Csilla Gal
@cgal.bsky.social
Urban climates and other human habitats. Architect by trade, urban climatologist by profession. Chicago 📍 Header: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c31432 Avatar: Giacinto Brandi, L'Architettura(?)
Wie angenehme Temperaturen nicht zum Luxusgut werden und warum klassische Klimaanlagen oft mehr schaden als nützen, erklärt Jan-Philipp Richtmann von der TU Wien im Interview.
Wie können wir unsere Wohnungen nachhaltig kühlen?
Wie angenehme Temperaturen nicht zum Luxusgut werden und warum klassische Klimaanlagen oft mehr schaden als nützen und wie wir Wohnungen nachhaltig kühlen.
moment.at
“An urban firestorm occurs when a massive, high-intensity fire moves into a built environment, causing structures — rather than just vegetation — to become the primary fuel source. The Spokane firestorm is just the latest example of one of these most dangerous and destructive wildfires.”
Dr. Jeff Masters@drjeffmasters.bsky.social · 2d agoUrban firestorms like the one that devastated Spokane Saturday have been growing more common because of increased development in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) and climate change. In this post, I document 9 such fires since 2016 in the U.S. yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/08/urba...
Historically low water levels on the #Danube are putting pressure on the operation of nuclear power plants in #Bulgaria and #Romania and cutting hydropower output in #Serbia at a time when demand is rising and fuel imports are constrained. seenews.com/news/overvie...
OVERVIEW - Low Danube water levels put pressure on SEE's energy sector
Historically low water levels on the Danube are putting pressure on the operation of nuclear power plants in Bulgaria and Romania and cutting hydropower output in Serbia at a time when demand is risin...
seenews.com
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.
Gift article. “Heat is linked to hundreds of workplace deaths each year, but labor groups say the true toll is unknown because heat-related illnesses are not properly tracked or reported.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/c...
Trump Administration Is Undoing Plans to Boost Workplace Heat Protections (Gift Article)
The Biden administration took steps to shield workers from extreme temperatures. The Trump administration is taking a gentler approach with employers.
nytimes.com
Anyway back to my ongoing theory that women use AI to get more done and men use AI to get out of doing more.
I like this notetaking example. it is a good case of how gender works. Notetaking has never been about producing a transcript. It is a bureaucratic skill in the 20th c. organixarion because it is SENSEMAKING. Those women socialized to take notes? They have been doing men’s metacognition for them
Jennifer Romig @jennifermromig.bsky.social · 4d agoNotetaking in meetings is tiny case in point - used to be some predictable social assumptions who would do it; now anyone can offer to do ”notetaking” by turning on the AI listener. Further interesting scenario is human recollection / notes (taken by habit by a person) conflict with AI summary
Ratatouille but instead of a chef, the rat controls an op-ed writer's keystrokes by pulling on his hair
Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️@jgbollard.bsky.social · 4d agoThis is it boys, the platonic "New York can never get better" piece www.archpaper.com/2026/07/litt...
When FOIA documents reveal a hidden truth ... Brief explainer on how Big Gas ducked concerns about its methane emissions to sell gas as a 'climate solution.' Our gas dependent world was not inevitable. This study is one of the key building blocks.
Center for Climate Integrity@climateintegrity.org · 6d agoHow a 1996 study on methane emissions from natural gas—published by the gas industry in partnership with the U.S. EPA—allowed the oil and gas industry to fend off emissions regulations, cement the myth of “clean” natural gas, and pave the way for the 2000s fracking boom. 👀
I love ceiling fans and I'm glad @techconnectify.bsky.social has made a one hour eleven minute video discussing how great they are. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KWd...
Ceiling fans: the simple idea we keep screwing up
YouTube video by Technology Connections
youtube.com
Chicagoland inversion ✅ ~6.1°C (~11.1°F) warming from surface to ~175 m (strong). Likely traps pollution/smoke and can keep haze around. May persist into afternoon.
On The Climate Brink: We are watching as the world is remade for a warmer climate www.theclimatebrink.com/p/these-wild...
Wildfires are remaking the world
With great sorrow, we watch as the Earth is rebuilt into a different, warmer planet.
theclimatebrink.com
Overloading Earth with pollution could cause a “disaster global in scale” warned James Lovelock in a "Shell Lecture" from 1985 I discovered researching this piece. Better to show “respect proper to a living planet” than live "where we are no longer a favored species.” Prescient words hit hard now.
The Lovelock Papers: Shell’s Hidden Climate Knowledge Under Scrutiny as Court Battle Looms
“What seems to be important,” wrote the visionary British scientist, James Lovelock, in June 1966, is “the almost certain fact that the climate is worsening and the probability that the combustion of ...
desmog.com
Changing gas stove/hob to electric can help asthmatics as much - or more - than drugs - study #airpollution Story by @drgaryfuller.bsky.social 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
Every commentator saying too many kids go to university has to tell their own kid to not do a degree
"Yet, far from seeking to catch up with the pace of change, too many governments and leaders are seeking to put their foot on the policy brake. That is not realism; it is a dereliction of duty."
Guardian Environment@environment.theguardian.com · last wk.The Guardian view on Europe’s wildfires: politics must catch up with the new reality | Editorial
“As the appalling impact of this summer’s wildfires vividly illustrates, the notion that climate measures are a kind of optional add-on, appropriate only when times are good, is wildly at odds with the developing reality.”
Guardian Environment@environment.theguardian.com · last wk.The Guardian view on Europe’s wildfires: politics must catch up with the new reality | Editorial
This new study finds that the total death toll in Europe during the June heatwave exceeds 20,000 people. "This result highlights the accelerating threat of mass heat mortality events in Europe despite previous adaptations to heat." Pre-print here: zenodo.org/records/2108...
“Spain declared a national emergency, the first time the country has ever done so over a wildfire. France’s evacuations constituted “probably” the biggest peacetime evacuation the country has ever seen, its interior minister said.” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
More than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and Spain
Hundreds of firefighters battle blazes as strong winds drive fires towards Bordeaux and smoke prompts health warnings in Madrid
theguardian.com
Smoky conditions with moderate haze make me wonder if that's what the sky would look like on every "blue sky" day if geoengineering via solar radiation management were to take place. Here's a simulation for a clear day with 4 W/m^2 of cooling via sulfate aerosols. Source: simulatesrm.github.io
Scott Robeson@indianaclimate.bsky.social · 2w agoSmoke from these western fires, combined with those in Ontario and Minnesota, will be making the skies across much of eastern North America very hazy in the next few days. Smoke-related air quality will mostly be ok in the east.
A new heat dome — predicted to strengthen on Saturday into the most powerful one on the planet at that time — is expected for the Plains and Rockies. See where record-toppling temperatures of 110 degrees are possible through next week:
The planet’s strongest heat dome will soon tower over the Rockies and Plains
This expansive area of high pressure could send temperatures surging past 110 degrees in the Central United States early next week.
washingtonpost.com
Unexpected, high velocity wildfires in Northern Ontario, Canada, destroyed the Namaygoosisagagun (Collins) First Nation. Many residents had only minutes to grab belongings and board boats to safety. buff.ly/x6QgcxO (This story from @ict-news.bsky.social is republishable via our Sharing Library.)
Northern First Nation razed by wildfire - ICT
A fast moving wildfire has destroyed Namaygoosisagagun (also known as Collins) First Nation, community carried out emergency evacuation with some forced to flee by boat
buff.ly
From the LinkedIn of an academic I have a lot of respect for.
Two days ago, Japan officially recorded its first “cruelly hot day” (kokushobi) as cities sweltered in 40C/104F climate crisis heat www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Japan records its first ‘cruelly hot day’ as cities swelter in 40-degree heat
In April Japan coined term kokushobi for days above 40C as country advises workers to wear shorts to the office to cope with stifling heat
theguardian.com
This thanks to the passage of Sammy's Law! @familiesforsafestreets.org
Urban Truth Collective@urbantruth.bsky.social · 2w agoIn 2014, New York City lowering the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph. In just the 1st year: Traffic fatalities fell by more than 22% Pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25% The most dangerous drivers, those driving over 35 mph, slowed down the most. Via @transalt.org Speed is always a factor.
![Comic. [Bridge with three peaks. The ones on the outside have pillars digging under the water. The middle one is held up by a hot air balloon, surrounded by equations.] [caption] How to get past the 3-4 km limit on suspension bridge main spans](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreihizprhfnte5c5fr7ytsgbmsod7u7u3kwixv27tmsku4d4y6de4oe)
