Kristen McConnell

National parks left open during a government shutdown under the last Trump administration experienced permanent damage - vandalized petroglyphs, chopped down Joshua trees - but they plan to keep them open once again.

“War is Peace” was literally a slogan of the ruling party in Orwell’s 1984. It’s also bleak as hell and patently untrue.

This quiet shutdown of one-third of the USA's climate adaptation capacity will happen this week.

D all the way.

The EPA move follows news the administration wants to scrap the satellites that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

If you can't measure it and don't know where it's coming from, it becomes very difficult to reduce or eliminate it (or hold anybody accountable for damages).

Gift link.

Trump Administration Scraps Oversight Groups on Climate and Financial Risk The Financial Stability Oversight Council revoked the charters of two climate-focused committees formed under the Biden administration.

Shutting down the federal government's work on financial stability risks from climate change doesn't make those risks go away. As @alexmartin196.bsky.social says, “the inconvenient truth is that climate change is wreaking havoc and throwing property insurance markets into crisis.”

Thanks for this fantastic review!! I just ordered my copy and can’t wait to crack it open.

🔥🔥🔥

There is just no precedent in recent world history of an advanced industrialized country sabotaging its own scientific establishment, and destroying the base of scientific knowledge necessary for basic policymaking. An avowedly, actively anti-knowledge regime.

Don’t let this die. Keep elevating this.

Update on Texas flooding climate change almost certainly played a role

"Ultimately, the choice is clear: we can either accept a future with increasingly severe and costly weather events or we can implement solutions at modest (or zero) cost. The rational decision seems obvious." -- Texas A&M climate scientist @andrewdessler.com
www.theclimatebrink.com/p/update-on-...

This is among the best explainer I’ve seen so far regarding the Texas floods particularly because Alan ties together the meteorology issues and the emergency management issues.

Another study backs my argument last night that Cruz and Cornyn are voting to raise electricity prices for Texans with their attack on clean energy.

Texas . . . the Biggest Loser

"Texans likely to have a 17% increase in electric bills, over $100 billion in lost investment, and reduced grid reliability if the House bill is adopted as is by the Senate" - Texas Energy and Power Newsletter

#txlege #GOP #BigBeautifulBill #USSenate

"Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope."

-Pope Francis

"This is happening at a much faster rate than ever documented in the past… we are much more likely to underestimate the impact of those changes on human society than to overestimate them."

The article opens with this quote from me; and I mean every word of it. Read more:

Funding ‘lapse’ cuts Southern Regional Climate Center at Texas A&M KXAN Chief Meteorologist Nick Bannin interviewed the SRCC’s director and Texas’ state climatologist John Nielson-Gammon about the cuts.

See the full interview with John Nielsen-Gammon in the video at the top of this story.
www.kxan.com/weather/weat...

We wanted Elon out of Austin, but not like this. -OS

The environmental justice movement isn’t going anywhere — even as it faces attacks by Trump The 19th spoke to Jalonne White-Newsome, who headed environmental justice initiatives under Biden, about the executive orders aimed at dismantling its progress.

Very good article! I love this quote:

"Environmental justice did not start with the federal government, nor will it end with the federal government."

19thnews.org/2025/02/envi...

Mr. Rogers said "look for the helpers," but his advice was for CHILDREN.

If your ass is grown your role is to BE the helper.

I wish I could find the person who said this originally, but it's been too long.

I was just told that I have to remove “climate” from the title of an ongoing grant if I want to keep it. And publications from that grant cannot include “climate” and other forbidden words. I can’t believe I’m writing this from the United States of America. #AcademicSky

Didn’t see them here in Austin either.

Texas has the most wind energy, industrial-scale solar energy, flexible storage options and, increasingly, geothermal development of *any U.S. state*.

It's crystal clear this is not about economics or energy security. It's about ideology and preserving the status quo at any cost; literally, any.

Same same re copycat and public bathrooms, especially when empty. Terrifying.