John Gershman

Smoke from climate-fueled wildfires contributed to thousands of US deaths over 15 years, study says A new study out in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment finds that wildfires fueled by climate change are linked to as many as thousands of annual deaths and billions of dollars i...

“Wildfires driven by climate change contribute to as many as thousands of annual deaths and billions of dollars in economic costs from wildfire smoke in the United States, according to a new study.”

Great news!

Israel’s Gaza aid cutoff was not only immoral. It was a strategic disaster. A policy whose cruelty was matched only by its incompetence.

Israel’s Gaza aid cutoff was not only immoral.
It was a strategic disaster. www.vox.com/world-politi...

A new report shows how local climate activism leads to 'remarkable' gains Efforts to pass laws and advance clean energy projects can significantly reduce emissions, and at a low cost.

A new report shows how local climate activism leads to ‘remarkable’ gains.

Efforts to pass laws and advance clean energy projects can significantly reduce emissions, and at a low cost.

grist.org/solutions/ne...

#Activist #Climate #Environment #Local #Activism #Politics #Policy

I have spent multiple weeks working on this story. We are not dropping it. I hope you will give this a read.

Hamed AleazizNicholas Nehamas By Hamed Aleaziz and Nicholas Nehamas Aug. 5, 2025, 4:51 p.m. ET On Tuesday morning, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in an internal email that it would offer cash bonuses to agents for deporting people quickly, an incentive meant to motivate the staff to speed up President Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Less than four hours later, the agency abruptly canceled what was supposed to be a 30-day pilot program. “PLEASE DISREGARD,” Liana J. Castano, an official in ICE’s field operations division, said in a follow-up email to agency offices around the country.

🚨WHOA. According to @haleaziz.bsky.social, the Trump admin was actually going to implement the ICE "bounties" it has repeatedly said were false, offering $200 per arrest leading to a rapid deportation — and only walked the plan back after the New York Times got a copy of the memo.

Left-Wing Group Too Disorganized For FBI Agents To Infiltrate

Left-Wing Group Too Disorganized For FBI Agents To Infiltrate theonion.com/left-wi...

Climate Science 101 Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe explains the basics of climate change for beginners and those in need of a refresher.

Gain an understanding of climate change basics from renowned scientist @katharinehayhoe.com. Whether you’re new to the climate story or a veteran reporter aiming to refine how you explain it to audiences, this guide is for you.

Final CBO score of the "big beautiful bill" is out

Largest Medicaid cuts ever - in fact, at least 4 times the size of the previous largest; $894-$990 bn cut

Kicks 10 million off health insurance

Largest SNAP cuts ever, $197 bn cut

Still increases the deficit by $3.4 trillion from huge tax cuts

Repressive Laws Are Increasingly Being Used to Silence Activists Across Asia From Hong Kong to India, governments are passing and weaponizing new laws to pursue and jail whoever speaks up for human rights.

An op-ed I co-wrote, on the increasing use of restrictive laws to jail #humanrights defenders across the Asia region

thediplomat.com/2025/07/repr...

Major Power Rivalry and Domestic Politics in South Asia There are important differences in whether and how domestic players in third-party states in Asia mobilize external major power rivalry in their own internal politics, ranging from making it central to their political strategies to ignoring major power competition in favor of a purely internal focus.

My new report from the Carnegie Endowment offers a framework for understanding how major power competition plays out within "swing" states - focused on South Asia but with applicability beyond - and a set of implications for contemporary US foreign policy:
carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Senior Researcher, Global Attitudes Position Overview Pew Research Center has an immediate need for a Senior Researcher to support its global research agenda. The Senior Researcher will be part of the Global Attitudes research team, whi...

Great job opportunity at Pew, perhaps for someone coming out of the USAID and international development space pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...

This is really clever. He’s a talented political communicator—and it’s impressive that he’s able to bring out joy and humor rather than anger. It stands out because it is so different from much of the rest of American politics.

Bridging the gap: riverine nature-based solutions for climate resilient transportation infrastructure in the United States - npj Urban Sustainability npj Urban Sustainability - Bridging the gap: riverine nature-based solutions for climate resilient transportation infrastructure in the United States

Rivers and the infrastructure near rivers will be increasingly stressed from the impacts of climate change. In this paper led by a former PhD student that worked with me & with an undergrad researcher, we assessed the ways state DOTs use green infrastructure for river areas. doi.org/10.1038/s429...

Seattle’s Underground Toilet History FLUSH’s Founder visited Seattle, Washington, for a work event! Through a few underground tours, we got the download on Seattle’s early history and how tightly it linked with sanitation. Seattle’s written history started in 1851 when a few white settlers received land from the US Government to build out towns in the west. Back then, Seattle was a steeply sloped, swampy area with daily tidal waves on Puget Sound. When white settlers started to try building homes and facilities in the area, things

We took a tour of Seattle’s underground and discovered just how closely the city’s history is tied to sanitation. Read the blog by @kimlikestoilets.bsky.social to find out how sewage helped shape the city: www.itsflush.com/post/seattl...

#sewage #seattle #toilets

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

If any of these are your reps, please take 5 min today and call. Scripts and numbers at 5calls.org. Kill this absolute travesty of a bill.

I had initially missed the number Emily cites from @energyinnovation.org here when I read their analysis of the Senate bill.

Losing 300 GW of generation is gobsmacking. The US added a total of 327.5 GW in new generation from 2015-2024.

ICEblock, which allows users to alert others to the geographical location of ICE officers, is the top social networking app in the App Store right now after Karoline Leavitt condemned it from the podium yesterday.

A Path Forward After Trump v. CASA After CASA, the APA offers a path to nationwide relief against unconstitutional executive actions without relying on universal injunctions.

Honored we are publishing this significant piece

After CASA: The Administrative Procedure Act Option for Challenging Birthright Citizenship and Other Illegal Executive Actions

By

Harold Hongju Koh, Obama State Dept Legal Adviser
Alan Charles Raul, HW Bush General Counsel of OMB & Agriculture Dept

Did you know Florida leads the nation in book bans (by a lot)? And that most of the bans come from just a handful of people? And that the books aren't "porn" as claimed, but just... books? Help Authors Against Book Bans (@aabbri.bsky.social) &
@flfreedomread.bsky.social defend the freedom to read.

In Sudan, where children clung to life, doctors say USAID cuts have been fatal The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID had an immediate and deadly impact in war-ravaged Sudan, according to civilians, doctors and aid officials.

NEW: The death shadow cast by Musk.

“When U.S.-supported soup kitchens were forced to close, babies starved quietly, their mothers said, while older siblings died begging for food.”

The world’s richest man did this to the world’s poorest children.

Don’t ever forget.

If you have a R senator, seriously call their office tomorrow & say vote against this bill. Say you don’t wan’t three times the budget of NASA going into a sprawling immigrant detention infrastructure. That you don’t want to kick folks you know off Medicaid. That you don’t want solar taxed. reps.fyi

The Plot to Enslave America

I know I'm not the first person or even the millionth person to point this out; it's not even the first time *I* have said it, but this is what actual First Amendment violations look like and the fact that none of the supposed free speech warriors are saying anything about it tells us everything.

The Senate is about to destroy clean energy to give tax cuts to billionaires The bill could pass within the next 24 hours.

The new Senate bill doesn’t just gut renewables. It includes massive giveaways to the fossil fuel industry.

It exempts oil and gas drillers from paying corporate taxes. It gives coal companies a tax credit for burning more coal.

It uses your tax dollars to subsidize climate destruction.

The Big List of Protests The BLOP hosts a large and detailed list of upcoming protest events submitted by users across the United States.

Big List of Protests! Filter by state & date. Spread the word.

The planet needs more New Yorkers The best thing New York and other cities can do for the climate is to let more people live there.

There's a @bloomberg.com column where this came from.

You know how sometimes you re-read old stuff and you find a bazillion ways you'd have said differently. I'd say this still pretty much says it all gwagner.com/risky-climate-nyc

Yes, the planet needs more New Yorkers — both in NY and elsewhere!

Demand an affidavit ballot and submit it. Your vote will count.