Rupert Read
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rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read
@rupertread.bsky.social
5.8K followers 600 following 1.3K posts

Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project | Emeritus Prof of Philosophy | Author, WHY CLIMATE BREAKDOWN MATTERS and TRANSFORMATIVE ADAPTATION | Home-grown dissident | Free thinker | Earthling.
NB Reposts are not necessarily endorsements. .. more

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Rupert Read is an environmental philosopher, public intellectual, and the founder and current director of the Climate Majority Project. He is the author of several books on Wittgenstein, philosophy, and/or climate change, most recently Why Climate Breakdown Matters, Deep Adaptation: Navigating the Realities of Climate Chaos, and Do You Want to Know the Truth? Until 2023, Read was a reader in philosophy at the University of East Anglia where he was awarded – as Principal Investigator – Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding for two projects on "natural capital". His other major recent academic focus has been on the precautionary principle, having contributed substantially to work co-authored with Nassim Nicholas Taleb on applying the principle to questions of genetic modification of organisms. In further work, Read has theorised the utility of the precautionary principle in a wide range of areas, including: climate change, the environment, as well as financial and technology sectors. He previously worked as a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. .. more

Philosophy 54%
Political science 9%
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rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 5d
In 2026, corporate - and state - sponsored #AI is coming for your job, for our politics, for (y)our kids and for our very intimacy. How do we cope? How do we ADAPT? WATCH my ‘New Year’s message’, to make a start on being able to answer these questions.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Srno...
AI-Adaptation | Rupert Read | Direct
YouTube video by Rupert Read
m.youtube.com

Reposted by Rupert Read, Markus Jäntti, Alan Richardson , and 4 more

atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h
The American people electing Trump after he staged a coup attempt 5 years ago was a nail in the coffin of our democracy. You can rationalize it all you want - But inflation! But wokeness! - but ultimately it was a societal suicide attempt and probably the dumbest collective voting decision ever made

Reposted by Rupert Read, Markus Jäntti

theguardian.com
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 10h
European leaders rally behind Greenland as Miller ramps up Trump threats
European leaders rally behind Greenland as Miller ramps up Trump threats
Statement of support comes after presidential aide says ‘no one will fight US militarily over future of Greenland’ * Europe live – latest updates One of Donald Trump’s top aides has ramped up the pressure on Denmark by questioning Copenhagen’s claim to Greenland, as leaders from major European powers rallied behind the Arctic territory. Stephen Miller, the US president’s deputy chief of staff for policy, also claimed military intervention would not be needed to take over island because “nobody is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland”. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 15h
"The #climate crisis is no longer something affecting only distant places or future generations. Whether or not we feel engaged with it, it is shaping the conditions of our lives now."

Read my major new piece 👇

www.resilience.org/stories/2025...
The end of 2025 must be the end of the inane rule of climate ‘optimism’
We should admit that widely-mandated climate optimism has been actively harmful to the needful acknowledgement of reality - and to the active collective self-protection that we now desperately need to...
www.resilience.org

Reposted by Rupert Read, Lesley A. Hall

georgemonbiot.bsky.social
George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 18h
This explains so much.
People with psychopathic traits and low cognitive ability are over-represented in online political activity.
If someone is being cruel, obnoxious and ridiculous, don't try to reason with them. Chances are you won't get anywhere. Just block.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Dark personalities in the digital arena: how psychopathy and narcissism shape online political participation - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - Dark personalities in the digital arena: how psychopathy and narcissism shape online political participation
www.nature.com

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 1d
"‘Listen again’ via the link to hear me join Steven Pinker, @kateraworth.bsky.social, John Lanchester, Adam Greenfield et al in discussing the downsides of ‘Progress’, and whether and how to create >real< progress / go >back< to the future, on #BBC Radio 4.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
What Happened to Progress? - Payback - BBC Sounds
From technology to the climate to the global order, has human progress gone into reverse?
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 1d
WATCH: My New Year's message answers some of the questions we should be asking about #AI in 2026. Make no mistake, it is coming for your job, for our politics, for (y)our kids and for our very intimacy. So, how do we cope? How do we ADAPT? How might we fight back?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srno...

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 2d
"...there's a lot of down there for us to potentially find the upside of and we can do that, it's real."

A hopeful clip from a recent podcast, also featuring @billmckibben.bsky.social and Brian McLaren with host John Izzo. Watch in full via the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox-n...

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 3d
It is a huge indictment of the USA, of the failure of its republic, that the criminal Trump was allowed to take power again,while in Brazil,Bolsonaro,who just like Trump staged a failed coup,is rightly in prison,as an anti-democratic menace.
The USA is an unstable anocracy, not a reliable ally.

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 3d
The conclusion appears unavoidable: Starmer IS a poodle. He has humiliated Britain today.

Well done Zack Polanski for instead swiftly condemning the blatant crime.

#Venezuela

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 3d
It appears he will. He has already left it too late to have any real credibility on the question, by staying schtum all day pretending he has to check the facts (!!).

Trump is after the oil. To his credit, he has even said so. It’s a clear and self-admitted - self-interested - crime of aggression.

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 3d
The French have rightly condemned the kidnapping/coup orchestrated by the Trump regime; will Starmer really prove himself the ultimate poodle, and one who furthermore doesn’t even have respect for his one supposed virtue - a strong grasp of the LAW - by failing to join them in that condemnation?

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 3d
It is a huge indictment of the USA, of the failure of its republic, that the criminal Trump has been allowed to take power again,while in Brazil,Bolsonaro,who just like Trump staged a failed coup,is rightly in prison,as an anti-democratic menace.
The USA is an unstable anocracy, not a reliable ally.

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 3d
This.
But never forget: human beings can be very different from this. And for most of our history we mostly have been.
This poem is a critique of THIS culture, not of who we more deeply are and can be again.

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 3d
This.
But never forget: human beings can be very different from this. And for most of our history we mostly have been.
This poem is a critique of THIS culture, not of who we more deeply are and can be again.
nikitagill.bsky.social Nikita Gill @nikitagill.bsky.social · 3d
Ever relevant, this poem by Mary Oliver, especially today.
OF THE EMPIRE We will be known as a culture that feared death and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity for the few and cared little for the penury of the many. We will be known as a culture that taught and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke little if at all about the quality of life for people (other people), for dogs, for rivers. All the world, in our eyes, they will say, was a commodity. And they will say that this structure was held together politically, which it was, and they will say also that our politics was no more than an apparatus to accommodate the feelings of the heart, and that the heart, in those days, was small, and hard, and full of meanness.

Reposted by Rupert Read, Gerry Hassan

implausibleblog.bsky.social
Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 3d
Sky News, "Zack Polanski described it as an illegal strike.. When asked to condemn it Keir Starmer refused to do so"

Reposted by Rupert Read

crookedfootball.bsky.social
Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 3d
If the history of the erosion and collapse of international norms gets written, the toleration of Israel’s bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and territorial seizures will be a big part of it. Trailblazers for Putin and Trump really. Europe acquiesced with the odd diplomatic grumble

Reposted by Stacy D. VanDeveer

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 3d
"We are living now with the consequences of failure, and will do so ever more so for a very long time to come. We need to protect ourselves from and through this long emergency, and demand protection via the state too."

Read more in my piece for @resilience.org.

www.resilience.org/stories/2025...
The end of 2025 must be the end of the inane rule of climate ‘optimism’
We should admit that widely-mandated climate optimism has been actively harmful to the needful acknowledgement of reality - and to the active collective self-protection that we now desperately need to...
www.resilience.org

Reposted by Rupert Read, Margot C. Finn, Ben Kaden

nikitagill.bsky.social
Nikita Gill @nikitagill.bsky.social · 3d
Ever relevant, this poem by Mary Oliver, especially today.
OF THE EMPIRE We will be known as a culture that feared death and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity for the few and cared little for the penury of the many. We will be known as a culture that taught and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke little if at all about the quality of life for people (other people), for dogs, for rivers. All the world, in our eyes, they will say, was a commodity. And they will say that this structure was held together politically, which it was, and they will say also that our politics was no more than an apparatus to accommodate the feelings of the heart, and that the heart, in those days, was small, and hard, and full of meanness.

Reposted by Rupert Read

jasprblom.bsky.social
Jasper Blom @jasprblom.bsky.social · 4d
look forward to engage with Kingsnorth's new book, here discussed by @rupertread.bsky.social. Dark green food for thought. I, for one, will be thinking through whether rootedness is localised or stems from a connection to the biosphere wherever we are perspecteeva.substack.com/p/what-else-...
What else are we against, if we are AGAINST THE MACHINE?
Rupert Read on Paul Kingsnorth’s latest book
perspecteeva.substack.com

Reposted by Rupert Read

ourpredicament.com
Jason Odom @ourpredicament.com · 4d
If an alien technology landed and started building self-replication facilities and lines connecting them all together while warning us it will likely kill us all, we wouldn't hesitate to fight.

Anti-AI direct action is self-defense.

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 4d
WATCH: My new year warning - #AI is coming for your job, for our politics, for (y)our kids and for our very intimacy.

rupertsreads.substack.com/p/a-new-year...
A New Year Warning
Artificial Intelligence in 2026
rupertsreads.substack.com

Reposted by Rupert Read

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 5d
This is an important #BBC series exploring the idea of a 'polycrisis' of progress across the intertwined spheres of technology, economic expansion, climate and the global political order. Listen now.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
What Happened to Progress? - Forward Thinking - BBC Sounds
From technology to the climate to the global order, has human progress gone into reverse?
www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Simon L. Lewis, James M. Bullock, Richard Betts , and 2 more

thierryaaron.bsky.social
Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 5d
This year has been brutal for the #climate movement.

Rollbacks, repression, & outright denial, especially in the US, have made progress feel fragile & uneven.

Which is exactly why it matters to pause & look back at what did move forward in 2025.

Here are 12 real wins 🏆, one for each month 🧵⬇️

Reposted by Rupert Read

climateguyw.bsky.social
Guy Walton..."The Climate Guy" @climateguyw.bsky.social · 6d
Main Topic: Why Adaptation Has to Move Center Stage on Climate via @rupertread.bsky.social
On The Extreme Temperature Diary WED 12/31/2025
At: guyonclimate.com
+ #climate and record temp reports @katharinehayhoe.com @michaelemann.bsky.social @drpauldorfman.bsky.social @bhensonweather.bsky.social

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 6d
We were supposed to have gone net zero by now...can we all please acknowledge and take seriously the utter failure to do so? Then we need to actually focus resources on a strategy beginning with climate adaptation. Read more 👇

www.resilience.org/stories/2025...
Quote image says: “...it is time for climate activists and thought-leaders (and policy-makers, and diplomats, and on and on) to let go of fantasies of achieving full decarbonisation on what would have been a sane timetable. Instead, we need to pivot hard towards a strategy based in climate adaptation.”

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 6d
In 2026, I will continue to push for stronger #climate regulation, a greater emphasis on adaptation and a community-centric approach to confronting climate breakdown. I also plan to focus much more on the beginnings of adaptation to the AI-induced clusterfuck that is about to explode among us.

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 6d
New #blog up on my website highlighting two of my latest articles. Subscribers to my newsletter got a sneak peek at both. Are you signed up?

rupertread.net/blog/2025/wh...

rupertread.bsky.social
Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 6d
Do give my special end-of-year piece a good read… I think you will find provocative!: