AI has become a plague infesting every SaaS service. So intrusive. I don't ever want to ask [x] AI anything. I don't ever want to hand over my work to some half-arsed AI agent. I just want to get on with my job. 🤬
Alex Morrison
@alex-morrison.bsky.social
editor of https://elephant.earth, founder https://cogapp.com, https://projectmagpie.org and https://cha-nge.com
The same people who have been telling us "we can't stop climate change, instead we must adapt" have been hammering our capacity to adapt, through their promotion of austerity. What they're really saying is "keep burning fossil fuels for the sake of our donors". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
There is absolutely no reason why all profits in the UK (or anywhere else) are taxed at the same rate. Companies' tax rate should reflect their externalities. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Calls for UK bank tax to fund cost of living help as HSBC profits hit £7.5bn
Levy could raise £19bn to help pay for Andy Burnham’s support for those struggling with bills, say campaigners
theguardian.com
This is a great thread. Sums up my reservations about Generative AI.
Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 4d agoI’ve seen a lot of my colleagues’ interactions with Claude working on research problems & it would be easier for me to accept it as a serious scientific tool if it didn’t end every single response with the LLM equivalent of “you want fries with that?” — constantly trying to goad you into asking more
‘Worst we’ve known’: UK turns to imports as drought and heat hit vegetable crops
‘Worst we’ve known’: UK turns to imports as drought and heat hit vegetable crops
Growers in dismay after scorching weather and lack of rain affect yields, sending wholesale prices rocketing
theguardian.com
"China will crash the US stock market this year They're dumping SOTA open-source models on the US, nearly as good as the frontier labs, basically free Nobody can refuse cutting a $100M AI bill down to $5M Once that deal is on the table for everyone, Anthropic&OpenAI can't justify their valuations"
‘There are a lot of corporate interests’ in pushing back against climate policies – former diplomat
‘There are a lot of corporate interests’ in pushing back against climate policies – former diplomat
We spoke to Nick Bridge, a former diplomat who was the UK's special representative to the UN on Climate Change from 2017 to 2023.
channel4.com
Big surprise! 🤑🌍🤑
David Roberts@volts.wtf · 2w agoYou guys aren't going to believe this, but ... it turns out the oil & gas industry knew that they were poisoning people (in this case, with methane) for years, and they hid it & did nothing to mitigate the harm. No, really, it's true! Incredible investigative work here from @rebleber.bsky.social:
"But once these factors are no longer predictable, all bets are off — life becomes uninsurable and the world becomes unsafe." www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Climate free fall’: why the biggest risk to our economies is yet to be recognized
Increasing instability of the ocean, ice and atmosphere threatens farming, finance and society. We all need to wake up to that fact.
nature.com
Very struck by @pvh.ca ‘s remark at @localfirstconf.com that ‘research can be an act of service’. So true, particularly now when research is being cut and undermined.
'The climate of the 20th Century has now gone': UK Met Office warns weather extremes are 'new normal'. www.businessgreen.com/news/4532829...
'The climate of the 20th Century has now gone': Met Office warns weather extremes are 'new normal'
Latest Met Office State of the Climate report for 2025 confirms latest wave of record-breaking temperatures and warns further warming is now inevitable
businessgreen.com
Updated list of useful links from @localfirstconf.com here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Local First 2026 Web Links
Local First 2026 Web Links Compiled by Alex Morrison (alexm [at] cogapp [dot] com) Tools and Services 2 Organisations and People 4 Ideas, Blogs, Articles and Background 5 Tools and Services UMH...
docs.google.com
Acoustic buzz volume as a proxy for intellectual energy - currently buzzing @localfirstconf.com
'Partial or full shutdowns of nuclear facilities across France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Romania, and other countries ... Highlighting need for a re-evaluation of nuclear's role in sustainable energy landscape.' www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Atomic rivers. The (Un)sustainability of nuclear power in an age of climate change
The sustainability of nuclear energy amidst climate change and environmental regulations poses critical challenges, particularly in European contexts …
sciencedirect.com
Before, during, and after a disaster, the wealthy 🎩 always fare best while those living paycheck to paycheck suffer economically, physically and mentally for years. Here is a pretty revolting example: www.prnewswire.com/news-release...
Great idea. A whole new paradigm A/X = agent experience (c.f. U/X). Via conversation with @gordon.bsky.social
I know this has been heavily linked to, but Evans’ “Ways to think about token pricing” - https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2026/7/9/ways-to-think-about-token-pricing - is really very good and everyone making a bet on #GenAI should bloody well read it with close attention.
ben-evans.com
Also for @localfirstconf.com attendees, an updated list of Local First @bsky.app accounts here (any omissions please let me know): bsky.app/profile/did:...
All the links I collected from Day One of the excellent @localfirstconf.com - will keep adding to it as we go. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Local First 2026 Web Links
Local First 2026 Web Links UMH app tldraw offline Yjs tranquil.farm/tranquil-pds at main · Tangled Jake Lazaroff LibSodium.Net How the "4 Types of Luck" can enrich your work-life - Big Think P...
docs.google.com
Many people in the climate movement think that political action against the environment is ‘stupid’. It’s not stupid. The people involved know exactly what they’re doing. They benefit from their actions via fossil fuel political donations and media support. It’s disgusting. But it’s not stupid.
Can we get a comment from William ‘3°C of warming is optimal’ Nordhaus?
Paul Belcher FRCP HonMFPH 🇪🇺🇬🇧@pauljbelcher.bsky.social · last mo.🌇 ‘At 32°C, productivity drops 40%’: why Europe’s #heatwave is now a workplace health and safety crisis Trade unions @etuc-ces.bsky.social and health experts call for binding #EU rules to protect workers from extreme temperatures. #ClimateCrisis euobserver.com/224139/at-32...