with only 3800 soldiers. 7th army commander Fevzi Pasha ordered the corps to retreat.”

@nationalrailenq @networkrailwest @networkrail @TfL @HeathrowAirport @HeathrowExpress How can you get people off the trains while repairs are ongoing? We can’t spend the night here

@nick_haslam @networkrailwest @GWRHelp @networkrail @TfL @HeathrowAirport @HeathrowExpress (2) We are waiting for an update on how long it will take to fix the problem. Due to the high risk nature of the repair work it may take a considerable amount of time for repairs to be completed. Apologies for the delays today.

⚠️Ongoing incident outside Paddington. ℹ️ All trains are currently stopped between London Paddington and Reading. Further info below. 📱 Please seek alternative routes: ▪️ nationalrail.co.uk @nationalrailenq ▪️ journeycheck.com/GWR @GWRHelp

I'm of the view that this piece from James Hansen and 17 others last week is one of the most important published on the state of the climate crisis in years. A 🧵

Act!

One has to appreciate Obama's frankness in both questioning what he did or did not do, and admitting the intractability of the issue. Very few former leaders are willing to do so.

Phenomenal. Bar-tailed Godwit has broken its own record: a first-year bird (five months old!) has flown 13,560 km—just shy of the direct flight limit of a Boeing 787—from Alaska to Tasmania, seemingly non-stop, in just 11 days (avg. speed: c.51 km/hr).

Barberini Mithraeum; a hidden jewel in the historic center of Rome, Italy. Mithraeum was discovered by chance in 1936 in the basement of the Palazzina Savorgnan di Brazzà, in the back garden of Palazzo Barberini, and is one of the best preserved places dedicated to the god Mithras in Rome. Precisely by virtue of its state of conservation, it represents a valuable documentation of the mystery cult of Iranian origin that was particularly widespread among the Roman legions in the Middle and Late Empire. At the time open only to Mithras worshippers, the small underground building dates back to the 3rd century even if it reused earlier buildings of the 2nd Century AD. It consists of a long rectangular hall (measuring about 11 meters x 6) covered with a barrel vault, and has a complex and interesting fresco decoration that in Rome presents comparisons only with the contemporary Mithraeum of Santa Prisca. On the back wall, ten small votive boards placed around the zodiac signs shed light on the history and the sacred feats of Mithras with the personifications of Sol (the Sun) and Luna (the Moon). Attention converges on the central scene of the taurobolium, a rare initiation scene where Mithras, flanked as usual by Cautes and Cautopates, ritually kills the bull. Two benches (the so called praesepia) are arranged along the sides of the hall: here the initiates probably sat during the secret ceremonies and the sacred banquet celebrated in memory of the meal Mithras consumed together with the Sun god. 📷 : Credit to the Owner - Subscribe for Weekly Newsletter - archaeo-histories.beehiiv.com/?_gl=1*1dhkanl… #archaeohistories

It's become a bit of a cliche to call it a paradox or a contradiction that China is building staggering amounts of both new clean power generation and new coal power plants. It only is one if you fail to grasp the scale of China's electricity consumption growth, as most people inevitably do. China today generates enough power from clean sources to power Germany SIX times over, up from two times a decade ago. In a few years, China's clean power generation will be equal to U.S.' total electricity consumption. China's power generation from wind&solar alone is about to hit three times Germany's total electricity consumption next year. If China's power demand had stayed on 2009 level, the massive increase in CO2-free power generation would have made the grid 80% clean, instead of the current 33%. CO2 emissions from the power sector would have fallen by 75%. What happened instead is that electricity demand doubled and clean power generation didn't keep up, while it did manage to increase its share from 20% to 33%. Predictably, the difference was delivered from coal, and CO2 emissions went up by 90%. China now uses twice as much power as the U.S., after overtaking the country only in 2010. Put another way, China's additional power demand since 2010 is equal to the total consumption of the U.S. 60% of that electricity demand growth went to industry, mainly basic manufacturing like steel and other metals, cement, glass and chemicals, so it's really a function of China's extremely investment- and construction intensive growth model. And no, it's not just about the size of China's population: per capita electricity consumption in China overtook Germany in 2022. The good news is that China's clean energy growth is finally reaching the scale where it can cover all of the growth in power demand. This is happening even as power demand growth likely slows down with the economic slowdown. These trends have been masked in the past year by the collapse in hydropower generation which is readily visible in the graph, but will likely become apparent in the year or two. Most of the data for the post and the graph is from the amazing datasets of @EmberClimate.

Terrific new article on historic patterns of socio-economic development across Turkey's provinces since 1913. Three "clubs of convergence" regarding development patterns from west to east, which I'd like propose labeling as: Turkey in Southern Europe; Anatolia; and Middle East

These countries absorb more carbon than they emit. We have the solutions. Implement them. #ActOnClimate #ItCanBeDone #ClimateCrisis #climate #energy #renewables #rewilding #nature

"It's not an investment if its destroying the planet." ~Vandana Shiva. RT if you agree. #ActOnClimate #climateemergency #climate #energy #GreenNewDeal

Stay in Istanbul long enough, and you will watch the contours of your past being erased: for @EngelsbergIdeas I wrote about Istanbul's constant cycle of demolition and rebuilding engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-e…

This Tory government's aim to "max out" on North Sea fossil fuels up until 2050 is the most duplicitous and cynical abuse of power, and a devastating lack of vision and leadership. Can't wait to see them gone. thenational.scot/news/23690757.…

Cowley, 2017 and 2023. Without claiming that the 'after' building is one of the wonders of the world, this is absolutely the right approach to urban supermarket sites - surely there are opportunities for pursuing it more widely.