Steve Easterbrook

Kennedy’s latest attack on vaccine science is as dangerous as it is cynical
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5459677-kennedy-bullying-vaccine-research/

@steve How did you know what I studied?!?!

@edwiebe Ah, don't be such a physicist. See the note at the end of my blog post on precisely this point! https://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/2012/01/how-much-extra-energy-are-we-adding-to-the-earth-system/

As I'm giving a talk tonight on causes and consequences of #ClimateChange, I just redid a calculation I first did in 2012:
The Earth is currently warming at the rate of 380TW (terawatts). Humanity as a whole consumes about 15TW of energy.
So we're warming the planet about 25 times faster than […]

I'm convinced two-factor authentication is a huge prank played on people with #ADHD

What do you mean the code has expired? Again!?!

Holy crap

The #Trump's admin has fired ALL of the authors of the US govt's signature study that informs federal & local govts on how to prepare for #ClimateChange impacts, acc/to an email sent to them on Monday.

The dismissal of nearly 400 contributors to the 6th National #Climate Assessment […]

While Annie studied maths at Perdue,
Her cat needed something to do.
So she spent the whole week,
Teaching it mathematical Greek,
But the cat only learned to say μ.

Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency
https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-seeks-end-climate-research-premier-u-s-climate-agency

Replacing gas vehicles with electric cars could prevent new cases of childhood asthma Electric vehicles sold in the last decade are already having a measurable impact on childhood asthma rates in the U.S.

Replacing gas vehicles with electric cars could prevent new cases of childhood asthma https://theconversation.com/replacing-gas-vehicles-with-electric-cars-could-prevent-new-cases-of-childhood-asthma-252244

Nearly at the end of my course Confronting the Climate Crisis. Looks like most of the students liked my weekly quizzes!
#ClimateChange

“‘We’re like sitting ducks’: the right’s ‘war on woke’ has a well-tested playbook to take down academics”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/chris-rufo-jo-boaler-academics-woke

This is a cartogram map of the United States depicting land use by different categories. The map distorts state shapes to represent proportional land usage. Key land use types include cow pasture/range (covering much of the central U.S.), private and federal timberland in the Pacific Northwest, corporate timberland in the Southeast, and urban housing/commercial areas in the Northeast. Other categories include agriculture (livestock feed, wheat exports, ethanol/biodiesel, cotton), protected lands (national parks, federal wilderness, state parks), and infrastructure (railroads, airports, highways). Additional specialized land uses include wildfires, golf courses, Christmas tree farms, and maple syrup production.

I think about this map a lot.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-us-land-use/

This is phenomenal news. Brandon is a science leader from NSF who brings a perspective infused with experience, wisdom, and expertise.

Climate Data Practices: A Research Approach for HCI and Climate Justice | ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction This paper introduces climate data practices as a conceptual lens for HCI research and design toward social and environmental justice. We offer a working definition of this approach, which we locate at the intersection of critical data studies and ...

Interested in the social and political contexts in which people make use of climate data? Our new paper, "Climate Data Practices: A Research Approach for HCI and Climate Justice" is out!
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3719346
#ClimateChange #ClimateData #ClimateJustice

A bunch of former colleagues got fired today and to a person, they are some of the hardest working most professional folks I've ever worked with in my entire life. They weren't partisan, they worked for everybody & worked tirelessly for the country. We as a nation are poorer without their service.

You know why we Germans are so pedantic about data protection? Someone around 90 years ago went through all records available, selected people with certain criteria, with the help of IBM, and then killed them all.

We don't want to be on any list.

And now the US Gov and Musk is trying to get […]

Toronto forging ahead with new bike lanes despite provincial crackdown City staff are proposing over 12 kilometres of new bike lanes, including in Bloordale, Cabbagetown, the Annex and the Junction Triangle

“Toronto’s bike-lane expansion program is going full steam ahead despite the Doug Ford provincial government’s legislation limiting the city’s powers.

According to a new proposal, city staff are recommending a $28.5-million project to build over 12 kilometres of new bike lanes.”

Good. Keep going.

Transforming US agriculture for carbon removal with enhanced weathering - Nature A state-level analysis of the impact of enhanced weathering deployment on carbon sequestration on agricultural land suggests that enhanced weathering could help the USA meet net-zero 2050 goals.

"Finally, we emphasize that efforts to remove atmospheric carbon by means of any CDR technology will ultimately be futile for addressing the climate crisis without urgent and drastic emissions reductions and a transition to clean energy."

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08429-2

Breaking news: Russia denies planning to buy back Alaska, a spokesperson for Putin said "we have already bought the whole of Trump's administration, why would we pay extra for Alaska?" Massive if true...

“‘We’re like sitting ducks’: the right’s ‘war on woke’ has a well-tested playbook to take down academics”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/chris-rufo-jo-boaler-academics-woke

"Why should a country bear the costs of reducing #emissions when the benefits are shared globally? This column re-evaluates this view in light of new climate damage estimates based on global temperature variation, showing that the economic case for unilateral decarbonisation is far stronger […]

It's really hard to concentrate on climate science when our colleagues are getting fired and everyone's funding is being threatened. Maybe that's the goal.

Public notice:

If you want to read a research article, please don't pay for the paper on the publisher's website. All that money goes to the publisher, we don't get any of it. Instead, contact us. We'll be happy to send you the paper :-).

A NYT graphic shows on the left a list of federal agencies that have investigations into or regulatory battles with Musk's companies; Transportation, Interior, Justice, Agriculture, NLRB, EEOC, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, SEC, FEC, and Office of Govt Ethics. The Tesla companies include SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and X.

The NYT has published a useful graphic showing all the agencies with investigations into or regulatory battles with of Musk's companies that have seen staffing cuts, including the firing of top officials.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/elon-musk-companies-conflicts.html

We got a message from the university to remove any use of the "DEI", "diversity", "equity", or "inclusion" from all public-facing documents. They said that even "biodiversity" is being flagged by the federal government. We live in the dumbest timeline.

FML. NOAA is searching for terms like "climate," "methane," "nitrous oxide," "greenhouse gas," "climate science," "carbon," the "Paris Agreement." That's what my NOAA grants are focused on.

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/09/noaa-search-grants-climate-change-terms

Chart of Canada's annual greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2022, with projections out to 2030. The chart also shows a series of targets promised over the years: a 1988 target to cut to 20% below 1988 levels by 2005; The Kyoto protocol target of 6% below 1990 levels by 2012; the Copenhagen target of 17% below 2005 levels; the Initial Paris target of 30% below 2005 levels, the updated (2021) Paris target of 40-45% below 2005 levels, and finally the path Canada would need to be (have been) on to do it's "fair share" towards the goal of staying below 1.5°C of warming. Every target has been missed by a wide margin. Current policy projections also show us missing the 2023 Paris targets.

Just updated my chart of Canada's various greenhouse gas #emissions reduction targets over the years. I've updated it to show the original (INDC = Initial Nationally Determined Contribution) and Canada's updated NDC announced in 2021, along with the federal […]

[Original post on fediscience.org]

'Really bad, really quick': Firefighters said to be panicked as Trump policy kneecaps them <img src="https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump.jpg?id=29810410&amp;width=1200&amp;height=600&amp;coordinates=0%2C25%2C0%2C25" /><br /><br /><p>President Donald Trump's decision to freeze federal hiring is impacting life-saving firefighting efforts, according to a new report.</p><p>CNN over the weekend <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/us/firefighters-federal-hiring-freeze/index.html" target="_blank">reported</a> that Trump's hiring freeze "comes at a critical time, when fire departments across the country would typically onboard thousands of seasonal federal firefighters in preparation for wildfires in the spring and summer."</p><p>The report quotes Ben McLane, a federal hand crew captain and board member with <a href="https://www.grassrootswildlandfirefighters.com/" target="_blank">Grassroots Wildland Firefighter</a>, as saying, “It’s going to be really bad, really quick."</p><p><strong>ALSO READ:</strong><strong> </strong><a href="https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/elon-musk-s-doge-boys-think-this-is-a-video-game-as-trump-plots-his-2nd-coup/" target="_self">Elon Musk's DOGE boys think this is a video game as Trump plots his 2nd coup</a></p><p>McLane is further quoted as telling CNN, "We’re going to have a lack of personnel when fire season gets going... The precedent that we’ve seen over the last few decades at this point is making us pretty certain that it’s going to be a big fire season again.”</p><p>According to CNN, "The federal hiring freeze, initiated through <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/hiring-freeze/" target="_blank">one of the executive orders</a> the president signed on his first day in office, dictates that no new federal civilian positions can be created and no vacant positions can be filled."</p><p>"Federal firefighters are an essential part of the nation’s firefighting capability. The <a href="https://www.doi.gov/wildlandfire/workforce" target="_blank">Department of the Interior</a> employed 5,780 federal wildland fire personnel in 2024, while <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/fire/workforce" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the US Forest Service</a> employed over 11,300," according to the outlet. "The majority of firefighters employed by the federal government are seasonal, hired as either permanent or temporary employees."</p><p>CNN goes on to report, "The freeze also comes as fire departments across the country have already faced staff shortages. In Los Angeles, where <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/us/california-wildfires-debris-recovery/index.html" target="_blank">devastating wildfires</a> killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes in January, the fire department is less staffed than almost any other major city, with less than one firefighter for every 1,000 residents."</p><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/us/firefighters-federal-hiring-freeze/index.html" target="_blank">Read the full article here.</a></p>

'Really bad, really quick': Firefighters said to be panicked as Trump policy kneecaps them - Raw Story

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-federal-limit-firefighters-bad/

Elon has now taken the department of education

Approximately 20 members of Elon Musk’s staff have begun working within the Education Department. They have gained access to multiple sensitive internal systems, including a financial aid dataset containing the personal information of millions of […]