This is a really good overview of the energy costs of using AI by @zekehausfather.com www.theclimatebrink.com/p/the-real-e...
The real energy use of agentic AI
Agents use about 600x more energy than simple AI prompts
theclimatebrink.com
@georgeelliot19.bsky.social
This parallels my thinking about AI and climate change. In the near term, AI will make climate change worse. In the medium term, AI could make climate change a lot worse. In the long term, AI might help address climate change -- but it will be too late to matter. mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-t...
Can AI’s climate benefits outweigh its costs? | MIT Sloan
The rising energy demands of AI and data centers threaten corporate net zero commitments and worsen climate change. But can AI also help develop climate solutions? MIT Sloan researchers investigate.
mitsloan.mit.edu
"...if we continue to develop better fossil-fuel tech, the efficiency will inevitably backfire, catalyzing more fossil fuel consumption... Pull the funding for anything related to fossil-fuel efficiency & pump the money into renewable energy"- @blairfix.bsky.social
A Tour of the Jevons Paradox: How Energy Efficiency Backfires – Economics from the Top Down
Efficiency isn't a tool for conserving energy --- it's a catalyst for technological sprawl.
economicsfromthetopdown.com
Dean Ball, OpenAI's head of strategic futures, writes: "I have met people, some of them quite well-resourced, who have told me that it is their intention to deliberately release swarms of self-sovereign agents into the world..."
El Niño is now stronger than at any point in the last 1,000 years, study finds arstechnica.com/science/2026...
El Niño is now stronger than at any point in the last 1,000 years, study finds
“One more warning sign here of what we're facing in a warmer world.”...
arstechnica.com
Super happy to see @gilduran.com at number three on the NYT bestseller list! His is a book that needs to be read. 🙌
It's so important to understand this context, because effective altruist merchants of doubt try to portray people as irrational, afraid of data and facts, etc., when people refuse to engage with "AI" enthusiasts' bullshit framing. It's not bad faith to Kirby those frames—it's the right thing to do
Timnit Gebru@timnitgebru.blacksky.app · last wk.Random dude suddenly appeared everywhere through coordinated social media campaigns and made a name for himself harassing journalists. And he's now on this list lol.
I hope 2025 & 2026 have adequately prepared everyone for the shitshow that will be 2027: Strongest El Niño and highest global temperature on record Energy and affordability crisis from the illegal war End of 3-year federal science grants awarded in 2024 AI bubble bursting Continued rise of fascism
New research confirms: AI, on sum, is a loser for global climate Short of significant policy to curb fossil fuel interests (ha!), AI will amplify CO2 emissions, not mitigate them, even when considering the prospects of any renewable gains AI buildout could motivate www.nature.com/articles/s44...
AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model - npj Climate Action
npj Climate Action - AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model
nature.com
Instead of spending $70 million establishing only 5 public grocery stores with only modest discounts on only some items, the city should establish a network of ~500 small luncheonettes and food trucks that sell healthy, convenient and affordable $5 meals (sandwich, soup, chips, fruit).
Reading this right now, and it's really striking how integral "futurologist" were in building the project of delaying climate action for decades. This is where the AI world gets ideas like "superintelligence" from: no wonder they're still telling us not to worry about the climate
Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they)@doctorvive.bsky.social · 2mo agoEveryone needs to read "More and More and More" by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, which argues (persuasively, I think) that calling what we're seeing right now an "energy transition" is nothing more than myth-making.
What *actually* works — right here, right now — to address climate change? Here you go. This is the result of thousands of hours of painstaking research and analysis from the Project Drawdown team.
Y’all get that China leading the electric car revolution could’ve been the US? When we bailed out the auto industry in 2009, we should’ve just taken over the industry itself and forced it to start the electric car revolution China is now leading. That was an enormous mistake in favor of the rich.
JFC. Chad Jones, economist who'll be joining Anthropic: "In other words, with log utility it is optimal to take a 1 in 3 chance of ending human existence in exchange for a 2/3 chance of dramatically raising living standards by a factor of 55." www.ft.com/content/bb04...
A ship full of solar panels only has to make the trip once. It arrives, gets installed, and generates electricity for the next 20 years. A ship full of liquefied natural gas? It has to make the trip EVERY YEAR to generate the same amount of electricity over those 20 years. The choice is clear.
Both Ezra Klein and Sam Harris were invited by Thiel’s Dialog. Names I’ve grown to distrust…. Also, catch the guy who opposes all tax increases (particularly on the billionaires who get taxed less, I suppose)
maia arson crimew 🏴@crimew.gay · 3mo agoHere are all 113 alleged members we were able to successfully extract. This data can also be verified via versions of the site captured by the Wayback Machine, even if it doesn't properly render the website.
What would it take to achieve high prosperity and equality while remaining within planetary boundaries? The World Inequality Lab is very excited to launch the #GlobalJusticeReport. [1/7]
me: you can't stop geeks making überrobots, so we need to upgrade our bodies as long as we can until they displace us. which is good only if we build the robots to be higher in value you: this is nazi shit me: I'm just arguing for a superior race you: seriously?? me: this is my life, tragic :(
📢 New Pew poll on #ClimateChange out today 📢 TL/DR: Democrats HAVE to talk about climate change to look both competent and caring about real Americans. A full 60% of Americans say the federal government is doing too little to address climate change — 60%!! 🧵
ICYM - Almost all – 98% – environmental claims and commitments made by meat and dairy companies over 2021-24 could be categorised as “greenwashing” - research paper #climatecrisis HT @carbonbrief.org journals.plos.org/climate/arti...
Environmental claims, climate promises, and ‘greenwashing’ by meat and dairy companies
Animal agriculture has disproportionate environmental impacts relative to other forms of food production and accounts for at least 16.5% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Many of the large...
journals.plos.org
Good David Wallace-Wells piece thinking through the climatic and political implications of the coming El Niño. Did you know that American climate concern is higher now than it was during the Biden administration? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/o...
Opinion | The World Is About to Get a Preview of Life in 2035
nytimes.com
This is a fantastic podcast episode. Well worth 40 minutes of your time. Thank you @racheldonald.bsky.social and @jksteinberger.bsky.social ! www.planetcritical.com/julia-steinb...
The Truly Sustainable Alternative | Julia Steinberger
How we can live well within limits
planetcritical.com
Are you looking to become wiser over the course of this weekend? Then, set aside some time to watch this excellent talk by @jksteinberger.bsky.social Presented at this years @acscc.bsky.social
ACSCC 2026 | Prof. Julia Steinberger: Living well within planetary limits
YouTube video by Amsterdam Complexity School on Climate Change
youtu.be
Breaking: A new review paper of the tipping point risk of the Atlantic ocean circulation system known as #AMOC has been published. 🌊 The evidence has broadened over the last years that the present AMOC is in a multi-stable regime, posing a risk of tipping 😨. dx.doi.org/10.1002/wcc....
Multi‐Stability of the Present‐Day Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
There is much supporting evidence (freshwater export, paleo records, model hierarchy) that the present-day AMOC is in a multi-stable regime.
dx.doi.org
Projected global increases in fire weather and drought confirmed at 2°C. Amazon hit by increasing fire and drought dies by 2°C and major world forests burn emitting CO₂ and end as carbon sinks. Increasing drought hits major food-producing regions, increasing forest fires and reducing carbon sinks.
Moderate global warming does not rule out extreme global climate outcomes - Nature
Extreme global climate outcomes may occur even under moderate 2 °C warming and may turn out to be more extreme than model-averaged projections at 3 °C or 4 °C warming.
nature.com
As ever, @kevinclimate.bsky.social is putting out some fantastic stuff, highlighting just what a bad situation we're currently in. The in-action and lack of sense of urgency within much of the academy is something that frustrates me more and more. Good to see that some with high prolies speaking out
Kevin Anderson@kevinclimate.bsky.social · 6mo agoI recently joined Rob Cooper for an in-depth conversation on his YouTube channel and podcast. 'The Climate Honesty Gap: a long-form interview' can be found at: climateuncensored.com/the-climate-... - which also includes a summary of the topics covered.