Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

shane loeffler @shaneloeffler.com · 5d

really amazing job popularizing a couple of the biggest controversies in geology: why is there so much oxygen in the atmosphere right now? and will it stick around?

- Huge, maybe unprecedented, piles of sedimentary rocks on the continents trapping tons of carbon (fossil fuels!)
- Maybe not?? 😬

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shane loeffler @shaneloeffler.com · 5d

This book is so good

Peter Brannen @peterbrannen.bsky.social · May 21

Wrote a long book that comes out August. It covers from the origins of life at alkaline hydrothermal vents some 4 billion years ago through the Volcker Shock. I'm told pre-orders help, so if that sounds like your thing, buy one, won't you? www.harpercollins.com/products/the...

The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything

How carbon dioxide made planet Earth, shaped human history, and now holds our future in the balance. Every year, we are dangerously warping the climate by ...

www.harpercollins.com

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Aatish Bhatia @aatishb.bsky.social · Sep 9

I wrote about how Earth's wobble causes our view of the skies to shift over time. Here's a paywall-free gift link. With @fparis.bsky.social and @iamrumz.bsky.social

Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out of Date (Gift Article)

Over millennia, our view of the stars has shifted, because of Earth’s wobble. It may be time to rethink your sign.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by shane loeffler

ProPublica @propublica.org · Sep 7

Nearly 6 billion people live in the 101 countries that a recent study has identified as confronting a net decline in water supply — signaling enormous challenges for food production and a heightening risk of conflict and instability.

By @abrahm.bsky.social, w/ graphics by @lucaswaldron.bsky.social

“Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global Threat

A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.

www.propublica.org

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Reposted by shane loeffler

CarbonPlan @carbonplan.org · Aug 21

California’s offset program is not only deeply flawed, it also costs the state hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. We dive into the details in a new commentary. carbonplan.org/research/off... (1/7)

Offsets are no free lunch – CarbonPlan

Offsets provide few climate benefits and cost California hundreds of millions of dollars each year. When lawmakers reauthorize the state’s cap and trade program this fall, they should eliminate the us...

carbonplan.org

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Daniel Huffman @pinakographos.bsky.social · Jun 12

An abandoned project from last year. I planned on a "Landforms of #Madison" map, but got stuck at the labeling stage because almost none of these features have names I could find. Maybe a 15–20 across the whole map. The state capitol sits on a big unnamed hill. This has downstream effects… (1/2)

A relief map showing the landforms of Madison, WI. Elevations are showin in a pink-to-pale yellow gradient, and the whole thing has a semi-watercolor effect.

A detail of the downtown part of the map, with a handful of features labeled.

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Reposted by shane loeffler

CNG @cloudnativegeo.org · Jun 17

🆕 #CNG2025 session recording
Raphael Hagen & @shaneloeffler.com from @carbonplan.org share how they went about visualizing GeoParquet data directly in the web browser.
▶️ youtu.be/SsjNPFv5dgI

[CNG 2025] Visualizing GeoParquet in the Browser – Raphael Hagen and Shane Loeffler

YouTube video by Cloud-Native Geospatial Forum

youtu.be

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Jun 5

How did I not know about this???? It works amazingly well - select 'transactions' and then just whack in a company name. Massively under-used resource here

CarbonPlan @carbonplan.org · Apr 23

Want to know how fossil fuel companies use carbon offsets to claim they’re fighting climate change?

We've updated OffsetsDB — our offsets database — to allow you to search by carbon credit user. Search "Shell" and see what offsets they're using and when. (1/4) carbonplan.org/research/off...

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Jake Steinberg @jakesteinberg.com · May 19

We spent an entire paddling season researching and paddling across the Twin Cities to create this guide. The Star Tribune has never put out a guide this comprehensive. Get out on the water, people. It's really the best thing you can do this summer.

www.startribune.com/canoe-kayak-...

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shane loeffler @shaneloeffler.com · May 10

Oofda

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Polar Geospatial Center @polargeospatial.bsky.social · May 5

Effective immediately, the PGC is no longer accepting new NSF-supported requests due to a lack of renewal funding. Current work is wrapping up. Please contact your NSF program officer if impacted. We’re grateful to have supported your polar research. Read our full statement at www.pgc.umn.edu

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Reposted by shane loeffler

𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚠 𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚗 @geoskeptic.bsky.social · Apr 30

Raphael and Shane @carbonplan.org on visualizing GeoParguet in the browser, along with some nerdy details like partitioning and spatial indexing @cloudnativegeo.org #cngconference

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Zeke Hausfather @hausfath.bsky.social · Apr 29

Last week I was playing around with a new "tree ring plot" to visualize daily global temperature anomalies from ERA5.

I thought it would be neat to make a version of the plot for daily global absolute temperatures (rather than anomalies):

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Reposted by shane loeffler

CarbonPlan @carbonplan.org · Apr 23

Want to know how fossil fuel companies use carbon offsets to claim they’re fighting climate change?

We've updated OffsetsDB — our offsets database — to allow you to search by carbon credit user. Search "Shell" and see what offsets they're using and when. (1/4) carbonplan.org/research/off...

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Daniel Huffman @pinakographos.bsky.social · Apr 2

The Alliance of Freelance Cartographers needs your help! By taking our short annual survey, you strengthen your #cartography community. This survey is for anyone (globally) who did any amount of freelance mapping last year (even a little). forms.gle/VaZqPpxeB8Qu...

Please help spread this widely!

A slightly stylized screenshot of the survey.

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Bill Lindeke @blindeke.bsky.social · Mar 12

My latest is on the quiet good news of having free "Royale" access to the Transit App. www.minnpost.com/cityscape/20...

How Transit App is removing the mysteries of Twin Cities transit use

The Metro Transit “user experience” is improving, especially for those who keep up with technology like mobile apps.

www.minnpost.com

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shane loeffler @shaneloeffler.com · Mar 8

I'm gonna try to make this!

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shane loeffler @shaneloeffler.com · Feb 14

nice work!!

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shane loeffler @shaneloeffler.com · Jan 15

Working link is: ds.io/globe-viz

Fly Me to the Poles - Going Global with NASA Airborne Data — Development Seed

The earth is round. Our screens are flat. Therein lies the problem.

ds.io

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Dr. Brianna R. Pagán @briannaritapagan.bsky.social · Jan 14

When my house and community burned - where was the satellite information? A very raw blog post I am putting up so folks in the satellite, geospatial and tech fields can listen firsthand why I think we are failing the situations that need us the most.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-o...

When our community burned where was the satellite information?

Video of our home burned down taken by a neighbor after the Palisades Fire. I am writing this as a follow-up to my brief post last week showing a video of our home destroyed by the Palisades fire.

www.linkedin.com

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Iegor Riepin @iriepin.bsky.social · Jan 13

🌍✨ What if your computing jobs could chase the sun and the wind, reducing your carbon footprint as they go?
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Illustration source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adapen.2024.100202

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Jake Steinberg @jakesteinberg.com · Jan 7

Last year, Bde Maka Ska was ice-free 26 days earlier than usual when I was a kid.

My latest:
www.startribune.com/how-does-202...

How does 2024’s weather compare with your childhood?

See if 2024 was anything like what you remember from growing up.

www.startribune.com

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Reposted by shane loeffler

Zeke Hausfather @hausfath.bsky.social · Dec 7

There is a handy tool that @davidho.bsky.social helped build to see just that. TLDR is that it’s pretty fast in most places, but there are some bad spots one could do it: carbonplan.org/research/oae...

Mapping the efficiency of ocean alkalinity enhancement – CarbonPlan

This new dataset and tool make it easier to see how the efficiency of ocean alkalinity enhancement varies around the world. Developed in collaboration with [C]Worthy.

carbonplan.org

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Reposted by shane loeffler

J. David McSwane @davidmcswane.bsky.social · Dec 7

Let me tell you a story – one of the more haunting I’ve seen in 20 years of journalism. It’s about greed, death and denial. It took two years to unravel one doctor’s myth, a hospital’s complicity in creating it, and a documented trail of suspicious deaths…🧵

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