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Ben Matthews

@ benjhm @sopuli.xyz

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Joined
2 yr. ago
  • New here on lemmy, will add more info later ...
  • Also on mdon: @benjhm@scicomm.xyz
  • Try my interactive climate / futures model: SWIM

  • Paris-Berlin night train to be revived by Belgian-Dutch cooperative (European Sleeper)

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  • Route via Aulnoye makes sense, but then since ES already runs a night train from Brussels to Praha, this one could better run along the dorsale wallon direct to Liege. And then why via Hamburg - seems a strange deviation unless heading to go to Scandinavia ?

  • Analysis: Fossil-fuel CO2 emissions to set new record in 2025, as land sink ‘recovers’

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  • This headline and several others relating to same 'news' are mixing up information about 2024 (which is what the GCB data tables show) and 2025 emissions which are expert-projections. Of course it's useful to project for 2025, to inform the COP in Belem, but big collaborative data assimilation and analysis of sinks takes time, so the accurate data is about 2024 (you can download the most recent GCB data tables ).Checking their 'Key Messages' for 2025, the headline figure of 38.1 Gt fossil CO2, seems to be a decrease compared to the last figure in the tables for 2024 ( converting units x 12/44 ) . This is hard to reconcile with projected national increases ( but those seem to me - just quick reflection - pessimistic compared with previous carbon-brief analyses ?).In general it seems to me science-communicators do not help general understanding promoting reports by muddling up the years - global trends are changing, and blips related to weather and geopolitics vary from year to year. We'll have more blips still to come this year.

  • 'Windmill': China tests world’s first megawatt-level airship to capture high winds

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  • Interesting concept, but the efficiency compared to standing turbines needs to be calculated based on the expected lifetime. What's the leakage rate of the helium? What's the resistance of the fabric (or whatever it’s made of) and cables to UV light ?

  • Russia’s most famous diva tells Vladimir Putin to end the war

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  • Most pre-putin-era russian music stars are in exile somewhere in europe. They should coordinate together, make a big concert in some safe place, with clear political messages, some might penetrate through to people behind the state-tv propaganda wall.

  • India - A community for people of india

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  • Ukraine opens its first railway line with European track width standard, boosting the country’s integration with the European Union

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  • I guess you are right about building railways in Romania, for example I remember a train crossing the (then) shiny new EU-funded rail bridge across the Danube from Vidin, then continuing at a walking pace towards Craiova. However, where i lived near Ottignies in Belgium it was no better - they demolished houses, build tunnels and bridges, then postponed laying the rail track for over a decade. As for projects getting delayed and costs inflated by archaeological digs - check out tunnels in London... And don't get lemmings (?) started on DB infrastructure... Maybe the emergency situation in Ukraine, oddly helps them to get some things moving faster ?

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    How Close Was Russia to NATO Membership?

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  • I remember in 1990s the talk about "Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok", also having crossed the land border from Russia to China several times during that period, I felt the relative european culture on 'our' side. So, yes, there was a lost opportunity, and we could have been more welcoming, but it was not a conspiracy, nor were any specific political groups to blame (as article hints) - rather just the slow muddled consensus-processes of EU and NATO could not cope with any faster expansion, meanwhile russians got impatient and let Putin (KGB) take over, so it went bad.If we were to redesign the whole structure, I'd say we should abolish NATO and replace it with a mutual defence organisation for democracies anywhere in the world - including Brazil, Japan, India, etc. if they like, but with no permanent membership. There should be clearly specified democratic criteria including freedom for political opposition, media, NGOs, etc., and when these are no-longer fulfilled, a procedure for suspension of rights that requires a large majority but no vetos. So, currently Hungary might be suspended, and even USA if it continues its current track, while democrats in Russia (or in exile from R) might be encouraged to see a long-term pathway open.Such redesign of NATO - conversion from a tribal members club to a defence of democracy - might even be an face-saving way to end the war.

  • Ukraine opens its first railway line with European track width standard, boosting the country’s integration with the European Union

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  • Ah yes, I see it on openrailwaymap, which also indicates mixed gauge all the way along the Tisza valley to Vinohradiv, also a ukranian gauge line from Uzhhorod to Kosice - are these still operating ?

  • Ukraine opens its first railway line with European track width standard, boosting the country’s integration with the European Union

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  • Another trans-european link I should have mentioned for longer term planning - considering that Lukashenka won't be in the way forever, is a ukrainian-gauge line from Riga to Odesa - reviving already existing connections (and to balance that - a polish gauge line Bialystok - Grodno - Vilnius , complementing rail baltica).

  • Ukraine opens its first railway line with European track width standard, boosting the country’s integration with the European Union

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  • Seems to me a win-win scenario. Remember that Ukraine is actually remarkably good at railways - especially at manufacturing large numbers of comfortable and good-value sleeper wagons, which the rest of europe lacks, and also at maintaining their system in such adverse circumstances - their punctuality today is still much better than DB. On the other hand the track routes in Ukraine are anything but direct, dating from 19th century when capital cities were Petersburg and Vienna (so they align better N-S than E-W), so there's a lot of potential to make them straighter. The obstacles maybe rather regional mistrust - whether politicians in Suceava accept the status of Chernivtsi - a similar question as whether hungarians / slovakians accept Uzhhorod, polish Lutsk or Kovel,...? Better passenger transport links could help to build trust.

  • Ukraine opens its first railway line with European track width standard, boosting the country’s integration with the European Union

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  • Good, this means passengers can change in Uzhgorod - a nice town, instead of Chop which is just an isolated station with big gauge-changing sheds.But it's only 22km. So next step, plan a more ambitious standard gauge connection, from Suceava (Romania) via Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Lutsk to Chelm (Poland) - this could be a really useful european N-S link, skirting around the Carpathian mountains. In parallel, for balance, plan a ukranian-gauge track to Gdansk on the Baltic, to facilitate freight exports, also maybe extend the existing ukranian-gauge track which already reaches from Hrubieszow to Katowice.

  • How to protect US students from heat in schools – and is it time to rethink summer break? US schools were built for a cooler climate that no longer exists. Now they face record-high temperatures

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  • Why just US schools? Such a rethink should apply to every country. In my opinion, school holidays should be rescheduled to coincide with the best periods for outdoor activities (for example, here in europe I'd prefer the summer holiday to be in June which is cooler than July but with longer daylight hours). While for both extreme hot or cold (and dark) periods, it’s better that kids are gathered in a coolable / warmable institutional building, than assume that all parents can provide such a space for the whole day.Current school holiday patterns date from 19th century traditions, when kids helped with planting in april and harvest in august, change is long overdue.

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  • I used to sing while riding a bicycle around hilly edinburgh, can testify it's good for positive psychology.

  • Uncertain Future for ArcelorMittal's Smart Carbon Projects in Belgium

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  • Well written article on complicated topic. I hadn't realised - even as a belgian climatologist - that one plant was responsible for so much emissions.I reckon that in europe as a whole, we have enough steel and need to shift to recycling it more efficiently (including dismantling some reinforced concrete structures, ol pipes etc), although that's not the case in Africa, India with with growing population.

  • Thailand: Is the military preparing another coup?

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  • So what happened to all the Move Forward supporters, the youthful half of the country, surely a minor border skirmish didn't convert them into nationalists too ?

  • Casablanca has become a refuge for sub-Saharan migrants

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  • Potentially interesting, but paywall. Anybody know the total number of such people ? The coastal strip of Morocco has a relatively mild atlantic climate, and relatively stable development, but its area is small compared to sub-saharan west africa, so this is not a solution for large numbers.

  • Climate change is killing fireflies – threatening a US summer ritual | Scientists say lightning bugs are having a revival this year – but they’re concerned about the insects’ long-term viability

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  • We used to have many fireflies around midsummer in our garden (in belgium) - until we got ducks, now they are fewer. Their larvae eat slugs and snails, so those ducks compete for the same food. I'd guess "pest control" is a bigger cause for decline than climate, in this case.

  • 75% of all tourists in Italy concentrate on 4% of the territory

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  • The dolomite mountains are spectacular. However such data may be distorted somewhat near borders, if the definition of tourist includes anybody who happens to cross from a neighbouring country for the day. For example, I recall crossing SüdTirol by train, traveling from Linz (Austria) to Innsbruck (Austria) - it's a beautiful route - and there is a convenient cross-border transport pass too.

  • China sets its first renewable standards for steel, cement and polysilicon

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  • Hmm, problem is it's regional, and there's a lot more steel and cement produced and consumed in Chongqing and Fujian (examples reported) than in the west where most of the wind sun and hydro are. Will this help shift more energy-intensive industry move to provinces with surplus renewable energy ? Did anybody analyse, what are the national shares?