Massachusetts lawmakers advanced an energy affordability bill that opponents say won’t actually save consumers much money — but will eviscerate climate progress.

🚨Techno-optimistic scientists take fewer climate actions In a new preprint, @colognaviktoria.bsky.social, @maiensachis.bsky.social, @jmbh.bsky.social & I examine techno-optimism among 9,199 scientists and how it relates to their civic engagement and lifestyle choices🧵 🔗 Link: tinyurl.com/hh94huzv

This line in the NYT: “.. the near-complete breakdown of the Justice Department’s traditional independence to prosecute cases based on facts and the law, as opposed to presidential fiat.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...

"11 lobbyists, consultants, and attorneys either representing or working directly for energy companies, including National Grid, Unitil, and Liberty Utilities — in addition to oil giant Exxon...contributed a total of $2,400 to Cusack’s campaign..." #mapoli commonwealthbeacon.org/energy/energ...

@edmarkey.bsky.social @senatormikebarrett.bsky.social Can you explain what's going on here?

This is a tried and true industry tactic. Push to roll back policy that is good for voters but bad for your bottom line by vaguely gesturing at a real issue [jobs, recession, inflation, trade, phase of moon, etc.].

Seriously folks there's a dissertation in understanding how this guy managed to set the agenda for the major U.S. bike association (who ran the training I went to) and a generation of transportation engineers.

This video is the first in a series about professional chefs & restaurants who have shifted to induction cooking. Really great watch!

Less air pollution, warmer homes, better cities, and healthier people. My latest for @theguardian.com looks at the #economic, #airpollution and #health gains from a low-carbon future in the UK. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Hey @volts.wtf - remember your "one weird trick" essay about Democratic trifectas for strong renewable energy policy? House Democrats in the MA Legislature are apparently trying to prove you wrong. commonwealthbeacon.org/energy/sweep...

MA and New England climate folks - Has anyone seen the text of this House bill? Cutting the 2030 climate goal, reducing Mass Save efficiency spending, sounds bad. 🔌💡 commonwealthbeacon.org/energy/house...

"at least seven Republican lawmakers had rooftop panels. Three of them acknowledged using the federal tax credit to help pay for the arrays....Another had leased a solar system that was indirectly subsidized via a separate tax credit for installers...." www.eenews.net/articles/mee...

If you care about clean energy and are looking for things you can do, check out the work that @jeffsseidman.bsky.social and co. have been doing to inoculate local officials against misinformation in New York State.

NEW RESEARCH: Our study shows high-temperature heat pumps are the most cost-effective path to decarbonising industrial heat at low to medium temperatures. We find industrial heat pumps can cut heating costs by up to 75% vs h2 & and beat natural gas. www.cell.com/cell-reports...

🚨 Don't sleep on this most imp chart. A lot of headlines will say IEA changes it's view and says the world will increase fossil fuels use for decades. 1. IEA scenarios are choices the world can make 2. Current policies scenario is not just more fossil fuels, it's way higher energy prices.

This video brought back memories of a vehicular cycling course that I took while participating in a bike tour as a kid. Many, many times we were asked to repeat "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles". Even at 10yo, this seemed...not right.

Wait until he finds out that 99.8% of homeowners didn't use their fire insurance over the last 4 years.

"104 million U.S. residents can't reliably use a personal automobile to get around, including many people with disabilities and people living in poverty — as well as tweens, younger teens, and many elders..." usa.streetsblog.org/2025/10/02/r...

Policy robustness over time matters. We’ve seen that offset-based carbon neutrality in U.S. Higher Ed sometimes lapses (as opposed to decarbonization which favorably locks in infrastructure). What do these lapses in neutrality look like? 🧵 bsky.app/profile/alex...

As COP30 kicks off, our newly updated Rhodium Climate Outlook shows that while the world has likely avoided the most catastrophic projections, global temperature rise is on track to exceed 2°C. We project a likely range of 2.3–3.4°C and an average outcome of 2.8°C by the end of the century.

Happy Election Day, y'all! You're invited to join our debrief on the 2025 elections on Nov 10 @ 6 pm ET! We'll talk this year's results and what's on our radar for 2026. www.mobilize.us/leadlocally/...

Public Utilities Commissioners are climate policymakers and we finally started acting like it

Anybody know if a University of Chicago economist who wasn't even in the government at the time wrote almost half of the regulatory impact analysis for EPA's endangerment/car rules draft repeal? Because it sure looks like he did. Signal jchemnick.01. www.eenews.net/articles/whi...

Gold open access publishing fee for Nature is US$12,690. Or, depending on where you live, you can buy a Yuan Up Pilot Electric Vehicle for US$11,500. electrek.co/2025/07/31/b...

ELECTIONS MATTER, FOLKS. And if you love cities and understand the incredible role they play in our lives, remember that ELECTIONS FOR MAYOR REALLY MATTER. Mayors have huge power over our quality of life, and even our lives. Don’t give that power to awful people who don’t understand better cities.

If you see any business owners belittling SNAP recipients for accepting government money to get through tough times, maybe look them up on @propublica.org's PPP Loan Tracker to see if they got any of the $793B in bailout money (96% of which was forgiven) projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/...

We ran a workshop and put together this guide to help those university staff and students who are frustrated by slow progress to decarbonise their campuses find a path forward. I thought I'd share it here in case it's at all helpful. www.carbonneutraluniversity.org/zero-carbon-...

"For those at similarly recalcitrant universities, we hope this message reminds them that institutions won’t take these steps without great pressure. But...we remain convinced that this is a fight worth having."

"Encounters with protest—as participants, observers, or opponents of it—are useful parts of learning for students who will eventually leave their campuses for a fractious, rough-and-tumble political world." time.com/7323969/coll...

EPA's reorganization doesn't just rearrange deck chairs. It throws overboard the staff and expertise for curbing dangerous climate pollution. How is this “making sure we are prepared to respond to today’s environmental threats and tomorrow’s challenges”? subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

Today's story of higher education climate action: A contrast between two universities in Ohio, both of whom had their presidents sign a commitment to achieve carbon neutrality “as soon as possible”. Also, Happy Halloween 🎃.

As many of you may know, a fossil fuel funded NGO is currently suing the University of Michigan to obtain my personal communications with environmental groups. I recently went on the @climateone.org podcast to talk about my work and the toll the lawsuit has taken: www.climateone.org/audio/when-c...

"In a life cycle assessment, all else equal, the CO2 emissions associated with BEVs are 30% higher than those of ICE vehicles during the first two years. However, after the second year, BEVs result in a reduction in cumulative CO2 emissions." 🔌💡 journals.plos.org/climate/arti...

"Massachusetts is the first state in which all the major utilities are offering these savings. The rates — ranging from 4.3 cents to 7.5 cents per kilowatt-hour lower than the standard winter price — could trim from $70 to $140 per month off the average bill, utilities estimate." 🔌💡

"Without the Musk partisan effect, Tesla sales between October 2022 and April 2025 would have been 67-83% higher, equivalent to 1-1.26 million more vehicles. ...increased the sales of [others] vehicles 17-22% because of substitution..." 🔌💡 #EV www.nber.org/papers/w34413

Many of the 23 schools in our study of carbon neutrality in the U.S. are doing a bunch of great things on climate, but as a group, they aren't yet making big moves to decarbonize. 🔌💡 Exceptions in a later post!

this is a very impressive analysis of some of the statistical "oddities" in Pielke Jr's analysis that normalized climate impacts are declining. Everyone should read this. economicsfromthetopdown.com/2025/10/26/r...

The EPA is picking and choosing who gets to work during the shutdown: "virtually everyone who is working to undo marquee Biden-era regulations for air pollution, climate change and water quality is still on the job." This is, to put it mildly, not normal. www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

I ended up with a "climate-positive stone paper" notebook but every time I use it I cringe knowing that it is somehow "Cradle to Cradle" Silver certified but says it should be "recycled as Waste to Energy" 🤯 #notwhatthatwordmeans #recycling

In the past 5 yrs, the number of carbon neutral US colleges and universities has roughly doubled. We find that offsets remain the dominant strategy for carbon neutrality of direct emissions, with offsets accounting for over 2/3 of aggregate (Scope 1) emissions reductions for carbon neutral schools.

To quote my friend @drkatemarvel.bsky.social, climate change won't make humanity extinct but we can do better than "not extinct". Raise your standards people!

Climate change DEFINITELY affects hurricane: STRENGTH: Warmer water is hurricane food RAINFALL: Warm air holds more water vapor SURGE: Warmer water expands, warmer ice melts, sea levels rise PREDICTION: hotter seas mean faster intensification

I was recently invited to present my thoughts on the role of universities in the #climate crisis Several audience members asked that I share my slides, so I've decided to post them here too as an open resource I'd love any feedback, & for you to share examples of projects & best practice. Long 🧵😊

Higher education has some work to do on climate action. We found that the median reduction in direct (Scope 1) emissions is only ~9% - with over a third of U.S. colleges and universities actually reporting Scope 1 emissions higher than in their baseline year. scholarworks.smith.edu/env_facpubs/35

One year ago

As someone who will prob. spend the rest of this week on social media being the "decarbonize your scope 1 emissions" guy, I'll just share this figure from @carleton.edu and say that schools also need to look for impact via their scope 3 emissions.

Did you know? About 4.5 million SNAP recipients are babies and toddlers under age 5. About 11.1 million SNAP recipients are kids aged 5 to 17 years, who need food for healthy growth, learning, & development. The federal government has the capacity to continue funding SNAP during a shutdown.

Carbon neutrality doesn’t always lead to decarbonization. But who is decarbonizing? We looked at >600 US colleges and universities and found 7 that have decarbonized direct (Scope 1) emissions by at least 50% (usually with ground source heat pump networks). This is possible folks! 1/6

This Day in Labor History: October 27, 1948. An air inversion trapped the pollution spewed out by U.S. Steel-owned factories in Donora, Pennsylvania. The Donora Smog killed 20 people and sickened 6000 others. Let's talk about this horrible moment and how it spurred pollution controls!

Have you noticed plane turbulence is getting worse? It’s not your imagination. It’s climate change.