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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 18h

Nice time of year 🌱

A long gravel driveway in a valley with tree-covered hillsides during autumn

Reposted by Scott Robeson

Dana Nuccitelli @dananuccitelli.bsky.social · 1d

For @climateconnections.bsky.social today, with the help of @bobkopp.net & @andrewdessler.com's team of 85 climate scientists and the National Academies, I fact checked the EPA/DOE's claim that carbon pollution is good for food production. Spoiler alert: it's not. Article and 🧵 (1/9):

Fact-checking a Trump administration claim about climate change and crops » Yale Climate Connections

A recent Department of Energy report falsely states that rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will boost agricultural yields. In fact, climate change is much more likely to make food scarcer...

yaleclimateconnections.org

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Kate Clancy @kateclancy.bsky.social · 1d

I am being asked to tell my department which pieces of lab equipment should be supported with backup power because they expect rolling blackouts and brownouts in 2026 due to increased energy demands from AI. In case you're wondering how my day is going.

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 1d

As the government shutdown stretches into its second week, experts warn that women and children reliant on federal food assistance funding are vulnerable to losing their grocery benefits.

In the midst of it all, the USDA has stripped away the infrastructure needed to remedy rising hunger in the US.

The shutdown will worsen hunger—which the Trump administration just stopped tracking

Millions of women and children are at risk of losing food benefits.

www.motherjones.com

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 2d

Distressed to see I guess I'm out of a job. AI has figured out everything there is to know about maize domestication. (Found this online when looking for images for a talk)

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Jeff Goodell @jeffgoodell.bsky.social · 12d

Next step in this extortion racket: You want federal money, you sing sweet words about fossil fuels and you don't talk about climate change. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 1d

Not yet afaik although they were “enthusiastically” looking into it

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 1d

Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 1d

After getting zero firm commitments to this point from the first nine invitees, the Trump administration is extending its proposed compact to all colleges. Expect some red-state publics to say yes.

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

www.bloomberg.com

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 1d

I’m in the first cohort for post-tenure review at my university and the guidelines say:

“All faculty undergoing their first post-tenure review shall provide information about their
performance since the year in which tenure was initially awarded.”

That was *27* years ago!

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 1d

Mostly R now although I still use Matlab for some things.

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 2d

And the code that generated it, which still works. A LOT of warnings from the Matlab editor though!

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 2d

Just received a request from a book publisher for permission to use a graphic from an article of mine from 2002. They asked for a high-res version — and I have it! #AcademicSky

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 2d

The attack on Portland was supposed to make the place look like a lawless hellhole. Instead, the authorities have succeeded in making it look like the most fun city in the world.

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Goblin Gower, PhD (the Ph is for Phantasm) @medievaliste.bsky.social · 3d

What right-wing elites are trying to do to universities reveals their total disinterest in education as not just a public good but as a *practice*. To them, college isn’t for learning; it’s a credentialing service that offers ongoing opportunities to network with other wealthy elites.

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Dana R. Fisher (aka the Apocalyptic Optimist) @fisherdanar.bsky.social · 5d

When a collaborator is targeted because her scientific findings that attribute extreme weather to human-caused climate change is being used (effectively) in climate lawsuits against oil companies, you know times are dark indeed.

ICYMI @davidho.bsky.social

www.eenews.net/articles/cli...

Climate critics try to discredit IPCC author for linking disasters to global warming

Roger Pielke Jr. and oil industry supporters are attacking climate scientist Friederike Otto, whose work has been used in lawsuits against polluters.

www.eenews.net

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 4d

Not sure, but this stuff tastes pretty good! I've also used it for making sumac "lemonade".

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 4d

So many Rose-breasted Grosbeaks on my checklist this morning that eBird asked “are you sure?” 🪶

A birding checklist with 15 Rose-breasted Grosbeak and many other birds

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 4d

Hard to beat sumac for early fall color 🌱

A wide view of an Indiana bottomland with patches of bright red winged sumac

Close-up of bright red sumac leaves and berries

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Virginia Gewin @virginiagewin.bsky.social · 4d

Journalist here

I’m interested in talking to a federal agency scientist who was fired, then rehired. I can keep you anonymous. I’m on Signal ginnyg.04

Reposts are appreciated!

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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 4d

Apparently, fall break is banana-pepper pickling time #food #canning #garden

Pints of pickled yellow, orange, and red banana peppers

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 5d

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 5d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Mike @brechinbrae220031.bsky.social · 5d

Renewables become biggest source of electricity globally for 1st time, beating coal. Report shows solar, wind booming worldwide, but fossil fuel generation rose in U.S., EU
www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Renewables become biggest source of electricity globally for 1st time, beating coal | CBC News

Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, according to a new an...

www.cbc.ca

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Mike Dettinger @mdettinger.bsky.social · 5d

New assessment identifies the flaws of five of the most-often discussed proposed polar-focused geo-climate engineering strategies. None seems likely to work & “most of them are more likely to be environmentally dangerous, causing more harm than they seek to solve.”

scripps.ucsd.edu/news/experts...

Experts Warn Against Five Polar Geoengineering Ideas

A team of international scientists is urging caution against five of the most-discussed polar geoengineering ideas, stating they are highly unlikely to help the polar regions and could harm ecosystems...

scripps.ucsd.edu

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 6d

This is what every Democratic state needs to do, tell its state university leaders that they will lose all state appropriations if they sign the compact. Take the decision out of feckless college administrators’ hands.

Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 7d

Virginia State Senate Dems just brought down fire and fury regarding the “Compact,” notifying the President and Rector that UVA would lose ALL STATE APPROPRIATIONS if it signs and cedes the University to “federal political control.” Notably, their letter directly restates points made here by @siva.

Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 7d

The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

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Reposted by Scott Robeson

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 7d

In a very real and practical sense, the elimination of USAID occurred because a) civil servants who followed the law were pushed out, b) unaccountable amoral people were given power, and c) SCOTUS let it all happen.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-death-...

In addition to mass firing of public servants, Musk's team executed a takeover of the Treasury payment system. David Lebryk, the civil servant who was acting Treasury Secretary, pushed back against the Musk official, Tom Krause, who demanded control over the payment system and specifically to pause USAID payments. Lebryk informed Krause that Treasury could not legally stop payments, and recommended to work through USAID instead. Krause then threatened Lebryk: “I would also recommend you consider an equal alternative liability.” By the next week Lebryk announced his retirement, and Musk announced he was shutting down the agency.

It was later revealed that the other DOGE official who had sought to take control of Treasury spending, Marko Elez, was a self-avowed racist with a record of making disparaging remarks about foreigners, including “I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.” After he resigned, Musk led a successful campaign to bring Elez back into government, even as he pushed out those doing actual life-saving work.

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