Tessa Hill

MIT says no to the Trump admin higher-ed compact clearly and emphatically. Other universities would be well served to read, remix, and respond similarly.

"In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences."

orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Nestle quietly exits global initiative to reduce dairy methane emissions Nestle quietly exits global initiative to reduce dairy methane emissions

Nestle quietly exits global initiative to reduce dairy methane emissions

#climatecrisis
HT @carbonbrief.org
www.latimes.com/business/sto...

That’s not how science works dip shit.

It’s been fun for me so far, and that matters a lot these days ♥️

Henry Farrell on the Trump admin’s proposed “compact” for universities, arguing that the rollout signals weakness, and that academics need to band together to reject this authoritarian attack on university independence and academic freedom.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Right now my whole syllabus is on Canvas as both text & “modules” - but yes! Maybe at the end of the class I could consolidate everything & share as a document? This is my first time teaching this but I’m thinking of offering it a 2nd time so that will be good motivation to get more organized 😂

I’m doing on online summary of my class on Rachel Carson each week 🍃 🐦 follow along if you’d like to read with us!

Students also selected from a list of scholars that are carrying on Carson’s work today. They’ll do a presentation about what these folks work on. The list included @jambeckresearch.bsky.social @smbrander.bsky.social @rosannaxia.bsky.social and many others, so these presentations will be amazing!

Discussion groups in class this week focused on a few questions, including:

- Why did Carson start the book the way she did?
- if Carson was to write this story today, what might she write about?
- What surprised you about the first few chapters?

Rosanna Xia Unearths the Story of a Decades-Old DDT Dump off California’s Coast - The Open Notebook The waters off Southern California’s picture-perfect Catalina Island conceal a toxic cache from decades ago: submerged barrels seeping DDT on the seafloor. In a longform story for the Los Angeles Time...

And, www.theopennotebook.com/2022/01/18/r...

Legacy of Rachel Carsons Silent Spring National Historic Chemical Landmark - American Chemical Society American Chemical Society: Chemistry for Life.

Ok, if you are following along, assignments for Silent Spring reading for week 3 are:

Chapters 4-6,

plus two articles online: www.acs.org/education/wh...

Yes, this and others by Lubchenco are helpful!

Working on a project that requires pulling together a lot of literature on public engagement/ community engagement in marine science disciplines. I’ve done a traditional literature search - but if you have a favorite project, paper, or scientist in this realm, please post a link or DM me! #oceans

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😍

New York Times: "Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference." The White House asked nine top universities to pledge support for President Trump’s agenda to help ensure access to research funding.

IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY'LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY.

CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.

Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires Climate change and land mismanagement are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments. However, despite worsening fire seasons, evidence is lacking globally for trends in socially ...

Published today: our new paper showing a 44-year trend of increasing global wildfire disasters (fatalities and economic losses) due to climate change-induced extreme weather. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a Book that Changed the World

Assignments for Week 2:
Read chapters 1-3
And, review this exhibit: www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/...

YouTube video by Nature Forward Rachel Carson and Her Friends: A Talk by Acclaimed Biographer Linda Lear

We watched some of this presentation by Linda Lear, Carson biographer: m.youtube.com/watch?v=kIlO...

So, if you’d like to follow along, here goes Week 1!

We started with some reflection questions, including:

When you think of Carson, what comes to mind?

What do you think Carson’s legacy is?

What are you curious to learn more about?

Photo of the cover of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. The cover is green, with a drawing of a leaf and a bird superimposed.

In the class, we are reading Silent Spring, along with additional supplemental materials.

In case you need something … less dark… on your timeline:

This week I started my seminar focused on the legacy of Rachel Carson.

I’m thinking I’ll post here what we are reading/watching/doing, and if you are interested, you could follow along. Like a bit of a Carson book group. 📕 🐦

CCAG member Tessa Hill spoke with We Don’t Have Time about CCAG’s report on methane at New York Climate Week.

By cutting methane emissions, we can deliver affordable, available and urgent cooling within years – buying time to accelerate the transition to a safer future.

A chart of "Major concerns of PhD candidates." The top text says, "Financial pressures top the list of concerns faced by PhD candidates, but concerns differ among the sexes. Those studying in the United States rank the political landscape as their main worry." The chart shows that in the full survey, political landscape is the biggest concern for about 20% of students (a bit higher for women than men) but there's an annotation saying "In US PhD students, this rose to 64%". Overall, the highest-rated concern was financial pressures at around 40%.

That's quite the chart annotation.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Methane from US oil and gas infrastructure causes more climate change than the entire US buildings and agriculture sectors. It has surged since ~2007 when the fracking boom began. Nations who are considering importing US natural gas should think carefully about its underestimated climate impacts.

To The.Secretary@hq.doe.gov Dear Secretary Wright, I saw that you stated in a press conference yesterday that "there is no disagreement with what's in the [Climate Working Group] report." You probably have not seen our 85+ climate expert review of the Climate Working Group report, which was submitted as a public comment on August 30, but which appears not yet to have been processed for posting on Regulations.gov. You can find our review here: https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.175745244.41950365/v

As explained at great length in the 450+ pages of our review, the Climate Working Group report currently fails to adequately represent the scientific understanding of climate change, and it would require very substantial revision before it could be relied upon by any federal agency or other entity. I hope that you find that our extensive expert review adequately addresses the question you raised in your press conference, "If the data and what we've said is wrong- as I read in countless newspaper articles, it's discredited data - what in the climate report is wrong?" Sincerely, Robert E. Kopp, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Rutgers University

I sent him an email, since he clearly hadn’t seen it…

Mr. Wright falsely claimed that critics of an Energy Department report — written by five researchers who reject the established scientific consensus that the burning of oil, gas and coal is dangerously heating the planet — did not dispute any of the report’s data or facts. “They just didn’t like that the conclusion of our report was, climate change is a real physical phenomenon that’s unfolding, it’s just not the crisis it’s often sold to be.” In fact, 85 scientists submitted a sweeping critique of the report detailing a litany of inaccuracies, including claims that sea level rise is not accelerating; that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will help plants grow; and that computer models exaggerate future temperature increases. The American Meteorological Society, a leading science organization, also outlined what it called “foundational flaws” in the report. And the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the nation’s leading scientific advisory body, also contradicted the Energy Department report, saying the evidence that greenhouse gases threaten human health has only grown over time.

this is sooooooo f'ing sweet. every time Sec. Chris Wright lies about the DOE Climate Working Group report, reporters cite our response.

I love this and might buy one for myself. Told a group of pretty awesome (and influential) people the story of this response this week ♥️

Blue NDC Challenge: Ocean Solutions for Global Climate Action - Ocean Conservancy Join the Blue NDC Challenge and integrate ocean-based climate solutions into NDCs for climate, nature and people.

Also, a plug for @oceanconservancy.org - they released their push for countries to integrate ocean solutions into their climate commitments. People are not talking about the ocean enough in these conversations! oceanconservancy.org/climate/blue...

While we were there, the new Planetary Boundaries “Health Check” was released and (shocker) documents that we’ve crossed the boundary for ocean acidification globally. www.planetaryhealthcheck.org#reports-sect...

Home | World Benchmarking Alliance Benchmarking for a better world. Building a movement to measure and incentivise business impact towards a sustainable future that works for everyone.

Also learned about the World Benchmarking Alliance, which tracks companies’ progress towards sustainability. www.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org @sdgbenchmarks.bsky.social