Veronika Meduna
@veronikameduna.bsky.social
Sci/env/health editor The Conversation | writer Science, Eos, Guardian, Nautilus, NZ Geographic, NZ Listener | Books Science on Ice http://bit.ly/2YsvVxv Towards A Warmer World http://bit.ly/3ObP2Er
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
This piece is as good as people say it is. Read it to appreciate that writing isn't just about content, but style. AI can't do this.
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:10 AM
This piece is as good as people say it is. Read it to appreciate that writing isn't just about content, but style. AI can't do this.
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
This.
“The Media Is Complicit in the Climate Confusion: The vast majority of people want their governments to take climate action—but most wrongly think they’re in the minority. The media is partly to blame.”
Via @amywestervelt.bsky.social in @thenation.com
Via @amywestervelt.bsky.social in @thenation.com
The Media Is Complicit in the Climate Confusion
The vast majority of people want their governments to take climate action—but most wrongly think they’re in the minority. The media is partly to blame.
www.thenation.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:12 PM
This.
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
Super Typhoon Fung-wong, the biggest storm to threaten the Philippines this year, started battering the country’s northeastern coast ahead of landfall on Sunday, knocking down power, forcing the evacuation of more than a million people.
More than a million people evacuate as Super Typhoon Fung-wong threatens the Philippines
Super Typhoon Fung-wong, the biggest storm to threaten the Philippines this year, has started battering the country’s northeastern coast ahead of landfall.
bit.ly
November 9, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Super Typhoon Fung-wong, the biggest storm to threaten the Philippines this year, started battering the country’s northeastern coast ahead of landfall on Sunday, knocking down power, forcing the evacuation of more than a million people.
"Together, they shed light on the puzzle of Watson’s later years: a public and unrepentant racism and sexism that made him a pariah in life and poisoned his legacy in death."
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:53 AM
"Together, they shed light on the puzzle of Watson’s later years: a public and unrepentant racism and sexism that made him a pariah in life and poisoned his legacy in death."
To mark the death of James Watson, please read this 2023 piece about Rosalind Franklin's role in the discovery of the double helix
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
To mark the death of James Watson, please read this 2023 piece about Rosalind Franklin's role in the discovery of the double helix
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).
Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment
Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t
www.science.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
This study by my colleagues at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa shows that deep sea mining waste to be released near the ocean surface would disrupt marine food webs.
The same would be true of grinding and spreading rocks in the ocean for CO₂ removal. 🌊
The same would be true of grinding and spreading rocks in the ocean for CO₂ removal. 🌊
Deep-sea mining discharge can disrupt midwater food webs - Nature Communications
Deep-sea mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone may release waste into midwaters that support diverse marine life. This study finds such discharges could dilute key food particles and disrupt trophic l...
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:18 AM
This study by my colleagues at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa shows that deep sea mining waste to be released near the ocean surface would disrupt marine food webs.
The same would be true of grinding and spreading rocks in the ocean for CO₂ removal. 🌊
The same would be true of grinding and spreading rocks in the ocean for CO₂ removal. 🌊
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
Global methane action pays for itself at least six times over
And for fans of GHG metrics: "[...] Lastly, although the best basis for comparing methane and CO2 abatement should be relative social costs, we have found that the convention of using GWP100 is a reasonable approximation."
And for fans of GHG metrics: "[...] Lastly, although the best basis for comparing methane and CO2 abatement should be relative social costs, we have found that the convention of using GWP100 is a reasonable approximation."
Global methane action pays for itself at least six times over
We provide a comprehensive assessment of the economic benefits and costs of global methane emissions abatement, anchored on the Global Methane Pledge. We use an integrated assessment model to estimate...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Global methane action pays for itself at least six times over
And for fans of GHG metrics: "[...] Lastly, although the best basis for comparing methane and CO2 abatement should be relative social costs, we have found that the convention of using GWP100 is a reasonable approximation."
And for fans of GHG metrics: "[...] Lastly, although the best basis for comparing methane and CO2 abatement should be relative social costs, we have found that the convention of using GWP100 is a reasonable approximation."
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
🌲How sickly forests are felling Europe's climate ambitions
Concern about the capacity of forests, degraded by wildfires & drought, to absorb CO2 was a key reason EU countries watered down a new climate goal this week
Story w/ @aliwithers.bsky.social & Simon Johnson
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Concern about the capacity of forests, degraded by wildfires & drought, to absorb CO2 was a key reason EU countries watered down a new climate goal this week
Story w/ @aliwithers.bsky.social & Simon Johnson
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:05 PM
🌲How sickly forests are felling Europe's climate ambitions
Concern about the capacity of forests, degraded by wildfires & drought, to absorb CO2 was a key reason EU countries watered down a new climate goal this week
Story w/ @aliwithers.bsky.social & Simon Johnson
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Concern about the capacity of forests, degraded by wildfires & drought, to absorb CO2 was a key reason EU countries watered down a new climate goal this week
Story w/ @aliwithers.bsky.social & Simon Johnson
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
NZ: As world leaders meet for the COP30 climate summit, NZ is about to weaken the main purpose of its zero-carbon law – to ensure accountability in the long term.
The government’s dismantling of climate laws breaks years of cross-party agreement
theconversation.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:24 AM
NZ: As world leaders meet for the COP30 climate summit, NZ is about to weaken the main purpose of its zero-carbon law – to ensure accountability in the long term.
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
‘I vote with the hand that holds
this knife. I vote for the fish, the bird,
the ocean and a raised land shaped
by explosion, erosion and willful life.’
Dinah Hawken reads from her poem ‘The Uprising’ after receiving the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry last night.
this knife. I vote for the fish, the bird,
the ocean and a raised land shaped
by explosion, erosion and willful life.’
Dinah Hawken reads from her poem ‘The Uprising’ after receiving the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry last night.
November 6, 2025 at 8:03 PM
‘I vote with the hand that holds
this knife. I vote for the fish, the bird,
the ocean and a raised land shaped
by explosion, erosion and willful life.’
Dinah Hawken reads from her poem ‘The Uprising’ after receiving the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry last night.
this knife. I vote for the fish, the bird,
the ocean and a raised land shaped
by explosion, erosion and willful life.’
Dinah Hawken reads from her poem ‘The Uprising’ after receiving the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry last night.
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
I'm sure it's totally coincidental that the AoNZ government's changes to the Marsden Fund have been followed by successful applications led by female investigators dropping from 55% to 33%, and successful applications led by Māori investigators dropping from 13% to 5%. 🫠 🧪
Information on the 2025 Marsden Fund round
Information about the number of funded proposals in the 2025 Marsden Fund round broken down by research area and institution, also including gender and ethnicity data
www.royalsociety.org.nz
November 5, 2025 at 9:16 PM
I'm sure it's totally coincidental that the AoNZ government's changes to the Marsden Fund have been followed by successful applications led by female investigators dropping from 55% to 33%, and successful applications led by Māori investigators dropping from 13% to 5%. 🫠 🧪
@desmog.com reviewed US tax records which show Bill Gates’ charity has donated more than $3.5 million to a think tank run by Danish academic and climate crisis denier Bjørn Lomborg www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg
Tax records reveal that the billionaire’s foundation has donated for years to Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Center.
www.desmog.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:08 AM
@desmog.com reviewed US tax records which show Bill Gates’ charity has donated more than $3.5 million to a think tank run by Danish academic and climate crisis denier Bjørn Lomborg www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
NZ First announced a fireworks bill and most news outlets ran a story, without mentioning that it replaces a previous bill (definition of man and woman) and is part of the party's headline-generating strategy of proposing laws they have no intention of passing thespinoff.co.nz/politics/06-...
The brilliant performative politics of NZ First’s fake members’ bills
NZ First MPs keep proposing laws they have no intention of passing, and the media falls for it every time.
thespinoff.co.nz
November 5, 2025 at 8:32 PM
NZ First announced a fireworks bill and most news outlets ran a story, without mentioning that it replaces a previous bill (definition of man and woman) and is part of the party's headline-generating strategy of proposing laws they have no intention of passing thespinoff.co.nz/politics/06-...
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
Wow, the NZ carbon market hates the Government's proposed changes to the ETS and Zero Carbon Act. Carbon price which had already dropped to $51.50 yesterday now down to $41 in intra-day trading. Just keep repeating "The ETS is our key tool to control emissions".
November 4, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Wow, the NZ carbon market hates the Government's proposed changes to the ETS and Zero Carbon Act. Carbon price which had already dropped to $51.50 yesterday now down to $41 in intra-day trading. Just keep repeating "The ETS is our key tool to control emissions".
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
The Govt quietly announced a loosening of climate rules at 8pm last night:
- Decoupling the ETS from Paris
- Shifting ETS resets to every 2 years
- Delaying the public sector target by 25 years
- Removing CCC advice from *before* emission reductions plans:
www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...
- Decoupling the ETS from Paris
- Shifting ETS resets to every 2 years
- Delaying the public sector target by 25 years
- Removing CCC advice from *before* emission reductions plans:
www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...
Government quietly loosens climate rules
An announcement at 8pm on Tuesday saw the Government delinking the ETS from the Paris Agreement and extending another emissions deadline by 25 years.
www.thepost.co.nz
November 4, 2025 at 10:26 PM
The Govt quietly announced a loosening of climate rules at 8pm last night:
- Decoupling the ETS from Paris
- Shifting ETS resets to every 2 years
- Delaying the public sector target by 25 years
- Removing CCC advice from *before* emission reductions plans:
www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...
- Decoupling the ETS from Paris
- Shifting ETS resets to every 2 years
- Delaying the public sector target by 25 years
- Removing CCC advice from *before* emission reductions plans:
www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...
The US is not expected to send high-level representatives to COP30, and many say that’s for the best. Whether humanity bends the emissions curve sufficiently to escape the most dangerous climate impacts now depends on the actions of other big players
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How to fight climate change without the US: a guide to global action
With the US government absent from the COP30 global climate summit, it will be up to others to avert catastrophe.
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:54 PM
The US is not expected to send high-level representatives to COP30, and many say that’s for the best. Whether humanity bends the emissions curve sufficiently to escape the most dangerous climate impacts now depends on the actions of other big players
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Today marks the 1881 invasion of Parihaka to crush the peaceful resistance to the confiscation of Māori land.
Here's a poignant extract from Richard Shaw's The Forgotten Coast theconversation.com/learning-to-...
Here's a poignant extract from Richard Shaw's The Forgotten Coast theconversation.com/learning-to-...
Learning to live with the ‘messy, complicated history’ of how Aotearoa New Zealand was colonised
Like it or not, many Pākehā New Zealanders are the beneficiaries of a colonial settlement system based on dispossession and alienation. How can the past and present be reconciled honestly?
theconversation.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Today marks the 1881 invasion of Parihaka to crush the peaceful resistance to the confiscation of Māori land.
Here's a poignant extract from Richard Shaw's The Forgotten Coast theconversation.com/learning-to-...
Here's a poignant extract from Richard Shaw's The Forgotten Coast theconversation.com/learning-to-...
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
NEW: The latest climate pledges under the Paris Agreement have driven only a slight fall in predicted global temperature rise over the course of this century.
The UN Emissions Gap Report finds that implementing current policies would lead to up to 2.8°C of warming, down from 3.1°C. 🧵
The UN Emissions Gap Report finds that implementing current policies would lead to up to 2.8°C of warming, down from 3.1°C. 🧵
November 4, 2025 at 3:01 PM
NEW: The latest climate pledges under the Paris Agreement have driven only a slight fall in predicted global temperature rise over the course of this century.
The UN Emissions Gap Report finds that implementing current policies would lead to up to 2.8°C of warming, down from 3.1°C. 🧵
The UN Emissions Gap Report finds that implementing current policies would lead to up to 2.8°C of warming, down from 3.1°C. 🧵
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
Open water is so close this year (highly unusual) that seeing groups of Emperor Penguins out front of Scott Base is becoming a regular occurrence. Fun experience for people on base, but a stark and sobering reminder that change is here and is affecting more than humans.
Viewed thru SB telescope
Viewed thru SB telescope
November 4, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Open water is so close this year (highly unusual) that seeing groups of Emperor Penguins out front of Scott Base is becoming a regular occurrence. Fun experience for people on base, but a stark and sobering reminder that change is here and is affecting more than humans.
Viewed thru SB telescope
Viewed thru SB telescope
UNEP's latest annual “emissions gap” report is out - countries' climate plans "barely move the needle" on future warming
@carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/unep-new-cou...
@carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/unep-new-cou...
UNEP: New country climate plans ‘barely move needle’ on expected warming - Carbon Brief
The latest round of country climate plans ‘barely move the needle’ on future warming, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme has warned
www.carbonbrief.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:14 PM
UNEP's latest annual “emissions gap” report is out - countries' climate plans "barely move the needle" on future warming
@carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/unep-new-cou...
@carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/unep-new-cou...
"The suggestion that this clause makes no difference simply isn’t true." _ president of school boards association Meredith Kennett.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Backlash after New Zealand government scraps rules on incorporating Māori culture in classrooms
Minister says obligations for school boards to ‘give effect’ to the treaty are unfair while critics argue the move will sideline Indigenous education
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:10 PM
"The suggestion that this clause makes no difference simply isn’t true." _ president of school boards association Meredith Kennett.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
And this is basically kicking the can down the intergenerational road.
The govt is changing NZ's climate law - including moving the date for when govt organisations need to be carbon neutral from 2025 to 2050 'because 2025 is too soon for organisations to reduce their emissions enough to meet carbon neutrality' environment.govt.nz/news/governm...
Government announces a series of changes to NZ’s climate change law
environment.govt.nz
November 4, 2025 at 9:07 AM
And this is basically kicking the can down the intergenerational road.
The govt is changing NZ's climate law - including moving the date for when govt organisations need to be carbon neutral from 2025 to 2050 'because 2025 is too soon for organisations to reduce their emissions enough to meet carbon neutrality' environment.govt.nz/news/governm...
Government announces a series of changes to NZ’s climate change law
environment.govt.nz
November 4, 2025 at 8:22 AM
The govt is changing NZ's climate law - including moving the date for when govt organisations need to be carbon neutral from 2025 to 2050 'because 2025 is too soon for organisations to reduce their emissions enough to meet carbon neutrality' environment.govt.nz/news/governm...
Reposted by Veronika Meduna
a century of glaciers melting 🧪🌐
November 3, 2025 at 5:21 PM
a century of glaciers melting 🧪🌐