Earlier this week I spoke with ‪@thewildlifesociety.bsky.social‬ about pending #NEPA reforms. Listen for a basic primer on NEPA, people's objections, and the subsurface disagreements that run through reform efforts. open.spotify.com/show/6Xl0Ueb...

I love that the justification for assigning zero quantitative value to health benefits is that they're uncertain. Because there's obviously no uncertainty on the compliance-cost side of the ledger. No need to worry about "false precision" there. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...

one defense of CBA has always been that it forces admins to be explicit about their values.... "Over the past four decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have used different estimates of the monetary value of a human life... But until now, no administration has counted it as zero."

This is nuts. Now, when EPA does a cost-benefit analysis of a regulation, it can only consider downsides to industry, not upsides to public health. Even though the latter is the core mission of the EPA. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...

This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...

TIL that a mountain goat is not a goat. @themountaingoats.bsky.social is also not a goat.

Prof Bob Fischer & I authored comments for the Ctr. for Policy and #Animal #Welfare on the proposed reg detailing how the Fish & Wildlife Service will analyze "economic impact" in critical habitat designation per the Endangered Species Act #ESA.

Very cool project by @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Ocean is huge and we are stupid.

100%. Meat can also be a hard pivot for climate folks who (for good reason) deemphasize individual behavior and instead demand systemic change. But in the context of meat and dairy, consumers’ personal decisions really *can* make a big difference. Jennifer Jacquet:

This is one of those you know is coming, but still hurts when it happens. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Finally, a monumental squirrel statue. In Jeffrey Gibson’s Sculptures, Child’s Play and Indigenous Truths www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/a...

my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"

National Academies is releasing their fast-tracked review of the science of the endangerment finding in about 1 hour, with a webcast in about 2 hours. www.nationalacademies.org/event/45701_...

The last passenger pigeon died 111 years ago today and not a day goes by that I don't think about how their flocks numbered in the *billions*, that their roosts covered 100+ square miles, that they collapsed trees with their nests. America is incomplete without them

After years in development, my article Crafting a New Conservationism is out in California Law Review! It's about how U.S. agencies manage conflicts between conservation goals and individual wild animals' intrinsic value. Thanks to the many people who provided feedback and Cal.'s editors!

I am delighted that my book 'More Equal Than Others: Humans and the Rights of Other Animals' is featured in Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com and has been made an essential read in their Philosophy section. Many thanks to Marc Bekoff for interviewing me! www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anim...

"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?" Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.

Fed MT court says Fish & Wildlife Service must reconsider delisting gray wolves in light of aggressive killing by Idaho, Montana, & other western states. It’s a PSA to states not to “overdo it” once a population is delisted. Try to eradicate them and…back on the list they go!

Tfw someone starts Zoom call with “I’m inside this delightful coffee shop” and proceeds to have loud, full-on business meeting on Zoom that entire coffee shop can follow.

I can’t begin to enumerate the ways the Corporation for Public Broadcasting made my life better, literally from my earliest memories until today. This is gut wrenching.

Trump's EPA chose today to release its finding that GHG pollution does not endanger public health.

Hmm. Don’t love this.

Happy #sharkweek! Here’s a reminder that sharks tried to save us from all this. slate.com/technology/2...

#ICJ: States liable for issuing oil & gas exploration licenses, incl in 🌊. #ClimateJustice @oceansteinmann.bsky.social @oceanthyrza.bsky.social

Going to be cool to see how EPA makes this “scientific” finding with *checks notes* all the scientists it fired.

For junior environmental law folks, we’re hosting our 2nd Annual Early Environmental Law Scholars (EELS) Conference at @uflaw.bsky.social this Nov 6-8. We’ve got it all: paper talks, teaching workshops, a field trip into nature, and more! Register here: www.law.ufl.edu/events-feed/...

We’re three days into #shark #week, and I get that there’s a lot going on in the world, but frankly my feed hasn’t been showing me nearly enough sharks. So I’m being the change I want to see in the world and sharing these excellent pics. Prego.

Sharing my draft article, Protecting Wild Animal Abundance, forthcoming in Utah Law Review, @sjquinney.bsky.social. It highlights loss of relatively common wild #animals as distinct from the #biodiversity crisis, and discusses why US #environmental #law failed to stop such losses.

You know, geology is great and meteorology is great, but when the two combine it can become a transcendent experience. This was our view in upper Pine Creek Canyon near our Honeymoon Lake camp on Wednesday. Rainbows and high elevation glacially-sculpted granites on #publiclands for the win!

Well tonight’s Friday government news dump is horribly depressing- EPA to eliminate their entire research branch (ORD). I’ve been on ORD’s science advisory board the last few years and they do amazing work across climate, air, water and other issue. This sucks www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...

These cuts threaten the science underlying clean air, water, toxins, etc. Henceforth when the agency claims to change regs based on the scientific grounds, as some statues require, there could be fertile ground for lawsuit. How can #EPA without scientists evaluate what the best science is?

I love this as an example of a probably under-appreciated phenomenon (animal cooperation) exposed through underused method (observed behavioral anecdotes, often dismissed because of low n, according to my ecologist colleagues). #opossum + #ocelot = better hunting, maybe?

This is in powerful tension with Interior's touting "cutting red tape" to make energy cheaper in its recently released promotional video.

Dept of Interior is making video updates, which is a good idea. But the video shows a single-minded focus on pushing through #fossilfuels & cutting red tape for cheaper energy without any mention of all the red tape being created for #renewables. youtu.be/60sxLdcufk4

Since April 4, #SCOTUS has issued 15 rulings on 17 emergency applications filed by Trump (three birthright citizenship apps were consolidated). It has granted relief to Trump ... in all 15 rulings. It has written majority opinions in only 3. Today's order is the 7th with no explanation *at all.*

California still believes in the need to mitigate climate change, and is tackling transportation-sector emissions with an update to its low-carbon fuel standard. #ClimateFederalism www.eenews.net/articles/wha...

This story about #sharks is a good reminder that #evolution isn’t perfectly efficient. Easy to be drawn into just-so stories, but some things about earth (and ourselves) probably seem to make no sense because…they make no sense.

🦈 “… 7 proposals representing over 70 species…. If these proposals are adopted in Nov they could represent a major turning point for marine conservation. If not, we risk watching these species vanish within our lifetimes…” Great piece by @melissacmarquez.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/meliss...

We sent @chrispollon.bsky.social to Churchill, Man. to write about big changes happening as all eyes turn north.

Enjoyed discussing my work on wild #animal wellbeing with @richblaustein.bsky.social for this CEB ClimateBrief. The article also features Jim Salzman's work on #RightsofNature. research.ceb.com/posts/climat...

The security reason to electrify transport is not about oil imports, it’s economic resilience. Oil powers 90% of US vehicles, so when the price of oil spikes because of a war, people & companies pay more for energy, which hurts the economy. The more transport is electrified, econ security goes up.

NY court recognizes dog as "immediate family member" in case where @nonhumanrights.bsky.social filed amicus briefs. First time in NY that witnessing a pet's death can support emotional distress damages. ⚖️🐾 #animallaw #legalnews #legal #animalrights #dogs 🧵/ www.nonhumanrights.org/blog/dog-fam...

Congress’s proposed bill will sell off public lands for some of its funding. (The bill still significantly increases the deficit.) This map shows lands near you that will be on the market: www.wilderness.org/articles/med...

In the future, when children ask their grandparents whether they were at the military parade or #NoKings on Saturday, some proportion of people will answer that they were at #PigeonFest.

This evening one of the very kind con organizers took us to the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, which is amazing and you should go and Gustav Vigeland was extraordinarily talented and probably does not deserve the narrative I constructed looking at his work. But Bluesky! You deserve EVERYTHING!

Today, start off your weekend with a bit of good news from the FDA: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/l...

This year #bluewhales have been scarce off San Diego’s coast. #Dolphins, however, are here in abundance. Here’s a long-beaked dolphin pod I saw yesterday with #Gonewhalewatching. Saw three pods like this with 4 different species. Enjoy my haphazard, creative video angling.

Happy #WorldOceanDay !! Down here in Antarctica, we will spend it measuring the ocean and sampling the sea floor, to understand better how ice loss is impacting climate and ecosystems. The views continue to amaze…! 🧪❄️🥼🌊