I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. And also the monkeys and tigers and bees. You’re wiping them out. You’re doing great harm. But your weapon ain’t data. Your weapon is farm. I know I’m off message. I’m sorry to nag. But if you want more forests you’ll have to shrink ag.

Jay Kuo@nycjayjay.bsky.social · 23h ago

Take a moment.

Some ppl in my intellectual community don't agree with me but I believe it's important to have a prosperous economy. & one of my master theories about the world is that we squander SO much of our natural resource base on animal agriculture, which is not economically important. 1/

One of my favourite proto-sentientists: www.middleeastvegansociety.org/blog/abu-ala...

Abu al‑Alaʾ al‑Maʿarri: The Medieval Poet‑Philosopher Who Refused to Steal From Nature — Middle East Vegan Society

Abu al‑Alaʾ al‑Maʿarri (973–1057 CE), the blind Syrian poet and philosopher from Maʿarrat al‑Nuʿman, is remembered as one of the earliest voices to reject the use of animals in every form. His stance ...

middleeastvegansociety.org

Composed 47 years ago Handwritten lyrics for "Love Will Tear Us Apart," penned by Ian Curtis in August 1979 Curtis sings about himself, revealing his pain and speaking of his inner torment over his separation from his wife Deborah #punkrockhistory #iancurtis #joydivision #lovewilltearusapart

Encouraging people to reduce beef and pig consumption and replacing it with chicken only creates more victims. #goingvegan #vegan

natural personhood, legal personhood, ai personhood? www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V_e...

The next 50 years: humanity, AI, power | Yuval Noah Harari

YouTube video by Yuval Noah Harari

youtube.com

So, you want to stop climate change? Understanding these four graphs is a good place to start. drawdown.org/insights/the...

The four most important charts for people who want to stop climate change

Four charts provide valuable insights into the spectrum of climate solutions.

drawdown.org

The lab theory is v hard to reconcile w/evidence: So, two (2 lineages initially) infected WIV researchers didn't infect anyone in their community or around WIV (invisible masks?). They went to the market to pet (?) mammals, left traces of SARS2, coughed on people. Then put invisible? masks back on.

Stephen Nuñez@socio-steve.bsky.social · 6d ago

I still don't understand the purpose of this conspiracy theory exactly. Why would everyone be trying to cover up that the virus (which was clearly not bioengineered) was loosed through a lab leak as opposed to spread in wet markets?

Where is now the debate about real climate + nature action? I mean to end fossils by flying less, to reduce livestock, to rewet peatland and plant urbain trees? Now is the time! #Heatwave #ForestFires #HandsOffNature

If that's really true, the conclusion shouldn't be to keep more chickens in cages, but to consume fewer eggs.

Organic eggs have worse impact on climate than eggs from caged chickens

Adopting organic free-range model in UK could lead to greenhouse emissions equivalent to 2,316,000 tonnes of CO2, study suggests

theguardian.com

Anyway, here’s an explainer our team wrote about why soil carbon sequestration on working agricultural lands isn’t a big GHG mitigation solution, let alone a way to “reverse” climate change It holds up well, although it did not generate a lot of love in 2020

"Beef consumption has consequences" is also a key plot point in the Odyssey

Dr. Jonathan Foley@globalecoguy.bsky.social · last wk.

Beef has a huge climate problem. And the most effective solution -- by far -- is to simply reduce beef consumption and waste. But we don't want to hear that, so we often welcome fuzzy greenwashing stories instead. In the end, however, the math doesn't seem to work. drawdown.org/insights/gre...

Climate denial in the 2020s:

Better Things Are Possible@internethippo.bsky.social · 2w ago

Yes, the Problems are bad, but this is no time for radical things like Solutions

The Superbowl was named for Milton R. Super, who opened the first 'Supermarket' in 1843 AD in West Canaan, Texas. His vast empire of Supermarkets & fleet of merchant submarines in the Great Lakes made him the world's first trillionaire & the 15th President of the United States.

James McLeod@jamespmcleod.ca · 2w ago

It's safe to assume that all major LLMs are scraping Bluesky data to train future models. As an open protocol, Bluesky is one of the few sources of fresh human-generated content that anybody can gobble up. So all this is probably going in the models. There are submarines in the Great Lakes.

New from me! Why AI isn't the watery villain you think it is, and why a culprit 130 times worse is actually on your dinner plate:

AI Isn't Draining the Rivers. Your Dinner Is.

The real story of AI's water footprint, the animal-agriculture comparison no one makes, and how one bad stat went viral.

morethanmeatstheeye.substack.com

1/ We've a new paper: The highest-impact diets belong to the people with the most choices. In @nature.com Food, led by Oliver Taherzadeh and Hongyi Cai: across 165 countries, the highest dietary emissions per person are among highly educated urban men aged 15-34. doi.org/10.1038/s43016-026-01389-y

Dietary environmental impacts and quality differ by socio-demographic characteristics - Nature Food

Dietary intake and supply chain data from 165 countries reveal demographic disparities in diet-related environmental impacts. Impacts are greatest among young, highly educated urban men, and healthier...

doi.org

A downside to organic agriculture is that it takes more land to produce the same amount of food and taking more land away from nature is bad for the environment.

Tamar Haspel@tamarhaspel.bsky.social · 2w ago

I am pro-organic because it is profitable for farmers and that can give them wiggle room to experiment with low-input systems. This, despite its glaring downside, a 20-30% yield penalty. But we shouldn't spend taxpayer dollars on it for schools. civileats.com/2026/07/21/c...

This is kind of an incredible website: Why your stuff stopped lasting, who profited, and what's still built right.

Worse on Purpose

The brands you trusted quietly gutted quality to protect margins. Investigative essays on corporate enshittification. Free newsletter.

worseonpurpose.com

Y’all remember that Spanish star Lamine Yamal waved a Palestinian flag during Barcelona’s La Liga title parade? 😍

Barcelona star Lamine Yamal waves Palestinian flag during title parade

Barcelona star Lamine Yamal waved a Palestinian flag during an open top bus parade as the team celebrated winning the Spanish title

independent.co.uk

A while since I read anything as ridiculous, dumb and irritating.

Could AI be conscious?

Experts believe it’s at least possible. We urgently need a plan to navigate the ethical implications

theguardian.com

Would Will MacAskill please just retire to a remote island somewhere and stop harassing the world with his stupid ideas? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Could AI be conscious?

Experts believe it’s at least possible. We urgently need a plan to navigate the ethical implications

theguardian.com

My favorite quote from a Dutch traffic engineer: if you need a sign, it’s a bad design. Photo: @urbancyclinginstitute

My other issue w the 100 companies/70% emissions stat is that it looks at fossil fuels but not the ag/forests/land sector which itself is ~1/4 of emissions. And just as with Big Oil you can & should look at Big Food/Ag companies but same caveat, we’re all making food consumption & waste choices.

"The science is clear: to avert the worst impacts of climate change and preserve a liveable planet, global warming needs to be limited as much as possible and as a matter of urgency." "Every fraction of a degree of warming matters." #Canada #CDNPoli #ClimateCrisis #NoPipelines #Wildfires #NoLNG

1.5°C: what it means and why it matters | United Nations

The science is clear: to avert the worst impacts of climate change and preserve a liveable planet, global warming needs to be limited as much as possible and as a matter of urgency. Under the Par...

un.org

Market theory goes like this: even the best of us can fall prey to selfishness and rationalization, so let's arrange society so people acting on their most selfish impulses end up producing benefit for all of us. That'll be easier and more reliable than convincing everyone to be more generous. 1/

Hey @mark-carney.bsky.social say that part again about climate action not being economical? "It would have been too expensive for Canadians. Canadians who are already struggling with affordability."

Steve Russell@steverussell.bsky.social · 3w ago

The view of the Northern Ontario forest fire haze engulfing the Toronto Skyline from Humber Bay Park West. #ForestFire #TorontoHaze #TheBigSmoke #Toronto

I was sunning by the pool when the boxes arrived. And here in my hand is my life’s work: “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War On Democracy.” Coming 8/18. Pre-orders make a huge difference! Make a fascist sweat—pre-order today! www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ne...

One of my hottest takes — it makes sense for public policy to preserve nature as a priority but farms aren’t nature! www.slowboring.com/p/farms-aren...

Farms aren’t nature

A banal take with serious consequences

slowboring.com

Really good explanation of the indirect land use effects (i.e., deforestation and other ecosystem loss) related to crop-based biofuels by @mbolotnikova.bsky.social:

This renewable energy source is actually terrible for the planet

America’s biofuels policy is helping destroy the world’s rainforests

vox.com