Dagomar Degroot
@dagomardegroot.bsky.social
2.3K followers 100 following 89 posts
Professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. Creator, The Climate Chronicles podcast. Author of the new book, "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean." Interested in all things climate change, outer space, existential risk, and past for present.
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dagomardegroot.bsky.social
"Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean," my new book, is out in two weeks! To introduce the book - why I wrote it, the evidence I used, the methods I developed, and why it all matters - I filmed six short videos. Here's the first! (1/3) #EnvHist #Space #Astronomy #History www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8o1...
Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: Origins
YouTube video by Dagomar Degroot
www.youtube.com
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
I'll publish a new video every week for the next month. Together, the videos will provide a complete introduction to the book and my experiences in writing it. I hope they're useful - especially for students! (3/3)
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
And here's the second. The first video describes my winding path through academia, and explains how writing about #ClimateChange led me to write about outer space. The second video introduces the "archives of nature," and explains what they can tell us. (2/3) www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nakw...
Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: The Archives of Nature
YouTube video by Dagomar Degroot
www.youtube.com
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
"Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean," my new book, is out in two weeks! To introduce the book - why I wrote it, the evidence I used, the methods I developed, and why it all matters - I filmed six short videos. Here's the first! (1/3) #EnvHist #Space #Astronomy #History www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8o1...
Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: Origins
YouTube video by Dagomar Degroot
www.youtube.com
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
A book I love assigning to my grad students: Katrin Kleemann's "Mist Connection." Katrin provides a truly multidimensional account of the short- and long-term impacts of 1783 Laki fissure eruption, one of the most interesting volcanic events in #EnvHist. library.oapen.org/handle/20.50...
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
Love this interview with @ianmilligan1.bsky.social, a must-follow for all things digital history. In the challenges they face, and the opportunities they can exploit, digital and environmental historians have so much in common. #EnvHist
Reposted by Dagomar Degroot
billmckibben.bsky.social
Hmm. With solar energy, the big explosions take place 93 million miles away
nytimes.com
A fireball lit up the sky across the Los Angeles area on Thursday night after an explosion at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo, alarming nearby residents who said it felt like an earthquake. The cause of the explosion was not clear. No injuries were reported. nyti.ms/42pPCaW
Reposted by Dagomar Degroot
drfunkyspoon.bsky.social
In grad school in the 80s we were taught that most other stars *should* have planets, which we’ll hopefully be able to observe some day, since the formation of planets seems to be a normal byproduct of star formation.
This was right!

But we were also taught that (2)…
aussiastronomer.bsky.social
This week (!) is the 30th anniversary of the announcement of 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet found orbiting a star like our Sun - since then, we've found over 6,000!

To celebrate, @alexwitze.bsky.social and @nature.com collected some astronomers' favourite planets:

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
These alien planets are astronomers’ favourites: here’s why
Space scientists look back on 30 years of exoplanet discoveries — from rows of massive ‘super-Earths‘ to worlds with perfectly synchronized orbits.
www.nature.com
Reposted by Dagomar Degroot
patrickmccray.bsky.social
4 October 1957...the USSR launches Sputnik I.

Teams of citizen scientists around the planet - all part of the Smithsonian's Operation Moonwatch - turn out and successfully spot and track it.
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
It's finally in my hands! @harvardpress.bsky.social did such a wonderful job with the jacket. It's available for preorder, and will ship (to anyone in the US or Canada) on October 28th. #EnvHist #Astronomy #Space
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
That's probably from most to least likely.

It's troubling - to say the least - that hundreds and hundreds of billions are flowing towards an industry that has bet its future, and perhaps the future of humanity, on what may be an unlikely, best-case outcome. #AI
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
I see 4 possibilities:

1. The tech plateaus, the bubble bursts.
2. The tech improves, millions are jobless, they rise up, the industry dies.
3. An unaligned AGI emerges, improves itself, and threatens humanity.
4. A golden age of human wealth and health, powered by AI.

www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-b...
Spending on AI Is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off?
Tech companies are pouring hundreds of billions into data centers, taking on heavy debt, but current revenue is relatively tiny. Critics warn of a new dot-com bubble.
www.wsj.com
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
Ha! Amazing. Obviously we timed it on purpose.
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
A special honor to be back at #NASA HQ last week. Drawing on the research in my new book, Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean (out on October 28!), I traced some ways in which the search for life on other worlds is helping us understand - and, hopefully, preserve - the future of life on Earth. #Astrobiology
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
Sure. Will be on the lookout for more scorpions.
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
These posts may have single-handedly convinced me to stay on BlueSky. Thank you.
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
Bowheads have been my jam but I might diversify into sperm whales after this.
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
Nobody’s better at social media than @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social! This footage has been my holy grail since I was a kid…
rebeccarhelm.bsky.social
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
dagomardegroot.bsky.social
I'm often skeptical of big histories that focus on disaster. Yet Goliath's Curse (by @lukekemp.bsky.social) is masterful. It explores the causes & consequences of collapse as a historical phenomenon. It's clear, insightful, harrowing - but ultimately hopeful. #EnvHist www.amazon.com/Goliaths-Cur...
Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse
Amazon.com: Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse: 9780593321355: Kemp, Luke: Books
www.amazon.com