“What's at stake is our understanding of the Universe itself.” @richardfisher.bsky.social is as excellent as ever - on the encroachment of artificial light into the home of star-gazing: www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the darkest places on Earth. But now the light is intruding

Humanity’s artificial glow is swallowing the night sky. Even astronomers in this remote observatory in the South American desert cannot escape it.

bbc.co.uk

Idealised dream or powerful tool? @indiabourke.bsky.social reviews 'How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller’s Guide to Changing the World by @robintransition.bsky.social' – a compelling guide to imagining a future we would want to live in... #BookReview @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social

Idealised dream or powerful tool?

India Bourke reviews {cite}How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller’s Guide to Changing the World{/cite} by Rob Hopkins

resurgence.org

the UK is set to change planning rules to make it easier to develop intensive livestock farms across the country following a lobbying campaign by Big Chicken my new investigation for the @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/environment/...

UK looks to relax planning rules for factory farms after industry lobbying

Exclusive: documents chronicle years-long campaign to make it easier to build intensive livestock units

theguardian.com

Can imaginative ‘time-travel’ actually help us change the world for the better? I reviewed @robintransition.bsky.social’s ‘How to Fall in Love with the Future’ for @resurgencetrust.bsky.social magazine. It’s free here in their latest issue: Hope as a Radical Act www.resurgence.org/magazine/art...

Idealised dream or powerful tool?

India Bourke reviews {cite}How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller’s Guide to Changing the World{/cite} by Rob Hopkins

resurgence.org

Just the most astonishing, zeitgeisty piece on animal ‘tyrants’ by @chrisbaraniuk.com for our BBC Earth team: “In some cases, circumstances can lead to the removal of aggressive leaders. And some animal societies that work together appear able to evade despotism.” www.bbc.com/future/artic...

What animals can teach us about overcoming tyranny

Some animal societies are ruled by despots with an iron fist, while others seem naturally egalitarian – and they all have lessons for us.

bbc.com

a few years ago i became fascinated by the american prairie project in montana - bring back bison! - and the dark money campaign to stop it and 'save the cowboy' sad to see the US govt has reversed its decision to let the bison graze on public lands reason.com/2026/01/23/b...

Bureau of Land Management says bison are not livestock, obstructing plans for a huge private prairie reserve

The American Prairie nonprofit seeks to create a 5,000-square-mile prairie reserve in Montana where buffalo may roam and antelope play.

reason.com

Re-reading my 2019 interview with @alexhonnold for @newstatesman in light of his new Netflix ‘event’ coming out. ‘Skyscraper Live’. One of my fave interviewees (and among my fave pieces of writing to read back on) www.newstatesman.com/world/2019/0...

Free Solo’s Alex Honnold on iconic male loners: “Nobody really operates in isolation”

The rockstar rock-climber discusses relationships, sex and Donald Trump.

newstatesman.com

New Years Resolution 2026: get more into Substack, both reading and writing. Below is one I’m excited to follow, on climate loss and damage, by the beautiful writer @sophiastories.bsky.social. And I’ve already been enjoying Diana Savarin’s, on thoughtful living that galvanises the soul.

Sophia Brown@sophiastories.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Something I've been thinking about for a while and have finally launched: a newsletter on Loss and Damage - do consider subscribing if you're interested in the topic, or more broadly in climate justice and questions of power, geopolitics and accountability lossanddamage.substack.com?r=a2qm0&utm_...

Via IUCN - Seven quiet wins for climate and nature in 2025 - @indiabourke.bsky.social Isabelle GERRETSEN, Sophie HARDACH, Martha HENRIQUES, @kathla.bsky.social Lucy SHERRIFF, Jocelyn TIMPERLEY BBC www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Seven quiet wins for climate and nature in 2025

Here are the year's breakthroughs for the climate and nature you might have missed.

bbc.com

We solved climate change! At least in the climate game, Daybreak. All it took was some climate reporters and scientists working together, an all-out effort to decarbonize the world and enhance natural carbon sinks, and CO₂ removal (CDR) and solar radiation modification (SRM) deployments. Easy. 1/2

I returned to the super @bbcstudios.bsky.social Science team yesterday after maternity leave - clutching my coffee tightly ☕ I'm looking into stories on London air pollution, biocomputing, and animals in the age of AI, among others. (Please shout if these are on your mind too!)

While there remains uncertainty about the timing and sequence of catastrophic earth system tipping points, they are very real.

Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf@rahmstorf.bsky.social · 2y ago

Atlantic circulation collapse? "In short, it’s a climate scientist’s nightmare come true." Here's a good 'deep dive' into this risk, from Yale Climate Connections. yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/12/atla...

Super explainer from my @bbcstudios.bsky.social colleague @rileyfarrell.bsky.social - busting the myths about bug-eating and showing how the far-right has twisted this subject to its own ends: www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

How eating insects became a conspiracy theory

Insect protein is healthy and sustainable. But now it is also at the centre of a far-reaching conspiracy theory.

bbc.co.uk

New essay up at @aeon.co about the obsession I had in my 20s for excitement -- and the fear I had of the mundane. In the piece, more on my journey to find the treasure in everyday life. aeon.co/essays/like-...

Like Virginia Woolf, I now treasure a routine of my own | Aeon Essays

I once exalted in the extraordinary. But as I’ve learned from Virginia Woolf, indelible beauty is also found in the everyday

aeon.co

When Diana Saverin writes, I put aside everything else I need to do (as soon as the baby is asleep) and read - or rather drink in her words like sacred wine…

Longreads@longreads.com · last yr.

"I no longer want a marriage of two solitudes. I want a marriage like a braided loaf, one in which the fragments of our lives weave together, each strand retaining some individual integrity but allowing the line to blur sometimes, too." —Diana Saverin longreads.com/2025/07/17/m...

Just arrived in San Francisco for a week (with 9month baby). Please shout if any must see/eat recommendations! By chance we just stumbled upon the delightful Rick and Ann’s restaurant in Berkeley, which is apparently closing after 36years. Feel lucky to have caught the end of its 90s time warp.

I know Bluesky is much nicer than the other place so I’m just going to be totally real: It’s tough being a small charity, we’re trying something new, and we need your help. Please share, and please support positive climate action if you can. www.wearepossible.org/climatethousand

2023 will be remembered as a record year for the N.Atl, but it does not mark a paradigm change. This event takes place within a physical framework that is understood and anticipated by models. It illustrates the importance of rigorous scientific comm as pointed out here : tinyurl.com/2s4eszff 11/14

Fun piece @thomasgermain.bsky.social: are phones now shatterproof enough to ditch the casings? London’s pavements have battered my previous devices so I’m not yet brave enough to risk going naked. But the nod to combatting swift turnover feels like a ray of good: www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

Is it finally safe to ditch your phone case? I put it to the test

With smartphones tougher than ever, a new wave of phone minimalists say cases are for cowards. I joined the case-free cult, called the experts and braced for the sound of broken glass.

bbc.co.uk

Read the email and thought: MUST BE A MISTAKE ... but "We need to rewild the internet" by @robin.berjon.com + me for @noemamag.com will be in this year's Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology!!!!! Thank you, @jaimealyse.bsky.social and @susanorlean.bsky.social ky.social

We Need To Rewild The Internet  | NOEMA

The internet has become an extractive and fragile monoculture. But we can revitalize it using lessons learned by ecologists.

noemamag.com

BREAKING: DEFRA asks England’s biggest landowners to come up with plans to restore nature. The new National Estate for Nature is a bold move by Labour, summoning landowners who own a tenth of the country to report on their stewardship. With comment from me: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Judge demands ‘some kind of evidence’ from Trump’s EPA to halt climate grants #climatecrisis www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Judge demands ‘some kind of evidence’ from Trump’s EPA to halt climate grants

Federal judge Tanya Chutkan issues restraining order pending new filings over billions in axed research grants

theguardian.com

When poaching destroys not just individuals but a whole group’s “love language”…

Mongabay@mongabay.com · last yr.

A new study highlights the urgent need to integrate chimpanzee cultural preservation with conservation. It documents the loss of a socially-learned behavior — a mating signal — among a group of chimps following the poaching of all of the male members. Once lost, behaviors take years to reemerge.

Daybreak: the board game about stopping climate change. Administratively intense… but engrossing! With @zdboren.bsky.social @oliviarudgard.bsky.social @lukewbarratt.bsky.social

Very keen to connect with anyone exploring the crossover between AI and animals / plants / natural systems. Do shout if this is you!

Saw Kyoto at Soho Place Theatre last night - and feel so grateful for playwrights and diplomats alike A story for our “Age of Disagreement” About the strategies used to bring about discord And about a (flawed but hopeful) moment when the world came together against the odds to speak as one

On climate disinformation, a valuable presentation from @imranahmed.bsky.social, warning that gen AI offers "a perpetual self-powering bullshit machine", lowering the barrier to entry for producing convincing-sounding climate denial material. @counterhate.com

CAAD_Coalition@caadcoalition.bsky.social · last yr.

Curious about climate disinformation? Wondering what we can do about it? Join our webinar today at 5:00 PM CET / 11:00 AM EST, where experts will join @caadcoalition.bsky.social to discuss how Big Tech and Big Carbon are making Big Disinfo a Big Problem.

Life goals: pancakes with syrup made from collected birch sap. To welcome Spring. Lovely country diary from Michael White: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Country diary: A sip of sap puts spring in your step | Michael White

Cranbrook, Kent: Somewhere in the copse is a glimmering birch tree – we call her the Lady of the Woods – which has a sweet gift to bear

theguardian.com

At my wedding earlier this year, friends surprised me with a set of “Desert Island Books” (US people check out the wonderful Desert Island Discs podcast for the ref). Among them were books by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social (who is very much worth following on here if not already), and Lucy Jones:

The beautiful London Library offers emerging writers one year’s free membership including masterclasses, networking opportunities, peer support, access to all the Library’s resources and publication in an anthology. Details below. Please share :) www.londonlibrary.co.uk/about-us/ll-...