Aarón Cantú
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aaroncantu.bsky.social
Aarón Cantú
@aaroncantu.bsky.social
5.9K followers 640 following 1K posts
California climate accountability reporter @capitalandmain.bsky.social
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aaroncantu.bsky.social
Intuitive explanation of greenhouse gas emissions in an environmental justice group's presentation from 2007
November 20, 2025 at 9:14 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Jesus www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...
Ashlee and Erik Dahlberg of Lowell, Indiana, lost their 8-year-old son, Liam, to a vaccine-preventable disease in April. “I thought having the vaccines would protect our children,” Erik Dahlberg said. “Unfortunately, it did not because other kids, other adults, need to be vaccinated as well in order for it to work.” Liam was particularly vulnerable because he had severe asthma and allergies. He was vaccinated against Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, but it caused his brain to swell and killed him less than two days after he complained of a headache. Hib is transmitted by respiratory droplets, often spread by coughs and sneezes. Doctors said Liam’s case likely stemmed from someone unvaccinated, Ashlee Dahlberg said. With two other children, the Dahlbergs worry about living in one of the many U.S. communities with low immunization rates. State statistics show one in five kindergartners in their county don’t meet vaccination requirements.
October 21, 2025 at 8:42 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Interesting, rapid-style response from @publiccitizen.bsky.social to news of an indictment for the Palisades fire:
As Feds Move to Charge Uber Driver for Some LA Fires, Prosecutors Fail to Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountabile For Immediate Release: October 8, 2025 Contact: Patrick Davis, pdavis@citizen.org WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal prosecutors today charged Uber driver Jonathan Rinderknech with setting a fire on New Year’s Eve 2024 that eventually grew to devastate the Los Angeles community of Pacific Palisades. The fire, which was initially contained by the Los Angeles Fire Department after burning 7 acres, rekindled itself as a windstorm blowing across the Santa Ana Mountains drove the fire into the community. At the time of the fires, Southern California was in the middle of the driest 9-month period in over 150 years. In response, Aaron Regunberg, director of Public Citizen’s Climate Accountability Project, issued the following statement: “The person who lit a spark that turned into the horrific Los Angeles fires should face accountability for their recklessness. But let’s be clear—that spark wasn’t the most impactful cause of those fires.
October 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
The largest oil well owner in California has ambitious carbon capture plans—for a natural gas plant it owns.

It’s telling investors that AI data centers are providing its carbon capture plans with “multiple new opportunities.”
California Resources Corporation, which operates thousands of oil wells in addition to the 550 megawatt Elk Hills gas plant in Kern County, described gas plants such as those affixed with amine tanks as an “ideal” renewable energy resource, even better than wind or solar. The company said it could also reduce pollutants like nitrogen oxides; the plant released 88.5 tons of them in 2023 as well as volatile organic compounds, atmosphere-heating methane and other pollutants. In a call with investors in May, CEO Francisco Leon said his company was “pursuing multiple new opportunities with AI data center companies.” Its subsidiary Carbon TerraVault received federal permits in 2024 to construct four carbon injection wells in which it plans to bury 1.5 million metric tons of carbon annually through 2050.
October 3, 2025 at 6:13 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
October 3, 2025 at 12:24 AM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
October 2, 2025 at 8:38 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
The article also includes a map I made of all data centers and natural gas power plants in California, including emissions from those plants.

Some gas power companies that see profit in the AI boom say they can capture their carbon emissions, and deserve clean electricity credits from the state.
October 2, 2025 at 4:33 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
It’s a bit of a tortured analogy but hard not to think of the ideological war on science and renewables
Passage from Chip War describing Mao’s war on scientific expertise Passage describing Mao thinking electronics were reactionary and that only steel and iron were Good
September 30, 2025 at 1:24 AM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Utterly delusional www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
It was time, Clinton said, to make “a new pitch for globalization,” one that could overcome a rising tide of nationalism. “You got two choices. You can pretend there’s going to be no change. If you do, we’ll lose more jobs than we gain. Or you can make change your friend,” he said. “But if you want to have a free enterprise system, there’s going to be some losers when investment patterns change. The obligation of the government is to minimize loss and find people something else to do so we can keep growing.”
That’s sensible enough, as far as it goes. But that “new pitch” is precisely the argument that Clinton made, and other politicians echoed, 30 years ago. And it didn’t work.
September 29, 2025 at 6:14 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Visited the empire of the dead
Bones and femurs in the catacombs Skulls in a heart shape amid femurs A man and a woman in front of a pile of femurs and skulls Femurs and skulls surrounding a Virgil quote: Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Atque metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus, strepitum que acherontis avari!
September 27, 2025 at 8:25 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
I asked one of the most progressive city councilors in #LA to weigh in on whether the city should require A/C for renters.

In 2023 #LosAngeles said A/C for all wasn't practical. But heat waves are getting longer, hotter, more dangerous for more than a million households. bsky.app/profile/aaro...
Right, but the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office said that universal A/C is not a long-term solution, so you don’t necessarily agree with that? No, I think we have to explore all our options. We shouldn’t close out any option. Some property owners, right now, will have the ability to do that. And others don’t. I don’t think we should pigeonhole ourselves when we need to be looking at all levels of investment and opportunities for this. The organization Strategic Actions for a Just Economy released a report in July saying that A/C is a must-have when it’s hot. They spoke with about 60 renters in the city who consistently said they need A/C to fight the heat. The state and the county have suggested passive cooling strategies, such as shading and insulating roofs. Where do you stand on taking a firmer position about mandating A/C in the city? I’d love to see how the first couple of years of implementing this ordinance goes in the city, and that, looking at the data, looking at the impact — I’m convinced, I do believe we need A/C, and HVAC is one of the best ways to keep a home or an apartment at appropriate temperatures. But it is incredibly costly. So, that’s why we’re exploring this phased approach, and giving options. Cooling is cooling, just like we know a heater provides heat, we know that A/C brings in cooler temperatures. And I’m sure that as the industry adapts, it will become cheaper. Because that’s the biggest piece to this. The huge investment that it is to put in an HVAC unit in perhaps a building of 30 units, that’s a heavy lift. We want to be sure we can move some of these pieces, but A/C keeps homes cool, there’s no question about that. It keeps apartments cold.
September 15, 2025 at 4:09 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
27 MW is nothing to sneeze at!
September 15, 2025 at 3:23 AM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Low key data center in downtown Los Angeles
Glass that says Digital Realty Photo of an old art deco style building I think
September 14, 2025 at 7:25 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
The Intercept says its traffic has dropped 63% over the last year due to Google AI's Overview
It’s no secret that the journalism industry is struggling. Last year alone, the news industry saw 4,900 job cuts — or roughly 10 percent of the 49,300 people employed as journalists in the entire country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Now we’re facing a new threat from AI, and we’re already feeling the impact. For instance, over the last year, our traffic from Google Search has dropped by a whopping 63 percent as Google’s AI Overviews have taken over search results in place of links to websites like ours. In addition, more and more people have stopped using search engines entirely, opting for AI tools like ChatGPT that make money by blatantly ripping off our work without attribution or links to the source.
September 10, 2025 at 3:13 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
This classic book on feature writing is helpful, but so much has changed since it was written in the 1980s.

I think this cause-and-effect chain doesn’t work as well in our super disruptive present where things unfold in a generally unstable, irrational environment

(Ripped page courtesy of infant)
Chain of potential events stemming from a shortage of doctors
September 10, 2025 at 12:11 AM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Malburg Gas Power Plant in Vernon, LA County.
Electric switchyard in the foreground and a gas turbine exhaust stack in the background
August 28, 2025 at 9:03 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Page is back up. Deleted my original tweet, screenshot here for accountability. www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Inf...
August 25, 2025 at 5:09 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
My grandpa on the right in WWII 🫡
Old worn photo of two young U.S. soldiers in WW2
August 24, 2025 at 9:11 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
It's a big refinery, made of two facilities. Compare its size to the nearby houses.

Last year a gasoline additive, likely from the refinery, showed up in groundwater more than half a mile way from the Wilmington site (right photo)
aerial shot of refinery in Carson, Los Angeles aerial shot of refinery in Wilmington, Los Angeles
August 20, 2025 at 1:29 AM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Hell yeah @ositanwanevu.com
A blue hardcover book titles The Right of the People Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding by Osita Nwanevu
August 13, 2025 at 12:40 AM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Never seen a movie like this. In addition to being a classically bad Ice Cube movie, in its low quality it mocks much of the way we live now, I wonder if the original did the same
Ice cube in a pixelated hoodie with the text “join the rebellion”
August 8, 2025 at 2:56 AM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Here's a perfect example. We will transition away from fossil fuels when the magicians, who are also known as investors, use magic to make it happen in an orderly way, at a time only they know is the right one. www.politico.com/f/?id=000001...
incumbent petroleum-based fuel system, while declining, remains substantial, as the clean, alternative fuel system continues to scale. In this phase, investor confidence in the incumbent system is expected to falter change due to long-term uncertainty about the trajectory and pace at which these two systems evolve. A completely hypothetical map of ZEV pick up and gasoline demand decline in California through 2050
August 5, 2025 at 7:40 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Is it good to drink water that has this
Description Tert-butyl alcohol is a colorless oily liquid with a sharp alcohol odor. Floats and mixes with water. Produces irritating vapor. Freezing point is 78 °F. (USCG, 1999)
August 4, 2025 at 6:08 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Chevron guy wants it all
What needs to get done this year, with a little over a month before the end of session? I think they've got to get some drilling legislation through the Legislature. I think cap-and-trade and carbon at-berth have to be paused for a minimum of 10 or 15 or 20 years. They need to just pause it and see what happens to the market. It seemed that oil industry influence was waning in Sacramento. Has that changed? I do believe that it's becoming more of an issue with politicians. I think they realize that this is a problem. Now we need action, and I'm watching, and we're trying to help. We're trying to tell them what they need to do. We've been in California 148 years, or something like that. We just built a project in the Gulf of Mexico that went through six administrations. So we are going to outlast policymakers, unless they really make a mess. — AN What needs to get done this year, with a little over a month before the end of session? I think they've got to get some drilling legislation through the Legislature. I think cap-and-trade and carbon at-berth have to be paused for a minimum of 10 or 15 or 20 years. They need to just pause it and see what happens to the market. It seemed that oil industry influence was waning in Sacramento. Has that changed? I do believe that it's becoming more of an issue with politicians. I think they realize that this is a problem. Now we need action, and I'm watching, and we're trying to help. We're trying to tell them what they need to do. We've been in California 148 years, or something like that. We just built a project in the Gulf of Mexico that went through six administrations. So we are going to outlast policymakers, unless they really make a mess. — AN
August 1, 2025 at 11:40 PM
aaroncantu.bsky.social
Ah yes, let’s replace writers and authors with AI, so everything reads like this. bsky.app/profile/bren...
Shitty AI writing
July 31, 2025 at 5:27 PM