Harry Stevens

The Trump admin has started to realize batteries are an important general purpose technology. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/c...

Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

Clean, Limitless Energy Exists. China Is Going Big in the Race to Harness It.

The question isn't whether fusion will arrive—it's who gets there first, and what that means for the rest of the century. #FusionEnergy #EnergyTransition #Science
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/c...

In America, the lack of government support is one reason so many fusion researchers are joining start-ups, Dr. Liu said. Chinese officials, by contrast, are putting significant resources into a possible “ultimate solution” to humankind’s energy needs

In America, the lack of government support is one reason so many fusion researchers are joining start-ups, Dr. Liu said. Chinese officials, by contrast, are putting significant resources into a possible “ultimate solution” to humankind’s energy needs

"In America, the lack of government support is one reason so many fusion researchers are joining start-ups, Dr. Liu said.

Chinese officials, by contrast, are putting significant resources into a possible “ultimate solution” to humankind’s energy needs"
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/c...

Clean, Limitless Energy Exists. China Is Going Big in the Race to Harness It.

Who will get one tokamak over the line?

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/c...

How China Raced Ahead of the U.S. on Nuclear Power (Gift Article) The United States was once the undisputed leader in atomic energy. Now it is trying to catch up.

Great @bradplumer.bsky.social @harrystevens.bsky.social piece on China's nuclear ambition. I'm biased but I think a good satellite comparison is worth 1000 words.

Incidentally, the score for aluminum smelters built since 1990 would be ~50-60 for China, 0 for the US.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

How China Raced Ahead of the U.S. on Nuclear Power The United States was once the undisputed leader in atomic energy. Now it is trying to catch up.

From NYT Climate, via @harrystevens.bsky.social and @bradplumer.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

How China Raced Ahead of the U.S. on Nuclear Power The United States was once the undisputed leader in atomic energy. Now it is trying to catch up.

Nuclear reactors built or under construction since 2013
US: 2
China: 46

The EPA said it will stop updating a database that companies use to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chains. In July, EPA suspended the database's lead scientist because he signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/c...

Figure showing coal, oil, and gas emissions from 1960, with a little red dot for 2025, with 0.5% growth in coal, 1% in oil, 1.6% in gas, and -1.1% for cement. These are all leap year adjusted since 2024 had one more day than 2025...

Based on fossil fuel growth rates from the IEA Coal Mid-Year Update, July Oil Market Report, & Gas Market Report Q3, fossil CO2 emissions would grow around 0.8% in 2025, reaching another record high...

We are only half way through the year, but don't build too much expectation for peak emissions.

See How Marine Heat Waves Are Spreading Across the Globe

About a quarter of the world’s oceans are experiencing temperatures that qualify as a marine heat wave.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/c...

See How Marine Heat Waves Are Spreading Across the Globe

wow, this is really good mapping www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/c...

GitHub - HarryStevens/d3-geo-hemispheres: A map projection for a vertical world. A map projection for a vertical world. Contribute to HarryStevens/d3-geo-hemispheres development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com/HarryStevens...

github.com/HarryStevens...

A Clean Energy Boom Was Just Starting. Now, a Republican Bill Aims to End It.

Since the IRA passed, companies have made plans to invest over $843 billion in clean energy projects. But just one-third of that has actually been invested, new data shows. Much of the rest is now at risk.

On the new House Republican plan to dismantle the IRA, with @harrystevens.bsky.social

The Trump Administration Wants Seafloor Mining. What Does That Mean? A recent executive order would accelerate mining in little-understood undersea ecosystems.

Rebecca Dzombak, Max Bearak & @harrystevens.bsky.social look at the possible long-term consequences from seabed mining.

“Part of the challenge in understanding potential effects is that the pace of life is slow on the seafloor. Deep-sea fish can live hundreds of years. Corals can live thousands.”

The azimuthal equal-area projects the sphere onto a disk and preserves area across the projection. You can display the whole planet, but latitudes far from the center get very distorted. The clipped two-hemisphere approach avoids the distortion and fits nicely on a phone.

I first saw this last year in a map by @bananafish.bsky.social. Not sure if he invented it or saw it somewhere else.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

A cylindrical or pseudocylindrical (in this case Patterson's Natural Earth) projection will start looking real scrunchy at around 600 pixels, but the stacked Lamberts work great down to 300 pixels — as narrow as you'll ever need.

A trick for fitting world maps on phones:

Stack two azimuthal equal-area projections, clipped at 90° longitude, each one rotated 180° from the other.

The bottom map covers the top's Antarctica, which reduces the total height and looks nice.

As seen in www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/c...

Here’s What to Know About Rare Earth Minerals and Renewable Energy The shift to cleaner power needs resources from China. An export ban just cut off some supplies.

ICYMI: C4ADS Program Director Krista Rasmussen spoke to @harrystevens.bsky.social about #China’s growing control of critical #mineral supply chains — building on our recent Refining Power investigation into ownership of Indonesian nickel refineries.

From @nytimes.com 👇
buff.ly/qJuK213

Jury Finds Greenpeace Liable for Hundreds of Millions in Damages A lawsuit by pipeline giant Energy Transfer claimed Greenpeace had played a major, costly role in protests nearly a decade ago. Greenpeace has said a loss could put it out of business.

Jury Finds Greenpeace Liable for Hundreds of Millions in Damages

A lawsuit by pipeline giant Energy Transfer claimed Greenpeace had played a major, costly role in protests nearly a decade ago. Greenpeace has said a loss could put it out of business.

by Karen Zraick

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/c...

See How Butterfly Numbers Are Dropping Near You (Gift Article) Populations are falling in the United States, a new study has found. Look up what’s happening in your area.

🦋 The study didn't investigate causes, but habitat disruption and pesticides likely contributed to declines. Climate change may have played a role: species saw larger drops in the south of their ranges, suggesting northward migration w/ temp. increase.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

3/3

🦋 This is the first study to combine butterfly observations from thousands of surveys across the country to create a complete picture of U.S. butterfly trends.

Of 342 species, 245 suffered declines of at least 10 percent.

Read the story here: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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See How Butterfly Numbers Are Dropping Near You (Gift Article) Populations are falling in the United States, a new study has found. Look up what’s happening in your area.

🦋 In 20 years, the contiguous U.S. lost 22 percent of its butterflies, according to a groundbreaking new study published today.

We got the data, and I made a tool that lets you find out what's happening with butterfly species in your town.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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Scoop: U.S. delegation pulled from key U.N. climate science meeting The IPCC meeting in China is slated to determine the content in the group's next series of reports.

The US won't have an official govt delegation at an upcoming, key UN climate science meeting next week. (Story led by @mccuri.bsky.social )
**Whether this signals a broader federal disengagement from int'l climate research is not yet clear... www.axios.com/2025/02/20/u...

Nikola, Electric Truck Maker, Files for Bankruptcy The company, which once enjoyed a surging stock price, struggled to turn its plans for electric and hydrogen trucks into a viable business.

Nikola, the EV startup that once enjoyed a surging stock price, has filed for bankruptcy after struggling to turn its plans for electric and hydrogen trucks into a viable business.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/b...

Layoffs Begin at Energy Department, Part of Trump Purge Mass firings have rocked multiple agencies as President Trump and Elon Musk accelerate plans to drastically slash and reshape the federal work force.

The Energy Department has begun laying off staff — around 1,000 workers — as part of Trump's purge of the federal workforce

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/u...