Prof. Bob Howarth
@profbobhowarth.bsky.social
Professor at Cornell University, Earth system scientist, co-EiC Land-Ocean-Atmosphere Research
This Thursday, SpaceX insiders will be released from their first post-IPO stock lockup and can cash out early. As I've been saying, this has all the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum called "an incompetent liar" by US attorney. No surprise, it's a job qualification requirement in the Trump administration. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/u...
Inside the Oval Office Showdown Between Trump and Jeanine Pirro (Gift Article)
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told President Trump that his interior secretary, Doug Burgum, had misled him with a self-serving cover story for his own mistakes.
nytimes.com
I keep refreshing the NYISO’s page tracking the power grid’s status b/c a huge new clean energy project recently went on line. It’s called CHPE. It brings hydropower from Quebec to NYC. Right now, it’s delivering 1,250 megawatts. That’s a lot! Lower prices, less pollution 👍
RFK Jr's CDC reportedly scaled back foodborne disease tracking last year, removing cyclospora from mandatory reporting. The CDC also lost roughly 3,000 employees since 2025. Now a cyclosporiasis outbreak has killed 2 and sickened thousands across 45 states. "Make America Healthy Again."
Call me crazy, but if a Democratic president had 350 accounts closed by their bank for money laundering it’d be more than a blip in the media
🚨NEW: Todd Blanche’s new order rescinds the May 18 Anti-Weaponization Fund—but quietly leaves the May 19 IRS immunity settlement intact. Instead of rescinding it, the accompanying memo reaffirms DOJ’s interpretation, arguing the immunity applies only retroactively and only to the parties involved.1/
I see we've reached the point in this particular summer of extremes where we are now having to BLOW UP rocks in drought-striken rivers to help send water towards gasping nuclear power plants www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
South-eastern Europe faces heatwave energy crunch as Romania detonates Danube rock to increase water flow – Europe live
Explosives used to move a large rock and let more water flow to cool nuclear power plant
theguardian.com
Important read on how LNG industry is relying on funding from US government to build out import infrastructure for gas in Asia. What a terribly bad idea. blog.datadesk.eco/p/build-it-a...
Build it and they will export: US public finance to invest in Asian import terminals
In an attempt to lock in an export market, an increasingly desperate US LNG industry is turning to the American public purse to fund infrastructure on the other side of the world.
blog.datadesk.eco
"The process would take about two years, estimated the company, Holtec International. Four years later, the plant, called Palisades, is not yet generating power."
David Roberts@volts.wtf · 7d agoNuclear proving to be more difficult in practice than its glib cheerleaders predicted?!?! This has never happened before I simply don't know what to make of it.
Kevin Anderson and others will be part of the National Emergency Briefing at New Scientist Live this October
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research@tyndallcentre.bsky.social · 5d agoOpen letter to the Prime Minister on new North Sea drilling 📢 Prof. Kevin Anderson & other Tyndall Centre scientists at the University of Manchester have urged Andy Burnham to rule out further development of the Rosebank/Jackdaw fields: buff.ly/aGbyTqM
Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.
General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
This is what makes Trump’s attacks on EVs so stupid. To salvage a failing industry that happens to include his big crooked donors, he’s sabotaging America’s auto industry in international competition. Everything else aside, EVs are just better vehicles. www.eenews.net/articles/dri...
Drivers flock to EVs amid rising gas prices from Iran war
Global sales of electric cars are expected to grow 10 percent this year, hitting 29 percent of total car sales.
eenews.net
Awful: The local press in Maine is crediting Susan Collins for getting Trump to agree to ICE bodycams nationwide. It's cynical BS: She voted for $70 billion in ICE money and against requiring bodycams. But this kind of thing is why she could still win. New from me: newrepublic.com/article/2138...
The shameful Trump v. Slaughter decision ends the independent, expertise-driven regulation of #nuclear power that the US has benefited from for over 50 years. We are no longer in compliance with Article 8 of the Nuclear Safety Convention. Other nations should take heed.
Big oil is increasingly pulling out of the North Sea.This suggests that the environmentalists’ description of a fast diminishing field is much truer than Trump‘s assertion (influencing Burnham) that it is a huge resource companies are itching to exploit. oilprice.com/Latest-Energ...
BP Puts Its North Sea Oil Business Up for Sale | OilPrice.com
BP has formally launched the sale of its UK North Sea business as it redirects capital toward higher-return oil and gas projects around the world.
oilprice.com
Nuclear climate casualty. www.bbc.com/news/article... www.bloomberg.com/news/article... montelnews.com/nordic/news/... www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07...
Danube's record low levels force shutdown of Hungary's only nuclear plant
Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia are also grappling with the effects of a series of prolonged heatwaves and low rainfall.
bbc.com
France Shuts Off More Nuclear Power as Heat Builds Across Europe. Reactor No. 2 at the Golfech nuclear power plant. Electricite de France SA shut down the Golfech-2 nuclear reactor in southern France. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
France Shuts Off More Nuclear Power as Heat Builds Across Europe
Electricite de France SA shut down the Golfech-2 nuclear reactor in southern France as a blistering heat wave pushes temperatures toward 40C across parts of Europe.
bloomberg.com
Wildfires in Europe are “very worrying”, says Shell boss, as oil giant cashed in on high prices to make bumper Q 2profits of almost $10bn. "My heart goes out to the many who are suffering from it” Sawan abandoned many green investments made by his predecessor www.thetimes.com/business/com...
Wildfires very worrying, says Shell boss as he defends green record
Wael Sawan, the oil group’s chief executive, insists it is not ‘just a fossil fuel company’
thetimes.com
Global warming drives seasonally opposite shifts in Northern and Southern storm tracks, revealing #hemispheric disparities key to extreme #weather #forecasting.🤓 @olarjournal.bsky.social spj.science.org/doi/10.34133...
Big Oil companies are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to help them escape accountability for their climate deception. But Exxon and Suncor “have come to the wrong forum at the wrong time with the wrong arguments,” Boulder, Colorado, told the justices in a brief this week.
Boulder urges SCOTUS to reject Big Oil’s ‘impatient,’ ‘failed,’ and ‘speculative’ arguments to stop climate deception case | Center for Climate Integrity
ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy “have come to the wrong forum at the wrong time with the wrong arguments,” Boulder told the justices, who will consider the case this fall.
climateintegrity.org
If Trump did NOTHING, very low-income families would have had their child care costs capped at 7%. But he scrapped that policy and Republicans voted to increase the cost of child care. Money for war, but nothing for child care.
"The upper limit of iron fertilization ... correspond[s] to a net annual drawdown rate of 0.14–0.70 Gt CO2/yr" (we emit around 40GtCO2/yr). Plus, significant uncertainty, trade-offs, and difficult to verify. Perhaps we could just reduce CO2 emissions by an extra 1-2%?
David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 7d agoA modeling study spanning 60 years of ocean iron fertilization across 10 ocean biomes reveals stark trade-offs in its use as a CO₂ removal technique. 🌊🧪
Open letter to the Prime Minister on new North Sea drilling 📢 Prof. @kevinclimate.bsky.social & other Tyndall Centre scientists at @manchester.ac.uk have urged Andy Burnham to rule out further development of the Rosebank/Jackdaw fields: buff.ly/aGbyTqM Read the full letter: buff.ly/wiRoh7S
PM urged to uphold climate pledges made as mayor and ban new North Sea oil drilling
Experts who helped Burnham draw up Manchester carbon neutral pledge say backtracking would send wrong message amid wildfires and heatwaves
theguardian.com
"Energy from heaven, not from hell." The best 11 minutes you'll spend today - this week - this year.
Bill McKibben@billmckibben.bsky.social · last wk.So, I finally did a TED talk, and it got released today. I seem to have been quite intense, but I'm grateful they left in my Trump joke. www.ted.com/talks/bill_m...
Here's some good news: harassment and intimidation can backfire: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Republican disenfranchisement bid drives Black voters to polls, study finds
Black voters in south motivated to turn out by Republican push to redraw maps after supreme court ruling
theguardian.com
“Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Right now people in blue states are basically paying federal taxes as if they’re colonized territories of red states. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
Follow me on Bandcamp to hear my ambient recordings: billgregg.bandcamp.com/album/source...
Source of the Hardware, by Bill Gregg
12 track album
billgregg.bandcamp.com