Twilight Greenaway

I find this so heartening.

Just talked with a scientist about the ecosystem they study and was reminded — once again — that learning/thinking/writing about the natural world is what makes me most feel alive. It had been way too long.

Evacuating the Berkeley Hills during a wildfire could take over 4 hours, study says Evacuating for a tsunami could take over 2 hours, new study says. Neither are enough for people to escape danger zones in worst-case scenarios.

For my Berkeley folks:
www.berkeleyside.org/2025/07/17/b...

New York becomes first state to commit to all-electric new buildings The state finalized rules ensuring most new edifices will install electric heat pumps and stoves instead of gas appliances, lowering costs and improving…

New York just became the first state in the nation to mandate all electric buildings

Goodbye gas. Hello heat pumps 😎

www.canarymedia.com/articles/car...

A group of men sit around a large table wearing what look like gas masks. The caption reads: Highland Park Optimist Club wearing smog-gas masks at banquet, Los Angeles, Calif., circa 1954

What a photo.

From the PBS documentary Clearing the Air: The War on Smog (coming to a station near you)
thinktv.org/american-exp...

California's economy is already getting hit by immigration raids The number of people reporting to work in the private sector in California has decreased by 3.1% — a downturn only recently matched by the COVID-19 lockdown.

“If it’s true that we are going into a phase in which a lot of these workers are either deported, or scared enough that they won’t go to work, this will be a massive impact,” Giovanni Peri, int'l economics professor at @ucdavisare.bsky.social told @suhauna.bsky.social
www.latimes.com/business/sto...

Scientists Say New Government Climate Report Twists Their Work A new Department of Energy report “fundamentally misrepresents” climate research and leaves out key context, multiple scientists cited in the report tell WIRED.

NEW: i spoke to nine (!) scientists across several disciplines whose work was cited in the new Department of Energy report that downplays the severity of climate change. all of them say their work was misrepresented, cherry picked, and/or lacked context —

That definitely wasn’t what I meant to suggest!

Honolulu Leads Legal Fight Against Fossil Fuel Companies The city says the companies knew for decades that their products caused global warming and profited from it. The outcome could indicate how other cases play out.

Honolulu is suing fossil fuel companies for climate change damages, and the companies are trying to get the suit dismissed by claiming that the statute of limitations has expired because we’ve known about climate change for decades. Lol.

A conservative Vt. dairy farmer fears being separated from the migrant workers he considers family - The Boston Globe John Morin has come to depend on Wuendy Bernardo, a Guatemalan immigrant, and her growing family. If she is deported, he said, "I'm going to be done."

If you live on the east coast and eat dairy, it likely comes from a farm like this one, which is completely dependent on (i.e. can only function because of) undocumented workers. This piece illustrates the phenomenon — and the risk to those workers —well.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/17/m...

Black Women Fight for Life in Houston's Most Toxic — and Gentrifying — Neighborhood In Settegast, where the average person dies before retirement age, Black women battle environmental racism and a record increase in cost of living.

"80% of Black women in the neighborhood live in high-risk soil contamination zones, with 80% of those residents reporting chronic health conditions."
Adam Mahoney reports for @capitalb.bsky.social
capitalbnews.org/houston-blac...

New: After Gaza aid flotilla volunteer & US citizen Christian Smalls was taken into Israeli custody, seven uniformed individuals beat him, choking him & kicking him in the legs, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

Smalls is co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union.

WATCH — @peterbeinart.bsky.social : “Why did it take this long? We are profoundly complicit. The blood is on our hands as Americans because it is our weapons responsible for those children starving to death in Gaza… if Israel disagrees, let CNN’s cameras in.”

a graph of US solar generation, which was 40TWh in May and is up 26% compared to the year prior

Official data is in today, and America set a new record-high for solar power in April, with generation up 26% compared to last year!

Parenting for an unstable future How might climate change complicate — and clarify — what it means to raise a human being now.

If the earth continues to warm at the current pace, scientists estimate that we will hit the 1.5°C threshold in just three years. That same year my child, Marlow, will turn 15. I wrote about what it means to grapple with that as a parent:

windowofopportunity.substack.com/p/parenting-...

Climate advocates outraged at Trump administration plans to fast-track AI sector Scheme rolled out Wednesday reveals intent to dismantle some environmental and land-use regulations

"The training of a single AI model can lead to an emissions footprint that is almost 5 times larger than the lifetime carbon footprint of the average American car."

This is a number that more Americans need to know.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

An excerpt from the article with "a new fact of life" underlined in the sentence: The presence of thousands of hard-to-identify federal agents is a new fact of life in Southern California this summer as the Trump Administration carries out the president's promised deportations.

"New fact of life" is another one.
From calmatters.org/justice/2025...

The Battle for the Future of Farmwork Trump’s immigration crackdown and a growing union effort are transforming Upstate New York into a battleground over who will grow our food and under what conditions.

"Everyone knows you’re here illegally. Everyone pretends it doesn’t matter. They put you to work growing and harvesting their food. They work you very hard. Then, one day, it matters very much — it matters so much that they rip your life apart."

inthesetimes.com/article/farm...

I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better

Window Heat Pumps Could Change the Game A new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has some exciting data for anyone attempting to retrofit a multifamily building.

Could heat pumps finally be ready for large apartment buildings?

A new report from @aceee.org is pretty optimistic. @emilypont.bsky.social breaks it all down ⬇️

A crowd of protesters was tear-gassed as they attempted to protect dozens of farmworkers from arrest Thursday in Camarillo, California. One of the protesters shares what happened.

I just left the Everglades Immigrant Interment Camp. No, I’m not using their ridiculous name. It was a very tough to witness humans in those cages. Every Floridian should be ashamed that our taxpayer money is being used for this.

Trump Fuels Fear, Rage and Hope in California’s Central Valley

The fear running through in the Central Valley right now is terrible.

And turning CA into THE source of produce for the U.S. — on the backs of folks who've had no choice but to work for very little — was a never really a long-term solution.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...

The Columbia hack is a much bigger deal than Mamdani’s college application A politically-motivated hack on a politically-vulnerable school is flying under the radar

personally, I think it is a problem if a Substack eugenicist has access to lists of millions of people by race www.theverge.com/analysis/703...

Saving scavengers is an under-appreciated public health win New research finds that the global decline of scavengers like hyenas and vultures is putting ecosystems—and human health—at risk.

We need the apex scavengers to keep the rest of us safe from disease. www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/07/savi...

Quick action by one Texas summer camp leads to timely evacuations ahead of deadly flood One local summer camp in the path of the disastrous flooding in central Texas was able to avoid any loss of life by closely monitoring weather reports.

Early warning systems work. Early warning systems are crucial. This camp lost no one. See next skeet for quote. apnews.com/article/texa...

So disappointing. Yes, we need to ramp up adaptation, but it's wildly premature to say "it's too late" and give up on decarbonization just because we didn't avoid climate impacts altogether.

A warmer world - with all its challenges - still deserves our love, and will always be worth fighting for.

Food Stamps at Risk in Trump Budget Bill, Bay Area Food Banks Warn | KQED Big changes proposed in the federal food aid program could add to the strain on Bay Area food banks, as part of President Donald Trump’s tax cut legislation.

These are alarming numbers ---> "The proposed cuts to SNAP are the equivalent of roughly 9.5 billion meals annually, which is far more than the entire charitable food system across the U.S. provides each year, at about 6.5 billion meals."
www.kqed.org/news/1204471...

Trust fall Discover how social capital is changing with technology. Trust expert Rachel Botsman discusses the importance of real-world connections.

An important read on the epidemic of loneliness:

"In England today, local authorities spend nearly £330m less per year on parks and open spaces than a decade ago, which has led to the rapid deterioration of those spaces."

www.thersa.org/rsa-journal/...

As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas

"The National Weather Service’s San Angelo office, which is responsible for some of the areas hit hardest by Friday’s flooding, was missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster and meteorologist in charge."

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/u...