1st real run-in with an AI agent and it was...not great. @enphaseenergy.bsky.social's bot told me (incorrectly) to permanently remove two pieces of equipment that run ~50% of my solar.
Alex Barron
@alexrbarron.bsky.social
Climate policy wonk. Rogue biogeochemist. Assoc. Prof., Fmr. Congressional staff (AAAS_STPF). Obama EPA & Biden OMB alum.
"He is the fifth person killed while walking or biking on Memorial Drive since 2014," wrote the organization. "The danger on this state-controlled road was not unforeseen." 🚲 mass.streetsblog.org/2026/09/03/m...
MIT Professor Dies of Injuries Sustained In Previously Unreported Crash On Memorial Drive - Streetsblog Massachusetts
State Police, who are responsible for investigating fatal crashes and homicides on state-controlled roadways like Memorial Drive, have not released any information about Rose's death or the crash that...
mass.streetsblog.org
"It is certainly not a good look for this amendment that the authors have mischaracterized the NCA5 language on an issue that is central to the entire purpose of the amendment."
Marcus C Sarofim@marcusmarcusrc.bsky.social · 4d agoThe Trump Administration is trying to "amend" NCA5. That's ridiculous. I explain why in my post. thesaraphreport.substack.com/p/the-rcp85-...
"New lawsuits [against polluters violating the law]...have fallen off a cliff under the second Trump administration." "[EPA]’s imposing fewer monetary penalties in favor of orders that merely require offenders to clean up their act." insideclimatenews.org/news/0109202...
"Potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner, or at all" www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/u...
Whistle-Blower Says USPS Is Secretly Proceeding on Trump’s Mail Voting Plan Before Midterms
The Postal Service disputed allegations by the whistle-blower that the agency had violated several court orders that should have halted work on the plan.
nytimes.com
Air-source heat pumps - efficient electric heating/cooling machines - have outsold gas furnaces for US residential space heating since 2021. Annual ASHP sales have grown 90% since 2004 are now 53% of new residential heating equipment sales. Data and plot from RMI: rmi.org/resources/tr...
Do something, anything. More relevant than ever: go.bsky.app/Aa1sErQ Thanks, @costasamaras.com, for pulling this together.
In July, on ABC, CBS, and NBC, there were 194 segments on the extreme heat waves rolling across the US. Number that mentioned climate change: 0.
ABC, CBS, and NBC aired nearly 200 segments about three U.S. heat events without mentioning climate change
From late June through July, successive heat waves swept across large portions of the United States, breaking temperature records and placing more than 100 million people at a time under heat alerts. ...
mediamatters.org
In Boston for ~90 min today and delighted to meet @zackdeclerck.bsky.social while looking at my first rentable cargo-bike (@ridecargob.bsky.social). Every city should have these!
@volts.wtf makings some nice points that "steering at the last minute did not stop iceberg collision" should not lead to the conclusion that steering isn't important for ships.
David Roberts@volts.wtf · last mo.🧵 One of the most annoying narratives after the 2024 election was: "by funneling investment to left-behind red areas, IRA was supposed to persuade them to vote blue; those areas didn't vote blue, therefore the IRA & the political strategy behind it are failures." Many variations of this around.
I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.
The application for the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship, which places scientists & engineers into roles in Congress and in the Executive Branch, opened today. This program is essential for building technical policy capacity in the US. If interested, apply: fellowshipapp.aaas.org/app/main
STPF Application - AAAS
fellowshipapp.aaas.org
Fantastic @alexhannaford.com piece here at @emorwee.bsky.social's Heated - profiling an anti-solar influencer. This is SUCH a common story: a project planned near someone rich, influential, or both and that person gets radicalised against all wind, all solar, all batteries etc
The influencer teaching millions to fear solar
Alexandra Fasulo says she’s protecting farms and wildlife. Her campaign is becoming a blueprint for the fossil fuel right.
heated.world
A Minnesota religious studies professor is facing six years in prison, with the DOJ saying he is part of an "antifa" conspiracy against ICE Erik Davis speaks out about his prosecution, largely based on a handful of his comments in Signal chats. He's not accused of any violence “It’s petty revenge"
The professor facing prison in ‘antifa’ case: ‘They want to scare all who oppose ICE’
Erik Davis is accused by the government of a ‘conspiracy’ to obstruct ICE – experts say it’s part of a pattern to criminalize lawful organizing and ruin activists’ lives
theguardian.com
Sun fails to illuminate after sunset! Oh no! Maybe that's why utilities choose solar capacity over fossil fuels by a factor of almost 7:1 (on a nameplate basis).
The administration has sent a letter to Congress about its priorities for the next transportation bill It continues their campaign against bike lanes and urges "Congress to restrict competitive and formula grant funding for bicycle lanes and other bicycle infrastructure"
Bike folks - I hope you are tracking Massachusetts e-bike/e-moto/e-scooter policy. 🚲🛴🏍️ commonwealthbeacon.org/transportati...
Mass. lawmakers move to create statewide framework for e-bikes, scooters, and other emerging transportation devices
The rapid adoption and quickly changing technology of smaller vehicles has outpaced the ability of regulations to keep up, leaving riders, local officials, and law enforcement without a clear understa...
commonwealthbeacon.org
If you know a realtor, send this to them: "A US study has found a 70% drop in hospital admissions and days off from work or school when people with poorly controlled asthma had their gas stove and hob replaced with electric." www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Replacing gas stove can help asthmatics as much as some drugs, US experts find
Team in Ohio finds swapping to electric has ‘very large’ impact, despite study being scaled back by Trump cuts
theguardian.com
"...the state’s 26 Gateway Cities, are disproportionately impacted by air pollution and the detrimental health outcomes that accompany it. Yet 17 of these former industrial cities do not currently have state-operated air quality monitors." commonwealthbeacon.org/environment/...
Despite being disproportionately impacted by air pollution, many Gateway Cities don’t have state-run air quality monitors
Of these 26 former industrial cities, 17 do not have state-operated air quality monitors. At a time when environmental justice communities are even more at risk due to federal rollbacks to clean air p...
commonwealthbeacon.org
"For every mile of natural gas pipe we replace today,...customers will be paying off this investment into the 2080s (or later)...If we are planning to transition customers off of natural gas by 2050, why are we building a natural gas distribution system to last through the end of the century?"
Energy Institute at Haas@ucenergyinstitute.bsky.social · 2mo agoWhy Are We Sinking Billions into a Gas System We Plan to Leave Behind? A new post by Meredith Fowlie. Old rules, new pipes, and a shrinking customer base. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/07/20/w...
Three doable things that Somerville is doing different from other Vision Zero stars: 1. Speed humps. They're everywhere. Not just on local streets, and not on a BS petition or speed study basis. 2. They're not punting on doing an all-ages bike network. 3. Exclusive ped phases. They're miraculous.
The War on Cars@thewaroncars.bsky.social · 2mo ago"Last year alone the city installed more than 70 traffic-calming features on its streets, including speed humps and painting stripes on crosswalks to increase visibility."
SCOOP: In 2023-24, @mayorwu.boston.gov's streets cabinet IDed hazards and prepared safety improvement plans for the intersection where a driver killed Louisa Gag last week. But under her new second-term administration, those plans never got built. mass.streetsblog.org/2026/07/14/w...
Wu Administration Shelved Safety Plans For Mission Hill Streets Where Driver Killed Louisa Gag - Streetsblog Massachusetts
"We knew there were dangers. We had a plan to make it safer. It is blatantly irresponsible for the city to make a deliberate decision to not follow through."
mass.streetsblog.org
So regulations.gov still says 341,699, but I posted that count about 9 hours before the comment deadline. Will be interested to see if there's an update.
Alex Barron@alexrbarron.bsky.social · 2mo agoNote that this post analysis looked at 50,000 comments, but OMB has already received 341,699. Add yours today!
We're in the midst of a transportation revolution. www.twincities.com/2026/07/11/c...
More Twin Cities families using ‘cargo bikes’ to haul groceries and children
People on such bikes are a common sight in the Twin Cities as residents increasingly embrace them for shopping and family outings — sometimes taking the extreme step of replacing a car with a cargo bi...
twincities.com
Note that this post analysis looked at 50,000 comments, but OMB has already received 341,699. Add yours today!
Alex Barron@alexrbarron.bsky.social · 2mo agoCOMMENT DEADLINE TODAY! If you are a US-based researcher, check what your prof. societies/orgs are saying about this rule. Even if you just pick one provision and write a paragraph w/ your experience, you can be part of collectively making a difference. (me: a former regulator). wapo.st/4w3O7vQ
"virtually nobody favored the course of action now adopted by the Trump Administration, of simply retaining the twenty-year-old, outdated guidance on discounting without any updates." policyintegrity.org/publications...
Nobody Wants This: Essentially No Experts Advised Retaining Old Discount Rates
Contrary to the suggestion that the 2023 update to the Office of Management and Budget’s Circular A-4 “ignored [a] consensus” favoring higher discount rates, the positions of the nine peer reviewers o...
policyintegrity.org
Austin Slaughter @austinslaughter.bsky.social · 2y agoOMB is going back to using a discount rate of 7% for cost-benefit analyses, a rate that has been discredited in the economic literature This means the federal government is going to underestimate the future benefits of regulation and tend to underregulate www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/o...