Really interesting research showing that while ultra-specialization in a single discipline might lead to better results early in one’s career, multi-discipline training and practice pays off big time in the long run. This applies to a range of professions from scientists to athletes and more

The Trump administration says it will dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a cornerstone for American climate and weather science. I went on NPR today to explain what this could mean for climate research. Listen here:

NCAR shouldn't need anyone to make its case (although I guess clearly it does!), but @katharinehayhoe.com lays it out perfectly. www.npr.org/2025/12/18/n...

Y'all, I just got out of the NSF-BIO webinar where they explained changes to peer review. It's not good. 🧪 scienceforeveryone.science/changes-to-n...

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation is looking for a new Executive Director. 🦦🦦🦦 potrerogroup.com/executive-se...

More on what @uwmadison.bsky.social researchers, faculty, students and scientists are doing to understand the socio-ecological impacts of data centers. nelson.wisc.edu/the-commons/...

BOTD Lester Bangs!! via Philip Seymour Hoffman in Almost Famous: youtube.com/watch?v=ldpP... Arguing with Lou Reed, via @sheilakathleen.bsky.social: www.sheilaomalley.com?p=74470 More: @jimderogatis.bsky.social: furious.com/perfect/lest... @mariabustillos.com: www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

The first three minutes of Michael Ritchie's "Prime Cut" are about as dark as 70s American film can get. www.imdb.com/title/tt0069...

On the eve of commencement, @uwmadison.bsky.social grads are wondering about their career prospects. Well, here’s some good news: LinkedIn has rated the UW 10th among public universities for setting up students for long-term career success. onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/putting-that...

China is surely a world leader in renewables and electrification, but a close accounting raises questions about what it both has achieved... and even ever could. A fair assessment from BTI. open.substack.com/pub/thebreak...

Environmental researchers at UW-Madison are doing work on data centers; this is a big deal. Including the recent contract from QTS, I see this as the biggest environmental challenge of the 21st century. My thoughts, in this interview from our friends at WORT radio: www.wortfm.org/qts-data-cen...

Harry Steward was a great historian and cartographer and a calming presence, always. His student were among the finest in the discipline. He will be missed. obits.callahanfay.com/henry-steward

A major research public instituion, like UNL, deprived of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, becomes a far weaker one, for all its faculty and students. Very bad news indeed. www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...

November migration figures are in for the Whooping Crane's Eastern Population. The count shows how incredibly fragile this recovery is. Even so, this marks progress. Decades of tireless work by conservation biologists, state agencies, landowners, and volunteers. savingcranes.org/news/resourc...

Tom Stoppard was incomparable; funny, lyric, humane, weird. His "Arcadia" is one of the greatest contemporary works of Human Geography. Plus, a huge Pink Floyd fan. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/t...

If you’re a settler on these lands like I am, one small way to be a good guest is by giving to trusted Native organizations on Thankstaking! Here’s where I’m donating this year: Tribal Elder Box Food Program, led by Loka’s advisors, Gary Besaw & Dan Cornelius! 🙏🏽 feedingamericawi.org/tribal-food-...

UW–Madison boasts more than 500 courses that cover environmental topics, ranging from Climate Crisis Literature in the Department of English to Green and Sustainable Development in the Department of Real Estate & Urban Land Economics.

I have long advocated for the circular economics of lead battery recycling. But the logic of offshoring has turned this model of sustainability into another well of colonial poison. We can and must do better. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I am heartbroken by Dean Linda Scott’s sudden passing. Her integrity, leadership, commitment to excellence & wonderful dry humor shaped the School of Nursing & the national nursing community & touched so many lives. Her legacy will endure & she will be dearly missed. nursing.wisc.edu/remembering-...

My manuscript is entitled “Collectively-Conserved Land: An alternative economies approach to conservation land tenure” and is the first from my upcoming dissertation of the same name.

Super excited to hear this!!

A letter from the editorial team: contexts.org/articles/a-n...

launching the AI for a planet under pressure report with @sthlmresilience.bsky.social and Google's Deep Mind this Wednesday am- Ill be speaking about the role of AI in flooding and climate justice- link here- I will be teaching an undergrad class on this content spring 26! su.bmc.nu/Modules/Even...

To save enough for a 10% down payment on a median priced house in SLC you would have to cut the equivalent of 12,000 cups of $5 coffee. At one coffee per day, it would take 33 years if prices stayed the same.

Ray-O-Vac, originally French Battery, started making batteries in the early 20th century, and was one of the earliest factories in Madison to be unionized. Some longtime Ray-O-Vac workers lived on these side streets between Milwaukee St and Atwood.

Do renewable raise or lower electricity prices?... Yes. open.substack.com/pub/thebreak...

Phenomenal day with Tribal natural resources reps. Humbled that so many spent the day with us up here in Hayward. Special thanks to Alex Bohman at GLIFWC.

We're up in Hayward, to learn from our Tribal partners about possibilities and limits of wildlife biostorage. Northern Wisconsin is stunning in the fall.

The University of Wisconsin Law School reported a 36% increase in applications this fall, which mirrored a national trend.

Looky what just arrived in the mail 😀

The tail wags the dog in energy. Biofuels are not currently a solution demanded by the climate community; they are solution to a crisis of overproduction. open.substack.com/pub/thebreak...

November 2024 marks the 5th anniversary of the publication of my first book “Fair Trade Rebels.” I am damn proud of this book a really had very little opportunity to celebrate it or even really talk about it, because we all know what 2020 brought. So, I’m giving it an anniversary thread.

Universities are flawed, sure, but show their value to the public good, time and agin. news.wisc.edu/with-milk-te...

Scarcity usually isn't "natural". Things become scarce when Capital (or powerful people) choose to make them so. China has turned the tables on the US "foreign direct product rule" and the chickens are coming home to roost. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...

The Department of Geography & Environment at UNC-Chapel Hill is hiring a Teaching Assistant Professor in Human Geography! Position info and application portal here: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...

The soy moratorium and no-net deforestation rules weren't perfect, but they were very good. All Earth observation and detailed cadastral analysis (see Dr. Holly Gibbs' lab) points to huge value. This would be a big big loss. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/c...

The Energy Analysis and Policy program here at the Nelson Institute is renaming its endowed professorship and scholarship to recognize Wes Foell and John Steinhart, "two visionary founders who helped shape the program." nelson.wisc.edu/energy-analy...

Now that our gothic home, Science Hall, is getting a makeover, good to look back on its rich, weird history. nelson.wisc.edu/science-hall...

Richard Matheson was a fine storyteller ("The Shrinking Man", 1956) - but benefitted from good screenwriters in adaptation. Nowhere is that clearer than his awkward bourgeois 1958 "Stir of Echoes", refashioned into a believably working class, Chicago, psychic, ghost story by David Koepp in 1999.

Deric Tilson's blow-by-blow account of the Iberian blackout is some of the finest energy reporting I've read. You may not care for Breakthrough, but if you want to understand how the grid really works, you absolutely need to read this piece. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/blackout

Just sent some support to my alma mater, UW-Madison, on "Fill the Hill" day. If you EVER wanted to support higher education... now would be a pretty good time. Send a message that you think universities and students are pretty cool (or at least better than not having universities!). uwflamingos.com

Greetings New England! Come chat about a badly outdated book with me, at Tufts, on October 16th if you're in or near Boston. humanities.tufts.edu/events/unive...

🌿 On #WorldHabitatsDay Europe’s habitats are in trouble. 📉 81% of habitats protected under EU law are in poor or bad condition — and most are still declining. We need full implementation of environmental law, shows #EuropesEnvironment2025: www.eea.europa.eu/en/europe-en...

10/2/74: Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 D Sargent/DP Roizman w/Matthau/Shaw/Balsam ++ Nails mid-70s NYC From us/70s Movie Podcast: open.spotify.com/episode/5tSx... More Savvy @janetmaslin.bsky.social rev also cool '74 movie time capsule: archive.org/details/sim_... BLFJ: brightlightsfilm.com/the-taking-o...

In the passing of Jane Goodall, I took the chance to revisit Donna Haraway's revolutionary book "Primate Visions". Goodall makes an important, complicated appearance here, along with a host of other women leaders in primatology, who turned the field on its head. www.versobooks.com/products/136...

Wrapping up my 8th and 9th grant since April when almost all my labs funding was terminated. $1.1M. So far got $330k funded by rewriting a grant for work I was supposedly funded to do. This is the least fun I have had in this job. I know I am sadly not alone and more important things are defunded

Just finished watching The Sting—great movie. Released in 1973, set in 1939. I regret to inform you that the same time difference is a movie set in 1991. Good. Night!

Interesting to read Carl Sauer arguing in 1966 that American anthropologists (Kroeber and Steward specifically) underestimated the Indigenous populations of present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 1492 by a factor of of ten, also discussing the extent of land under cultivation at that time.

New edition of The Commons is out, and its major. The challenge of microplastics and flooding, along with the secrets of leaf-peeping and revelations about Wisconsin's freshwater springs. All in font sizes I can read. Kudos to Nelson Institute's incredible writing staff! nelson.wisc.edu/the-commons/