I’ve been wondering what Benjamin would make of the kids’ use of “aura” today

Anyone looking for and up-to-date measure of our changing climate, here you go 👇

The perfect headline doesn’t exi…

you've got a little over a week left

whether war, vaccines, or critical infrastructure there is contingent of the right that seems to believe that their security from the worst things that happen is some kind of metaphysical principle rather than the result of specific historical processes that could've gone otherwise and still could

You only have a short time to comment. They are trying to destroy our forests to enrich a few logging company executives and the politicians they’ve paid off. Leave your comment here: eplanning.blm.gov/Participate-... morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/blm-announ...

They’re really trying to do drive-thru colonization

still waiting for AI to solve climate change

AAAAAAHHHHHHHH

“There’s no simple fix to a problem generations in the making…That begins by recognizing that we’re under a well-funded, well-coordinated information assault… ‘The tricky part is that we need to build our own [media] infrastructure…But there is no easy fix for that, obviously.’”

Listened to this takedown of SAPIENS on a long drive the other day. Very funny, recommend!

All rise indie media 💥

Redwood forest this weekend #moss

Extraction land policy now in overdrive. Interior to Sell Off Millions of Acres of Public Lands in Alaska open.substack.com/pub/morethan...

The meta version of this is watching “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” at the New Beverly Cinema in LA, which shows up briefly in the film when Sharon Tate says, “What’s going on at the dirty movie place?” and points to the theater, which is having a premiere.

This episode is clarifying and well-told, with villains and secret plans worthy of a film adaptation. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

How not to pitch a film, lesson 1.

RIP Frederick Wiseman. I recommend starting with HIGH SCHOOL if you’re looking for a gateway film. www.kanopy.com/video/2332161

This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence. The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:

As a historian of science, I was raised to think rejecting science was a pathology of anti-democratic governments. Well, this might be the proof of that. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c...

Grim scientific truth about the approaching overshoot of irreversible tipping points. "It took until the 2025 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, for U.N. negotiators to acknowledge the need to address how to handle an overshoot." e360.yale.edu/features/1.5...

Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem. Thank you. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex

Another lesson in how media visibility ≠ action. The Axolotl's new iconic status ought to spur better habitat protection, but so far it hasn't. "In 1998, Lake Xochimilco had 6,000 axolotls per square kilometre. By 2008, there were only 100, and in 2014 just 36..." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Excellent resource, thank you!

Yes, we watch entire films in my current classes (20-25 students) and they seem to like the long format. Class size is a huge issue. It’s a struggle to get students to pay attention to a *lecture* in large courses too.

Conservationists warn that realistic AI-generated wildlife images are fueling misinformation — making dangerous encounters seem normal, wasting authorities’ time on false sightings, and stoking fear of animals. Experts say it risks eroding trust, encouraging persecution, and harming conservation.

Counterpoint:

Imagine being the one person who attended this premiere screening.

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis

❤️Minneapolis!❤️

Protester in Minneapolis just before disappearing in gas: "Fuck you! Stop. Damn! I'm 70 years old and I'm fuckin' angry!"

imagine waiting on history to voice its displeasure on things i hate today

An ecocinema masterpiece

Dolly Parton channeling Delphine Seyrig 🍎🥔

Good article by @resnikoff.bsky.social In general I agree with this (unfashionable?) take, which gets at a central political contradiction. Seems important to imagine collectives working toward common goals, rather than monadic subjects wearing leftist capes! dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

Zoom in 🐑

on this sunday-est of sundays, syllabus-ing for a new term you're not alone against the oligarch agenda of cognitive deskilling, data capture, surveillance, and bias: we've got assignment ideas, memes, recommended readings, o' captain speeches, syllabus policies, and so much more against-a-i.com

Yes, it’s war in the attention economy. Among other things. Fascinating (repellent) new dynamics of explicitness in this era of media spectacle.

Look at these AI fireworks added by Grok. It’s like that old app, the Michael-Bayifier. www.manmadediy.com/497-boring-p...

THREAD: I'll fact-check all the viral misinformation about the US military operation in Venezuela in this thread This image, purporting to show the US military arresting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, is AI-generated. According to Google's SynthID detector, it was created using Google AI.

News media loves and profits from war.

Happy new year! I made this little found footage film for the 2026 #PublicDomain film remix contest run by @archive.org. Films from 1930 and earlier, sound recordings from 1925 and earlier. Enjoy! FYI submission deadline January 7, winners announced on January 21. archive.org/details/goin...

New Year’s viewing - The Mastermind. Manages to be both subtle and bold. 🍷 Also equally painful and a delight to watch. Love it.

Nothing like an end-of-year speed viewing of trailers for all the films and TV shows I’ve missed! 🥳

Rian Johnson liked a post of mine on here. . . . Rachel Dratch liked a tweet of mine at the old place.

My kingdom for a room of one’s own, holiday edition🎄

Just came across this succinct + illustrated piece from 2011 on the contradictions of early nature conservation (these contradictions are at the heart of my current book) 🦬🌲🎞️ “What (Not?) To Do When You Meet the Last Great Wild Buffalo” www.npr.org/sections/kru...

For a great film about copper mining, labor organizing, and the 1917 death of Frank Little in Butte Montana see Travis Wilkerson's AN INJURY TO ONE (2003): www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhmk...

This is nice but I'd rather read about non-Ivy League students going on a 4-week phone break while studying abroad somewhere other than a village in the south of France www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...