If we ever get back a functioning research grant system in the US, we need to address this. Its a huge problem for researchers.

'ok I'll read one article on something before starting on my grant proposal' the article:

Conventional wisdom seems to be that one reason carbon offsets are good is that they are politically feasible in a world where public investment is not politically feasible. I think this is wrong. Here's why:

I would love suggestions for workflows for reading scientific papers. I've been using the Kindle app on my iphone to read scientific papers for years.

We use alot of specific machine learning and content analysis methods that are AI-ish (and purpose built), and I've seen some people say that gen AI tools make things like literature searches more efficient, but I don't see dramatic changes in scientific discovery from chatbots?

I was on a search committee last year for a position that had hundreds of applicants, of which probably 1/3 (more than 100) were highly qualified and great fits for the department. If you didn't get the job, it wasn't because you weren't qualified or discrimination, its because you had bad luck.

I really enjoyed this paper: "Why don't landowners just do what they are told?" which illustrates the mismatches between expert advisors and the values of local people and decision-makers www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

NSF now planning to let POs largely decide what gets funded, and to send PIs reviews that are only 3-5 sentences long. They don't have to use outside reviewers (except maybe 1) and don't have to convene panels. (1/5)

It was -10 F (-23 C) and our gas boiler/radiators aren't working but our house was plenty warm last night with our cold climate heat pump. Globally few people live in places that regularly get this cold, which is to say, the vast majority live in places where a heat pump is all you need.

I think its worse than this actually. Lots of American citizens still don't have real IDs.

Systematic review of evidence on Miyawaki forest restoration: Its at least 10,000 times more expensive than other techniques, yet has no well documented benefits besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This article is a really really good argument for laws like the US's Environmental Policy Act, which has the value of forcing government agencies to "look before they leap" or in this case, before the CIA abandons a bunch of plutonium on Nanda Devi. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

NSF stopped the CNH/DISES program with the idea that they were going to roll out something new and better to replace it, and now we've got 0 and the folks who were working on this all were fired. I wonder if we wouldn't have been better off just keeping on with the old imperfect program.

Its pretty weird to watch yourself but only able to understand what you are saying using auto-generated captions with auto-translate on, but I still thought this documentary was pretty awesome.

They should also remind the Supreme Court that they are likely to grant enhanced executive power to the office of the president that in 3 years might be controlled by Zohran Mamdani or AOC.

I'm filling out a University form to get one of my classes certified as fulfilling an "interdisciplinary knowledge" requirement, and for me, a guy who never got a degree from a conventional discipline, its a struggle. I can't even really figure out where different disciplines start and end.

One of the scientific puzzles I've struggled with through my career is the contrast between biophysical models of ecosystem services/nature's contributions to people and what you hear from farmers and other rural land users about how the interact with nature. - This is a thread about a new paper.

Just to think that this was 27 years ago, imagine how much more product diversity exists today! theonion.com/consumer-pro...

There is such a thirst in some progressive centrist circles that they will look at the Trump administration as a model to get things done. I think its worth addressing the argument. This is from Mark Dunkelman, author of the widely praised "Why Nothing Works." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...

Ethnobotany question: Mistletoe is a big part of the legends of Christmas celebration, however here in the US, I don't think I've ever actually seen mistletoe for sale or hanging in someone's home. However when we were on sabbatical in Spain, we saw mistletoe in every Christmas market. Why?

As far as I can tell, most of the people who do actual research on NEPA think its much less of a problem than people who just post about it online. This is a good thread.

Open PhD position here in UMN forest resources in the analysis of forest change in tropical mountains, with a focus on geospatial analysis. Applications due Dec. 8. More information and instructions on how to apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

"Our analysis suggests that US climate financing is not distributed to meet global mitigation goals at both the investment and climate solution scale. "

A couple weeks remain to submit your proposals to our conference panel at POLLEN in Barcelona next summer about the future of restoration - due December 5. nomadit.co.uk/conference/p...

Maybe I'm too optomistic, but I'm just going to guess that the abstract written by the authors might be a better summary of the scientific article than the AI generated summary that every journal publisher now seems to be pushing?

I suggest making your pumpkin pie with a buttercup squash.

Unfortunately, sounds like the Tropical Forests Forever Facility might be dead on arrival? Also, someone should make a Dr. Evil meme of Portugal donating 1 million dollars to it. reddmonitor.substack.com/p/the-tropic...

This time of year, we hear alot about how we need carbon markets to raise finance for climate change. In its entire 30+ year history, the voluntary carbon market has raised about 12 billion dollars www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/publications...

Latest write-up about outrageous administrative over reach at IU. www.jta.org/2025/11/07/u...

If I'm understanding correctly, Musk's trillion dollar pay day is dependent on the performance of Tesla, a company that hasn't produced a marketable new product in the last 6 years and is rapidly losing market share to a variety of traditional car makers as well as new entrants in China?

I didn't really understand this NYT piece about the Sierra Club. First of all, they say that revenue has dropped, and include a chart that shows basically a rising long-term trend in revenue www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...

There seems to be more interest in other political news, but I'm suprised I haven't seen any coverage of the fact that St Paul MN apparently now has the first all woman elected city government in the US?

The Forests Forever Facility has officially been launched and I have SO many questions. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/c...

The 20th-century economist Robert Solow created the theory of infinite economic growth by substituting "technological innovation" for the productivity of land in his model, thereby decoupling the economy from any limits imposed by land or ecosystems. The world took his theory as gospel. 1/n

My son was fiddling around with chatgpt yesterday, and chatgpt *offered* to create a numberline that would demonstrate that 1+1=2, and this is what it produced. The new AI driven industrial revolution looks pretty grim to me.

I'm looking for other forestry/environment/natural resources programs (grad & undergrad) that have recently done surveys of alumni & potential employers to understand the job market conditions in the field. Bonus for published and/or willing to share your survey instruments with me.

Improved local democracy is a core environmental policy. In India, infrastructure development leads to species loss, "Yet the extent of species loss is more than halved when local institutions enable marginalized communities to mobilize..." www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Humphrey School at Minnesota is hiring an associate professor in "water resources, sustainable agriculture, or the nexus of food-energy-water issues." Come join me in the frozen north! hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/370...

The most important and innovative paper I've read this year: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Its 12:45 pm on Sunday October 26th, and a family of trick or treaters just knocked on our door. I'm confused.

Job is open until Oct. 31 and still looking for strong applicants.

Can someone point me to a way to measure the total amount of money that went to forestry-related projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (or any kind of publication that already measured this)?

For friends in France (or maybe French speakers in other parts of Europe?) this is a new documentary about the perils of large-scale tree planting. I'm interviewed in it and French colleagues who've watched it say its quite good. www.arte.tv/fr/videos/11...

My department is hiring an assistant professor of forest regeneration. The University of Minnesota department of forest resources is a great place to work, I really really like it here, and hope we end up hiring someone I can collaborate with. hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/370...

"Independent studies consistently point to shortcomings in the rigor and credibility of crediting methodologies and other procedures, which market players have been slow or reluctant to address." onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Several colleagues and I are organizing a panel on "From global restoration goals to people's visions for the future: Capturing diverse imaginaries of ecosystem restoration" at the upcoming Pollen conference in Barcelona (June 29-July 3, 2026).

Carbon credits for not creating art (its a spoof, it made my day). reddmonitor.substack.com/p/cancelled-...

The University: We need to become leaders in climate and sustainability and there is an urgent need to develop climate science courses. Me: Our department has climate in the name and we already offer courses on climate science at every level. The University: Who invited you to this meeting?

And yet big NGOs (and plenty of big name ecology & forest scientists) are still promoting them, and arguing that little tweaks will fix them. At this point, If you think your little tweak is going to fix things, you need to show me really strong evidence.

A team I am a part of is hiring an India-based part time research assistant to help us with textual analysis of government forestry documents related to forest restoration and pastoral livelihoods in Himachal Pradesh. Information and application instructions here: forms.gle/4D6aVqtDU7FY...