I was on BBC Radio Scotland last week talking about whether the recent very sunny & dry followed by wet weather in Scotland & rUK has been a case of "weather whiplash" - you can listen in here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002cpq0, & read my write-up: https://medium.com/p/82e39321740c

#WeatherWhiplash #ClimateChange #Climate #Weather #SciComm

Going to @EuroGeosciences #EGU25 today? I'll be speaking remotely about Holocene climate stability (and whether or not it means we're in a self-stabilising climate attractor, or just got lucky) & the #HothouseEarth hypothesis at 1620 CEST in Room F1 / online: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/EGU25-19647.html

#Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateScience

I recently spoke with @jessimckenzi at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists for their interesting new special issue on climate hashtag#TippingPoints - lots of great pieces & different views, and you can check out the full interview with me here (including conjuring a new meta-metaphor!): https://thebulletin.org/2025/03/metaphors-can-grow-legs-david-armstrong-mckay-on-tipping-points/

New blogpost/essay: *On the Point of Tipping*

[some thoughts-in-progress (that ended up quite long) on the uses and limitations of climate tipping points as a scientific metaphor & model]

https://gaiaexmachina.wordpress.com/2025/01/28/on-the-point-of-tipping/

#TippingPoints #ClimateChange #EarthSystemScience #PhilosophyOfScience

Thinking of going to @EuroGeosciences GA2025? We have a session on 'Earth resilience, tipping points and human-Earth system interactions in the Anthropocene' - abstract deadline is Wednesday 15th Jan. 13:00 CET!

https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/session/51893

Convened by Jonathan Donges along with Lan Wang Erlandsson, Ricarda Winkelmann, Nico Wunderling, & myself. Looking forward to this year's submissions!

#EGU #EarthSystemScience #ClimateScience #TippingPoints #Anthropocene #SocioEcologicalSystems

Thinking of going to @EuroGeosciences GA2025? We have a session on 'Earth resilience, tipping points and human-Earth system interactions in the Anthropocene' - abstract deadline is Wednesday 15th Jan. 13:00 CET!

https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/session/51893

Convened by Jonathan Donges along with Lan Wang Erlandsson, Ricarda Winkelmann, Nico Wunderling, & myself. Looking forward to this year's submissions!

#EGU #EarthSystemScience #ClimateScience #TippingPoints #Anthropocene #SocioEcologicalSystems

I've got a commentary out today in the new Dialogues on Climate Change journal, summarising progress so far in research on climate #TippingPoints, and reflecting on their implications for climate action & the outlook for future research:

https://doi.org/10.1177/29768659241293272

#ClimateChange #OpenAccess

New post from me on recent stories of #CarbonSinks "collapsing" last year & Earth's "buffering capacity" reaching its limits, putting it in context of past trends & future projections. A bit of a lukewarm take by now, but hopefully a useful explainer!

https://climatetippingpoints.info/2024/12/03/carbon-sinks/

#ClimateChange #FeedbackLoops #CarbonSinks #SciComm

I've got a commentary out today in the new Dialogues on Climate Change journal, summarising progress so far in research on climate #TippingPoints, and reflecting on their implications for climate action & the outlook for future research:

https://doi.org/10.1177/29768659241293272

#ClimateChange #OpenAccess

New post from me on recent stories of #CarbonSinks "collapsing" last year & Earth's "buffering capacity" reaching its limits, putting it in context of past trends & future projections. A bit of a lukewarm take by now, but hopefully a useful explainer!

https://climatetippingpoints.info/2024/12/03/carbon-sinks/

#ClimateChange #FeedbackLoops #CarbonSinks #SciComm

@drmikepj Thanks, Mike!

This new piece over at atmos.earth delves a bit more in to the #WeirdEcology links between #ScavengersReign and Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach series: https://atmos.earth/jeff-vandermeers-new-book-offers-a-new-way-of-seeing-and-being-nature/

I'll be giving the next Cardiff University School of Earth and Environmental Sciences public lecture on November 12th, covering what climate #TippingPoints are, how close they might be, and what we can do about them - come along if you're around Cardiff then!

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/earth-environmental-sciences/events/public-lecture-series

#ClimateChange #SciComm #Cardiff #CardiffUniversity #ScienceTalk #TippingPoints

A good case-study of shifting baseline syndrome - much of Europe was once surrounded by oyster reefs as large and complex as tropical coral reefs, now largely forgotten:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/03/europe-oyster-reefs-study

Props to the team who catalogued records of them in this fascinating (but tragic) paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01441-4

#Ecology #ShiftingBaselines #LostEcosystems

Provisionally good news that the UK will finally relinquish control of the Chagos Islands, but it's imperative that Chagossians have a definitive say in what comes next.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/03/britain-to-return-chagos-islands-to-mauritius-ending-years-of-dispute

#ChagosIslands #Colonialism

@W_Lucht Thanks Wolfgang!

Today was my first day as a new Lecturer in Geography, Climate Change & Society at Sussex University's School of Global Studies! Looking forward to teaching on climate change and data analysis, as well as new research on tipping points, resilience, and the Earth system.

Between this report on migrant labour abuses on Diego Garcia, the UK's ignoring of ICJ rulings & recent backtracking on Chagossian return, the sidelining of Chagossians (many of whom live here in Sussex) by both UK and Mauritius, and US use of Diego Garcia as a CIA black site, the Chagos Islands really act as a microcosm for 21st Century colonialism:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/09/migrant-workers-fear-for-their-safety-after-deaths-on-diego-garcia

#ChagosIslands #Colonialism

Recently finished watching Scavengers Reign, which I'd recommend as a well-crafted animation with some of the best xenecology I've seen in sci-fi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOsZVmVPn4E

I also spotted themes of "Weird Ecology" throughout, which I've written a bit about in a new blogpost:

https://gaiaexmachina.wordpress.com/2024/05/30/the-weird-ecology-of-scavengers-reign/

Alas it's already been cancelled by Max, but Netflix is picking it up from May 31st (tomorrow!) which'll make it easier to access outside the US.

#ScavengersReign #SciFi #WeirdEcology #Animation

@davidho slightly more kawaii than their Sea Hare cousins