Jason Walters
@globalsherpa.bsky.social
Advocate for nature, sustainability, and inclusion. Posts may include native plants, wildlife and trail cam pics, maps and data, and occasional world tour cycling references.
Chicago-based.
Chicago-based.
Pinned
Jason Walters
@globalsherpa.bsky.social
· Jun 12
Researchers Become “Beaver Believers” After Measuring the Impacts of Rewilding - NASA
Researchers are using NASA Earth observations to monitor impacts of beaver restoration on water availability in drought-prone ecosystems.
www.nasa.gov
Beaver Feaver: Ranchers go from beaver hunters to recruiters. "Rivers and streams with healthy beaver populations support more biodiversity, are more drought resilient, and keep water available on the land for more days of the year."
@bengoldfarb.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social #nature
@bengoldfarb.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social #nature
Good to see @blockclubchi.bsky.social & @chicagoreader.com on this list of independent media reporting on govt (Tramp admin) abuses of power against good people and communities.
🌀Source List🌀
Here is the current source list of independent journalism for Harms Committed. This thread provides additional information about each source, along with ways to support them.
Here is the current source list of independent journalism for Harms Committed. This thread provides additional information about each source, along with ways to support them.
December 19, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Good to see @blockclubchi.bsky.social & @chicagoreader.com on this list of independent media reporting on govt (Tramp admin) abuses of power against good people and communities.
Reposted by Jason Walters
Most plastic + chemicals added to plastic are made from gas + oil. In 2018, writes @bethgardiner.bsky.social , Saudi Aramco announced plans to drive growth in demand for oil by increasing plastic production.
🧵 1/5
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
🧵 1/5
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
The Fossil-Fuel Industry Has a Plan to Drown Earth in Plastic
To keep profits rolling in, oil and gas companies want to turn fossil fuels into a mounting pile of packaging and other plastic products
www.scientificamerican.com
December 16, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Most plastic + chemicals added to plastic are made from gas + oil. In 2018, writes @bethgardiner.bsky.social , Saudi Aramco announced plans to drive growth in demand for oil by increasing plastic production.
🧵 1/5
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
🧵 1/5
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Reposted by Jason Walters
Excellent piece.
Trumpism is a fascist movement. This is an objective assessment. The thing about fascist movements is they either radicalize or stagnate. This one, thankfully, appears to be stagnating, but it ain't over. Not even close.
Trumpism is a fascist movement. This is an objective assessment. The thing about fascist movements is they either radicalize or stagnate. This one, thankfully, appears to be stagnating, but it ain't over. Not even close.
Seven conclusions about what we've learned about Trumpism and the resilience of American democracy across 2025 — the big one: Donald Trump is losing. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/donald-tru...
Donald Trump is losing.
Seven conclusions as 2025 winds down.
www.doomsdayscenario.co
December 12, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Excellent piece.
Trumpism is a fascist movement. This is an objective assessment. The thing about fascist movements is they either radicalize or stagnate. This one, thankfully, appears to be stagnating, but it ain't over. Not even close.
Trumpism is a fascist movement. This is an objective assessment. The thing about fascist movements is they either radicalize or stagnate. This one, thankfully, appears to be stagnating, but it ain't over. Not even close.
Reposted by Jason Walters
When the AI boom began, copywriters were singled out as one of the jobs most vulnerable to AI. Now, three years later, I wanted to hear from workers on the frontlines of the industry, to hear what had actually taken place on the ground.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
"I was forced to use AI until the day I was laid off." Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry
Copywriters were one of the first to have their jobs targeted by AI firms. These are their stories, three years into the AI era.
www.bloodinthemachine.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:47 PM
When the AI boom began, copywriters were singled out as one of the jobs most vulnerable to AI. Now, three years later, I wanted to hear from workers on the frontlines of the industry, to hear what had actually taken place on the ground.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
For many, it was even worse than they'd feared.
Reposted by Jason Walters
There's ample evidence that Trump/Miller saw Abrego Garcia as a test for the broader MAGA project. Miller hopes to carve out power for Trump to remove people with zero legal constraints. JD Vance's dishonesty has been reprehensible. It all now looks even worse. 4/
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
December 12, 2025 at 6:01 PM
There's ample evidence that Trump/Miller saw Abrego Garcia as a test for the broader MAGA project. Miller hopes to carve out power for Trump to remove people with zero legal constraints. JD Vance's dishonesty has been reprehensible. It all now looks even worse. 4/
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
Reposted by Jason Walters
The ware on cost-benefit analysis is a small corner of the Trump Administration's war on expertise and war on regulation . . . but it is my corner. My column for @theregreview.bsky.social : www.theregreview.org/2025/12/10/s...
Another Blow to Regulatory Benefit-Cost Analysis | The Regulatory Review
The Trump Administration’s weakening of regulatory benefit-cost analysis vests unequal power in executive review.
www.theregreview.org
December 10, 2025 at 1:27 PM
The ware on cost-benefit analysis is a small corner of the Trump Administration's war on expertise and war on regulation . . . but it is my corner. My column for @theregreview.bsky.social : www.theregreview.org/2025/12/10/s...
Reposted by Jason Walters
This is an important thread re: heated debates within centrist & progressive left circles. From my perch (climate, energy, ecology), centrists—often newcomers to the laws we work with—disregard progressives' appetite for change & the insights we've gleaned from decades working in the trenches.
There is such a thirst in some progressive centrist circles that they will look at the Trump administration as a model to get things done. I think its worth addressing the argument. This is from Mark Dunkelman, author of the widely praised "Why Nothing Works."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...
Opinion | What the Left Could Learn From Trump’s Brutal Efficiency
www.nytimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:05 AM
This is an important thread re: heated debates within centrist & progressive left circles. From my perch (climate, energy, ecology), centrists—often newcomers to the laws we work with—disregard progressives' appetite for change & the insights we've gleaned from decades working in the trenches.
Reposted by Jason Walters
The former president of Honduras was sentenced to 45 years in prison for importing 500 TONS OF COKE into the US. Trump, who allegedly hates drug traffickers, pardoned him. The reason may have to do with a Thiel-backed, tech-right deregulated zone in Honduras. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Why did Trump pardon the former Honduran president? Follow the Tech Bros.
With Roger Stone taking a victory lap for having come up with the idea in the first place.
www.motherjones.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
The former president of Honduras was sentenced to 45 years in prison for importing 500 TONS OF COKE into the US. Trump, who allegedly hates drug traffickers, pardoned him. The reason may have to do with a Thiel-backed, tech-right deregulated zone in Honduras. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Jason Walters
870 out of 1201 (72%) surveyed Americans support ramping down harmful/unnecessary production/consumption, taxing the rich, universal basic services and guaranteed jobs, democratizing business, and ending exploitation of disadvantaged countries. As long as nobody gave a name to those policies!
I'm excited to announce this new study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, which explores public support for degrowth and ecosocialist transformation. The findings are quite surprising.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
December 2, 2025 at 10:59 PM
870 out of 1201 (72%) surveyed Americans support ramping down harmful/unnecessary production/consumption, taxing the rich, universal basic services and guaranteed jobs, democratizing business, and ending exploitation of disadvantaged countries. As long as nobody gave a name to those policies!
Reposted by Jason Walters
this is a thing we're going to ignore for a century but when we finally get around to it, we'll find the massive expansion of our grid would have had far better applications than endless data centers -- namely, electrification of all industry
Tetra Pak just launched a heat-pump-based pasteurization system that can cut energy use by up to 77%.
Electrification + heat recovery = massive efficiency gains. This is the kind of behind-the-scenes innovation that quietly transforms entire sectors.
www.foodtechbiz.com/business-upd...
Electrification + heat recovery = massive efficiency gains. This is the kind of behind-the-scenes innovation that quietly transforms entire sectors.
www.foodtechbiz.com/business-upd...
Tetra Pak launches integrated heat pump system to electrify pasteurization and cut energy use by up to 77%
Tetra Pak announces the expansion of its Factory Sustainable Solutions portfolio with its new Tetra Pak Integrated Heat Pump system for pasteurizers, designed t
www.foodtechbiz.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:24 PM
this is a thing we're going to ignore for a century but when we finally get around to it, we'll find the massive expansion of our grid would have had far better applications than endless data centers -- namely, electrification of all industry
Reposted by Jason Walters
Our top 1% now hold a record $52 trillion. These rich account for an huge share of consumer spending. That matters: With the wealthy doing a lion’s share of spending, firms feel they might as well raise their prices. Their primary buyers can afford it.
@prospect.org
@prospect.org
Selling the Poor on Spending Like They’re Rich - The American Prospect
How plutonomy, premiumization, and social media squeeze the middle class.
prospect.org
December 1, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Our top 1% now hold a record $52 trillion. These rich account for an huge share of consumer spending. That matters: With the wealthy doing a lion’s share of spending, firms feel they might as well raise their prices. Their primary buyers can afford it.
@prospect.org
@prospect.org
Reposted by Jason Walters
Expiring ACA tax credits will hit small businesses especially hard. Meanwhile, 74% of small business owners are worried that their business won’t survive due to Trump’s tariffs.
Trump is crushing small businesses while doling out tax breaks to his big corporate donors.
Priorities.
Trump is crushing small businesses while doling out tax breaks to his big corporate donors.
Priorities.
December 1, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Expiring ACA tax credits will hit small businesses especially hard. Meanwhile, 74% of small business owners are worried that their business won’t survive due to Trump’s tariffs.
Trump is crushing small businesses while doling out tax breaks to his big corporate donors.
Priorities.
Trump is crushing small businesses while doling out tax breaks to his big corporate donors.
Priorities.
Reposted by Jason Walters
Highly recommend setting aside some time to read the full investigation into Oregon's AI-fueled toxic drinking water crisis by @rollingstone.com and @thefern.org
It’s one of the most important pieces of accountability reporting I’ve seen this year
It’s one of the most important pieces of accountability reporting I’ve seen this year
‘The precedent is Flint’: How Oregon’s data center boom is supercharging a water crisis | Food and Environment Reporting Network
In the spring of 2022, Jim Doherty kept having the same conversation with folks at the only grocery store in Boardman, his eastern Oregon hometown, or at the grain depot where he picked up food for…
thefern.org
November 25, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Highly recommend setting aside some time to read the full investigation into Oregon's AI-fueled toxic drinking water crisis by @rollingstone.com and @thefern.org
It’s one of the most important pieces of accountability reporting I’ve seen this year
It’s one of the most important pieces of accountability reporting I’ve seen this year
Reposted by Jason Walters
"A growing body of research suggests that minimum wages distort economies in ways that do not immediately appear in jobs numbers."
Maybe The Economist should focus on how tech companies with inflated valuations distort economies instead of targeting low income folks.
Maybe The Economist should focus on how tech companies with inflated valuations distort economies instead of targeting low income folks.
This is a deeply sexist take, given that ~2/3 of minimum wage workers in the US are women.
November 24, 2025 at 10:43 PM
"A growing body of research suggests that minimum wages distort economies in ways that do not immediately appear in jobs numbers."
Maybe The Economist should focus on how tech companies with inflated valuations distort economies instead of targeting low income folks.
Maybe The Economist should focus on how tech companies with inflated valuations distort economies instead of targeting low income folks.
Reposted by Jason Walters
Wanna see a visual on the result of the Republican attack on public health?
I’ve got you covered. This is from Pew Research Center’s most recent survey, showing a 27% drop in Republican support for school vaccine requirements from 2016-2025.
I’ve got you covered. This is from Pew Research Center’s most recent survey, showing a 27% drop in Republican support for school vaccine requirements from 2016-2025.
November 20, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Wanna see a visual on the result of the Republican attack on public health?
I’ve got you covered. This is from Pew Research Center’s most recent survey, showing a 27% drop in Republican support for school vaccine requirements from 2016-2025.
I’ve got you covered. This is from Pew Research Center’s most recent survey, showing a 27% drop in Republican support for school vaccine requirements from 2016-2025.
Reposted by Jason Walters
The trend here is remarkable, but will just note that this is the epitome of an expressive responding question -- answering yes is a way to signal profound dissatisfaction, not really a declaration of intention to move.
November 13, 2025 at 2:20 PM
The trend here is remarkable, but will just note that this is the epitome of an expressive responding question -- answering yes is a way to signal profound dissatisfaction, not really a declaration of intention to move.
Reposted by Jason Walters
Reposted by Jason Walters
Even google's own AI won't stand by them anymore:
November 20, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Even google's own AI won't stand by them anymore:
Water down, weaken, remove, repeat - Saudi Arabia (w/ Tramp's help) spearheads opposition to phasing out fossil fuels & delays int'l climate action. It actively seeks "to ensure [the UN] achieves as little as possible [on climate], as slowly as possible.” by @dpcarrington.bsky.social
Great piece on Saudi Arabia's obstruction of international climate negotiations including ongoing debate at #COP30 on "transition away from fossil fuels." The Saudi strategy to export as much oil as possible to fund transition of their economy is familiar to Cdns.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
$170,000 a minute: why Saudi Arabia is the biggest blocker of climate action
Desert kingdom depends on oil dollars but its people already face a climate ‘at the verge of livability’. What’s going on?
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Water down, weaken, remove, repeat - Saudi Arabia (w/ Tramp's help) spearheads opposition to phasing out fossil fuels & delays int'l climate action. It actively seeks "to ensure [the UN] achieves as little as possible [on climate], as slowly as possible.” by @dpcarrington.bsky.social
Reposted by Jason Walters
In response to the changes, Dr. Frank Han, a pediatrician and cardiologist and scientific advisor to @accountabilityji.bsky.social, told me “The CDC has fully turned into the antivaccine personal mouthpiece of RFK Jr and can no longer be trusted.“
November 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM
In response to the changes, Dr. Frank Han, a pediatrician and cardiologist and scientific advisor to @accountabilityji.bsky.social, told me “The CDC has fully turned into the antivaccine personal mouthpiece of RFK Jr and can no longer be trusted.“
“The speed at which salmon are repopulating every nook and cranny of suitable habitat upstream [after the removal of 4] dams in the Klamath Basin is both remarkable and thrilling.”
Nature has a remarkable, inspiring ability to recover if humans can appreciate its value and stop getting in the way.
Nature has a remarkable, inspiring ability to recover if humans can appreciate its value and stop getting in the way.
A little more than a year after the historic removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, California Department of Fish and Wildlife scientists are seeing salmon reoccupying just about every corner of their historic habitat. #cawater mavensnotebook.com/2025/11/19/c...
CDFW: ‘Salmon Everywhere’ One Year After Klamath Dam Removal
Press release from the Department of Fish and Wildlife: A little more than a year after the historic removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, California Department of Fish and Wildlife...
mavensnotebook.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:02 AM
“The speed at which salmon are repopulating every nook and cranny of suitable habitat upstream [after the removal of 4] dams in the Klamath Basin is both remarkable and thrilling.”
Nature has a remarkable, inspiring ability to recover if humans can appreciate its value and stop getting in the way.
Nature has a remarkable, inspiring ability to recover if humans can appreciate its value and stop getting in the way.
Reposted by Jason Walters
As renewables eat into the energy market + EVs reduce demand for petrol, fossil fuel firms aim to step up production of plastics + chemicals made from oil + gas. By mid-century, half of growth in demand for oil is predicted to come from making more plastic + chemicals. A must read 👇🏾
How Fossil-Fuel Companies Are Driving Plastic Production and Pollution | Scientific American www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
How the Fossil-Fuel Industry’s Pivot to Plastic Is Polluting Our Planet
To keep profits rolling in, oil and gas companies want to turn fossil fuels into a mounting pile of packaging and other plastic products
www.scientificamerican.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:50 PM
As renewables eat into the energy market + EVs reduce demand for petrol, fossil fuel firms aim to step up production of plastics + chemicals made from oil + gas. By mid-century, half of growth in demand for oil is predicted to come from making more plastic + chemicals. A must read 👇🏾
Reposted by Jason Walters
The combination of unique politics, climate change, and bad luck have brought a true drought emergency to Tehran.
"Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that Tehran’s residents would have to ration water—and eventually evacuate the capital—if there was no rain by late November."
"Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that Tehran’s residents would have to ration water—and eventually evacuate the capital—if there was no rain by late November."
Prolonged water cuts across Tehran have created widespread panic among the Iranian capital’s 10 million residents.
Tehran’s Residents Are Panicking as Taps Run Dry
Years of drought and neglect have left the city nearly unsustainable.
foreignpolicy.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:34 AM
The combination of unique politics, climate change, and bad luck have brought a true drought emergency to Tehran.
"Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that Tehran’s residents would have to ration water—and eventually evacuate the capital—if there was no rain by late November."
"Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that Tehran’s residents would have to ration water—and eventually evacuate the capital—if there was no rain by late November."
Reposted by Jason Walters
Pouring more money into coal plants doesn’t add up—and here’s another reason: Coal is more prone to equipment failures than cheaper, cleaner and more abundant renewable energy.
@zeitlin.bsky.social via @heatmap.news explains:
@zeitlin.bsky.social via @heatmap.news explains:
Coal is the least reliable energy source in the U.S., according to a new analysis by @envdefensefund.bsky.social shared exclusively with Heatmap.
Here's @zeitlin.bsky.social with more:
heatmap.news/energy/coal-...
Here's @zeitlin.bsky.social with more:
heatmap.news/energy/coal-...
Trump Wants to Prop Up Coal Plants. They Keep Breaking Down.
According to a new analysis shared exclusively with Heatmap, coal’s equipment-related outage rate is about twice as high as wind’s.
heatmap.news
November 18, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Pouring more money into coal plants doesn’t add up—and here’s another reason: Coal is more prone to equipment failures than cheaper, cleaner and more abundant renewable energy.
@zeitlin.bsky.social via @heatmap.news explains:
@zeitlin.bsky.social via @heatmap.news explains:
Reposted by Jason Walters
"The U.S. market is fast becoming a fossil-fuel backwater... The technology to make automobiles cleaner, more affordable, smarter and more reliable is here—more specifically, there, in China. But American consumers can’t get it and American automakers have no incentive to build it."
WSJ’s Car Columnist Answers Your Burning Questions
Dan Neil on why he doesn’t review more affordable cars, the 2026 models he’s most looking forward to and the practical car he most often recommends.
www.wsj.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:34 PM
"The U.S. market is fast becoming a fossil-fuel backwater... The technology to make automobiles cleaner, more affordable, smarter and more reliable is here—more specifically, there, in China. But American consumers can’t get it and American automakers have no incentive to build it."