Scott Robeson

Statement from Rep. Ilhan Omar on Trump’s Illegal War on Iran “President Trump is unilaterally dragging this nation into an illegal and unjustified war with Iran without congressional authorization, without a clear objective, and without any imminent threat to the United States. This is a reckless abuse of power that puts both innocent civilians and American lives on the line for a conflict the American people do not want. “As someone who has survived the horrors of war, I know that bombs do not build peace or create stability. Military strikes will not make us safer; they will inflame tensions and push the region further into chaos. When we abandon diplomacy, we choose destruction.

“We know who will bear the cost of this decision: innocent civilians caught in the crossfire and our young service members sent into harm’s way. This is the devastating human toll of another regime-change war. Already, children and families are paying with their lives. There is no moral or strategic justification for this bloodshed. “The American people are exhausted by endless wars built on false promises and paid for with American and foreign lives. Congress must reassert its constitutional authority. We must vote immediately on the War Powers resolution authored by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie. This unlawful operation must end immediately."

Simply incredible work. Among other findings- about half of all migration stopover hot spots are in urban areas! 🤯

Legend for the NOAA Damage Assessment Tool

Here it is -- along with the link to the site. If you go to the site, just change the date in the upper right and then you can click on each of the symbols to get much more info on them.

apps.dat.noaa.gov/StormDamage/...

Image from the NOAA Damage Assessment Tool showing the path of a February 2026 tornado near Bloomington Indiana

This is the path of and reports from the EF0 to EF2 tornado that hit Bloomington last week. There will definitely be an Expanding Bull's-Eye question (also using Google Earth imagery) on next week's take-home Climate Change Impacts exam.

"His book is for everyone who wants to really understand the mess we are in, which means – it is for everyone." Slavoj Žižek

Front cover of journal article

Public engagement and climate change: exploring the role of hairdressers as everyday influencers

⭐New paper!⭐ Two research projects exploring the influence that hairdressers—as widespread professionals in conversational spaces—have w/ clients about climate & sustainability.

doi.org/10.1057/s415...

Farmers were promised $400 million in drought aid. Trump's USDA ghosted them. More than a year later, not a penny has been spent and no one knows what happened to the money.

Farmers were promised $400 million in drought aid. Trump's USDA ghosted them. [via @grist.org]

Solid-state EV batteries are rolling out in China, promising nearly 1,000 miles of range Chinese battery manufacturers already account for well over 50% of the global market, but new battery types, including solid-state, are...

EV battery technology continues to astound! 🧪🔌💡☀️💨💧🔋 electrek.co/2026/02/24/s...

Indiana U. won a title and lost its soul | Will Bunch Newsletter Plus, the pundits are so wrong about Dems and 2028.

Indiana University's football crown was the feel-good story of the year. Off the field...not so much

Ranked last for free speech, DEI cuts, slashing the humanities while paying its coach $13M under MAGA trustees

My column on how IU ranks No. 1 in moral bankruptcy www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

I hope so!

Figure showing global importers and exporters of virtual water. It has increased massively from 1986 to 2022. Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-024-00605-2

This is not just a Colorado River water thing. Virtual water exports have increased massively over time. Here are two maps showing global movement of virtual water in 1986 and 2022:

Graphic showing how Arizona crops and milk are used. Source: https://extension.arizona.edu/publication/how-much-arizonas-agricultural-production-stays-state

And a good chunk of that milk is exported outside of Arizona, aka "virtual water". Most of us partake of Colorado River virtual water in one way or another (e.g., store-bought salads, pistachios, melons, etc.).

Arizona’s Mega-dairies and Water Crisis - We Animals In the late summer of 2023, We Animals photojournalist Ram Daya visited several industrial farms in Arizona to document the scale of the state’s expanding animal agriculture industry.

The mega-dairies that this alfalfa (and barley and corn) helps to support also are extracting a lot of groundwater, adding additional water stress to a region already experiencing aridification from climate change.

A lot of that "Phoenix water supply" is going to irrigate alfalfa

Your periodic reminder that markets don’t want to build the things the Trump administration is pushing. That’s a good thing for the planet. And someday, we will again have a WH who isn’t afraid of competitive markets.

Still satellite imagery of a nor'easter. This image contains the GeoColor product from the GOES-19 weather satellite from the morning of 2026-02-23.

A stunning satellite shot of a powerful nor'easter.

@cody.im would know for sure

I think so and there aren’t any locations in Indiana or Kentucky that are part of that network, so this fills a nice gap.

Africa is moving past fossil fuels to electrification and renewables. As are Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. But who is not? 🧪🔌💡☀️💨💧🔋

IU Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences launches weather balloons on campus IU's new weather balloon launches will give students field experience, improve weather forecasts around Bloomington.

More on the weather balloon launches, which are part of an ongoing project/program, here:

IU weather balloon launch: Data for scientists, dramatic backdrop for musicians A weather balloon launched Sunday from Indiana University’s Northwest Quad was part of an international forecasting effort led by professor Travis O’Brien. The release also doubled as a video shoot ba...

Interesting combo: weather balloon launch and music video @iuearth.bsky.social

If only their President was as gracious as Hughes or Knight

A Pictorial History of Africa: Insights from Ancient Figurative Art. While travelling through West Africa between 1908 and 1910, the German ethnographer Leo Frobenius visited the city of Ife (in S.W Nigeria), where he had heard accounts of a remarkable statue of the se...

“Upto 90% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural legacy is kept in Western museums and private collections outside of the continent.

In the absence of written sources, this material constitutes the principal historical source of many societies.”
www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-pictoria...

Opinion | How A.I. Companies Are Preying on College Students

I've said it before, but the first school that promotes itself as "AI-free" is going to corner the market on folks committed to learning. (gift link)

Full disclosure: I combined our passive solar-heated house with wood heat for years, but I now know better (and can afford not to) so the heat pump does the work.

For these reasons and more, burning is bad for you and the planet.

Valuing wildfire smoke–related mortality benefits from climate mitigation | PNAS Human-induced climate change has increased wildfire risks, associated air pollution, and health damages in North America. Despite its large potenti...

🚨🔥 NEW: Increasing mortality from wildfire smoke is directly traceable to greenhouse gas emissions. In our new paper in @pnas.org , we show that every megaton of CO2 emitted costs the US more than 10 million dollars in health costs from wildfire smoke. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

End ICE Detention at Miami Correctional Facility Rally · Indivisible Central Indiana A broad coalition of organizations (listed below) have come together to call on Governor Mike Braun to End ICE Detention at the Miami Correctional Facility. Approximately 600 ICE detainees are being...

Please come and join us tomorrow at 4pm to kickoff our campaign to close the concentration camps in Indiana, starting with the largest one at Miami Correctional Facility.
www.mobilize.us/indivisiblec...

The disconnect between the Board of Trustees and the wider IU community -- including alums -- is incredible.

Letter to alums Dear Fellow Alumni, Now that the celebrations of our first-ever football national championship are dying down (Will we ever stop celebrating? Time will tell!), it’s time to get back to the serious m...

So far, more than 250 Indiana University alumni, faculty, and staff have pledged not to donate to #IU until President Pamela Whitten is gone and other conditions are met.

Add your name via the link at the bottom of the letter.