Sam Rowlands
@rowlands999.bsky.social
Climate, ecological and pollution crises. Green Party member. Sexual and reproductive health and rights. Visiting Professor, Faculty of Health, Environment & Medical Sciences, Bournemouth University, UK. Amateur birder and photographer. Learning French.
Over 85,000 people have asked their local NHS Trust to say no to Palantir. Time is running out, so every email counts. Will you email your local trust and ask them to stand against Palantir? https://notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-target/stop-palantir-in-the-nhs/
Say no to Palantir in the NHS
NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back
notopalantir.goodlawproject.org
🌊 Ocean acidification has now joined the list of exceeded planetary boundaries. That makes 7 of 9. These are interconnected Earth-system pressures, collectively eroding resilience and shrinking humanity’s safe operating space. www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/late...
This new open-access tool connects global extraction sites with the ten key metals inside smartphones.
New mining map highlights damage caused by extracting metals for your smartphone
This new open-access tool connects global extraction sites with the ten key metals inside smartphones.
tcnv.link
As former Labour minister Tom Watson joins Palantir, please read this devastating exposé by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social & @lucasamin.bsky.social of how the company, with Peter Mandelson's help, wormed its way into the UK government to sell its dire & dangerous products. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Peter Geoghegan and Lucas Amin · ‘This looks absolutely rubbish’: Palantir and the NHS
A decade ago Palantir was largely unknown in the UK. It now holds public contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds...
lrb.co.uk
"This is yet another example of the corrosive revolving door between politics and big business lobbying that has no place in public life." @sianberry.bsky.social responds to Labour Peer Tom Watson being hired by US spy-tech giant Palantir.
Change happens rapidly when we know where to look: these solutions could tip the world towards a better future.
Earthshot and the science of positive tipping points: how environmental progress can become unstoppable
Change happens rapidly when we know where to look: these solutions could tip the world towards a better future.
theconversation.com
Our transport infrastructure and logistics supply chains were built for a stable environmental and energy baseline that no longer exists.
How to build climate-resilient transport systems
Our transport infrastructure and logistics supply chains were built for a stable environmental and energy baseline that no longer exists.
theconversation.com
NEW PUBLICATION Very happy to share that my article on the Mazan/Pelicot case has been published in @flsjournal.bsky.social Read it open access here: doi.org/10.1007/s106... It is a very personal article, and I owe a lot to the colleagues & friends who helped me find my voice on this topic.
On Emergency Services Day, the Green Party stands in solidarity with the incredible work of the RNLI. They are true patriots who selflessly risk their own lives to save others at sea.
This government is still sitting on parts of a buried report laying bare catastrophic risks facing us from ecosystems collapse. My message to @andyburnham.bsky.social: tell the truth. Release the report in full. And prepare the country for what's coming. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Polanski calls for report on ecosystem collapse to be published in full
Green leader says ministers must stop ‘hiding the truth’ about threat to UK security from climate and nature crisis
theguardian.com
Palantir have just signed a new £21m contract – this time with Britain’s grid operator. Who were the other bidders? Well, there weren’t any. The National Energy System Operator said it was too dependent on Palantir already to invite anyone else 🤔 https://bit.ly/4d3Z1Ku
Britain’s grid operator gave Palantir contract without inviting rival bids
Neso cited a legal exemption that removes the requirement to consider other suppliers if dependencies leave no alternative
ft.com
We haven’t just changed our weather. We’ve changed the climate in which our weather happens. climatelabbook.substack.com/p/learning-f...
Learning from the summers of 1976 and 2026
We have changed the climate in which our weather happens
climatelabbook.substack.com
Labour stands up for corporations and big money. I'm running to stand up for people and our communities. www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/excl...
Exclusive: Green Party leader Zack Polanski tells CNJ he WILL go for Holborn and St Pancras
Green leader lays out hopes for by-election
camdennewjournal.co.uk
⚠️ 🌍 ⚠️ We stand with humanity: A scientist statement to confront climate destruction⚠️ 🌍 ⚠️ ✒️ 🙏 If you are an academic or healthcare professional, please consider signing. 🙏✒️ framaforms.org/we-stand-wit...
We stand with humanity: A scientist statement to confront climate destruction | Framaforms.org
framaforms.org
This summer was the hottest on record in the UK The summer of 1976 that some folks my age keep banging on about is now only the SEVENTH hottest on record The top five hottest summers all happened since 2003 We're heating the planet by burning fossil fuels www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...
Summer 2026 provisionally hottest on record for the UK
The season’s mean temperature was made around 130 times more likely due to human-induced climate change.
metoffice.gov.uk
Now, in response to alerts from the UN's #Methane Alert and Response System, Turkmenistan has started plugging the leaks There's much more to do, but it's an "incredible first step" The 2nd biggest mega-leaker, the US, is doing nothing @unep.org 3/3 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Breakthrough’ as Turkmenistan starts fixing ‘mindboggling’ methane mega-leaks
Secretive state begins repairs on ageing facilities after being revealed as worst country for leaks of potent greenhouse gas
theguardian.com
Very cool - switching from gas to electric induction cuts kitchen temperatures by 10 degrees, cuts hob cleaning times from 24mins to 21 seconds, cuts energy use by 2/3rds (a 9k saving in one pub) and yes - wok hei is still possible www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The chefs turning down the heat by switching from gas to electric
As well as being quieter, cheaper to run and easier to clean, induction cookers can cut kitchen temperatures by up to 10C
theguardian.com
Datacentres in Wapseys Wood, Bucks & Quest Park, Beds will use 1.3GW of gas power, producing over 4.5mt CO2. Well over 1% of UK emissions They've been fast-tracked through govt’s significant infra regime, allowing developers to bypass local planning objections www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Two planned datacentres will have higher UK carbon emissions than ExxonMobil, analysis finds
Exclusive: Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire sites predicted to emit 4.5m tonnes a year when fully running
theguardian.com
Over 61,000 Europeans died as a direct result of 2022 heat waves, most of them women, according to a recent study published in Science:
Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022 - Nature Medicine
This ecological analysis using the Eurostat database estimated that summer 2022, the hottest summer on record, was associated with over 61,000 heat-related deaths across 35 countries in Europe, with t...
nature.com
“Expanding oil/gas production...is not just an environmental crime but also economically illiterate. Climate change has already damaged the UK economy, with an estimated £4.4bn loss from this summer’s heatwaves alone. Remaining tied to the use of f. fuels...wd cost way more than it can ever deliver”
Damian Carrington@dpcarrington.bsky.social · last mo.Climate damage would obliterate any economic benefits of new North Sea fields, analysis shows - Economic harm of CO2 pollution from Rosebank and Jackdaw forecast to far outweigh any boost to UK #climatecrisis Story by me www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Data beats greenwashing. How a simple QR code connects you to a massive European database that exposes fake sustainability claims in seconds.
The free EU database that tells you if an appliance is actually green
Data beats greenwashing. How a simple QR code connects you to a massive European database that exposes fake sustainability claims in seconds.
theconversation.com
World’s oceans hit hottest temperature on record in August
World’s oceans hit hottest temperature on record in August
Average sea surface temperature outside polar regions was 21.1C on Saturday, latest data finds The world’s oceans were hotter than ever previously recorded on Saturday, according to the latest data. The average surface temperature was 21.1C, with the rising marine heat a stark indicator of the climate crisis. More than 90% of the heat trapped by carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning enters the oceans. Continue reading...
theguardian.com
Climate doom may discourage climate action, but here's a way to counter it, our new research in @theconversation.com with the brill @racheloboyle.bsky.social @tylershores.bsky.social! theconversation.com/climate-doom...
Climate doom may discourage climate action, but there’s a way to counter it
One way to guard against misinformation is to empower people to identify climate doom in the first place.
theconversation.com
This morning we sprayed the Department of Energy and Security and Net Zero with fire extinguishers To tell the government we should be fighting the fires not adding fuel to them by opening up new oil and gas feel It felt good
Scientists on Survival@scientistsonsurviv.bsky.social · 2mo ago1/ Today Scientists on Survival visited the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to remind the government of the scientific facts. New oil and gas 🛢️ = more fire 🔥, more extreme weather ⛈️, more food shortages🚫 and more death ☠️. For more details see thread🧵...
The cyclospora outbreak has reached 13,895 cases across 47 states. The FDA has recalled 1.6 million eggs due to salmonella contamination. Screwworm cases continue to rise. And we’ve just surpassed 2,500 measles cases — breaking 2025’s record. “Make America Healthy Again.”
Just got this national emergency alert about fire risk. Because of the extreme heat. Because of climate change. Of course it didn't make those connections, instead it told me to not use BBQs. We need a National Emergency Briefing on the climate crisis.
Revealed: just 20 out of of 6,600 Defra staff working on climate adaptation, as UK burns in fifth heatwave of this summer - FOI request by me @andyburnham.bsky.social needs to level with the country about the climate crisis & set out radical plan to tackle it 🧵 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Just 20 of 6,600 Defra staff working on climate adaptation amid drought and wildfires
Exclusive: England ‘desperately unprepared’ for effects of crisis including water shortages and heatwaves
theguardian.com
Really? Is that it? If this is all that’s come from COBR, it’s pitifully inadequate. As crisis deepens, it beggars belief that there aren’t eg plans to increase resources for the fire service, support for farmers, max workplace temperature, funded community cool spaces & obvs ban on new fossil fuels
Andy Burnham warns of summer ban on disposable barbecues
Andy Burnham said he would consider if a restriction on purchasing the products during the summer months could be justified
independent.co.uk
You can smell the New Forest fire in Dorset this morning.
Smoke from a fire in the New Forest visible from miles away on the Solent.
