For #PhycologyFriday, check out my latest post on @bluefutureskelp.bsky.social 🌊

BC has a zero-sum choice between electrifying its economy + meeting climate goals, or subsidizing power generation for climate-busting LNG export terminals + data centres. You can’t have the former if you keep pushing the later, as gov/industry keep doing!

This is crazy, second-order stuff.

NEWS: Canadian billionaire Jim Pattison was planning to sell a warehouse for use as an ICE detention and processing facility. After pressure from the public, and from B.C. Green Party leader @emilylowan.bsky.social, Pattison's company has cancelled the sale www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Breaking - Jim Pattison Developments say the sale of their warehouse for use as a proposed ICE facility will not be proceeding

We should all be screaming from the rooftops that the Al boom/bubble is incompatible with a safe future climate! It's almost solely undoing what little progress on energy transition the world had done to date!

Sea turtles may be better able to cope with climate change than we thought. There are concerns that the reptiles face extinction because warmer conditions will make most #turtle eggs develop into females. But the animals have a genetic safety net. 🧪 🦑 🐢 www.newscientist.com/article/2512...

The Don River was once so polluted with waste, garbage + chemicals that it caught on fire. The water itself, which flows towards Lake Ontario, was so inhospitable that it hosted life’s very antithesis. Now, researchers are starting to see a rebirth. For @nationalobserver.com

“The report marks the first time a social cost of carbon (SCC) assessment — a key measure of economic harm caused by climate change — has included damages to the ocean.” www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/26/n...

The aquatic restoration happening in urban Toronto is wildly impressive & a beacon of hope in a province & country otherwise reversing course on climate+environment, I had the fortune of seeing some firsthand helping an old lab mate with it during my M.Sc www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/26/n...

This can only end in less environmental oversight and protection, in the already flawed Canadian environmental management system tilted towards the interests of corporations and their shareholders at the expense of workers and the environment

This incredibly cool new research shows that the first really big large organism on land was not a giant fungus, as many gave hypothesized. It was so chemically different from fungi that the authors propose "this enigmatic organism is best assigned to an entirely extinct eukaryotic lineage."

A new publication coauthored by Blue Future Kelp’s @claysteell.bsky.social is out, exploring the growing practice of #biobanking kelps for conservation & restoration. Read more below! 🌊 #PhycologyFriday #kelp

For #PhycologyFriday, check out this new publication I coauthored on #biobanking Pacific kelps & other macroalgae! Was a pleasure working with this team of other phycologists active in the space. Link: tinyurl.com/2v6a7aja #kelp

The red dot is a baby North Atlantic right whale trying to migrate up the east coast of the United states. The blue streaks are fast moving shipping vessels entering and leaving New York City harbor. One collision and the whale is dead. We need *mandatory* speed limits for these vessels! 🧪🦑🌍

they've got Raffi calling for regime change. something has shifted.

In case you didn't think the US was a petrostate, here's a time series of oil production of the top 10 oil-producing nations.

Abysmal statement from Canada on the illegal US action in Venezuela. It doesn’t matter how much you dislike Maduro, that doesn’t justify a violation of international law and the UN Charter. You can’t call on “all parties” to respect international law and not call out US lawlessness.

Oil brings us climate change and illegal invasions of sovereign nations.

So much for “elbows up”

A huge thank you to Ocean Wise for supporting this work, and to my friend and longtime collaborator Dr. Lauren Dykman for volunteering to collect this kelp with me!

By creating gametophyte cultures from these Giant Kelp growing at the edge of its range into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, this Ocean Action Grant funded project ensures their unique genotype is conserved as we move into a warmer future, & can be made available for future restoration if needed!

Recent research I’ve supported shows that some at-risk range-edge kelp populations have unique genotypes that may be critical for restoring kelp forests in a warming ocean, as we’ve shown that different genotypes within a kelp species can be more or less tolerant to stressors like high temperature.

Earlier this fall, I was awarded an Ocean Action Grant by Ocean Wise to set up a gametophyte culturing lab & collect spores from a potentially vulnerable population of Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) for long term bio-banking! #kelp #kelpforest #conservation #restoration #ocean

For @nationalobserver.com, I spoke with U of T’s Laura Tozer. Last year, she was adding climate policies to her lecture slides. This year, she’s deleting them, and asking Prime Minister Mark Carney to explain the rollbacks directly to her students.

Co-founder of Colossal Biosciences Ben Lamm has a history of hyping up “world-changing” ventures that ultimately lead nowhere. Cheerleading false techno-fixes like de-extinction in the media distracts from real attempts to address biodiversity loss and climate change.

In this season of renewal, as we muster fresh energy, it’s worth revisiting this deep look at burnout among environmental advocates—and why caring for ourselves sustains the long game we’re all in. #OceanHoptimism #MentalHealth

For #PhycologyFriday, check out my new #kelp restoration & research outfit, @bluefutureskelp.bsky.social! More phyco-y updates to come, in meantime, here’s some biodiversity monitoring for a client in former #seaweed habitat, collecting @reeflifesurvey.bsky.social data to understand #urchin dynamics

Right? Speaking as a CUPW union steward, Canada Post's "woes" are actually just investments in vehicle fleets and a new parcel facility. The rest is lost pay equity lawsuits and funnelling parcels to Purolator. Also... policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Thrilled to share what I’ve been working on lately: launching @bluefutureskelp.bsky.social! Ever since returning to phycology 5 years ago & researching #kelp restoration, I've been hooked, & I’m grateful to be continuing it in this new capacity. Follow along for updates & more kelpy content 🌊

“All private and public sector employers should pay their employees, whether direct or on contract, at least a living wage,” reads a report authored by @ccpanovascotia.bsky.social in August. #canlab futureofgood.co/record-numbe...

Ignored since the federal election, an arms-length expert body set up to advise the federal government on the energy transition is collapsing. The latest pipeline agreement between Canada and Alberta representing the final straw for two members. @woodsideful.bsky.social reports

Do yourself a favour and read this excellent article from @arnokopecky.bsky.social "Pierre Pollievre might still be the official opposition, but everyone knows who the real conservative leader is now."

For #PhycologyFriday, some Desmarestia aculeata (and a frosted nudibranch, if you look closely) just offshore here in Lekwungen territory (Victoria, Vancouver Island). Unlike the highly acidic species the Desmarestia genus is better known for, this one grows over winter & persists for multiple years

Saving the C-Gar! “Cuban scientists race against time to save fish as old as the dinosaurs” LINK: www.reuters.com/business/env...

On the one hand, the growing organization of fascism on the Canadian right is a huge concern as it gets closer to going mainstream On the other hand, they’ve chosen perhaps the goofiest, least sympathetic cause to rally around

For #PhycologyFriday, a Bull Kelp bed at the end of its season here in Lekwungen Territory (Victoria, BC). Though these sporophytes will soon disappear, the kelp bed will persist microscopically over the winter in the form of billions of gametophytes, probably growing from dropped spores right now!

NEW: I explain how Canada’s ongoing purchases of Israeli weapons and military technology fuel genocide against Palestinians. This is a transcript of my testimony at the people’s tribunal on Canadian responsibility. www.readthemaple.com/how-canadas-...

Coastal First Nations say the federal government hasn't been talking to them about Alberta's pipeline proposal, despite multiple requests for nation-to-nation meetings "We are tired of learning about these discussions regarding our traditional territories in the press," reads a press release

For those unaware of the background here. @tyolsen.bsky.social of @thetyee.ca wrote an excellent article on it. It’s not just this pipeline, it is others in BC as well, and it will be other utilities like power lines in the near future… potentially. thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

This week's B.C. climate news round up from @tiffycrawford.bsky.social: LNG expansion could bring 200 more tankers a year to B.C.’s West Coast, report says | The scientists who popularized carbon capture have a warning about it 👇 vancouversun.com/news/climate...

These six studies show a central estimate of warming from 2.4C to 2.9C, with large climate system uncertainties due to climate sensitivity and carbon cycle feedbacks; its possible that current policy warming could be as high as 4C if we roll 6s on the proverbial climate dice.

A number of new estimates of current policy warming by 2100 have been released in recent months, including three prominent ones from UNEP, IEA, and CAT in the run-up to COP30. I've got a new piece over at The Climate Brink digging into the details: www.theclimatebrink....

For #PhycologyFriday, some late-season Bull Kelp I saw on a freedive this week, still pumping out spore-bearing sori despite the approach of winter Seen in Lekwungen territory on Vancouver Island (Victoria, BC)

Obviously an economy-wide problem, but it’s notable how many positions in biology, conservation, or even research in BC I see posted offering less than these livable-wage rates, & almost all require advanced degrees + experience to boot

🚨 As momentum builds at #COP30 around a #JustTransition, PM Carney unveils a new batch of “projects of national interest” that threaten #climate & communities—a stark contrast to the global transition away from fossil fuels. Read the full release with quotes from civil society: shorturl.at/qEK56

Seriously appreciating this close-up translation of Carney's energy plans from @arnokopecky.bsky.social 👏

Nice to see a win for postsecondary workers!

Belize’s blue reputation vs. reef reality: Marine conservation wins, and what’s missing (commentary) news.mongabay.com/2025/10/beli... 🧪🦑🌎🐠

Is there a “methane bomb” lying in Arctic permafrost?