Caleb Wellum
@calebwellum.bsky.social
Ast prof @ McMaster University. Senior Researcher @ ICES/U of T. Author of Energizing Neoliberalism. Researching energy cultures of the New Economy. Writer. EH [@energyhumanities.bsky.social] Editor. HigherEd Teacher.
'Green Dreams' traces the rise of green techno-optimism from postwar fantasies of progress to Silicon Valley manifestos, EV marketing, Big Tech sustainability campaigns, and Hollywood eco-futures. Beautiful eh? @imreszeman.bsky.social @tanner-mirrlees.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/green-dreams...
BP exiting the North Sea is a big moment in the history of the industry and Scotland’s economy. It’s been a long time coming, and marks an end to over a century of petroleum activities and more than 50 years of North Sea drilling. BP’s exit cannot be explained by short term tax policy changes 🧵
BP puts North Sea business up for sale
Chief executive Meg O’Neill says the business would be ‘better positioned as part of another company’, sparking recriminations over the basin’s high tax regime
thetimes.com
"It is difficult to justify spending millions on commercial publishing contracts while universities continue to cut staff and teaching." Read OLH's latest blog on why it's time to redirect money away from commercial publishing and towards community-owned, not-for-profit infrastructure.
Open Library of Humanities@openlibhums.org · last mo.1/5 🧵 🔈 A Call to Libraries: Redirect Funding, Rebuild Scholarly Publishing As some research funders move away from funding APCs and hybrid publishing, now is the time to invest in community-owned academic publishing. 🔗 Read our latest blog post: www.openlibhums.org/news/972/
Our next discussion - this Friday End-of-the-World Economics, with Prof Steve Keen and Caleb Wellum www.youtube.com/watch?v=whuP...
End-of-the-World Economics
YouTube video by David Graeber Institute
youtube.com
This isn't true of the classes I teach. It isn't true of the classes that many of my wonderful colleagues teach, either.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3mo agoIn @nytopinion.nytimes.com The problem on college campuses is not just that students lack civility, Michal Leibowitz writes, but that “our college education does almost nothing to develop the sense that what we do in our day-to-day lives resonates with people beyond ourselves.”
i think it is a solid sign of how fundamentally checked out bezos is from the actual state of american politics that he is mouthing the cliches of 20 years ago as if they are novel insights
George Pearkes@peark.es · 3mo agoThis is absolute nonsense *BEZOS: US DOESN'T HAVE A REVENUE PROBLEM, IT HAS A SPENDING ONE
Academic departments deserve to be saved, supported, resourced, allowed to grow even if they're not "best in the country," "first in the REF," "top-ranked," "at a Russell Group uni," or whatever other austerity-brained nonsense senior managers have been using to flimflam you out of solidarity
Brilliant to see 'Green Dreams: Why Technology Can't Save the World' by @imreszeman.bsky.social and @tanner-mirrlees.bsky.social on the Bloomsbury website (and what a dreamy jacket it is!) Written sharply & accessibly, it tells a fascinating (and important) story: www.bloomsbury.com/green-dreams...
Green Dreams
Electric cars, green AI, carbon capture, clean tech - everywhere we turn, we're told technology will save the planet. Green Dreams challenges this comforting st…
bloomsbury.com
The Trump administration has seized $120M USD owned by the Canadian pension fund earmarked for a wind development — and demanding the pension-backed company invest in fossil fuels instead.
Trump admin kills Canadian-owned wind project — and demands investment in fossil fuels instead
The administration is demanding an equivalent investment in US fossil fuel development if the company wants to recoup $120 million USD in offshore wind leases.
nationalobserver.com
Neither the left or right are prepared to face Britain's grave energy crisis. I've written for @theguardian.com on how decades of complacency cannot be magicked away by drilling in the North Sea – or even by hoping that renewables will quickly power everything.
Both left and right are deluding themselves about the scale of the energy crisis Britain faces | Ewan Gibbs
Decades of complacency cannot be magicked away by drilling in the North Sea – or even by hoping that renewables will quickly power everything, says historian and author Ewan Gibbs
theguardian.com
Yet another reason I'll never go on a cruise ship. Aside from that, though, we should be paying close attention to this. Hantavirus can take up to 8 weeks to show symptoms...
Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 3mo ago“The two new confirmed cases are among people who were medically evacuated from the ship earlier on Wednesday and are said to be in ‘serious’ condition.”
“The two new confirmed cases are among people who were medically evacuated from the ship earlier on Wednesday and are said to be in ‘serious’ condition.”
Confirmed hantavirus cases linked to suspected cluster aboard cruise ship rises to 5: WHO
The total number of hantavirus cases in the suspected outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius has risen to five, according to the World Health Organization.
abcnews.com
"in America, even sports gambling counts as investment" feels like an old soviet joke to me somehow
Tom Hearden@followtheh.bsky.social · 3mo agoA huge issue starts with allowing this framing “Next Generation Investing” Crypto, options, sports betting and prediction markets are all forms of GAMBLING and is leading to losses and is absolutely not “investing”
2/ kiss any summer plane travel plans good bye Everyone's out of jet fuel just before peak travel season... "Air Canada will suspend service to New York’s JFK International airport over the summer as war in Iran creates jet fuel shortages that have sent prices soaring" apnews.com/article/air-...
Air Canada will suspend flights to JFK for nearly 5 months as jet fuel costs soar
Air Canada will suspend service to New York’s JFK International airport over the summer, the latest move in an industry struggling with high fuel costs and falling supplies.
apnews.com
Do Canadians know how awful Indigo Books & Music is to their in-store workers? Support inpendent bookstores whenever possible.
Records that show how presidential decisions are made could be lost permanently. These records are essential to understanding decision-making at the highest levels of government. The AHA and American Oversight have taken emergency legal action to protect them. 🔗 https://bit.ly/4ccLGzA
Oceanographers, simultaneously the most mild-mannered and the most terrifying people you’ll ever meet
Daniel Rourke@therourke.net · 4mo agoMeanwhile...
The old media regime dominated by TV and newspapers has perished, and the social media "revolution" has demonstrated its inability to fill the void left behind...now is the time for serious folks to be imagining the shape of what might come next.
Matt Brown@mattbrown.bsky.social · 4mo agocool. cool cool cool cool www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/soci...
The incomparable @samamidon.bsky.social and @jakexerxesfussell.bsky.social sharing the stage in Toronto last night. Wonderful!
IMF'S GOURINCHAS LESSON FROM 1970S, IS YOU DON'T WANT AN ENERGY SHOCK TO TURN INTO AN ONGOING INFLATION PROBLEM
Footnotes > endnotes every time.
Matthew Hayday@mhayday.bsky.social · 4mo agoI would love it if publishers would go back to having footnotes in scholarly books, instead of endnotes. I /hate/ flipping back and forth. As a compromise, I would love to have space for Terry Pratchett-style "bon mot" footnotes!
We've built an entire economy around selling people the feeling of control through bets, hacks, subscriptions, and optimization. But the model only works if people stay desperate. New essay on control and agency, financial nihilism, belief markets, the manosphere, and spectacle during war.
🧵 The Canadian federal government’s 2025 budget has allocated: More business tax breaks including for fossil fuels sector $925 million for AI $81.8 billion over 5 years for military However, this comes at the expense of cultural heritage.