This is very good. "The portal is a comprehensive collection of pest management data. It is to enable collaboration between citizen scientists, researchers, and government agencies to protect New Zealand's biodiversity and industries." www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/...

Margaret Carmel (@boisedev.com) pushes the Idaho insurance crisis story forward with great perspectives from insurance brokers and other important sources. Read if you own a home in Idaho, or hope to one day be able to. valleylookout.com/2026/02/02/i...

Bluesky in a nutshell. Some context: BLS released its jobs numbers today, which were better than expected, and resistance libs would rather stay mad/conspiratorial than listen to actual on-the-ground experts that the data is still reliable.

The risk isn’t the technology. The risk is in people who should know better getting whipped up in the hype and helping normalize tech’s narratives so we don’t pay attention to (and rein in) what they’re actually doing in the present.

10 years ago they told us AI and self-driving cars were going to wipe out up to half of all jobs. They didn’t. But while everyone was talking about whether they would, companies rolled out algorithmic management and used digital tech as a pretext to reclassify workers as contractors.

This is my go-to paper to point out that significant long-distance trade in wildlife is an ancient phenomenon- here macaws were traded from AD 700 from Meso into North America. Advocates of reintroductions of charismatic species based on sparse remains often conveniently overlook the role of trade.

The world is moving to renewable power generation. But some countries are foolishly fighting it. The US and Mexico are good examples. And Malaysia which is exporting its own natural gas while also importing LNG as they are running out of gas reserves. Choosing to destroy your own economy. 🤡

Thought 1. The fixation on eliminating the "dry-year risk margin" as a lever to reduce costs misses a much much bigger opportunity to lower electricity prices: reducing gas DEMAND to better balance supply and demand, lowering prices. 2/-

Righto. I've read the papers released by MBIE on the LNG analysis. This will be a longish thread on my thoughts, which I'll add to progressively. Docs are here. 🧵 1/-

Trees are assets. Trees are infrastructure. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

My comment: Ministers seemed unprepared for criticism over how to pay for liquid natural gas and then unable to salvage the narrative once the severity of the situation became apparent. newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/11/n...

Another levy on our power bills will fix that though right?

New satellite imagery shows recent storms triggered more than 11,000 slips on East Cape

I'm not a fan of short time series to score political points because it always hides half the story. figure.nz/chart/85EnVM...

"There's a reason they didn't release the modeling yesterday with all the other papers." - Megan Woods #NzPol

This thread helps explain why — even if your country hasn’t passed a law on restricting young people from using social media — companies are shifting to require privacy-attacking facial recognition or ID scans to use their service. We’re at a #privacy and pseudonyms tipping point. #surveillance

How imported methane (LNG) risks higher power prices.

"Decades of strategically poor decisions have undermined living standards, driven a persistent brain drain, and created an economy increasingly oriented toward asset-rich retirees and the global elite rather than young families and productive enterprise." archive.ph/N5zWR

I can think of a few. "There's been no reason given to us as to why a forestry company should pay such large differential rates, what costs are we causing that justifies that increased rate." www.rnz.co.nz/news/country...

Our electricity bills are simply taxation by other means. The government is the major shareholder in most of the gentailers, and the primary beneficiary of unnaturally inflated prices and excessive dividends. This is just taxation via our power accounts #nzpol

Kent's thread is well worth a read, but his mention of peak oil reminded me of how I first got started on Twitter. Before it got weird for a bit, peak oil was taken seriously. I was introduced to it through an IPENZ (Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand) meeting i went to with my Dad.

The price of panels hasn’t just fallen, it’s plummeted. Depending on what we choose as a start date, panels have fallen to about 1/1000th of their initial cost over the last 50 years or so. This is due to the learning rate coupled to economies of scale

omg everybody go draw a horse this is what the internet was made for gradient.horse

The Australian sea lion’s unique breeding cycle may give sea lion mothers more time to teach their pups life skills. 👉 Read the full story: theconversation.com/sea-lio...

Govt to pay up to $180m/year or $2.7b over 15 years to lease LNG re-gasification plant, paid for by $15-$30 'levy' per household per year. That $2.7b would build four Benmore Dams worth of electricity #nzpol open.substack.com/pub/thekaka/...

I feel horrible for the family of Nancy Guthrie...however, after watching hourly media updates on details surrounding her disappearance, I would like to point out that there are literally hundreds if not thousands who grieve missing relatives at the hands of ICE/DHS who will get no news from anyone.

Whale evolution makes me uncomfortable

The ONLY surefire way to save the Great Barrier Reef is to stop using fossil fuels.

I swear, at least a few times a week, I come across someone who says something like "I don't like data centres but the water stuff is just made up" or something, and I really don't think they know they're just blurting out talking points created by the volunteer billionaire defense league EA guys

Great @zeblarson.bsky.social piece - much more from me coming soon on big tech greenwashing When I have time I will properly put together my notes and work on the bluewashing / minimisation of water impacts being spun by effective altruists on data centres too - wild how much cut-through it has had

Morning glory is the devil.

Native plants for native pollinators. Not environmental weeds for introduced livestock.

"Customer data will drive our decisions" is an idea at the root of so many recent institutional failures. It works when you're selling a luxury item, but not when you're doing politics or journalism, or education. Anything that requires a principled position cannot rely on the preferences of others.

Jeff Bezos is going to die young.

I get that everyone who is in the know knows this already but I am quite happy for a publication to be surfacing it again, especially for readers who may not be aware

handy dandy labeler that shows when someone’s newsletter is hosted by Substack: bsky.app/profile/labe...

😭 www.timeout.com/news/under-4...

I really hope people advocating to ban kids from SM read this. Some kids are isolated by disabilities or circumstances. Furthermore, some kids grow up in abusive households. “Ideally, a child’s exposure to online worlds should be moderated by their parents” isn’t a reassuring sentiment for everyone

Pesticides are becoming more toxic and just about every country is using more of them year after year, despite a UN target to halve the overall risk by 2030

"Studies of trout population stream ecology show that trout may consume the entire annual benthic insect production of streams, leading to a trophic cascade that is evident in the proliferation of periphyton in the relative absence of invertebrate grazing." www.researchgate.net/publication/...

This week's lies, damn lies, and green shoots award goes to Brad Olsen (via Susan Edmunds). This is a particularly disgusting use of data - like so bad that the article should be removed. Let's have a look... [🧵 1/n]

Opinion from Auckland University: The geopolitical conversation might be about minerals, but the technological need is for materials. The distinction is important, writes Nicola Gaston.

Timely reread. “ACT "weaponised" astroturfs. #nzpol #TaxpayersUnion "So when the TPU were saying 'This is a problem', it was actually a contrived problem that the ACT Party told them to create.” What problems will they be inventing for ACT to ‘solve’ for the 2026 NZ election?

"A rigid cap would leave us choosing between service cuts, pushing more costs onto users, and creating more reliance on cars. None of these are acceptable choices for community wellbeing, economic health, or climate sustainability." The rates cap will force decisions that will take NZ backwards.

“The delivery of critical services and infrastructure - like public transport and flood protection - will be compromised in the Wellington Region unless the Government reconsiders its proposed rates capping model, Greater Wellington says.” We need much more reporting on these guaranteed impacts.

I got to visit some of my old planting sites this week. Always nice to get to these areas and see how things are progressing. I did 100% harakeke on the wet, flat area here because we were having major issues with frosts. More diversity on the hill where it's warmer. July 2021 vs February 2026.

"The average cost to mine one Bitcoin is currently...far higher than its current going rate, making it an extremely unprofitable proposition. It’s a massive wipeout as investors continue to sell off their reserves...." futurism.com/future-socie...

"Hyaluronic acid, which is not banned in sport, can be used to increase penis circumference by 1-2 centimetres. This would increase the surface area of their suits during competition, which, according to FIS, the international ski & snowboard federation, could increase their flight in the air."

What a time for Sharesies to open their Crypto platform. Any AoNZ journos asking how much investors have lost?