Benji Jones
@benjij.bsky.social
📤 2419
📥 768
📝 51
environmental correspondent @ vox 🏳️🌈 dm for signal /
[email protected]
/
[email protected]
A fact that blew my mind (but maybe shouldn't): Private creditors like hedge funds hold about *60 percent* of the debt of poor countries. Basically firms on Wall Street effectively control certain nations. The debt crisis is so OOC. A must-read from Sara Herschander.
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
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How Wall Street helped turn poor countries into permanent debtors
The global debt crisis works like your credit card — but much, much worse.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/473151/sovereign-debt-crisis-wall-strwet
4 days ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
22 days ago
Thank you,
@benjij.bsky.social
, for making me newly obsessed with this fierce little falcon 💙 Fascinating piece about the link between tenacious predators and how they not only benefit the landscape — but our food, too. Well worth a read:
www.vox.com/climate/4711...
@vox.com
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The fascinating link between cherry pie and this bird
Meet the unpaid animal laborers who help safeguard our food.
https://www.vox.com/climate/471172/american-kestrel-raptor-cherry-orchard-pest-control
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
about 1 month ago
Colorado brought wolves back for the first time in 80 years, but now a few years into the historic reintroduction, many of them are dead. Restoring predators is never simple and the real test is just beginning.
@benjij.bsky.social
for
@vox.com
:
www.vox.com/climate/4700...
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Colorado has wolves again for the first time in 80 years. Why are they dying?
A controversial reintroduction program is off to a messy start.
https://www.vox.com/climate/470075/colorado-wolf-release-program-stumbles
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Every time I ride a stationary bike I think of how dumb it is that I am literally using my body to turn a wheel and yet the bike USES energy and generates nothing. Meanwhile, using stuff (wind, coal, etc) to rotate wheels is literally how electricity is made. Dumb! Anyone??
about 1 month ago
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Insect people! Does anyone know what this is? (Seen in Madagascar.)
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about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Longreads
about 2 months ago
"It’s a complicated situation: The health and well-being of people along the coast depends on fishing, yet too much fishing is a key reason why the reef, and the fishery it supports, is in decline."
@benjij.bsky.social
for
@vox.com
:
www.vox.com/climate/4650...
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Scientists are testing a surprising approach to fighting hunger in one of the poorest places on Earth
Madagascar is reeling from political unrest. But there’s another problem that no one’s talking about.
https://www.vox.com/climate/465060/madagascar-military-coup-environmental-problems-fishery-coral-reef
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
2 months ago
🚨Just launched:
@vox.com
's most ambitious biodviersity reporting project of the year.
@benjij.bsky.social
went to Madagascar to find out what it takes to save one of the world’s most unique ecosystems — and learned that the answer begins with putting people first.
www.vox.com/climate/4649...
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Most animals on this island nation are found nowhere else on Earth. And now they’re vanishing.
The only way to save them is to put people first.
https://www.vox.com/climate/464953/madagascar-lemurs-chameleons-endangered-animals
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Coming out of silence to share a story that's very meaningful to me — a look at what's going on in southwest Madagascar. Coral reefs that sustain entire communities are failing, despite decades of conservation. It highlights the need to rethink how conservation works.
www.vox.com/climate/4650...
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Scientists are testing a surprising approach to fighting hunger in one of the poorest places on Earth
Madagascar is reeling from political unrest. But there’s another problem that no one’s talking about.
https://www.vox.com/climate/465060/madagascar-military-coup-environmental-problems-fishery-coral-reef
2 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
4 months ago
We’ve climbed Everest, mapped the oceans, and trekked to the poles. Yet 90% of Earth’s species remain unknown. The golden age of discovery is happening now — as scientists race to catalogue our planet's "dark taxa"
@benjij.bsky.social
w/ this fascinating story
@vox.com
:
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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The search for Earth’s most mysterious creatures is turning up extraordinary results
We still haven’t documented 90 percent of animals on Earth
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/459398/animals-species-unknown-dark-taxa
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I wrote about the search for "dark taxa" — groups of animals, like certain flies and wasps, in which the bulk of species remains unknown to science. Among the facts that blew my mind while reporting this: Around 90 percent of all life is still undescribed. Like, what!?
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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The search for Earth’s most mysterious creatures is turning up extraordinary results
We still haven’t documented 90 percent of animals on Earth
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/459398/animals-species-unknown-dark-taxa
4 months ago
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This is not the year of positive wildlife stories, but I've got one. And it's about jaguars. I spent a week in Sonora, Mexico last month looking for cats and learning about a creative project to save them — involving the very people that once hunted these animals down.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
7 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Science Friday
7 months ago
We kick off with
@benjij.bsky.social
who joins us to talk about the Department of the Interior's move to strip endangered species status from the lesser prairie chicken, and other science news of the week.
www.sciencefriday.com/segments/les...
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Lesser Prairie Chicken May Lose Endangered Species Status
The Department of the Interior seeks to remove the lesser prairie chicken’s endangered species designation. What would that mean?
https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/lesser-prairie-chicken-endangered-status/
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The Trump administration is trying to remove protections for a very odd bird on a technicality and maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal but it's actually a very big deal and signals something scary for all other species near the brink
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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Trump officials are trying to yank this animal’s last shot at survival
The administration’s attack on nature, explained by a dancing chicken.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/413064/trump-endangered-species-act-lesser-prairie-chicken
8 months ago
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having my annual “oh yeah i guess i like new york” moment cherishing it before it vanishes in 30
8 months ago
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Hi. I wrote about America’s most beloved insect: the monarch butterfly. They’re not doing well. USFWS finally proposed federal protections for them late last year. Trump is already moving to dismantle regs to protect wildlife. What will happen to monarchs?
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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The fate of this beloved American creature is in Trump’s hands
Trump says he’s pro-America. Will his administration protect its most iconic butterfly?
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/408915/endangered-species-monarch-butterfly-recovery-trump-climate
8 months ago
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just a normal reader email
8 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
9 months ago
In research published yesterday, scientists monitored what anti-anxiety drugs did to salmon as they migrated from a river out to the Baltic Sea. The results are fascinating.
@benjij.bsky.social
for
@vox.com
:
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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Oops, we accidentally drugged the world’s fish
The bizarre link between your anti-anxiety drugs and salmon.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/407949/anti-anxiety-depression-medication-wildlife-salmon
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Talked to a scientist who collects SEA TURTLE TEARS for her research. If that's not strange enough: She's looking for signs that those tears contain a kind of *magnetic* bacteria because that might help turtles navigate??? Science is cooooool.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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The extraordinary reason why scientists are collecting sea turtle tears
Researchers are hoping they may unlock one of animal biology’s greatest mysteries.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/406491/sensory-biology-sea-turtle-tears-research
9 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
9 months ago
Need a palette cleanser from all of the news this week?
@benjij.bsky.social
has this adorable and fun story about one marine scientist's unexpected discovery:
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
@vox.com
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A marine biologist discovered something incredible in a beer bottle on the seafloor
Sometimes nature thrives in the most unlikely places.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/406147/florida-octopus-babies-beer-bottle
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Can anyone point me to an octopus expert in the Caribbean/Florida region? I need help with an ID!
9 months ago
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well i’m officially that person who takes their dog to water aerobics
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9 months ago
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The US and Europe largely solved the acid rain problem. Hooray! But now our rain is full of something a lot scarier — microplastics, PFAS, and other modern chemicals. And these pollutants are much harder to clean up.
www.vox.com/climate/4016...
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We got rid of acid rain. Now something scarier is falling from the sky.
Here’s why you should never, ever drink the rain.
https://www.vox.com/climate/401600/pfas-microplastics-pollution-rain
10 months ago
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soy milk rules unsurprisingly love this
@mbolotnikova.bsky.social
piece
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
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America’s protein obsession is bringing back cow’s milk. That’s a problem.
The rise and fall of dairy milk in America, explained in 8 charts.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/402717/cow-milk-increase-america-dairy-plant-milks
10 months ago
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One thing bringing me joy right now: my plants are THRIVING!! in an nyc apt. this orchid is blooming for like the sixth time. i’ve had it for years!! even my succulent is blooming!!! i didn’t think this was possible the secret? i think neglect and sunlight
10 months ago
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This is a big deal — corals in Florida and throughout much of the Caribbean are not producing babies anymore. Sexual reproduction is failing. That means coral reefs will start failing too.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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Florida’s iconic corals aren’t having babies anymore. Scientists are alarmed.
A baby bust threatens the future of an already struggling reef.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/395569/florida-coral-reef-climate-change-baby-problem
10 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Carl Zimmer
10 months ago
The black-footed ferret has been coming back from the brink of extinction thanks to the work of US government scientists. They just got fired.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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This animal is on the edge of extinction. Trump just fired the people trying to save it.
Job cuts and frozen funding could inch one of the world’s rarest species even closer to extinction.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/401389/trump-doge-fish-wildife-service-black-footed-ferret
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Staff cuts and funding freezes have upended one of the country’s highest profile conservation projects — a nationwide effort to breed, clone, and release endangered black-footed ferrets, among the rarest animals in the world.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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This animal is on the edge of extinction. Trump just fired the people trying to save it.
Job cuts and frozen funding could inch one of the world’s rarest species even closer to extinction.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/401389/trump-doge-fish-wildife-service-black-footed-ferret?preview=true&vm_preview=64b9f987a109b95251e62879294b5d05
10 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
10 months ago
Florida’s iconic corals aren’t having babies anymore. Scientists are alarmed.
@benjij.bsky.social
explains how a baby bust threatens the future of an already struggling reef:
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
@vox.com
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
10 months ago
Are you an employee with the USFWS or another environmental agency that's been impact by recent government action? We'd love to hear from you. Reach out to
@benjij.bsky.social
and help inform more
@vox.com
reporting on this developing story.
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Our national parks are not OK, in two charts. And this was BEFORE last week's layoff. Cool cool cool cool cool
10 months ago
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Scooplet: The US Fish and Wildlife Service has issued stop work orders, frozen funding, and ceased communication for all of its international grants, jeopardizing critical conservation overseas. Much of this money is appropriated for Interior, not foreign aid.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/399957/fish-wildlife-service-trump-funding-freeze
11 months ago
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A tiny endangered lizard is set to test the Trump administration's "drill, baby, drill" agenda — and what it means for the nation's most imperiled species. Meet the dunes sagebrush lizard of Texas.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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The tiny lizard that will test Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda
In the oil-rich Permian Basin, the dunes sagebrush lizard faces extinction. Will Trump do it in?
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/398926/endangered-species-trump-energy-permian-dunes-sagebrush-lizard
11 months ago
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USAID conserves biodiversity in 60 countries. It spent ~ $375.4 million on these efforts last year. Useful list of recent projects:
www.biodiversitylinks.org/connect
h/t
@n8swick.bsky.social
add a skeleton here at some point
11 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Nate Swick
11 months ago
Here's a list of all the biodiversity projects that USAID was involved in, for as long as this website stays up.
www.biodiversitylinks.org
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BiodiversityLinks
https://www.biodiversitylinks.org/
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Zoya Teirstein
11 months ago
Hoping to get in touch with researchers whose NIH grants for climate research are frozen. Also looking for National Science Foundation folks who want to talk. Please share! Signal username: @ zoyateirstein.58
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FYI: USAID has been one of the world's largest and most important funders of global biodiversity conservation — a chronically underfunded area. It has supported efforts to protect forests, reduce illegal wildlife trafficking, and end violence towards women defending the environment.
11 months ago
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NEW: Florida’s reef-building corals are no longer having babies, threatening the future of the largest reef in the continental US.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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Florida’s iconic corals aren’t having babies anymore. Scientists are alarmed.
A baby bust threatens the future of an already struggling reef.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/395569/florida-coral-reef-climate-change-baby-problem
11 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Freedom of the Press Foundation
11 months ago
We're just going to leave this here…
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Here’s how to share sensitive leaks with the press
Thinking about securely leaking information to news organizations? This guide will show you how.
https://freedom.press/news/sharing-sensitive-leaks-press/
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Meanwhile, rats are thriving? Despite massive, multi-million dollar campaigns to eradicate these rodents from cities with poison, rat sightings have *increased* in NYC, DC, Chicago, SF, Toronto and other major cities in recent years.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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Get ready: Your city’s rat problem is likely going to get a lot worse
Climate change is, unfortunately, giving rats a boost, a new study finds.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/397128/rats-new-york-city-dc-infestation-climate-change
11 months ago
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i wrote about something strange happening within the environmental movement — many of its supporters have careened into the far right
www.vox.com/climate/3935...
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RFK Jr. and the new far-right environmentalist
Something strange is happening inside the environmental movement.
https://www.vox.com/climate/393538/rfk-jr-maha-trump-environmenta-movement-far-right
11 months ago
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Sweetest thing I've heard in a while: A sunfish at an aquarium in Japan stopped eating and fell sick after the aquarium closed to visitors for renovations. Staff hung their uniforms and put human cutouts outside the tank — and the fish got better. 🥲
apnews.com/article/japa...
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Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts
A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fish tank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations.
https://apnews.com/article/japan-ailing-sunfish-aquarium-e7a445c162bfe3ce0d95685d277ff812
11 months ago
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it continues
add a skeleton here at some point
11 months ago
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As wildfires continue to devastate LA, Trump is directing his ire towards a fish. Not severe windstorms. Not drought. Not developers who build homes in fire-prone areas. A fish.
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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Why does Trump hate this tiny fish so much?
As Los Angeles burns, President-elect Donald Trump is yelling at a fish.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/394283/los-angeles-wildfires-trump-newsom-delta-smelt
12 months ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Paige Vega
12 months ago
In the last decade, birdwatching has exploded in Colombia. But unlike most industries, birding in the country could prove to be a force for good—for locals, for the environment and for the world's most diverse population of avian species
@benjij.bsky.social
for
@vox.com
:
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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Why thousands of people are traveling to one country to see these birds
An unexpected industry is booming in Colombia. Here’s why that’s a good thing.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/384745/best-birdwatching-colombia-tourism-solution
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reposted by
Benji Jones
sam delgado
12 months ago
If you want to end your week with awe and see some gorgeous photos, then read this fascinating story about a burgeoning industry in Colombia: birdwatching!!
add a skeleton here at some point
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I wrote a feature about birdwatching in Colombia, which turns out to be about much more than staring at some (very beautiful) birds. Reporting on wildlife is usually bleak but this story gave me some actual hope. Hope! I do know her!
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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Why thousands of people are traveling to one country to see these birds
An unexpected industry is booming in Colombia. Here’s why that’s a good thing.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/384745/best-birdwatching-colombia-tourism-solution
12 months ago
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so my dog apparently needs physical therapy for a leg injury and i'm dying at the photos from the local dog therapy businesses. very sweet!!
about 1 year ago
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reposted by
Benji Jones
Longreads
about 1 year ago
This year-end collection features conversations and stories with
@jennitaur.bsky.social
, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Willa Köerner,
@theuniverse.bsky.social
,
@ferrisjabr.bsky.social
,
@benjij.bsky.social
, and
@jarodkanderson.bsky.social
:
longreads.com/2024/12/12/a...
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A Year in Reading: On Paying Attention - Longreads
A year of adopting new ways of seeing.
https://longreads.com/2024/12/12/a-year-in-reading-on-paying-attention/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
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I wrote about a new study that summarizes how bad climate change will be for wildlife, in terms of extinctions. Surprise! Not so great. But it's interesting to see the stats. Current warming of ~1.3 C could drive 160K species extinct (assuming there are ~10m species).
www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
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This is how many animals could go extinct from climate change
Even a single degree of warming can have devastating consequences for the natural world.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/389843/climate-change-wildlife-extinction-study
about 1 year ago
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