What drives up living costs: +food prices from drought & fertiliser shortages; +insurance premiums due to floods + fires; +energy prices because puppeteers decide to have a war. FAO elected leaders: not taking climate action or moving off fossil fuels will cost you an election.

Commentary from me in the Japan Times this week, in which I reflect on Japanese offshore wind developers' appetite for investing in Scotland and the wider UK - and how Japan-driven offshore wind must support a just transition both at home and overseas: www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2...

Blow winds blow: Time to harvest wind power off Japan’s coast

Japan is investing heavily in offshore wind abroad while its domestic sector still lags due to policy and infrastructure hurdles.

japantimes.co.jp

Spoke to DW News about FIFA supremo Gianni Infantino, and his rather frequent use of private jets to travel between World Cup venues: www.youtube.com/shorts/n7ovy...

FIFA World Cup: Infantino's private jet travel fuels criticism | DW News

YouTube video by DW News

youtube.com

I've written in @thediplomat.com about the UK-Japan Offshore Wind Compact, which will see up to £9bn Japanese investment in UK offshore wind. Great for reducing emissions - but must bring fair, secure and meaningful jobs, and economic benefits, under a just transition for people and places nearby.

The Diplomat@thediplomat.com · last mo.

The Japan-U.K. compact shows Japanese companies still have an appetite for offshore wind, but local communities must not be left behind.

The Japan-U.K. compact shows Japanese companies still have an appetite for offshore wind, but local communities must not be left behind.

Japan Is Investing in Offshore Wind in the UK. What About at Home?

The Japan-U.K. compact shows Japanese companies still have an appetite for offshore wind, but local communities must not be left behind.

buff.ly

Looking forward to this, hosted by Taiwan Climate Action Network as part of London Climate Action Week. I'll share insights from our UK-Taiwan work on adaptation to extreme heat in Glasgow (+ Taipei), and wider insights into climate justice and resilience. londonclimateactionweek.org/event/the-du...

Events - London Climate Action Week

Discover climate summits, forums, workshops, and more during London Climate Action Week — a city-wide celebration of climate action and awareness.

londonclimateactionweek.org

⚽ Morocco's World Cup story doesn't end in 2026. Today's FootPol archive revisit explores the politics of the 2030 World Cup with @ljmabon.bsky.social of @openuniversity.bsky.social; what hosting could mean for Morocco's development, society and global profile. www.buzzsprout.com/2253650/epis...

🎯 See also: various countries and operators touring the conference and trade fair circuit for over a decade with the results of their one 'successful' CCS demonstration project.

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 2mo ago

The rules of techno-solutionist greenwashing: - It has to be 'real', in that a demo project exists - It also has to be $$$ and infeasible to scale, so you can dangle it as a promise but you're never held to account for why it isn't used more extensively

So pleased to bring @ouscotland.bsky.social Mock COP to Tiree, via our Ecological Citizens Network+-funded project. One of if not the first Mock COPs to involve Gaelic, an accordion, and walkie-talkies. Thank you Tiree CDT and Tiree High School for making it happen. www.bbc.co.uk/naidheachdan...

Co-labhairt COP aig Àrd-sgoil Thiriodh

Co-labhairt COP aig Àrd-sgoil Thiriodh

bbc.co.uk

I am on it bsky.app/profile/sund...

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Known sporting allegiances of leading Labour politicians Keir Starmer - Arsenal Wes Streeting - Arsenal Andy Burnham - Everton Ed Miliband - Boston Red Sox & Leeds United Angela Rayner - Ashton United

There's a whole study which needs done - by someone smarter than myself - on the phenomenon of politicians going running in football tops when seeking election. Do they go running in football tops when they're not seeking the public vote? Do they vary up the shirts they wear when nobody's looking?

What in fresh hell is this? Why do I need an AI-generated summary of a paper when an ABSTRACT - which serves the EXACT SAME FUNCTION and is written by the scientists that WROTE THE BLOODY PAPER - is positioned directly below? If you want a plain-language summary, just get the authors to write it.

The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, the UK is hurtling towards an energy and supply chain crisis, and it's barely even a footnote in our news. Replace the PM if you want, but does it register that whoever's in charge is likely to have chaos coming across their desk within months if not weeks?

Totally agree with this. Can already see how this will play out in the UK. A very small number of elite institutions and courses will be protected with no or very limited use of AI; whilst AI will be forced onto the rest of us from on-high in the name of 'industrial strategy' or 'growth targets'.

Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH@gavinyamey.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I know some people will call me insane (I've been called a LOT LOT worse), but I genuinely think that there will come a future when the most attractive, prized colleges to attend will be those that do NOT use AI at all I really do At these non-AI universities, students will actually learn stuff

If you're interested in mangroves, Indonesia and/or batik, you may enjoy this online event with the Trees4Trees conservation organisation and batik artist Sodiqin, who will share their experiences of working together. Sunday 17 May 2026, 10amUTC/11am UK time: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ecocreativ...

EcoCreative Cluster talk: Trees4Trees & Sodiqin on mangrove dye (Indonesia)

Meet Trees4Trees and Sodiqin from Indonesia to learn their collaboration involving mangrove conservation and batik-making with mangrove dye

eventbrite.co.uk

You know you've spent too much time trawling through climate, environment and urban plans for Fukuoka when you recognise the Mayor as soon as he appears on-screen in Michael Portillo's new series.

Green steel in Japan from Kitakyushu! Our Environmental Management module #T330 @openuniversity.bsky.social explores Kitakyushu's journey from pollution to SDGs. Now Nippon Steel has broken ground on an electric arc furnace, continuing 125 years of steel in the city. asia.nikkei.com/business/mat...

Nippon Steel's blast-to-electric-furnace shift faces energy, price hurdles

Green transition by Japan's largest steelmaker raises questions about challenges

asia.nikkei.com

The APC for an OA paper in Nature Climate Change is £9,390. That's huge profit given the authors aren't paid by the journal. So why do Nature also need to sell advertising space? I have enough difficulty not buying more classic Parma tops as it is, without advertising intruding into my working day!

350.org JP & Greenpeace JP use appointment of new President/CEO of Kyushu Electric Power to reiterate call for cancellation of GENESIS Matsushima, a coal plant upgrade in remote Nagasaki. Statement notes local importance of plant, calling for renewables as part of sustainable local jobs + economy.

Japan Beyond Coal@beyond-coal.jp · 4mo ago

国際環境NGOの 350.org Japan とグリーンピース・ジャパンが共同で、電源開発株式会社の新社長に宛て、「GENESIS松島計画」の中止を求める要望を提出しました。 石炭火力の延命ではなく、より持続可能な選択肢の検討が必要です。 world.350.org/ja/press-rel...

国際環境NGOの 350.org Japan とグリーンピース・ジャパンが共同で、電源開発株式会社の新社長に宛て、「GENESIS松島計画」の中止を求める要望を提出しました。 石炭火力の延命ではなく、より持続可能な選択肢の検討が必要です。 world.350.org/ja/press-rel...

I wonder how much learning has been done in the UK Govt from early 2020, and how that will be applied to upcoming major supply disruptions, whole sections of the economy shut down, job losses/furlough, de-facto travel restrictions. How can we handle that better to protect the most vulnerable?

Feeling a bit fragile after celebrating Raith Rovers' Challenge Cup success yesterday, so spending my Bank Holiday morning watching a video of JFE's steelworks in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, a facility so large it has its own internal rail network: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u8Z...

【ロング版】潜入！製鉄所走る構内鉄道　運転士目線でも撮影　溶銑入れた300㌧の鍋軽々運ぶ　広島・JFEスチール西日本製鉄所福山地区

YouTube video by RCC NEWS DIG Powered by JNN

youtube.com

Bad times for a country with several cities and regions that are increasingly reliant economically on inbound tourism...

The Japan Times@japantimes.co.jp · 4mo ago

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways are expected to increase fuel surcharges up to double their current rates on international flights starting with June bookings due to the war in the Middle East.

Watched livestream of the final service on the Rumoi Main Line in Hokkaido today. About halfway through, realised I was using my coasters from the last service of the Yubari Branch Line, which closed in 2019. Appreciate these lines aren't economically viable, but desperately sad to see nonetheless.

The other thing worth noting is this isn't like Japan, where people my age have - broadly speaking - enjoyed a steady quality of life and good public services in spite of a stagnant economy. Instead, it's everything getting worse and worse year on year, as the UK is gradually asset-stripped.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The median age in Britain is about 40. The median Briton has not experienced sustained economic growth in their adult life time.

A "strike package" may be the most horrible phrase I have ever heard: indiscrimiante bombing, needless death and escalation, as if announced by a middle manager on LinkedIn.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo ago

Hegseth: "Today will be the largest strike package yet ... death and destruction from above"

Last week I visited Karatsu for research into Nijonomatsubara, a magnificent coastal pine forest planted 400 years ago to protect fields and settlements from winds. Great to meet local NPO KANNE to hear about their conservation activities connecting people and nature!

Getting a grim sense the next couple of years could be like the pandemic all over again. Nobody travelling anywhere, most people working from home or on furlough, desperately trying to cling onto their jobs and homes.

Despite what the blue-tick bros are saying, right now I honestly think spending an hour a day learning how to grow one's own food and decarbonise a tenement flat would stand me in far better stead for the next few years than spending an hour a day experimenting with AI tools.

I dropped out of high school, gained a huge amount of often difficult life experience, then went to community college, and now I'm a professor in a prestigious university. There HAS TO BE A PLACE for non-traditional students. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Vice-chancellor calls for review into student loans for those without A-levels

Adam Tickell, of University of Birmingham, says money is loaned to people who ‘are not really capable of graduating’

theguardian.com