Thomas loves data

Balancing grazing and biodiversity: Arthropod responses to modern cattle farming practices Ruminant production exerts severe pressure on ecosystems through land use change for pasture and fodder production, contributing to biodiversity loss,…

🐄 Grazing and bugs

A study in Finland found that light cattle grazing and organic farming boosted the variety of ground-dwelling insects, while heavy grazing cut biodiversity.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#SciComm #Biodiversity 🧪

Quinte municipalities urge residents to reduce water consumption A quick glance at the Moira River flowing through Downtown Belleville pretty much sums up current near-drought conditions plaguing the region as rainfall has stayed away for much of the summer.

Dry riverbeds in Ontario. Residents of Belleville are being asked to reduce their water consumption. The normally lush vegetation in Prince Edward County is languishing in this heat. If you thought Eastern Canada would be safe from climate-induced drought, think again.
tinyurl.com/58vwhy42

Last week, we convened officials from Fiji & Papua New Guinea to support the national implementation of the @wto.org #FishAgreement. 🐟

These kick-off meetings introduced our self-assessment tool & paved the way for targeted support.

🔗 Explore the tool: www.iisd.org/publications...

Measuring flood underinsurance in the USA - Nature Climate Change Homeowners could benefit from flood insurance to offset the negative impacts of climate-induced natural disasters. However, with detailed micro-level data, researchers find substantial protection gaps...

🌊 Flood underinsurance in the US

A new study finds 70% of annual flood losses (about $17B) are uninsured. Most at-risk households are underinsured, with the burden falling hardest on low-income communities.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm #ClimateCrisis #Floods 🧪

For reasons, I was roaming on Google Earth over Soliera (15k inh.), and I thought it would be nice to show a type of urbanism rarely talked about.

So I'm gonna make a short overview of Soliera, a pretty typical example of small-town urbanism in Emilia.

A Sunday 🧵

Fair point. Though handwaving away the big pharma criticism makes it a bit harder to take you seriously.

The neighbor's hydrageas are happy today 🌸

Shameless self-promotion of my radio interview which aired this morning on Superior Morning (CBC Thunder Bay). We discussed AI, the Experimental Lakes Area, and lake ice under climate change.
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

YouTube video by iisdvideo How can the world's freshwater laboratory better uphold and honour Indigenous law?

ELA has been building connection with First Nations in Treaty #3 for several years, and is now pledging to uphold Manito Aki Inaakonigewin (the Great Eath Law) in our research.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Ao...

In this case, the new user interface was found to significantly increase engagement times (about 3X) (3/3)

Measures included human-in-the-loop, progressive & stepwise rollout, robust verification (2/3)

Great presentation today by The Globe and Mail at the Toronto Machine Learning Summit on responsible approaches to GenAI deployment on challenging topics like climate change. 🧵(1/3)

Can Canada’s fast-tracking laws avoid the mistakes of the past? | The Narwhal A botched rollout of Ontario, B.C. and Canada’s bills to fast-track development could trash a decade’s worth of trust with First Nations and spark litigation

As the federal government, Ontario and B.C. roll out fast-track legislation, experts tell @meyer.bsky.social‬ a botched rollout could trash years of hard-won trust between Indigenous leadership and the Crown. thenarwhal.ca/indigenous-c...

Quantifying the welfare impact of air asphyxia in rainbow trout slaughter for policy and practice - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Quantifying the welfare impact of air asphyxia in rainbow trout slaughter for policy and practice

🐟😖 Fish suffer intense pain for 10+ mins after catch

New research shows rainbow trout endure up to 22 mins of severe pain when left to suffocate in air. Effective stunning could prevent up to 20 hours of suffering per $1 invested.

🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

#AnimalWelfare #SciComm #Fish 🧪

Prairie Watershed Analytics Prairie Watershed Analytics is focused on providing Canadians in the Prairies with the information they need to understand their local watershed. Watershed models can support local decision-makers and...

Thanks to the hard work of many environmental volunteers and professionals, we can now model our local rivers, so we can take better care of them. At IISD, we're now testing out models to tackle climate adaptation and farm waste for folks in the Canadian Prairies.
www.iisd.org/projects/pra...

A friend of mine with DS once told me that his purpose on this Earth was to make the rest of us smile. Angels are real.

#G7 Finance Ministers’ & Central Bank Governors meetings concluded in Banff today and, for the first time since 2019, there was no set of actions on #ClimateChange.

Here’s a quick look at the energy & environment headlines: 🧵1/5

The North Saskatchewan supplies drinking water for Edmonton, Regina, and many smaller communities. It also supports food production and industrial water users across the Canadian Prairies.

The North Saskatchewan starts in the Rocky Mountains near Jasper, and flows through to the confluence with the South Saskatchewan, later flowing into Lake Winnipeg.

Beautiful day on North Saskatchewan River, in Edmonton, AB 🧵

science.gc.ca/site/science...

Cheating? Or Helpful?
The Canadian Tri-Council for research has issued guidance on the use of AI in proposal-writing. It's difficult striking the right balance between discouraging the productive use of AI (that is, forcing it "underground") and continuing to enforce research ethics.
Link below 👇

Very timely and practical paper. Knowing how to respond to misuse of AI (in science or otherwise) requires that we understand its limitations relative to conventional approaches. This research clearly lays that out.

Good morning! I hope fellow Canadians had a nice long weekend!
I had a nice hike along Georgian Bay, near Tobermory, Ontario

Science update!
At the IISD Experimental Lakes Area - the world's freshwater laboratory in Northern Ontario - we're now using machine learning to predict when lakes will melt, so our scientists can plan their field season early and get out on the water, ASAP!
www.iisd.org/ela/blog/thi...

Hello everyone!
I'm new here and am immediately struck by all the beautiful photos and creative energy.
I need to work on my 📸 game.
In the meantime, I will spare you (and a river somewhere in California) from my temptation to generate AI images that no-one asked for.