Kelly Macnamara
@kellymacnamara.bsky.social
Climate and environment correspondent @AFP
Previously ➡️ Hong Kong ➡️ Yangon ➡️ Bangkok
Co-founder @kitetalesMM non-profit Myanmar storytelling project
Previously ➡️ Hong Kong ➡️ Yangon ➡️ Bangkok
Co-founder @kitetalesMM non-profit Myanmar storytelling project
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
“People don’t want energy; they want hot showers and cold beer.” This is what Amory Lovins once said and so true.
Most primary energy we use is wasted in converting heat to work. We don’t have to replace all primary energy - we only need to deliver the energy services more efficiently.
Most primary energy we use is wasted in converting heat to work. We don’t have to replace all primary energy - we only need to deliver the energy services more efficiently.
November 7, 2025 at 8:57 AM
“People don’t want energy; they want hot showers and cold beer.” This is what Amory Lovins once said and so true.
Most primary energy we use is wasted in converting heat to work. We don’t have to replace all primary energy - we only need to deliver the energy services more efficiently.
Most primary energy we use is wasted in converting heat to work. We don’t have to replace all primary energy - we only need to deliver the energy services more efficiently.
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
I spent a really long time amassing everything you need to know about Labour's vast deals with fossil gas-loving, Trump-donating AI giants out to pepper the world with climate-wrecking data centres...so you don't have to!
My reporting for @desmog.com 📖👇
My reporting for @desmog.com 📖👇
The sheer scale of Labour's deals with Trump-donating Big Tech firms has been seriously under-reported.
Not only are they being allowed to build climate-wrecking data centres, they've also been given permission to embed their tech within Whitehall, the NHS, and defence 👇👇
📝 @rtakver.bsky.social
Not only are they being allowed to build climate-wrecking data centres, they've also been given permission to embed their tech within Whitehall, the NHS, and defence 👇👇
📝 @rtakver.bsky.social
Labour’s Big Tech Love Affair Could Blow Up Its Climate Promises
When U.S. President Donald Trump landed for what he called the “exquisite honour” of an unprecedented second state visit to the UK this September, he brought along a retinue of his favourite Silicon V...
www.desmog.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:03 PM
I spent a really long time amassing everything you need to know about Labour's vast deals with fossil gas-loving, Trump-donating AI giants out to pepper the world with climate-wrecking data centres...so you don't have to!
My reporting for @desmog.com 📖👇
My reporting for @desmog.com 📖👇
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
A scoop that I’m not happy to report:
CBS News has gutted its climate change reporting team, one of the best in the business, and one of the only ones on cable news that consistently called out fossil fuels as the main source of climate pollution.
heated.world/p/cbs-news-k...
CBS News has gutted its climate change reporting team, one of the best in the business, and one of the only ones on cable news that consistently called out fossil fuels as the main source of climate pollution.
heated.world/p/cbs-news-k...
CBS News kills its climate unit
David Ellison, the new pro-Trump chief executive of Paramount Skydance, has dismantled the best climate change reporting team in cable news.
heated.world
October 31, 2025 at 3:51 PM
A scoop that I’m not happy to report:
CBS News has gutted its climate change reporting team, one of the best in the business, and one of the only ones on cable news that consistently called out fossil fuels as the main source of climate pollution.
heated.world/p/cbs-news-k...
CBS News has gutted its climate change reporting team, one of the best in the business, and one of the only ones on cable news that consistently called out fossil fuels as the main source of climate pollution.
heated.world/p/cbs-news-k...
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
The great irony of all of this? Most of these climate change impacts will be borne, most immediately and acutely, by poorer nations in the Global South--precisely those on whose behalf the memo authors are ostensibly advocating. That's why this memo makes me viscerally uncomfortable. [13/n]
October 30, 2025 at 5:03 PM
The great irony of all of this? Most of these climate change impacts will be borne, most immediately and acutely, by poorer nations in the Global South--precisely those on whose behalf the memo authors are ostensibly advocating. That's why this memo makes me viscerally uncomfortable. [13/n]
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
I’m really starting to suspect that most of the tech bros haven’t actually read Tolkien, as they certainly don’t understand it.
The gentle hobbits save the “hard men” of Gondor, largely through compassion and selflessness. Not the other way around. The Christian parable is barely hidden!
The gentle hobbits save the “hard men” of Gondor, largely through compassion and selflessness. Not the other way around. The Christian parable is barely hidden!
Elon Musk: "It is time for the English to ally with the hard men, like Tommy Robinson, and fight for their survival or they shall surely all die" 29th October 2025. 2 million views in its first hour.
October 29, 2025 at 9:31 AM
I’m really starting to suspect that most of the tech bros haven’t actually read Tolkien, as they certainly don’t understand it.
The gentle hobbits save the “hard men” of Gondor, largely through compassion and selflessness. Not the other way around. The Christian parable is barely hidden!
The gentle hobbits save the “hard men” of Gondor, largely through compassion and selflessness. Not the other way around. The Christian parable is barely hidden!
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
*** 1 metre of rain ***
Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, is forecast to bring catastrophic damage to parts of the Caribbean
The mountains of Jamaica could receive 1 metre of rain, resulting in life-threatening flash flooding and landslides
Destructive winds and storm surges are also likely
The mountains of Jamaica could receive 1 metre of rain, resulting in life-threatening flash flooding and landslides
Destructive winds and storm surges are also likely
October 27, 2025 at 6:03 PM
*** 1 metre of rain ***
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
But the Spanish example shows that the opposite can also occur
Climate impacts could create anger and confusion, which is exploited to delay climate action
Impacts could also crowd out resources that would otherwise be used for climate action
We call these vicious cycles: derailment risk
Climate impacts could create anger and confusion, which is exploited to delay climate action
Impacts could also crowd out resources that would otherwise be used for climate action
We call these vicious cycles: derailment risk
October 28, 2025 at 8:21 AM
But the Spanish example shows that the opposite can also occur
Climate impacts could create anger and confusion, which is exploited to delay climate action
Impacts could also crowd out resources that would otherwise be used for climate action
We call these vicious cycles: derailment risk
Climate impacts could create anger and confusion, which is exploited to delay climate action
Impacts could also crowd out resources that would otherwise be used for climate action
We call these vicious cycles: derailment risk
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
Finland has a goal to be net zero GHG emissions by 2035.
Emissions were declining, the LULUCF removals were strong, the plan was looking good, but then LULUCF collapsed.
Net GHG emissions have actually risen over the last decade!
www.treasuryfinland.fi/investor-rel...
1/
Emissions were declining, the LULUCF removals were strong, the plan was looking good, but then LULUCF collapsed.
Net GHG emissions have actually risen over the last decade!
www.treasuryfinland.fi/investor-rel...
1/
October 23, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Finland has a goal to be net zero GHG emissions by 2035.
Emissions were declining, the LULUCF removals were strong, the plan was looking good, but then LULUCF collapsed.
Net GHG emissions have actually risen over the last decade!
www.treasuryfinland.fi/investor-rel...
1/
Emissions were declining, the LULUCF removals were strong, the plan was looking good, but then LULUCF collapsed.
Net GHG emissions have actually risen over the last decade!
www.treasuryfinland.fi/investor-rel...
1/
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
"The idea of deporting people with settled status is disgusting, and anyone proposing it should be immediately drummed out of polite society. Breaking promises made in good faith to our friends and neighbours is racist, extremist and immoral."
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
It’s racist, it’s extremist and it’s immoral
The right is still calling for deportations, and the government is still being cowardly about it. Also: London’s first green belt; some notes on a shark; and some news, on my next book.
jonn.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
"The idea of deporting people with settled status is disgusting, and anyone proposing it should be immediately drummed out of polite society. Breaking promises made in good faith to our friends and neighbours is racist, extremist and immoral."
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
I'm basically shouting at the sky here, but still.
This is such a great idea. If you must have new data centres on the grid, finding a lot of that extra capacity by permanently upgrading homes to make them more efficient.
Whether you actually need the data centre at all is another q. H/t @billmckibben.bsky.social
Whether you actually need the data centre at all is another q. H/t @billmckibben.bsky.social
Today on Volts: the folks at @rewiringamerica.bsky.social have an idea. Hyperscalers desperately need to free up grid capacity for data centers, right? Why not let them buy that capacity by paying for residential heat pumps & solar/storage systems? I discuss it w/ the head of RW & a rep from PG&E.
Could we get hyperscalers to buy heat pumps for households?
Ari Matusiak and Carla Peterman join me to discuss a wild new idea: getting data centers to pay for your next heat pump.
www.volts.wtf
October 23, 2025 at 7:07 AM
This is such a great idea. If you must have new data centres on the grid, finding a lot of that extra capacity by permanently upgrading homes to make them more efficient.
Whether you actually need the data centre at all is another q. H/t @billmckibben.bsky.social
Whether you actually need the data centre at all is another q. H/t @billmckibben.bsky.social
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
why did this take two fucking days though? did the Prime Minister have his notifications switched off? was he stuck in the bath? why, exactly, is this obviously true thing something that apparently needs running past the boss anyway? what is *wrong* with their comms operation?
NEW: Labour condemn Tory plan to strip people of indefinite leave to remain:
“It’s utterly grotesque that Tories want to deport people with the lawful right to be here to achieve ‘cultural coherence’.
“This policy would mean tearing families apart and ripping out our neighbours from communities."
“It’s utterly grotesque that Tories want to deport people with the lawful right to be here to achieve ‘cultural coherence’.
“This policy would mean tearing families apart and ripping out our neighbours from communities."
October 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
why did this take two fucking days though? did the Prime Minister have his notifications switched off? was he stuck in the bath? why, exactly, is this obviously true thing something that apparently needs running past the boss anyway? what is *wrong* with their comms operation?
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
📣 The "U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters" data is back today through @climatecentral.org! And more soon!
➡️ Explore our new interactive website at www.climatecentral.org/climate-serv..., which is now updated through the first half of 2025 & totaling over $101 billion from 14 events.
➡️ Explore our new interactive website at www.climatecentral.org/climate-serv..., which is now updated through the first half of 2025 & totaling over $101 billion from 14 events.
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
📣 The "U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters" data is back today through @climatecentral.org! And more soon!
➡️ Explore our new interactive website at www.climatecentral.org/climate-serv..., which is now updated through the first half of 2025 & totaling over $101 billion from 14 events.
➡️ Explore our new interactive website at www.climatecentral.org/climate-serv..., which is now updated through the first half of 2025 & totaling over $101 billion from 14 events.
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
The draft bill removes ILR once somebody's income drops below £38,7000 for 6 months.
As drafted - it reads as mandatory, not discretionary
There is no maternity leave exemption in the draft bill.
(Would be unlawful discrim - but Bill disapplies HRA + Cons leaving ECHR)
bsky.app/profile/rich...
As drafted - it reads as mandatory, not discretionary
There is no maternity leave exemption in the draft bill.
(Would be unlawful discrim - but Bill disapplies HRA + Cons leaving ECHR)
bsky.app/profile/rich...
So like maternity leave.....
October 22, 2025 at 12:42 AM
The draft bill removes ILR once somebody's income drops below £38,7000 for 6 months.
As drafted - it reads as mandatory, not discretionary
There is no maternity leave exemption in the draft bill.
(Would be unlawful discrim - but Bill disapplies HRA + Cons leaving ECHR)
bsky.app/profile/rich...
As drafted - it reads as mandatory, not discretionary
There is no maternity leave exemption in the draft bill.
(Would be unlawful discrim - but Bill disapplies HRA + Cons leaving ECHR)
bsky.app/profile/rich...
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
"Viewpoint diversity" about whether human activity is warming the planet, or whether vaccines work, is like "viewpoint diversity" about whether the sky is blue or whether the Earth is round. It falls outside the range of good faith scientific and academic discourse.
#ScienceUnderSiege
#ScienceUnderSiege
October 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
"Viewpoint diversity" about whether human activity is warming the planet, or whether vaccines work, is like "viewpoint diversity" about whether the sky is blue or whether the Earth is round. It falls outside the range of good faith scientific and academic discourse.
#ScienceUnderSiege
#ScienceUnderSiege
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
Here’s the way to think about climate change that I learned from @drkatemarvel.bsky.social:
We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.
We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.
October 21, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Here’s the way to think about climate change that I learned from @drkatemarvel.bsky.social:
We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.
We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
I tried this on Twitter and the two answers I got were the current Pakistan government expelling undocumented Afghans and Erdogan’s Turkey expelling undocumented Syrians. Neither of which is an example of revolving permanent settlement grants, nor are they encouraging company to keep.
October 21, 2025 at 9:09 AM
I tried this on Twitter and the two answers I got were the current Pakistan government expelling undocumented Afghans and Erdogan’s Turkey expelling undocumented Syrians. Neither of which is an example of revolving permanent settlement grants, nor are they encouraging company to keep.
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
In 'Some Thoughts on the Common Toad', Orwell attacked those who think that "nothing is to be admired except steel and concrete" & argued that love of nature "makes a peaceful and decent future a little more probable"
Rachel Reeves should take note
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
Rachel Reeves should take note
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
October 21, 2025 at 9:36 AM
In 'Some Thoughts on the Common Toad', Orwell attacked those who think that "nothing is to be admired except steel and concrete" & argued that love of nature "makes a peaceful and decent future a little more probable"
Rachel Reeves should take note
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
Rachel Reeves should take note
www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
A journalist from Mon State fled Myanmar to continue her passion but said she had to stop working or risk losing her pregnancy.
"The moment I left my job, our family's financial struggles returned. My father... began secretly collecting rubbish to make money."
kite-tales.org/en/article/b...
"The moment I left my job, our family's financial struggles returned. My father... began secretly collecting rubbish to make money."
kite-tales.org/en/article/b...
Breaking point
kite-tales.org
October 20, 2025 at 7:19 AM
A journalist from Mon State fled Myanmar to continue her passion but said she had to stop working or risk losing her pregnancy.
"The moment I left my job, our family's financial struggles returned. My father... began secretly collecting rubbish to make money."
kite-tales.org/en/article/b...
"The moment I left my job, our family's financial struggles returned. My father... began secretly collecting rubbish to make money."
kite-tales.org/en/article/b...
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
![1
Nurse:
It’s become a real problem in this area
2
Nurse:
We’ve seen the whole community lost to addiction
3
Show a building sign posted:
Westminster ‘X’ Addiction Clinic
With various Westminster people or looking at their phones outside it
Nurse:
Ministers, Spads, Researchers…
4
Nurse:
Most mornings we’ll get a call about someone acting strangely
[Nurse on phone taking a call]
Ok - we’ll be right over
5
Nurse:
We just have a gentle chat
[Nurses approach a minister –Robert Jenrick? - standing in the Palace of Westminster
Minister:
I understand your concerns…
6
Nurse:
Are you OK love?
Minister:
Yes I’m just hearing legitimate concerns from real voters
7
Nurse:
That’s a robot, a Nazi and a poorly-disguised Russian
[Show that the people he is talking to are precisely these characters]
Nurse 2:
Give us your phone, love
8
Nurse:
At the clinic we put them in a Grass-Touching Pod, with a real voter to talk to
[We see them back at the clinic, holding the minister's head and pushing him into a glass isolation booth with a grass floor. And it is a baffled looking woman, on a chair, ready to talk to him.]
9
Minister:
YOU MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT THE COMING CIVIL WAR
[woman looks baffled]
10
woman:
I just want a bus service
Minister:
LOOK AT MY FLAG
[produces a St George's flag]
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreicahofq6s4xow7vowj7dx6odw6ejdwr4kwcmzta7qwi4hg2nvywji@jpeg)
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
Time for 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of November 2025.
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon
www.worldscientific.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Time for 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of November 2025.
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
“Year after year, land and environmental defenders—those protecting our forests, rivers, and lands across the world—continue to be met with unspeakable violence.”
146 environmental and land defenders were murdered or disappeared in 2024
146 environmental and land defenders were murdered or disappeared in 2024
The political killings you don’t hear about
Across the globe, standing up for the planet can be a death sentence—and the perpetrators are almost never held accountable.
heated.world
September 29, 2025 at 10:48 AM
“Year after year, land and environmental defenders—those protecting our forests, rivers, and lands across the world—continue to be met with unspeakable violence.”
146 environmental and land defenders were murdered or disappeared in 2024
146 environmental and land defenders were murdered or disappeared in 2024
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
Critics slam renewables for land use but ignore fossil fuels' huge impact.
Germany's Hambach lignite mine: 85 sq km pit, 300m deep, snapped from ISS.
My first ever energy research protect professionally was on the externalities of lignite. In short: they are very significant!
Germany's Hambach lignite mine: 85 sq km pit, 300m deep, snapped from ISS.
My first ever energy research protect professionally was on the externalities of lignite. In short: they are very significant!
September 25, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Critics slam renewables for land use but ignore fossil fuels' huge impact.
Germany's Hambach lignite mine: 85 sq km pit, 300m deep, snapped from ISS.
My first ever energy research protect professionally was on the externalities of lignite. In short: they are very significant!
Germany's Hambach lignite mine: 85 sq km pit, 300m deep, snapped from ISS.
My first ever energy research protect professionally was on the externalities of lignite. In short: they are very significant!
Reposted by Kelly Macnamara
YES, NO.
When did journalists lose the ability to retain and clearly state established fact?
When did we decide everything, even scientific consensus, must be culture warred for clicks, even if that war puts women in harm’s way?
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
When did journalists lose the ability to retain and clearly state established fact?
When did we decide everything, even scientific consensus, must be culture warred for clicks, even if that war puts women in harm’s way?
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Is paracetamol safe during pregnancy and does it have links to autism?
US president’s claims around painkiller also known as Tylenol contradict scientific consensus
www.theguardian.com
September 24, 2025 at 6:10 AM
YES, NO.
When did journalists lose the ability to retain and clearly state established fact?
When did we decide everything, even scientific consensus, must be culture warred for clicks, even if that war puts women in harm’s way?
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
When did journalists lose the ability to retain and clearly state established fact?
When did we decide everything, even scientific consensus, must be culture warred for clicks, even if that war puts women in harm’s way?
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...