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David Abernathy

@dabernat.bsky.social

Professor at Warren Wilson College in #HeleneGroundZero Swannanoa, NC (near Asheville). I teach GIS, political ecology, and global studies. Interested in open science, open source, open educational resources, and open pedagogy. And Panama.

206 Followers  |  1,107 Following  |  20 Posts  |  Joined: 07.07.2023  |  1.6877

Latest posts by dabernat.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."

It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

01.09.2025 11:23 β€” πŸ‘ 11895    πŸ” 5164    πŸ’¬ 329    πŸ“Œ 264

Go Vikings! @minnesotavikings.bsky.social

20.08.2025 01:39 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I Never Understood Our Data-Saturated Life Until a Hurricane Shut It Down

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/m...

11.08.2025 22:19 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump White House removes Wall Street Journal from Scotland trip press pool over Epstein report | CNN Business When the White House took control of the so-called β€œpress pool” that accompanies the president, journalists worried that the Trump administration would use that power to punish news outlets.

"This attempt by the White House to punish a media outlet whose coverage it does not like is deeply troubling, and it defies the First Amendment," the WHCA says after the Trump admin nixes the WSJ from an upcoming trip www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/m...

21.07.2025 22:56 β€” πŸ‘ 146    πŸ” 36    πŸ’¬ 15    πŸ“Œ 8

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

18.07.2025 15:39 β€” πŸ‘ 74068    πŸ” 18965    πŸ’¬ 1492    πŸ“Œ 837

"In March, for the first time, fossil fuels generated less than half the electricity in the U.S. In California, at one point on May 25th, renewables were producing a record hundred and fifty-eight per cent of the state’s power demand." Bill McKibben in the #Newyorker. Good luck with #drillbabydrill

10.07.2025 00:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump's FEMA Denies North Carolina's Request for Hurricane Helene Aid The Trump administration denied North Carolina's request for FEMA to cover 100 percent of the state's Hurricane Helene debris removal costs.

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

24.05.2025 20:29 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Remember those nationwide protests against Obama and Biden? Me neither.

05.04.2025 23:24 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Decades Ago, Columbia Refused to Pay Trump $400 Million. Note That Number. A quarter century ago, the university was looking to expand. It considered, and rejected, property owned by Donald Trump. He did not forget it.

omg. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/n...

21.03.2025 21:14 β€” πŸ‘ 523    πŸ” 188    πŸ’¬ 21    πŸ“Œ 17

@pitchfork.com Can you put your playlists on YouTube Music?

17.03.2025 22:13 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Welp.

06.03.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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CDC Staff Prohibited From Co-Authoring Papers With World Health Organization Personnel It’s just the latest β€œOrwellian” crackdown on government scientists.

I don’t even know how this could be presented as being in service of anything other than hindering scientific progress.

01.03.2025 12:46 β€” πŸ‘ 13089    πŸ” 4621    πŸ’¬ 423    πŸ“Œ 303
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Who's Using Amazon Web Services? [2025] See a list of the biggest AWS customers, monthly spending figures, the key services they spend their AWS budget on, and how they use AWS.

I applaud and support this, but boycotting Amazon is harder than you think: spacelift.io/blog/who-is-...

28.02.2025 01:48 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Mass Layoffs Begin at NOAA The cuts came just before a separate wave of departures was expected under the Trump administration’s so-called deferred resignation program.

The Trump administration has begun firing employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the world’s premier centers for climate science.

28.02.2025 01:20 β€” πŸ‘ 874    πŸ” 354    πŸ’¬ 95    πŸ“Œ 60

Are you affected by the @noaa.gov layoffs?

I'm a longtime environment reporter interested in NOAA, EPA and USGS.

Send me tips: lisasong.42 on Signal

Here's what I cover and some examples of my work: www.propublica.org/people/lisa-...

27.02.2025 22:11 β€” πŸ‘ 617    πŸ” 348    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 7

I am now hearing from multiple folks in the past two hours (including some who have personally been fired) that mass firings have now commenced within NOAA--including, yes, at the National Weather Service.

27.02.2025 21:17 β€” πŸ‘ 2315    πŸ” 1049    πŸ’¬ 126    πŸ“Œ 287
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Climate change: The Panama community that fled its drowning island Rising sea levels threaten homes in Panama, but not everyone wants to leave.

The 100th anniversary of the Guna Revolution is being celebrated this month. But unfortunately this is harder to resist:

www.bbc.com/news/article...

13.02.2025 15:30 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

And 100 or so of the workers in the Office of Environmental Justice are being told they may be put on leave.

06.02.2025 18:19 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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It is astonishing that mainstream media is covering this like it is a shruggie vibe πŸ€·β€β™‚οΈ

02.02.2025 16:05 β€” πŸ‘ 33260    πŸ” 7465    πŸ’¬ 1970    πŸ“Œ 569
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What Elon Musk’s Salute Was All About A gesture associated with the Nazis has a surprising history. But in Germany, there was little doubt about its meaning.

β€œA Hitler salute is a Hitler salute is a Hitler salute,” the prominent German weekly Die Zeit wrote in an editorial.

Also, in related news, a clownish dick is a clownish dick.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/w...

25.01.2025 05:52 β€” πŸ‘ 12625    πŸ” 1601    πŸ’¬ 467    πŸ“Œ 72
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Opinion | Harvard Has Already Capitulated to Trump’s War on Academia (Gift Article) TheΒ administration is trying to assert political control over American higher education.

This article is bleak, to say the least.

What are administrators doing to protect their faculty and students, to promote academic freedom, to ensure that universities remain places of critical inquiry, and to protect research funding and scientific advances?

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/o...

24.01.2025 11:55 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 1
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Egg prices are soaring again. Here’s why and what to expect Bird flu has killed millions of hens in recent weeks, shrinking the supply of eggs and hiking up prices at grocery stores.

The price of eggs in the US is spiking, mostly due to #H5N1 bird flu. Solving the problem requires urgent, important communications from the CDC & FDA* and rapid development of research by the NIH**

* Currently paused by Executive Order
** Grant reviews now all canceled
www.kcur.org/news/2025-01...

23.01.2025 17:18 β€” πŸ‘ 52944    πŸ” 17611    πŸ’¬ 2450    πŸ“Œ 1597

Holding out for National Geopackage Day.

03.12.2024 13:31 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Panama prepares to relocate Indigenous residents of island threatened by rising seas The Gunas of Gardi Sugdub are the first of 63 communities along Panama’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts that government officials and scientists expect to be forced to relocate by rising sea levels in t...

Climate change isn't a problem for future generations. It is impacting communities here and now. I am posting this on the two month anniversary of Hurricane #Helene hitting my mountain town of #Asheville, and I will be in Guna Yala in less than two months.

www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...

27.11.2024 00:20 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Master of Science in Applied Climate Studies - Warren Wilson College Want to take action against climate change? Our low-residency climate masters program prepares you to make a meaningful impact.

Coming 2025 - the new Master of Science in Applied Climate Studies at #WarrenWilsonCollege

www.warren-wilson.edu/programs/app...

20.11.2024 15:03 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Asheville potable water is back, city boil water notice lifted β€’ Asheville Watchdog After 54 days without potable water, City of Asheville water customers once again can consume water directly from their taps. At the daily Helene briefing Monday, Asheville Water Resources Department ...

Potable water in #AVL! Thanks to all who struggled mightily to make this happen. Might still want to test for lead. avlwatchdog.org/asheville-po...

19.11.2024 03:21 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Hello GISchat! I'm wondering how others make the case for a full open source geospatial stack over ESRI. Cost is clear, but how else do you convince others to take the high/hard road?

Also, what suite of tools do you find most effective? QGIS Server? Custom server with postgres? QFIeld vs Mergin?

13.11.2024 01:14 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - Tomorrow's Cost
YouTube video by agent23skidoo Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - Tomorrow's Cost

This captures the impact of #helene on parts of #Asheville and the community's efforts to be resilient. It's going to be a long haul.

youtu.be/TS5C6IqLSgs?...

13.11.2024 01:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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It is customary for a losing presidential candidate to concede almost immediately after the race is called. Here's how that process has played out in recent elections.
nyti.ms/4fBvo1X

07.11.2024 00:17 β€” πŸ‘ 327    πŸ” 62    πŸ’¬ 27    πŸ“Œ 21

What tools/concepts/platforms/skills do you think are essential in a grad/undergrad curriculum focusing on data science and climate change? #gischat #geosky

23.05.2024 22:57 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

@dabernat is following 18 prominent accounts