Angela Antle

Every time you hear these reassuringly small or modest energy or water use per AI query numbers, you should understand that they can only be arrived at because of the GARGANTUAN underlying scale of Big Tech's AI infrastructure (often fossil fuel-powered & out-competing communities who need water)

Nearly half of L.A. County’s pavement may be unnecessary, new map finds Researchers have released the first parcel-level analysis to map all paved surfaces across L.A. County. In particular, large parking lots are ripe for change, they say.

A new report, DepaveLA, finds that 44% of Los Angeles County’s 312k acres of pavement may not be essential for roads, sidewalks and parking, and could be converted to greener cooler cover and habitat.

www.latimes.com/environment/...

acceleratela.org/depavela/

This is a great read.

Equinor pulling back CCS spending until market improves Norwegian company is a CCS pioneer but markets are developing slower than expected

Who could have seen this coming?

Carbon capture was never the plan, it was the comfort blanket: “Don’t worry, we’ll fix it later".

A story to delay real cuts while drilling rolls on.

When the industry feels powerful & secure, the fairy tale goes back on the shelf.

Wow! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if #Canada and #Newfoundland embraced community energy!

Community energy investment to build community wealth and power Biggest ever public investment in community energy will cut bills and create revenue for community centres, social clubs and places of worship.

Up to £1 billion (!) of new funding for local energy projects to be made available through the Local Power Plan...

"The news stories you consume...are increasingly controlled by technocrat Trump loyalists, and algorithmically skewed to the right to foment hatred...you’d do better getting all your news from Neil Young press releases."

Stewart Lee's brilliant weekly column.
🔗⬇️

Some 10,000 people demonstrated in Milan on Saturday, on the first full day of the Winter Olympics, to protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Games. A hardcore splinter group later attempted to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink, resulting in clashes.

Local Economies Pushed Aside as Newfoundland LNG Megaproject Presses Ahead The arrival of a deep-pocketed industrial conglomerate from South Korea may be improving the odds for a $10- to $15-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) megaproject off the Newfoundland coast that was ...

#Fermeuse, NL, left out of the picture when it comes to a mega LNG project on its doorstep: Mayor Jerome Kenny says “while Hanwha and Fermeuse Energy may have entered into some MOU, Council has not seen, or have been made aware of, the contents of the MOU."
www.theenergymix.com/local-econom...

New Political Science Research: local press coverage enhances the quality of U.S. state-level democracy, and serves as a moderating force when it comes to ideological extremism in state legislative politics:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Must read.

On a bright red background, the photos of five authors appear on top in narrow column images that resemble the spines of books. The author’s book covers also appear below their pictures. Underneath are the event details written in white and yellow text framed by white borders with one corner resembling the pages of a book. In the bottom left corner is a picture of the host that resembles the front cover of a book. Beside it is the logo for Canada’s Theatre Museum.

You’re invited to the Playwrights Canada Press Winter 2026 Book Launch, an evening celebrating the newest works from some of the country’s most acclaimed and influential playwrights. RSVP here: www.playwrightscanada.com/Blog/2026/Pl...

Have you checked tool libraries?

BREAKING: Winter sports fans want Olympic organizers to drop fossil fuel sponsors.
Good to join international colleagues in a unified call to protect our health and save our snow and ice.
More here: www.newweather.org/2026/01/29/n...

For much of the 20th Century, the forces of violence and oppression claimed their way was "natural." (It's "natural" for men to be in charge; it's "natural" for whites to be in charge; it's "natural" for man to dominate nature).

Seems like now they're saying their way is "realistic."

Jack Smith: "My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted. The rule of law is not self-executing. It depends on our collective commitment to apply it."

Detention of 5-Year-Old by Federal Agents Incenses Minneapolis

"Liam, age 5, was the fourth child in the district to be detained by immigration agents in the past two weeks, school officials said.

"Two of them are high-schoolers.

"One is a 10-year-old girl who was apprehended on her way to school..."

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...

One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss Copenhagen, the bicycle-friendliest place on the planet, publishes a biannual Bicycle Account, and buried in its pages is a rather astonishing fact.

My bike and I hope to contribute more to the economy this year than ever before.

@docsforclimate.bsky.social
@mason4c.bsky.social
@howardfrumkin.bsky.social
@jonathanpatz.bsky.social

Half of world’s CO2 emissions come from just 32 fossil fuel firms, study shows Critics accuse leading firms of sabotaging climate action but say data increasingly being used to hold them to account

Imagine a world in which these 32 mega-polluters (aka merchants of death) decided to become part of the solution by using their might for right.

Why taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil won’t create more jobs – The Independent As Equinor delays Bay du Nord decision, report finds less than 1% of Canada’s jobs now in fossil fuels

This piece by @acantle.bsky.social is worth a read.
While oil production goes up, oil jobs go down. So if we are going to subsidize something, we are better off subsidizing the transition of oil&gas workers out of the industry than subsidizing oil&gas companies.
👇

theindependent.ca/commentary/e...

Maybe Greenland could invade us instead?

Here's where that cash is going instead:

10 Books to Shape Your Sense of Place · Blog Post · 49th Shelf A recommended reading list by the author of Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist (The University of Alberta Press). 

Check out my list of Canadian books that are steeped in place. 49thshelf.com/Blog/2026/01... @49thshelf.bsky.social @ualbertapress.bsky.social

Looking back on 2025, this was a big one for us.

3.5 months of radio silence since then, so, yeah, it was harassment.

Problem: Plastic pollution permeates peoples’ parts.

Proposed solutions:

1) Stop spending taxpayers’ money to subsidize the fossil fuel industry.

2) Scale up scientific research to develop non-harmful plastic alternatives.

3) Enact a global ban on single use plastics.

Other suggestions?

Fabulous lecture on #disinformation and rumours the power of social media.

Very good statement from the Cambridge Summit organizers.

If you are interested in studying participatory cryosphere science or permafrost science feel free to reach out about these opportunities. Will be recirculating in early January. Also for international scholars there's a new funding opportunity for postdocs where these projects could apply as well!

What an astonishingly dishonest piece of propaganda for the fossil fuel industry, including its citing of Obama's extremely outdated energy policies and its misrepresentation of Norwegian public opinion.

Can you spot why Trump has picked a fight with Venezuela?