A cluster of small, dark blue flowers growing on the branch of a shrub. (California lilac)

California lilac 🌱 #photography #bloomscroll #flowerreport

Ah! You’re coming to our rice/methane one today yes?

Today, we published the @ember_energy Global Electricity Review 2026.

That also means 2025 electricity generation data for over 100 countries and regions is now LIVE on our data explorer, data downloads and API.

Open electricity data for everyone!

ember-energy.org/data/electri...

In 2025, renewables overtook coal in global electricity generation for the first time in over 100 years.

Renewables: 33.8%
Coal: 33.0%

Coal fell below a third of global electricity generation for the first time in history.

Glad it resonated! Feels like people are just grinding through multiple huge disruptions that occurred this decade.

Enough for the evening. Rest up, you are probably more tired from the past few years than you think.

You know that social media thing where you talk past each other on purpose because you each sort of strawperson the other’s arguments so you don’t actually have to engage them? I feel like that happens IRL more often now. (This thread is now veering in a vibes-based direction. Proceed with caution.)

Like. We collectively experienced something extremely isolating, and I’m not just talking about lockdowns and social distancing.

Plus, people forgot how to drive, and now routinely flout other basic rules like waiting for people to get off the Metro before they board it at a stop.

In the instances where I was not privileged in ways others were, the way others just carried on as if nothing was wrong felt like a huge chasm had opened up. I’m guessing it felt that way to others when the shoe was on the other foot too.

And we all have probably not processed much of that.

There were some ways in the above in which I was incredibly privileged compared to others.

There were other ways in the above in which others were incredibly privileged compared to me.

And, both instances (privilege or not) separated me from other people in ways that weren’t as obvious before.

Mine (replies are reawakening this) is that COVID frayed who we were as a society bc the effects were SO unequal. Lockdown in a house with a yard, or apartment? WFH for a long time, or essential worker? Caregiver or not? Underlying condition leading to caution, or disregard for masks/distancing?

Idk I just cook it until it seems done 🤷‍♂️

It’s also my go to for an on the road burger at BK. It usually hits the spot for me.

The science of cultivated meat | GFI Learn about the science of cultivated meat and the challenges that must be addressed for commercial production.

gfi.org/science/the-...

(Which is also what my first taste of Impossible meat was like in 2016, in a little slider that had all the fixings. Over the years I was happy for the opportunity to buy it in restaurants and then cook it myself at home to really form an opinion - which is a positive one.)

(The cultivated salmon by Wildtype was good btw. The pieces were small and mixed with other things so I can’t say I got a huge impression about what it’s actually like vis-à-vis regular salmon, but if you hadn’t told me it was cultivated I wouldn’t have suspected a difference.)

Eliza, Mike, and Bruce diving into the food/agriculture/meat/climate puzzle and talking solutions.

Kicked off DC Climate Week in style with “Reimagining Food for a Livable Planet” hosted by @bezosearthfund.org featuring @mikegrunwald.bsky.social & @brucefriedrich.bsky.social talking w @elizabarclay.bsky.social about their new books on ag, meat, & climate. I ate my first ever cultivated salmon.

Which was the style at the time

And mitigation!

#Respect

If you think BECCS (using wood as an electricity source, hoping to capture carbon) will save us, you should really read this paper.

*Christina Perri voice*

Wind & solar
Wind & solar

I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid
This is power for 1000 years
It’s power for 1000 more

And all along, I believed I would find you
Time has brought your tech to me
This is power for 1000 years
It’s power for 1000 more

You’d actually have to run the numbers rather than assume a generality in this case. Cutting trees down and burning them does in fact release CO2 into the atmosphere.

You may not like this line of thinking, but it’s quite possible that keeping those trees standing (thus even higher C sequestration than you observed) and burning fossil fuels for those 35 years might have been better for overall GHG impact. Can’t really know without the data though.

Burning trees for energy is not carbon-neutral!

- Burning trees emits more CO2 per unit energy than fossil fuels
- Harvesting trees for energy releases carbon that would otherwise have remained stored in the forest
- It often takes decades for CO2 from burning to be re-absorbed by new tree growth

The paper explores wide range of wood supply sources, inc. extreme pro-BECCS assumptions, e.g., 50% of wood comes from residues. We also provide transparent model anyone can use to change parameters and test results. No remotely reasonable assumptions generate benefits in reasonable time frames.

As @billmckibben.bsky.social says, we urgently need to stop burning things for energy.

This includes burning fossil fuels of course, but also burning trees and crops, which *increases* emissions for decades.

We need to electrify energy systems using solar and wind.

The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council has been pointing out for years that burning trees for energy is not carbon-neutral and that carbon "payback periods" can be decades to hundreds of years - not in line with our need to urgently REDUCE emissions.

See e.g.: easac.eu/fileadmin/PD...

Burning trees for energy is not carbon-neutral!

- Burning trees emits more CO2 per unit energy than fossil fuels
- Harvesting trees for energy releases carbon that would otherwise have remained stored in the forest
- It often takes decades for CO2 from burning to be re-absorbed by new tree growth

As @billmckibben.bsky.social says, we urgently need to stop burning things for energy.

This includes burning fossil fuels of course, but also burning trees and crops, which *increases* emissions for decades.

We need to electrify energy systems using solar and wind.

Transformers! More than meets the eye!

This VERY ANGRY ROCK is actually a brown box crab (Echidnocerus foraminatus), a king crab found off the Pacific coast of North America.

The impressively compact shape is a defense posture, but there's an even neater feature not shown here.

(📷:zedasd)