Me updating my Disaster Recovery class on recent relevant news: “Mullins… FEMA Review Council report postponed…. Politicization of declarations… and the head of recovery at FEMA thinks he can teleport”. I’m not being paid enough for this.

Low-key big news via @bmietana.bsky.social: Judge rejects Johnson Amendment settlement, keeping ban on pastors endorsing candidates —> religionnews.com/2026/03/31/b...

like i cannot understate that major sources of social science research funding for PhD candidates are just - gone over the last few years, much less NSF support - ford /national academy of sciences fellowships - ssrc international dissertation fellowships - USIP dissertation fellowships (?)

Second this: Religious rhetoric from military leaders isn’t uncommon. What is uncommon: SecDef creating his own Pentagon worship service and delivering religious rhetoric on camera from a lectern that’s also functioning as a literal pulpit, all while aligning w/self-declared Christian nationalists.

For the unaware: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a complicated entity w/parts shared between several denominations — namely, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches. Traditions* assert it as the site of Jesus' crucifixion and his tomb

I know there's a lot going on But what the US is doing to Cuba is unconscionable

There's something sad about the fact that students are majoring in things they think they "have to" major in, usually based on totally false narratives about what will make them employable. In their *free* electives they're taking things they're *interested in,* and those are what admin is targeting

‼️ Apparently EM-DAT was financially supported through USAID. There's an open letter you can sign to garner support CRED finding a new sustainable funding source. This is the most critical international disaster dataset we have that underlies both research & practice openletter.earth/the-worlds-c...

Reminded once again of 2 truisms of contemporary US politics. 1. The average voter can't or won't think through the obvious implications of bone-headed policies 2. There are few politicians or other leaders willing to do the heavy-lifting for them (Uni presidents have been as quiet as church mice)

Really good thread with important considerations for all areas of disaster management. Especially as response and recovery are increasingly partisan under this administration. Hands off Smokey. Free the Bear!

An important takeaway - "Charitable giving is a small piece of the recovery puzzle...this analysis illustrates just how large that gap could be in an era of true federal retrenchment, and how unfair it is to expect philanthropies or corporate foundations to fill that gap."

I went on my first forest fire last year and realized something: Wildfire fighting is an entire world most people never see. That’s why I wanted Kelly Ramsey—author of Wildfire Days—on the podcast. 🎧 New episode of Reckoning Share it if like what we’re doing.

BREAKING: University Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) files suit against NSF, OMB, NOAA and DOC to halt alleged "violations of the Constitution and Administrative Procedure Act" undertaken by agencies to dismantle Nat'l Center for Atmospheric Research. open.substack.com/pub/balanced...

A fun fact about tornadoes is they're shifting outside of historical tornado alley and moving eastward into more populated areas. This is not me saying they're going to be more normal in DC

"A department generating high credit-hour production across the university but with few declared majors is not an inefficient department. It is a department whose students are not being counted in the metric being used against it."

Weather is such an interesting confounding variable

Nodding in solidarity while glancing wearily at his degrees in religious studies and political science

If we made the green energy transition this war would be unthinkable and these authoritarians wouldn’t be in power — not in the US, not in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia, not in Russia. Hydrocarbons are killing our freedom and just plain killing us.

Whoaaaaa!

Nearly 18 months after Helene, forestry officials and the state fire marshal warned legislators that North Carolina needs to be much better prepared to battle wildfires. via @ncnewsline.com

Good news from Climate.us: we've been awarded a one-time grant that will fund our core team full-time for the next 12 months. Combined with $250,000+ in crowdfunding, this gives us the resources to build the first full version of the site. Thank you to everyone supporting this work!

Are you a climate researcher based in the United States looking to do science in the public good? If so, consider applying for our Climate Science Serving America Fellowship! Applications will be accepted until April 17 at 11:59 pm ET. drawdown.org/careers/clim...

Here's my bottom line: Much of what they are doing is bad. Much of what they are doing is unpopular. Pushback is working. We are winning. Keep fighting. Be creative. Push for what you'd want. Allow for insiders and outsiders. Realize that change takes time. Reduce harm in the meantime.

Do you know a social scientist persuaded there's a religious resurgence happening in the UK or US? I'm looking for a panelist or two to make an empirical case for revival in a session at the Soc. for the Scientific Study of Religion meeting. https://sssreligion.org/annual-meeting/meeting-info/

Unboxing day! Privileged to have a chapter is this cool collection of games and simulations for political science. www.routledge.com/Short-Games-...

This is fascinating! I have so many questions about chaplain wargaming

The FEMA Higher-Education Symposium will not be happening again this year. So, as we did last year, we are hosting a free/virtual Emergency Management Colloquium in its place. The Colloquium will take place June 3-4 and the deadline for proposals is March 15th (soon!!). Hope to see you there.

This is a noteworthy thread and anyone involved in public communication of weather information should be very, VERY clear about the intent of this product change and how they use it operationally.

Back in the mid 20-teens (amid all the earthquakes), we all knew this was bound to happen. No such thing as ecologically neutral extraction.

😒😒

This is what ecocide looks like.

if you're not watching/listening/reading international news sources, you are not going to appreciate all of the spillover damage the US-Israel attack has been afflicting on folks outside Iran, and even outside the Middle-East. This is of course beyond the horrors in Iran, southern Lebanon, etc.

The draft Nature Record National Assessment is now open for comment! Take a look and tell us what we got right, what we missed, and what changes you’re seeing where you live. Your perspective will help shape the final record of nature in the U.S. naturerecord.substack.com/p/the-draft-...

Adding this to my syllabus under "case studies in administative evil"

I wrote a letter to my MOC this morning asking for Secretary Noem to be impeached and removed. I'm sorry that I did not specify who the replacement should be.

I have to do Career Day at my kids' school, what's a good way to teach them about science? I was thinking of giving them a fun activity and then making them fill out a lot of paperwork before abruptly canceling it

Good cautions about single sourced stories and confirmation bias.

Not sure I expect Tills to follow through - but this is the right move - and something Democratic leaders could emulate if they wanted to be a real opposition party

Good line in this piece from Jace Bell - "One of the biggest hurdles is politics... Instead [of proactive leadership], we let the ocean decide when retreat from the shoreline happens, often at a much higher long-term cost."

Honestly really tried to warn ppl about #ChristianNationalism.

For many in the US today, their beliefs are written first by their politics and only a distance second by their faith; and if the two conflict, they’ll go with ideology over theology any day. Leaders like Leo help us see the difference: and I’m pretty sure they would call Jesus even worse things.

NEW: Disasters are a matter of "when," not "if." Are you an emergency manager or researcher? Help us build a national picture of the country’s preparedness, from funding to alert systems. Tell us what we should be covering.

It's a generational reminder that this country seemingly cannot function if it isn't at war*. 250 years of war inflicted on every generation. * The term war here includes activity on US soil against citizens and non-citizens by the government.

Everyone skips past the 02 financial crisis because 09 was so bad. But depending on how you parse millenial...it's been bad for awhile but also the worst bit is they grew up during a period where things were getting better and then got the rug pulled out from under them.

There’s no fixing this. At least for many many years. I think most people realize this, but if any of my fellow U.S.-citizens are uncertain, let tell you that the view from abroad is very clear: there is no way back to a place where anyone will trust us. Any soft power the U.S. had left is gone.

In case you’re just waking up, the U.S. has teamed up with Israel overnight to start an illegal war of regime change, apparently on a presidential whim with no involvement of Congress, and they are already committing horrific atrocities.

Why has climate action has fallen off the political agenda? Not because people don’t care! According to @yaleclimatecomm.bsky.social Americans are as concerned now as they were in 2019. No. Decisionmakers are retreating because the right wing is going after them full bore & they are folding. 1/2

Can’t help but think this an issue….

I'm constantly trying (/failing) to get this point across. If you're a trained expert in a field, then it may be worthwhile to question the scientific consensus of your peers. If you're not, the scientific consensus is absolutely the best you can do and it's arbitrary foolishness to disregard it.

"...researchers reported that the ideal conditions for major wildfires are now aligning across different parts of the world at more than double the rate they did nearly 50 years ago." Well, yeah. That's not surprising, but it's always good to have your spidey-sense confirmed by data.