There has been a lot of news lately about smoke from wildfires in Ontario and other parts of the Canadian boreal forest causing poor air quality in parts of the U.S. But smoke knows no borders, and here in southeastern British Columbia we are suffering from smoke originating in Washington state.

One of the best parts of my job, maybe the BEST part, is taking students outside to learn geology and environmental science. We are fortunate to have both amazing field sites around Calgary and the greatest curious and engaged students.

I’m looking for a postdoc to work on modeling wildfires in boreal peatlands. Check out the job description and other openings in my group here: jedokaplan.github.io/opportunitie...

I’m looking for a postdoc to work on the deep history of land use in China. Applications from archaeologists, historians, and economists are particularly welcome. Check out the job description and other openings in my group here: jedokaplan.github.io/opportunitie...

So honored to be a part of this outstanding group of scientists! Thanks so much to @plosclimate.org for publishing our ideas! Congrats to all authors, it’s been an incredible journey. Hope it continues!

PLOS Climate@plosclimate.org · 5mo ago

New Essay exploring lessons from the 'Make Our Planet Great Again' program at a time when "the need for such bold, independent and collaborative scientific initiatives is greater than ever" 🔗 journals.plos.org/climate/arti...

"The illegal shipments intercepted included materials such as e-waste, used batteries, waste oil, hazardous scrap metal, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), plastic waste, contaminated scrap paper, and other environmentally hazardous materials." Textiles, too! #BaselConvention #YouWasteItYouOwnIt

This is so important, and don’t forget that major land use change and deforestation occurred across Europe, Asia, and Africa long before even 1750.

Ed Hawkins@edhawkins.org · 7mo ago

Published today: Importance of beginning industrial-era climate simulations in the eighteenth century Defining pre-industrial to be 1750, rather than 1850, produces different (simulated) historical climate changes after 1850. Pre-1850 volcanoes & land use matter. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Job seekers: Excellent thread from my colleague @watershedlab.bsky.social. If you’re considering applying for any of my open positions, jedokaplan.github.io/opportunities/ consider reading this first!

Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦@watershedlab.bsky.social · 7mo ago

After reviewing nearly 200 applications from prospective grad students and postdocs over the past few months for a couple different 🧪⚒️ postings, here are some tips, at least as they apply to North American positions. I hope they help future applicants. Share with your networks. 🧵

Looking for: postdoc on quantitative history of China; postdoc on measuring wildfire fuels with LiDAR; PhDs on modeling fire in the boreal forest and the Pacific Northwest; MSc’s on earth system science; interns in many topics. Check it out!

Jed O. Kaplan@jedokaplan.bsky.social · 8mo ago

I've updated the opportunities part of my website with fresh openings for researchers interested in climate and vegetation science, archaeology, history, and geography at all levels from undergraduate intern to postdoc. Take a look! jedokaplan.github.io/opportunities/

I've updated the opportunities part of my website with fresh openings for researchers interested in climate and vegetation science, archaeology, history, and geography at all levels from undergraduate intern to postdoc. Take a look! jedokaplan.github.io/opportunities/

I've updated the opportunities part of my website with fresh openings for researchers interested in climate and vegetation science, archaeology, history, and geography at all levels from undergraduate intern to postdoc. Take a look! jedokaplan.github.io/opportunities/

Could prehistoric farmers and pastoralists have caused skies to be dustier than normal? What feedbacks could that dust have had to societies downwind? This paper was a long time coming, and I am really glad to see it published! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #envhist #envhum

Increasing late Holocene dust deposition in West Africa is amplified by land use change

Changes in dust deposition in West Africa over the mid- to late Holocene have traditionally been attributed to orbital forcing affecting the West Afri…

sciencedirect.com

🚨 Postdoctoral opportunities! 🚨 Hello #econsky! We are hiring 2 postdocs in the department of economics at UCalgary for those working in *electricity economics* Term: 2 years Pay: $80,000/yr + benefits + $10k research allowance Start: July 2026 Details in next two posts 👇

Happy to chat about these opportunities and/or life in Calgary if you’re interested!

Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦@watershedlab.bsky.social · 10mo ago

🚨FOUR tenure track positions in my dept @ucalgary.bsky.social @ucalgaryscience.bsky.social in applied & computational geophysics, subsurface geochemistry, sedimentary geology, and sustainable soil science. careers.ucalgary.ca/search/jobs?... (please reskeet widely!) #academicsky 🧪⚒️🇨🇦

Great thread and sub-threads to chase down on a Sunday afternoon. Interesting debate. Having just gotten out of my personal comfort zone to give a seminar on the history and current status of the SSP-RCPs and antecedent scenarios, I was glad to see it remains a very current topic for discussion!

Bob Kopp@bobkopp.net · 11mo ago

There are many ideas I agree with in this thread. But @mliebreich.bsky.social gets his guidance to science wrong.

Summer fermentation experiment homemade pickles. Taste is great but some are mushy. Any ideas to avoid mushy pickles?

It's not often that a senior professorship in paleolimnology comes long, but here is one great opportunity. Deadline September 10. If you consider applying and wonder what the process is like, feel free to reach out to me! www.queensu.ca/vpr/crc/oppo...

Really enjoyed this thread and got me thinking about how we could evaluate our fire model output in such a data-rich area. Wonder: what was more important for 20th century suppression, grazing or FS crews?

Tom Swetnam@firescar.bsky.social · last yr.

The Turkeyfeather Fire in the Gila Wilderness, NM has burned as a low-severity fire over about 24,000 acres (so far). This is a continuation of a fire regime that existed for millennia before the 20th century. This 🧵reviews the fire history of the Gila, as my colleagues and I have studied it. 1/18

Outstanding explainer by @wxmanms1.bsky.social. As someone who teaches intro meteorology and spends a lot of time discussing the challenges of predicting extreme weather, I was especially moved by the highlighted section. open.substack.com/pub/balanced...

Great explainer from my colleague Dan.

Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦@watershedlab.bsky.social · last yr.

There was a tragic rockfall yesterday afternoon at Bow Glacier Falls in Banff National Park. Here's a recent story from @ctvnewscalgary.bsky.social about it. I'll try to explain my understanding of the event here over the next few minutes. www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/arti... 🧪⚒️

Good thread. Having thought about these issues a lot myself and recognizing that landscape scale wildfires are rarely all of one severity or another, I enjoyed this back and forth.

gavin jones@ecologyofgavin.bsky.social · last yr.

┏┓ ┃┃╱╲ in ┃╱╱╲╲ this ╱╱╭╮╲╲house ▔▏┗┛▕▔ we believe ╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲ “mixed severity” is a meaningless fire regime concept 💘 ╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲ ▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔

Those were the days. I’ll never forget my two weeks in solitary confinement at the Penny’s Bay COVID detention camp.

Karen Grépin@karengrepin.bsky.social · last yr.

How was Hong Kong able to keep COVID19 out for so long? Essentially by reducing inbound travel volume and using quarantine, everything else was basically theatrics: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Alberta Premier demands @mark-carney.bsky.social build a pipeline to Prince Rupert. Besides the childish demanding, there are important marine geohazards reasons why that could be a spectacularly foolish idea ⚒️🇨🇦 calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu...

Bell: Smith to Carney — Wanted Now, a pipeline to Prince Rupert, B.C.

Premier Danielle Smith wants Prime Minister Mark Carney to fast-track a pipeline project to Prince Rupert, along with nixing tanker ban.

calgaryherald.com

I've released the 2025 update of the WGLC global lightning dataset today. Daily and monthly data lightning density and stroke energy covering the period 2010-2024 are now available! doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

#Amsterdam's canals don't meet most Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point criteria, and not all scientists agree with declaring the #Anthropocene anyway, but these feathered inhabitants' embrace of 'new' materials is terrifying. There's nothing encouraging about the common coot's adaptation.

This bird's nest is made of candy wrappers and face masks. Here's what we can learn | CBC Radio

Dutch doctoral student Auke-Florian Hiemstra excavated a bird nest, and made a startling discovery. From McDonald's lids to face masks, the nest was built with layers of human trash — the oldest piece...

cbc.ca

SNOW = MONEY

Looking to start a PhD? Want to work with us on the Gippsland coast of Australia to study how people interacted with marine molluscs over thousands of years? If so, get in touch! Deadline for applications is 27 March, 2025. #Archaeology #biodiversity #PhD www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships...

Interesting different views on whether scientists are also responsible for communication of their work and its importance.

John Kennedy@micefearboggis.bsky.social · last yr.

Time for scientists to retreat into literal ivory towers, latin curses stitched into their heavy robes, laboratories bedecked with bubbling glassware and minimum of ten lasers piercing the smoke, muttering and mumbling polysyllabic incantations.

And this sort of story is exactly why any ideas anyone has about a brain drain from the US as science is cut is likely not happening.

Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · last yr.

Today's university slashing and burning is Edinburgh, where about 10% of the budget will be cut. There'll be another case every single day until UK govts actually do something. A country so stupid it actively trashes one of things it's good at and famous for. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Headed home from Tucson after an intense week of biome modeling with @elkezeller.bsky.social, dreaming about vegetation of earth millions of years ago. Thanks to @leafwax.bsky.social for making this happen! And great to see you and the new lab @thirstygecko.bsky.social!