One of the biggest habits that humanity has to kick is that of seeing a human-free space and assuming it’s worthless/empty unless we fill it up with something. It’s happening with plans for the ocean, deforestation for “development”, talk of delivery drones filling the future sky, cube sats that will hide the stars. This “space” is the planetary engine, and it’s incredibly valuable NOW. doing all sorts of things that keep us alive & enrich our lives. We should protect it. #ocean#climate#Earth
The key point that I think a lot of engineers still don't get is that their job is not about making widgets that get plonked on top of the world. This is about changing the shape of things inside a working system (Planet Earth) to shift how it operates. Those widgets become part of that system - it's like operating on a living human. The engineers of the future mustn't see their job as creating things external to the world. #science#engineering#climate#Earth
Energy flows through (in from sunlight and then radiated away into space some time later - Earth is just a temporary stop-off)
Stuff/atoms/matter goes round and round
Every decision we make about a sustainable future should bear those in mind. We can’t change these rules, so we have to choose what we do to work within this system, like the rest of nature does. And this illuminates a lot of issues (see following posts). #climate#Earth#Energy
In my recent reading of the #Exapnse series (ongoing) & other #sciencefiction in my (relatively recent) return to the genre, I have noticed a general use of the term the 'gravity well' as a way of describing mostly #Earth (but occasionally other planets/objects with strong gravity)... anyone any idea who first used this term?
#Today, I am celebrating my 4 years without flying ✈️.
The #Earth’s #climate is perturbed by #human activites. One of the easiest things to do towards #sustainability is to cut air travels. Thus, 4 years ago, I cut my frequent flyer cards and decided to #StayGrounded, using only low-#carbon travel means such as #train.
Portugal is crushing it: renewables met 91% of Portugal’s electricity needs in the first 4 months this year & have pushed their⚡️prices to a 4 yr low!
Renewables are carrying an increasing % of their electrcity demand in the first 4 months in 2024:
95% April
91% March
88% Feb
81% in Jan
Portugal’s rapid transition is evidence it can be done: renewables are up from 27% in 2005 & 54% in 2017 with their last coal power plant shut down in 2021. #nature#environment#renewables#earth
The earthworms in North America are invaders. There used to be native earthworms, but they were wiped out by glaciers around 10,000 years ago and all the current worms arrived accidentally (via humans) from Europe and Asia in the past few centuries.
Earth's distant future is bright. Maybe a little too bright! ☀️ 😎
"Modelling the climate of the new supercontinent [...] found that much of Pangaea Ultima will experience temperatures of higher than 40 °C, making it uninhabitable to most mammalian life."
Adding more natural areas across our towns and cities could cool them by up to 6°C during heat waves, according to new research from the University of Surrey's Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE).
Humans pump so much groundwater that Earth’s axis has shifted, study finds (edition.cnn.com)
New research shows that persistent groundwater extraction over more than a decade has shifted the axis on which our planet rotates.
Scientists call for a tree planting drive to help tackle heat waves (phys.org)
Adding more natural areas across our towns and cities could cool them by up to 6°C during heat waves, according to new research from the University of Surrey's Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE).
Humans have pumped so much groundwater, we’ve shifted Earth’s axis (archive.is)
Changes in the distribution of groundwater around the planet between 1993 and 2010 were enough to make Earth's poles drift by 80 centimetres