mastodon 4.7.3-stable+ff1Writer and environmental journalist @ The Guardian, Sentient, WIRED etc
🇬🇧🏳️🌈
People have been shown to display more unethical behaviour when they use "AI" tools as an intermediary i.e it's not just that the tools themselves produce inaccurate information, they actually encourage people to act in a dishonest way.
It seems like people are basically eschewing responsibility when they use "AI" tools, as if the "AI" itself is the one making the decisions and not them personally – or that line of reasoning provides them with plausible deniability.
Immigrants in Berlin, ~25% of the population, had no say in the recent opening of a motorway by the local conservative government as we can't vote in local elections. If we could have voted, it probably wouldn't have been built, as immigrants in Western nations are more likely to be pro-environment and vote left.
In the Berlin example, almost *twice* as many people couldn't vote due to lack of citizenship there are people who voted for the winning party.
That's why I argue that voting rights for immigrants in Western nations could mean broader support for climate policies ⬇️
https://www.sower.world/immigrant-vote-climate-action/
#climate #ClimateChange #immigration #vote #wahl #germany #deutschland #migration #election #left #progressive
No matter what Musk says or does, many on the left continue to post on and pay for X, a clear example of how progressive movements are beholden to the narrative that we don't have to change anything at all about our lives to achieve our political goals.
If progressives can't even leave the platform that boosts right-wing talking points and *literally* spreads fascist propaganda, how are we going to tackle issues like the climate crisis which require a much deeper critique of the way we live our lives in Western and wealthy countries?
I wrote about why all this is bad in July, though it's still pertinent today ⬇️ .
https://www.sower.world/x-progressives-should-leave/
#musk #ElonMusk #twitter #SocialMedia #fascism #fascist #WhiteSupremacy #ai #progressive #tech #technology
“When people see their social status threatened, they become more likely to support the far right... the core group of supporters for the far right are not necessarily those who see themselves at the bottom of social hierarchies already but are those that perceive that they have something to lose.”
Really interesting essay that challenges the prevailing narrative that support for the far-right is purely on economic grounds. Like the author describes, the people in my family who I know support the far-right are actually fairly well off and obsessed with social status, something they fear losing above all else, and the far-right knows how to take advantage of that fear.
It's harder to deal with an irrational fear of perceived outsiders – immigrants, queer people – than simply implementing more equitable economic policies in the short-term. It speaks to the importance of not ceding any ground to far-right narratives on marginalised people and defending all of them with our full chest.
https://equitablegrowth.org/threats-to-social-status-and-support-for-far-right-political-parties/
With Jane Goodall's death last week and the Nobel Prize announcements this week, I wrote about why it's a big problem that we lionise individuals for achievements that resulted from the work of collective groups of people.
In Goodall's case, for example, African conservationists have long criticised her for being a white saviour. But capitalism sanitises and promotes people like her because narratives of heroic individuals keep the system propped up – it makes us feel like we, too, can reach the exalted status of Goodall and others.
When we idolise people, it also inflates their ego, and even they start to think that they are better, or more deserving, than others. Goodall's carbon footprint was enormous for her advocacy work, and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that she thought her interventions were worth the carbon cost – that she, as an individual, was so valuable that excessive polluting was justified.
Lionising individuals only promotes this kind of hierarchal thinking, and I think it's holding us back. Until we move beyond the narratives of heroic individuals, we will remain trapped in a world that values the success of the individual over the collective.
https://www.sower.world/jane-goodall-critique-individualism/
#JaneGoodall #conservation #climate #nobel #nature #natur #NaturSchutz #BioDiversity
After receiving a breakdown of my rent recently and seeing how my money helps maintain the communal areas, I was happy – despite realising that I've barely used them myself. It also made me think about how I've barely had any contact with my neighbours, aside from a sweet old lady and a not-so-sweet Holocaust denier.
I wrote about how I wish my apartment complex had more community spaces that inspired community spirit, setting up roots as a renter, and what I imagine city living should look like in the future ⬇️
Cats, of adorable internet fame, can be a real problem for wildlife in certain environments. There are horror stories of cats really tearing through populations of bird or rodent, meaning that conservationists have to sometimes intervene—often with lethal force, which comes with its own ethical dilemmas.
Researchers in New Zealand, however, think they have a better solution: playing on cat's fear of humans to scare them away from potential feeding sites.
I reported on the work they've been doing for bioGraphic ⬇️
https://www.biographic.com/a-scaredy-cat-wont-hunt/
#cat #cats #CatsOfMastodon #BioDiversity #nature #natur #wildlife #conservation
More than 2,500 people from Fossielvrij NL sent letters to the pension fund PFZW demanding that they cut ties with BlackRock – one of the world's largest investors in the climate crisis. PFZW has now announced they are withdrawing €14.5 billion from the investment giant.
Really demonstrates how an action as simple as sending a letter can have a huge impact when done collectively.
https://gofossilfree.org/nl/pfzw-breaks-with-blackrock/
#ClimateChange #FossilFuels #ClimateAction #ClimateCrisis #environment #activism
"In the two years since the state started charging a 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million, the effort has created a $5.7 billion windfall, with the surplus being used to fund bridge repairs, bolster literacy programs and address the transportation system’s budget deficit."
Taxing the rich works!
“Governments are reluctant to push hard on dietary change, livestock emissions, or fertilizer dependence because they trigger cultural sensitivities and risk political backlash."
The longer the climate movement sweeps meat consumption under the rug, the longer we put off difficult conversations that we need to have as a society to move towards more sustainable food systems.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/27/meat-gas-emissions-reporting
#food #vegan #meat #environment #climate #ClimateChange #animals #agriculture
"As our language around forests became less reverent, Poole noted that people began using more scientific and economic terms to describe trees. In other words, people began viewing forests as something from which to extract value, not inspiration."
Our relationship with nature has fundamentally changed over the last two centuries, and restoring that relationship is the only way to save our species.
That's why techno-utopian futures are doomed to fail: they don't solve, but rather exacerbate, the underlying sickness of our society.
https://grist.org/language/nature-word-language-disappear-culture/
#BioDiversity #nature #language #culture #environment #conservation #wildlife #plants
One of the most destructive industries on the planet gets a pass yet again. Similar to what Attenborough is quoted as saying in the article, we would be horrified if companies were dragging massive nets through terrestrial ecosystems and bulldozing forests, yet somehow it's okay in the marine world?
#conservation #BioDiversity #climate #animals #animal #fish #MarineLife #nature #NaturSchutz #natur
