Aaron Cozen
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aaroncozen.bsky.social
Aaron Cozen
@aaroncozen.bsky.social
710 followers 2.3K following 500 posts
itinerant biologist
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aaroncozen.bsky.social
scripps.ucsd.edu/bluemoon/co2...
a plot showing atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the past 10,000 years
September 4, 2025 at 10:44 PM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
Stand Up for Science in Santa Cruz!
Stand Up For Science organizing poster: 12pm March 7 2025 outside the Science and Engineering Library Bring signs and science gear! Everyone is invited to join! All scientists, students, science-allies and anyone who values science! For more information see standupforscience2025.org
March 5, 2025 at 5:31 PM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
@weatherwest.bsky.social on climate change & public health
quoted text: “I think the intersection of climate change and public health is particularly concerning because both seem to be partisan, ideological targets right now, specifically, individually,” says Swain. “Together, they pose a huge threat to the health well-being and the economy of the US.”
February 28, 2025 at 12:11 AM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
Quote post with a picture you took in a national park

Sequoia Kings Canyon August 2023
Photo of clouds, mountain peaks with snowfields, greenery, and reflective ponds
February 25, 2025 at 6:33 AM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
SB 222 will create a private right of action so that individuals injured by climate disasters and extreme weather events will be able to recover their losses from the oil and gas companies that misled the public about the harm their products would cause. Defendants will be strictly liable for damages. SB 222 will additionally create a direct cause of action for insurers against the oil and gas companies that misled the public about the harm their products would cause. This option allows insurers to recover for harms to their business that result from climate related impacts and increasing costs that threaten the viability of insurance in the normal insurance market and through the FAIR Plan in California. If an independent expert assessment determines that the benefits of FAIR Plan litigation outweigh the costs, SB 222 will require the FAIR Plan to exercise its right of subrogation against oil and gas companies (the right to sue them on behalf of injured policyholders) to recover claims paid toward large climate-driven events such as catastrophic wildfires.
January 28, 2025 at 6:14 AM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
As a non-economist I really appreciate the historic context & perspective in both of these.

A gem from the Ha-Joon Chang interview:
screenshot of quoted text (hopefully transcribed correctly): "People shouldn't be afraid of economics... I liken neoclassical economics to catholic theology in Medieval Europe. It is an ideology which fundamentally justifies the underlying social order... Those who control that ideology have made sure that no one else understands it, in the same way that the Vatican refused to sanction the translation of latin bibles into vernacular languages."
July 7, 2024 at 4:50 PM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
"Annual wildland fire ignitions.
The annual distribution of natural (orange) and human-caused (black) wildland fire ignitions in the US (data from the Federal Wildland Fire Database; 1980–2016 CE)."
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
"Annual wildland fire ignitions." A plot showing the annual distribution of natural (orange) and human-caused (black) wildland fire ignitions in the US (data from the Federal Wildland Fire Database; 1980–2016 CE). Natural ignitions peak during summer months. There is a very conspicuous July 4 peak in human-caused ignitions. Figure 1 from "The timing of fireworks-caused wildfire ignitions during the 4th of July holiday season." https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291026.g001
June 30, 2024 at 11:51 PM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
Chart title: "Severe Storms Increasingly Dominate Insured Losses in the U.S." subtitle: "Changing weather patterns are making wind and hail storms more frequent and severe." A chart from the NY Times article shows insurance industry losses in the U.S. from 2013 - 2023 for severe storms, hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, and other hazards (drought, winter weather and earthquakes), with losses in some years of $100 billion or more. Severe storms and hurricanes account for the major source of losses in most years shown. The source for the data is Aon.
May 14, 2024 at 1:53 PM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
A related question is about estimated electricity cost savings via a) load shifting, and b) local generation.

For context, the text box below (in response to this bloomberg article) is a pretty good sum up of local sentiment about new rate design in CA.

finance.yahoo.com/news/califor...
text box reads "Going forward there will be raises to the fixed fee and decreases in the marginal cost of electricity. This will both reduce the incentive for rooftop solar while increasing electricity usage and thus emissions."
May 10, 2024 at 8:16 PM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
interesting how the rankings shift after adjusting for hours worked
figure shows countries ranked by GDP per person (left), after adjustment for cost differences (middle), and after adjustment for both costs and hours worked (right)
December 20, 2023 at 7:03 AM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
This figure from a 2022 NREL report shows utility-scale solar and wind land use projections for 100% clean energy by 2035 compared to current uses for livestock feed, corn ethanol, oil & gas leases, coal mines, golf courses, etc.

page 52 in www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22ost...
Figure 30. Total area occupied by wind turbine and solar infrastructure (solid boxes) is about equal to the land occupied by railroads (ADE demand case). Rooftop PV is not included because it does not require any additional land use. The areas within unfilled boxes represent multiple use areas, and for wind, represent the area not occupied by turbine infrastructure and thus available for other purposes including those illustrated above, such as livestock and agriculture. Note that some land is counted in multiple categories (e.g., part of the area indicated as “roads” and “building footprints” represents land also included in “urbanized areas”). Boxes have the same scale as the map.
November 11, 2023 at 2:29 AM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
images.fineartamerica.com/images/artwo...
October 22, 2023 at 11:05 PM
aaroncozen.bsky.social
2022 NREL projections comparing land use requirements of utility-scale solar & wind for 100% clean energy vs. current footprints of corn ethanol, roads and other uses (page 52). Footprint for utility solar looks comparable to golf courses + coal mines.

www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22ost...
Figure 30. Total area occupied by wind turbine and solar infrastructure (solid boxes) is about equal to the land occupied by railroads (ADE demand case).
October 18, 2023 at 1:54 PM