where else can you push back on job-eating algorithms, deep fakes, and autonomous drones? in the workplace, with your union? the school board? with your electeds? with local journalism? in your living room? all of these would be more effective & durable than broad moratoria on data centers

enjoyed talking with Jael! i now have a clear working definition of slopulism

What does it mean if Bluesky and RFK Jr are on the same side of an issue?

"AI data center" moratoriums are not the way. They risk pushing burdens to places with less regulation, and driving up the price of compute, which will worsen inequality. jacobin.com/2026/04/ai-d...

It's Earth Day, which means you should preorder my new book, "Building Postcarbon Futures: Land, Justice, and Energy Transitions." cup.columbia.edu/book/buildin...

I did a lengthy interview with the CEO of Stardust, in which he walked back the solar geoengineering startup's testing and deployment plans a bit. The company also intends to release details about its proprietary particles early next year and expects to open a US office soon.

📱Nearly half of US teens say they use the internet “almost constantly.” 😰 Climate anxiety is growing – in one study, more than 45% of young adults said that climate anxiety was impacting their daily life. Is there a relationship between social media use and climate distress? new paper on this 👇

How can the #IPCC navigate generative AI? What does it mean for scientific assessment more broadly? New working paper looks at scenarios for AI adoption & resistance, w/ @dralaaclimate.bsky.social @shinasayama.bsky.social and Oliver Geden Reflections welcome! www.swp-berlin.org/publications...

New biochar climatetech startup just dropped Skeleton Capture Utilization and Storage

If you're interested in realities (&...un-realities) of cloud seeding & the conflation of facts, assertions, & kernels of truth surrounding extreme rainfall in warming climate--check out this BBC podcast! Perspectives from me & @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social.

Earlier this year, I made two trips to Sudan, where a terrible civil war has displaced 14 million people. The state is absent, international institutions are weak.Outside powers, motivated by greed and nihilism, have stepped into the vacuum www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

new paper about US attitudes on solar geoengineering, para-environmentalism, and this idea that airborne atmospheric modification is already happening rdcu.be/eyJX5

icymi: part 2: why we should treat AI like a public utility. jacobin.com/2025/07/arti... Part 1 also available in Spanish: jacobinlat.com/2025/07/el-d...

Is massive unemployment from AI just hype, or a real threat? AI companies are going to overhype their products - but the risk is real. Why progressives can't miss the opportunity to lead on policy solutions -> new from me & the excellent @matthuber.bsky.social jacobin.com/2025/07/arti...

Great stuff as always from @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social. www.compactmag.com/article/the-...

Is “abundance” basically “development” with a glow-up? What does it mean to talk about development when the Trump administration is basically on a project of reversing development? and how should we be talking about “development” in 2025, anyway? new article: www.compactmag.com/article/the-...

Nice essay from someone who works on development policy. "at its core, Abundance is a book of economic development. ... For abundance to truly serve as the transformative worldview Klein and Thompson hope, it must be extended to the world."

“What does a human slowly going insane look like to a corporation?” Mr. Yudkowsky asked in an interview. “It looks like an additional monthly user.”

Science editor from 1970 in the chat

AI becoming more prone to blackmailing users, just as companies start giving AI access to our digital histories - what could go wrong?

I asked ChatGPT 4o what I should work on and it said I should write something on "'Carbon Colonialism Revisited: The New Scramble for Geochemical Space' – a geopolitical analysis of CDR land/sea use." I asked it if "geochemical space" was a thing or if it just made it up. it made it up

one of the strangest things about this new government website, which states that "Public health officials often mislead the American people," is that Trump was president for like the first year of this pandemic

If you want a sense for what the admin intends for higher ed writ large, read the DOJ's letter to Harvard demanding that departments be externally audited and reformed for faculty "viewpoint diversity". glad Harvard is standing up - finally. great to see the Cambridge city council engaged too.

Really happy to see this out! A great lineup w/ @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social, @conorharrison.bsky.social, Alyssa Battistoni and Bruce Baigrie (w/ @brettchristophers.bsky.social response).

New Episode! The Rise of Conspiratorial Environmentalism with @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social. @davidkeith.bsky.social & Ed chat with Dr. Holly Buck about this highly topical and important topic. Podcast and video available at www.energyvsclimate.com/rise-of-cons...

REMINDER - sign up for tomorrow's live webinar & Energy vs Climate podcast recording with @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social, @davidkeith.bsky.social, and Ed Whittingham.

A few months ago, my colleagues @wimcarton.bsky.social @nilsom.bsky.social and I published an article on racial capitalism and carbon removal. Elsevier now has a GenAI dropdown embedded in the article itself, incentivizing people to not actually read it www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Trying to think how I'd describe this press release from US EPA, and the terms that come to mind are ... unhinged screed emotionally disregulated content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USE...

Is this the announcement that they have shut down the Department of Education?

Entire USAID agency worldwide was deleted by a consulting government employee with no authority to do so. It’s a constitutional crisis that puts US national security at risk and normies won’t get this until legacy media says this clearly and loudly.

A panel on the Treasury this Thursday, with the incredible @epopppp.bsky.social and @abenewman.bsky.social. This is not just for academics. Everyone needs to understand what's happening right now. Spread the word!

An unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government. DOGE is not a real government agency. DOGE has no authority to make spending decisions. DOGE has no authority to shut programs down or to ignore federal law. DOGE’s conduct cannot be allowed to stand.

Sen. Chris Murphy: "There is no question the reason the billionaire class is trying to take over our government is based on self-interest." "This *is* a constitutional crisis. Let's call it what it is."

Why Write About the Illegality of What Trump and Musk are Doing? My latest newsletter post here: buttondown.com/sbagen/archi...

seeing takes about the aid institutions and their role in imperialism. correct. If someone said "investor-owned hospitals exploit the vulnerable to benefit shareholders" I'd nod. If their followup was "and that's why I'm turning off your mom's dialysis machine" I'd...have some followup questions

Tomorrow is a new day for this

This country may be divided by who voted republican, democrat, or third party. But pretty sure we are united in the fact that nobody voted for a billionaire to make the Treasury his second wallet.

I would love even a back-of-the-envelope estimate of what all this lost data cost taxpayers to develop, and will cost us in the future with their absence. This is theft of astronomical proportions.

The silence is striking. At my uni, this is all we've gotten from admin: "Thank you for your patience as we navigate this transition period." And that's in a blue state. What happened to all those campuswide emails about respect, solidarity, fighting systemic racism? No leadership and no spine

This means: startups commercializing the best new techs will miss payroll, construction & trades workers building fed-funded projects might get laid off, research on cancer & other life saving treatments will be halted, investment in EV & semiconductor manufacturing could slow, and much more. 🔌💡

What ever happened to transparency in solar geoengineering research? a 🧵 of reflections on our new opinion article in PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🚨job alert🚨 Would you, or someone you know, like to channel something into thinking rigorously about how safe and electrified housing for everyone might also save the grid? I'm hiring a postdoc! 1-2 years, remote ok, $75k/year. Focus: model scenarios on deep building efficiency & grid impacts

If you were to write a piece on carbon removal at the end of 2024, would it be about billionaires investing in a "gold rush"? Or about flight from a sector that has no clear and durable business model, in the face of decreasing climatetech funding and net-zero talk? www.nytimes.com/2024/12/22/c...

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/c... shame that the NYT wrote about science to detect geoengineering — and didn't mention that we are about to have a massive loss in our capacity to monitor the changing stratosphere due to aging satellites going out of service and not having ready replacements

We’re asking big questions about what’s needed to build power and policies that create a greener, more just world for all. Honored to be speaking alongside these incredible panelists! Tuesday 12/9, 4-5pm ET: t.co/GEcz4s0OFI @cplusc.bsky.social

One point of my piece is that this communication style is counterproductive for widespread climate action. People want Vice Provosts to be facilitating research, not engaging in you're-with-us-or-with-the-enemy "war". Academics, watch this quietly at your peril- this will come to affect you. Why?

Glad to see this piece generating thoughtful discussion! That's the aim of this new journal, Dialogues on Climate Change. There are six pieces out so far, with many viewpoints - including on why radical lifestyle change is necessary, the merits of net zero green growth, and more. watch this space!

Posts from Baku inspired me to share a chapter from my book, drafted in 2018. It's about the potential of fossil fuel companies to co-opt carbon removal, & the need for sophisticated thinking about exit strategies for producer nations. In 2024, how have things changed? medium.com/@hollyjeanbu...

Today is Overshoot release day! My excitement is rather dampened by everything that's going on, but I hope we've managed to make a small contribution to understanding this insane world. Please buy it directly from @versobooks.bsky.social, they need the support! versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...

Is there empirical support for #MitigationDeterrence for carbon removal? See case studies in this special issue. tinyurl.com/mr2t6wvp 1/10 @jenslund.bsky.social @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social @wimcarton.bsky.social