Jessica Tierney's Avatar

Jessica Tierney

@leafwax.bsky.social

Climate scientist living in the Sonoran Desert. Analyzer of leaf waxes to learn about past climate change. Professor at the University of Arizona. I also like birds, nature, petsπŸ¦‰πŸŒΏπŸ• | Opinions are mine, not those of my employer

1,625 Followers  |  132 Following  |  69 Posts  |  Joined: 25.01.2025  |  2.462

Latest posts by leafwax.bsky.social on Bluesky


Macbeth: SHIT

09.02.2026 02:50 β€” πŸ‘ 10102    πŸ” 2044    πŸ’¬ 137    πŸ“Œ 50

Commenting on energy injustice is now the floor for any halftime act.

09.02.2026 01:33 β€” πŸ‘ 1391    πŸ” 236    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 10

Benito is a threat b/c he makes art so alluring and enjoyable you want to understand everything about it and then you end up learning about sugar and slavery and colonialism and the TaΓ­nos and Hawaii and then you probably have some thoughts of your own, and that's why art is powerful and dangerous

09.02.2026 01:38 β€” πŸ‘ 20666    πŸ” 5286    πŸ’¬ 108    πŸ“Œ 180
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This was everything. #SuperBowlLX

09.02.2026 01:32 β€” πŸ‘ 734    πŸ” 141    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 22

yes, it does!

23.01.2026 20:24 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Paleoclimate pattern effects help constrain climate sensitivity and 21st-century warming | PNAS Paleoclimates provide examples of past climate change that inform estimates of modern warming from greenhouse-gas emissions, known as Earth’s clima...

Really excited to see this paper out!! Led by @vtcoop.bsky.social we show that if you use cold and warm paleoclimates together, you can reduce uncertainty in Earth's climate sensitivity by quantifying the pattern effect and more precisely constrain future climate change www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

23.01.2026 15:36 β€” πŸ‘ 98    πŸ” 41    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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Who I wonder is an "appropriate operator" for the Trump administration? πŸ€” Will we be losing Derecho core hours to an AI company? πŸ€¦β€β™€οΈ #SaveNCAR

18.12.2025 00:57 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Trump admin is closing a critical climate research center. Officials believe it’s really trying to punish a governor | CNN The Trump administration announced plans Tuesday to shut down the National Center for Atmospheric Research, an organization responsible for improved weather models to tools that aid hurricane safety. ...

The latest unhinged threat from the Trump administration would destroy the best climate modeling center in the world. It would also be a blow to US researchers (including me) who depend on NCAR's modeling expertise and educational training programs for students. #SaveNCAR www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/c...

18.12.2025 00:41 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Laboratory Coordinator I - Geosciences Maintenance and repair of the Organic Geochemistry Laboratory equipment, including but not limited to gas chromatographs, liquid chromatographs & ...

I am currently seeking a Lab Manager for our Organic Geochemistry Lab at the University of Arizona! Full time position with benefits. If you have a chemistry/biology/geology degree and like fixing things and working with students, this position could be for you! arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

15.10.2025 17:27 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 30    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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How We Came To Know Earth | Quanta Magazine Climate science is the most significant scientific collaboration in history. This series from Quanta Magazine guides you through basic climate science β€” from quantum effects to ancient hothouses, from...

The special issue @quantamagazine.bsky.social on Climate Science just dropped and I know what my weekend readings is gonna be πŸ‘πŸ» www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...

17.09.2025 01:07 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I do love Reddit for so many reasons. Thanks for accepting me bros!

08.09.2025 03:16 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Joe Rogan claims study shows Earth cooling – but report’s authors say he’s wrong Scientists say β€˜old-school denier nonsense’ isn’t helpful as podcaster repeatedly airs false claim on his show

I stand by my offer to appear on Joe Rogan and set the record straight about our half-billion-year temperature reconstruction www.theguardian.com/environment/...

04.09.2025 17:10 β€” πŸ‘ 68    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 5

A proposed Amazon data center in Tucson (β€œProject Blue”, FFS) that would have sapped power and water from the city has been REJECTED thanks to amazing community solidarity. The people of the desert have spoken and won ✊🌡🏜️

07.08.2025 02:26 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

why does coal use she/her pronouns

01.08.2025 00:44 β€” πŸ‘ 294    πŸ” 47    πŸ’¬ 26    πŸ“Œ 5
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Here's some lovely artwork from the no desert data center (www.instagram.com/no_desert_da...) coalition that captures our feelings β›ˆοΈ

It would be great if a national news outlet picked up this story - its a type case for something that is increasingly an issue in the West. /fin

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Project Blue data center proposal sprang up fast β€” so did the organizingΒ  - AZ Luminaria Until the first heady weeks of Tucson’s scorching summer, Vivek Bharathan and Elaina Richards had never worked or campaigned together, let alone been on a shared Google document.Β  One month into coord...

The good news is that Tucsonians are organized ✊ and are asking tough questions. azluminaria.org/2025/07/21/t...

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

AI data centers are just the latest put your junk in the desert thing. But we as desert dwellers don't need to stand for it. Why would we repeat the past's mistakes? All for an AI response for a search (that sometimes you didn't ask for and don't really need!).

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
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Dugway Proving Ground - Wikipedia

There is a long history in the American West of putting our country's junk in the desert. c.f. a large portion of the State of Nevada (incl. the nuclear test range) and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, where chemical and biological weapons were tested en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugway_...

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It seems to me that data centers in the desert is the new "growing alfalfa in the desert." It makes more sense to put these in places with more water...but land is cheap in the desert and local cities might be more amenable to the deal...

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Emotions run high in public meeting held by City of Tucson over Project Blue The project has drawn a lot of attention around Pima County

Economically the boost of the data center would be the construction jobs, and there is no denying that, hence for trade unions this is a really good thing. But in the long-term, there are almost no people working at places like this. www.kold.com/2025/07/24/e...

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
ProjectBlue_SantaCruzImpacts_11Jul2025.pdf

The city claims the River won't be affected, but it's hard to imagine how, since water diverted to the data center means less outflow on the river at one of the flow stations no matter where it occurs. Prof. Michael Bogan at @uarizona.bsky.social crunched the math drive.google.com/file/d/1sSAp...

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Proposed data center raises concerns about drying up this Arizona river The Santa Cruz River, dried up and polluted, came back to life recently, sustained by highly treated wastewater from two water reclamation facilities.

Reclaimed water is used to restore the Santa Cruz River, which was in the early 20th century an actual flowing river but due to ground water pumping no longer flows on its own. But thanks to reclaimed water we now have these beautiful riparian areas coming back www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The water would rely on extending Tucson's reclaimed water system to the build to supply an estimated 0.8 million gallons per day (data centers in Phoenix use more than this). The problem is, reclaimed water demand is already very high in the city, and...

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

As far as power goes, the project is estimated to require 400-600 MW at full build. It's not clear yet how TEP our power supplier will meet that. Current peak energy demand is 2400 MW so this is non-trivial. It could involve keeping coal-fired plants up and running past their expiration date.

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

"Project Blue" is some (read: greenwashing) name for a data center that would be roughly the size of downtown Tucson, eat power and water, and provide only 180 jobs. For perspective, my department alone at the @uarizona.bsky.social employs about 130 people within 3-4 floors of a single building.

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Amazon Web Services is company behind Tucson’s Project Blue, according to 2023 county memo - AZ Luminaria Amazon Web Services is revealed to be the company behind the Project Blue data center proposed for Tucson.

This summer Tucsonians started to hear about something called "Project Blue", a proposal to build data centers on our outskirts. The city officials signed a NDA to not disclose the company❗but thanks to @azluminaria.org the company was outed this week as Amazon 🀑 azluminaria.org/2025/07/21/a...

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 5

This @wired.com article is extremely timely for those of us in Tucson, Arizona, as we face the possibility of Amazon Web Services building a huge data center at our outskirts. Energy and water use for AI data centers are non-trivial. Read my thread below if you want to hear about our local story ⬇️

24.07.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 3

Several Fellows I talked to have decided to leave the US and seek science positions in Europe, citing the lack of positions here and negative attitude towards science 😞 Brain drain is a real thing that will have lasting impacts on US scientific strength.

24.07.2025 14:42 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Also, while temporary, the furlough caused a lot of stress for the Fellows, who scrambled to file for unemployment or get temporary positions since no one knew when it would end.

24.07.2025 14:42 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Update on the NOAA Fellows situation: as of late last week the furlough has been lifted (phew!). However, there are no new Fellows this year, and we still don't know the future of this program.

24.07.2025 14:42 β€” πŸ‘ 20    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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