New study finds that emphasizing collective efficacy (people's ability to catalyze large-scale change) is very effective in catalyzing behavioural change. As you can see from my pinned post, I'm a big fan of simple messages that can mobilize public support for climate action!

1/ 🧵 What is a wildfire-prepared neighborhood? In Cameron Park’s Stone Canyon, 24 single-story homes are being built as Northern California’s first wildfire-prepared neighborhood — designed from the ground up to resist fire, not just individual homes. www.kqed.org/science/1999...

Was listening to [REDACTED] being interviewed on All Things Considered today and discovered the concept of the Punchable Voice.

Your regular reminder that when folks say "its cold outside where I live, what happened to global warming?" that the world is big, and weather still exists.

Tomorrow’s front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 23, 2026

ICYMI: Kennedy funded a study of the Hep. B vaccine on W. African babies. The country called it off for now. Infants there face 1/5 odds of mom-to-baby infection. The disease is excruciating & cuts off decades of life. w/ Stephanie Nolen GIFT: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/h...

#icanhazpdf? www.nature.com/articles/s41... email: d venton AT kqed DOT org 🙏 please help this nerd become even nerdier 🙏

'The secrecy has concealed ICE’s transformation into a parallel FBI, a DEA and an independent police force whose mission has crept well past the deportations that media tend to focus on.' #ICE #immigration

Your periodic reminder 👇

1/ Cultural burning returns to the Sierra foothills — KQED For the first time in living memory, Maidu tribes are bringing back ancestral fire stewardship to care for the land. 🔗 www.kqed.org/science/1999...

"I'm not mad at you" as your last words on earth are really not all that far from "forgive them father for they know not what they do."

Gov. Tim Walz said it will be difficult to get a fair outcome if Minnesota is not involved in the investigation, saying President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "have already passed judgment." Video: Minnesota Department of Public Safety

It's notable when the NYT comes out and says this up front.

Evacuations are once again being prepped in SoCal for a wave of deep tropical moisture arriving tomorrow. Second time in two weeks.

Some great stories in here. The one on the OC program for people with severe mental illness is fascinating and very well handled. With the push from the Trump regime to bring back forced treatment, it’s really important to have well reported stories on why that’s cruel and ineffective.

My final written offering of year is a reflection from the @kqedscience.bsky.social team about stories that stuck with us this year. Read here: www.kqed.org/science/1999...

who would like to work at Google crafting narratives to promote data centres www.google.com/about/career...

Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social. The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others. www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪 #AGU25 #climate

Say whaaaaaa?

Rob Reiner took the lawless hero — Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt, Batman — and reminded us that this is actually the bad guy. It’s a lesson worth remembering today.

An important idea I've heard from @amonthei.bsky.social is "unsuppressability." Many are possessed of the VERY mistaken notion that all wildfires CAN BE suppressed. But 4 a select few, there is no technology on Earth that can stop them. Humility is part of the path out of the wildfire crisis.

The Israeli Supreme Court gave the government an extension in responding to a petition brought by journalists seeking access to the Gaza Strip, the ninth such delay since the case was filed in September 2024.

New: A California state agency won’t meet Governor Gavin Newsom’s year-end deadline to finish long-delayed regulations to protect homes from wildfires, rules that experts say could have limited the destruction of the January Los Angeles firestorms. Free link. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

An abbreviated history of California taking wildfire safety very seriously, or not... 1.) Following devastating fires in Wine Country and Paradise, the state legislature approves a bill in 2020 to enforce a safety buffer around homes, an area of 5 feet resistant to embers. It's called "Zone 0"

And Trump is preparing an executive order—a piece of paper pretending to have the force of law—to preempt and ban state laws just like these. The Trump administration backs AI data centers over you—raising your electricity bills and consuming millions of gallons of your community’s drinking water.

NEW: Chemical industry lobbyists have long pushed the government to adopt a less stringent approach to gauging the cancer risk from chemicals, one that would help ease regulations on companies that make or use them. They finally got their wish.

426.75 parts per million (ppm) CO2 in air 04-Dec-2025 keelingcurve.ucsd.edu

In a joint statement, the Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East urged that the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger be blocked.

I would simply walk into the darkest wood after this, never to return

Ok, I agree this is brilliant. However, in college I was friends with a vegan who was kinda an asshole about it (but was overall great).

“The goal is to take Guerneville’s superpower of getting a ton of people here and having a great time and diverting that energy towards a climate goal,” says Nick Schwanz of Solar Punk Farms. “Our near-term goal is to feel like every year’s better than the past.” 🏳️‍🌈🌲💕

It's time for my highly personal "best things I saw and didn't write about" list of 2025, which includes Dynasty Handbag, an impressive outlet, two shows about cities and a slight cheat for an exhibition in NYC. www.kqed.org/arts/1398419...

Highly recommend setting aside some time to read the full investigation into Oregon's AI-fueled toxic drinking water crisis by @rollingstone.com and @thefern.org It’s one of the most important pieces of accountability reporting I’ve seen this year

Have 2 lengthy layovers in LAX next week. Who has recommendations for good spots for lunch/coffee/hang? No I have no lounge access what do I look like

In honor of Larry Summers, I asked the female members of my college class (1987) to say if they had any experiences with sexual harassment by teachers/professors, back when this was tolerated as, I dunno, the cost of attending college, and OH MY GOD.

Now that’s a lede. Story by @taracopp.bsky.social and @michelleboorstein.bsky.social. Read here: www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Join our #ClimateRide team! @climateride.bsky.social delivers millions of $ in grants each year to nonprofits in bike advocacy, conservation, & climate solutions. Registration for the fast-selling Green Fondo ride opens soon, Dec 1. Add your name to the interest list so you can ride with us!

Continuing my brief foray into arts reviewing: Grizzly Bear’s show last night at the Fox in Oakland was a sleepy bore. Allegedly is their last and the band sure seems like they are ready to stop

DHS agents investigating sexual crimes against children have been redeployed to the immigrant crackdown. A probe into the black market for Iranian oil sold to finance terrorism has been slowed down because of the shift. And efforts to combat human smuggling have languished.

POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success

I realize no one follows me for opera hot takes . . . BUT . . . For everyone in the Bay Area, the Monkey King @sfopera.bsky.social is lush, gorgeous, goosebump-giving and funny. Killer costumes, puppets & performances. Story based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. 2 thumbs up

It's all connected. Healthy animals = healthy ecosystems = healthy humans. 🌍🦟🐸👨‍🍼

Finally, national coverage on the loss of 9 seismic stations in #AK going dark this month due to #NOAA funding cuts. This leaves #tsunami forecasters without vital data used to determine if an #earthquake will send tsunami waves toward the #US West Coast. www.nbcnews.com/science/tsun... #EM #greysky

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

Very excited to be attending the #goodfire #tendingnativelands press preview at Oakland’s Museum of California

Who has an incredible chili recipe, or two? Having folks over Sat and looking for a classic banger and a great vegetarian option

hire all the fired political teen vogue writers and make a new magazine call teen rogue. we’ll all subscribe en masse

This magazine just fired all of their politics staffers

For any unfamiliar with the quality of journalism at Teen Vogue, it's well known for hard-hitting stories on "politically sensitive" topics including climate. Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.