Kate Mackenzie
@katemac.bsky.social
finance, energy, climate, geopolitics, industrial policy
@thepolycrisis.bsky.social
in Australia -> DMs hard to retrieve, best to email
@thepolycrisis.bsky.social
in Australia -> DMs hard to retrieve, best to email
Pretty rotten. Even tho Pakistan avoided billions in LNG costs because of all their solar… they still have a lot of LNG dependency, legacy baked in a decade ago. Bangladesh is even worse position
September 18, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Pretty rotten. Even tho Pakistan avoided billions in LNG costs because of all their solar… they still have a lot of LNG dependency, legacy baked in a decade ago. Bangladesh is even worse position
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
I love this slide. I really don't think the geopolitical implications of the clean energy transition have sunk in for most people.
September 18, 2026 at 12:57 AM
I love this slide. I really don't think the geopolitical implications of the clean energy transition have sunk in for most people.
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
marty spitting (error) bars
Goated quote from the late Marty Weitzman in @geoffmann.bsky.social lecture at Sydney Uni SSPS
September 17, 2026 at 12:02 PM
marty spitting (error) bars
Goated quote from the late Marty Weitzman in @geoffmann.bsky.social lecture at Sydney Uni SSPS
September 17, 2026 at 9:25 AM
Goated quote from the late Marty Weitzman in @geoffmann.bsky.social lecture at Sydney Uni SSPS
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
“Dumb suckers should’ve bought an EV like me,” I taunt, seconds before remembering that I too must eat food to survive.
September 16, 2026 at 2:50 AM
“Dumb suckers should’ve bought an EV like me,” I taunt, seconds before remembering that I too must eat food to survive.
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
Canberra is watching Canada’s attempt to build a closer relationship with the European Union and is aligned with Ottawa on the issue, according to Don Farrell, Australia's trade minister.
Australia ‘on the same page’ as Canada on deepening EU ties, says key minister
Australia’s trade minister said his country will “take great interest” in what Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pursues with Brussels.
www.politico.eu
September 15, 2026 at 1:20 PM
Canberra is watching Canada’s attempt to build a closer relationship with the European Union and is aligned with Ottawa on the issue, according to Don Farrell, Australia's trade minister.
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
Another striking chart from our report: The correlation between the fossil fuel share in the energy mix and the inflation rate during the two most recent inflationary episodes.
The only exit from this cycle: renewables and electrification. What does that have to do with the ECB?
A lot! 3/
The only exit from this cycle: renewables and electrification. What does that have to do with the ECB?
A lot! 3/
June 23, 2026 at 9:25 AM
Another striking chart from our report: The correlation between the fossil fuel share in the energy mix and the inflation rate during the two most recent inflationary episodes.
The only exit from this cycle: renewables and electrification. What does that have to do with the ECB?
A lot! 3/
The only exit from this cycle: renewables and electrification. What does that have to do with the ECB?
A lot! 3/
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
The biggest thing, to me, is that @rude1.blacksky.team is building what I believe is what social media should’ve always been from the start. BlueSky gets credit for getting AT Protocol off the ground, but BlackSky is really delivering the vision, IMO. I believe in what they’re doing.
Rudy Fraser on Black Sky and the Fight for an Independent Internet
Rudy Fraser explains how Black Sky is building a community-controlled internet beyond surveillance, censorship, and corporate algorithms.
noirpress.org
September 15, 2026 at 5:39 AM
The biggest thing, to me, is that @rude1.blacksky.team is building what I believe is what social media should’ve always been from the start. BlueSky gets credit for getting AT Protocol off the ground, but BlackSky is really delivering the vision, IMO. I believe in what they’re doing.
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
MIT wants to remake education around what AI can't do. They propose oral exams and to center social interactions.
I cannot help but notice this is the *opposite* of the K-12 “school reform” edtech movement—which wants to put kids in front of computerized tests & collect data. Short 🧵
I cannot help but notice this is the *opposite* of the K-12 “school reform” edtech movement—which wants to put kids in front of computerized tests & collect data. Short 🧵
MIT has put out an "AI and Education" report summarizing what they've found at their own institution. Seems thoughtful. aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/
September 13, 2026 at 9:00 PM
MIT wants to remake education around what AI can't do. They propose oral exams and to center social interactions.
I cannot help but notice this is the *opposite* of the K-12 “school reform” edtech movement—which wants to put kids in front of computerized tests & collect data. Short 🧵
I cannot help but notice this is the *opposite* of the K-12 “school reform” edtech movement—which wants to put kids in front of computerized tests & collect data. Short 🧵
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
"needs to have a stake". You mean... an equity stake? I'm pretty sure that is actually a surreptitious reference to an equity stake...
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: "My view here is it has always been very strange that this technology is being built by a private company ... I think the government and the public needs to have a stake. And that's why we've supported regulation."
September 13, 2026 at 2:49 PM
"needs to have a stake". You mean... an equity stake? I'm pretty sure that is actually a surreptitious reference to an equity stake...
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
I’m back in @phenomenalworld.bsky.social with @70sbachchan.bsky.social and @katemac.bsky.social taking stock of the disaster in Nepal and how global austerity will constrain its recovery—with pessimistic implications for global climate adaptation challenges.
phenomenalworld.org/analysis/dis...
phenomenalworld.org/analysis/dis...
Kate Mackenzie, Tim Sahay, & Advait Arun | Disaster and Constraint
How can Nepal and other countries facing climate catastrophe recover and rebuild amid rising borrowing costs and reduced aid?
phenomenalworld.org
September 13, 2026 at 1:51 PM
I’m back in @phenomenalworld.bsky.social with @70sbachchan.bsky.social and @katemac.bsky.social taking stock of the disaster in Nepal and how global austerity will constrain its recovery—with pessimistic implications for global climate adaptation challenges.
phenomenalworld.org/analysis/dis...
phenomenalworld.org/analysis/dis...
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
While this narrative persists among AI folks that the AI can "disobey" them despite their telling it to be good, how the heck are they ever going to take responsibility? Melanie Mitchell explains it superbly here.
aiguide.substack.com/p/misleading...
aiguide.substack.com/p/misleading...
Misleading Metaphors, Real Risks
What To Fear from AI Agents and How to Reclaim Our Human Agency
aiguide.substack.com
September 12, 2026 at 1:41 PM
While this narrative persists among AI folks that the AI can "disobey" them despite their telling it to be good, how the heck are they ever going to take responsibility? Melanie Mitchell explains it superbly here.
aiguide.substack.com/p/misleading...
aiguide.substack.com/p/misleading...
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
burst into tears when this Nepal story said the number of kids:
47-year-old principal of a school who made a split second decision to evacuate 1,643 students and teachers to higher ground, after initially thinking it would be safe 60 metres above the river.
www.indiatoday.in/world/story/...
47-year-old principal of a school who made a split second decision to evacuate 1,643 students and teachers to higher ground, after initially thinking it would be safe 60 metres above the river.
www.indiatoday.in/world/story/...
How a Nepali teacher's quick thinking saved 1,643 children from monster floods
A Nepali school principal rushed 1,643 children to safety after a warning that muddy floodwaters were surging towards their school. His split-second decision came as a glacier-triggered disaster tore ...
www.indiatoday.in
August 30, 2026 at 11:51 AM
burst into tears when this Nepal story said the number of kids:
47-year-old principal of a school who made a split second decision to evacuate 1,643 students and teachers to higher ground, after initially thinking it would be safe 60 metres above the river.
www.indiatoday.in/world/story/...
47-year-old principal of a school who made a split second decision to evacuate 1,643 students and teachers to higher ground, after initially thinking it would be safe 60 metres above the river.
www.indiatoday.in/world/story/...
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
Imagine a country had a 9/11 traumatic deadly and destructive episode and the whole world reacted with sympathy for just a day and then moved on. @katemac.bsky.social @advaitarun.bsky.social and I reflect on the world after the roof comes crashing down. bsky.app/profile/kate...
the terrible landslide & flash flood in the Himalayas was shocking; and it comes at the same time as finances everywhere for public investment are constrained
Mackenzie, Sahay, Arun | Polycrisis
How can Nepal and other countries facing climate catastrophe recover and rebuild amid rising borrowing costs and reduced aid?
phenomenalworld.org
September 12, 2026 at 4:18 AM
Imagine a country had a 9/11 traumatic deadly and destructive episode and the whole world reacted with sympathy for just a day and then moved on. @katemac.bsky.social @advaitarun.bsky.social and I reflect on the world after the roof comes crashing down. bsky.app/profile/kate...
a lot of things stood out to me about Nepal when writing this piece with @70sbachchan.bsky.social @advaitarun.bsky.social
the terrible landslide & flash flood in the Himalayas was shocking; and it comes at the same time as finances everywhere for public investment are constrained
Mackenzie, Sahay, Arun | Polycrisis
How can Nepal and other countries facing climate catastrophe recover and rebuild amid rising borrowing costs and reduced aid?
phenomenalworld.org
September 12, 2026 at 12:58 AM
a lot of things stood out to me about Nepal when writing this piece with @70sbachchan.bsky.social @advaitarun.bsky.social
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
Sure you peasants may freeze in the dark once in a while, but dont you realise Eric Schmidt says energy demand for AI is infinite and we are never going to meet our climate goals anyway, so we may as well bet on building AI to solve the problem?
September 10, 2026 at 12:29 PM
Sure you peasants may freeze in the dark once in a while, but dont you realise Eric Schmidt says energy demand for AI is infinite and we are never going to meet our climate goals anyway, so we may as well bet on building AI to solve the problem?
the terrible landslide & flash flood in the Himalayas was shocking; and it comes at the same time as finances everywhere for public investment are constrained
Mackenzie, Sahay, Arun | Polycrisis
How can Nepal and other countries facing climate catastrophe recover and rebuild amid rising borrowing costs and reduced aid?
phenomenalworld.org
September 11, 2026 at 3:00 PM
the terrible landslide & flash flood in the Himalayas was shocking; and it comes at the same time as finances everywhere for public investment are constrained
Himalayas catastrophe, El Niño, Treasuries/rising costs of govt borrowing in rich countries .. it’s not a good combination. We wrote about it all: @70sbachchan.bsky.social
Mackenzie, Sahay, Arun | Polycrisis
How can Nepal and other countries facing climate catastrophe recover and rebuild amid rising borrowing costs and reduced aid?
phenomenalworld.org
September 11, 2026 at 2:08 AM
Himalayas catastrophe, El Niño, Treasuries/rising costs of govt borrowing in rich countries .. it’s not a good combination. We wrote about it all: @70sbachchan.bsky.social
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
Me striding into the building society to renegotiate my 5-year fix
September 10, 2026 at 6:38 AM
Me striding into the building society to renegotiate my 5-year fix
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
This scoop by my colleagues is really alarming, it reflects a troubling shift in how some AI researchers are operating. Ultimately very hard for Aisi do its work in a world of heightened geopolitical tension and competition:
Anthropic withheld latest AI model from UK testing agency
Decision to exclude Aisi has prompted fears inside British government of protectionist shift among tech groups
www.ft.com
September 9, 2026 at 4:26 PM
This scoop by my colleagues is really alarming, it reflects a troubling shift in how some AI researchers are operating. Ultimately very hard for Aisi do its work in a world of heightened geopolitical tension and competition:
Feels like something important is going on in terms of how markets perceive DM vs EM fiscal discipline. This from & about Norwegian oil fund via @katie0martin.ft.com
September 9, 2026 at 7:06 AM
Feels like something important is going on in terms of how markets perceive DM vs EM fiscal discipline. This from & about Norwegian oil fund via @katie0martin.ft.com
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
One more totally fucking nuts graph for today, care of a request by @leonsimons.com.
Not only is the current standard deviation for the Nino 3.4 sea-surface temperature above 4SD over the 1982-2011 mean for the first time on record, but no previous year even reached 3SD.
Not only is the current standard deviation for the Nino 3.4 sea-surface temperature above 4SD over the 1982-2011 mean for the first time on record, but no previous year even reached 3SD.
September 8, 2026 at 11:27 PM
One more totally fucking nuts graph for today, care of a request by @leonsimons.com.
Not only is the current standard deviation for the Nino 3.4 sea-surface temperature above 4SD over the 1982-2011 mean for the first time on record, but no previous year even reached 3SD.
Not only is the current standard deviation for the Nino 3.4 sea-surface temperature above 4SD over the 1982-2011 mean for the first time on record, but no previous year even reached 3SD.
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
PEOPLE WITH LIBERAL ARTS DEGREES: so while i see there is utility to the system, i’m more or less morally opposed to their current constructs and have big concerns over the business structure and environmental impact
WEB CODER: so i met God today,
WEB CODER: so i met God today,
September 8, 2026 at 12:23 PM
PEOPLE WITH LIBERAL ARTS DEGREES: so while i see there is utility to the system, i’m more or less morally opposed to their current constructs and have big concerns over the business structure and environmental impact
WEB CODER: so i met God today,
WEB CODER: so i met God today,
Reposted by Kate Mackenzie
There's climate hushing and and then there's climate HUSHING
As Nepal identifies those killed in the floods, questions grow over China's reporting
One week after the deadly floods, very little is known about China's dead or missing. China's control over media and digital censorship is in stark contrast to open reporting in Nepal.
www.npr.org
September 8, 2026 at 10:26 PM
There's climate hushing and and then there's climate HUSHING