Do you live in this general vicinity? Did you hear loud plane noises yesterday and have an opinion about it and want to talk to me for an article I'm writing for @theshoestring.bsky.social ? If so DM or email me at jon.gerhardson@proton.me

⚠️ Fossil fuel companies and their allies are trying to limit climate liability lawsuits through the US Congress and Supreme Court. Even if these efforts succeed, climate litigation will not stop. It is evolving in a new direction. ⤵️ Get the links to 2 new analyses on this changing legal landscape.

UK: we don't know how many people have died prematurely due to the extreme heat, but as unprecedented temps and humidity overwhelm hospitals and public transport, remember that BP pocketed $3.2bn (£2.4bn) in profits in the first 3 months of 2026 - more than double in the same period last year.

6/ That former Hildebrand lobbyist is rewriting the EPA's methane rules, and my reporting shows he has been seeking input from oil industry groups backed by Hildebrand himself. Now the agency is poised to make specific carveouts for stripper wells.

2/ Hildebrand got rich buying up the old, low-producing wells known as “stripper wells.” Wells like these collectively contribute just 6% of US oil and gas, but generate half (!) the sector's methane pollution: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Methane emissions from US low production oil and natural gas well sites - Nature Communications

Only 6 percent of US oil and natural gas production output is from low production well sites. Here the authors show that total methane emissions from these low producing well sites in the US is substa...

nature.com

In Kingston, Jamaica, we are overwhelmed with heat and Saharan dust, and climate change is certainly the underlying factor. Writer Petre Williams Raynor has some "keep cool" tips and the Ministry of Health and Wellness also hs good advice. Take care, everyone.

Heat and dust in Jamaica: How to survive it

My friend Petre Wllliams Raynor is a terrific writer, journalist, environmentalist, public relations practitioner, breast cancer survivor, and a fabulous human being. She has been moved to write this blog post about the heat, and ways to combat it; I didn't know about the towel. No matter how "resilient" we humans think we are, it's really hard to cope.

petchary.wordpress.com

Heatwaves: older people less likely to follow safety advice Extreme heat is now considered the deadliest weather and climate-related hazard in Europe, causing more deaths than floods or storms. theconversation.com/heatwaves-ol...

Heatwaves: older people less likely to follow safety advice

The UK government issues heat alerts when temperatures spiral, but research suggests many people do not change their behaviour.

theconversation.com

Currently hosting the Weather & Climate livestream to show Americans about the weather & climate research currently at risk of being defunded federally. Tune in to check out some cooool science talks!! 😃 @wclivestream.bsky.social

Oh just what a world needs, AI features to support an already dysfunctional global policy process…

Personal freedom... unless it's the freedom to choose an alternative to fossil fuels. www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-iss...

DOE issues guidance ending gas-to-electric appliance rebates

The Department of Energy will instead allow rebates for “upgrading HVAC and appliances only from existing electric equipment to more efficient electric equipment.”

utilitydive.com

BREAKING: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed dismissal of the youth climate case Lighthiser v. Trump challenging three of Trump's pro-fossil fuel executive orders

Dana Drugmand@danad1012.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Lawyers for plaintiffs say they will pursue an expedited appeal to the 9th Circuit - the same court that shut the courthouse doors to youth in Juliana v. US But Lighthiser v. Trump "is a different case" says @youthvgov.bsky.social's Julia Olson insideclimatenews.org/news/1610202...

many such cases of "we wouldn't have so many COVID diagnoses if we stopped testing so much"

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 2mo ago

This has been a long time in the making but I am sure that technology companies with skyrocketing emissions are very very very happy about this apnews.com/article/sec-...

I know there is a lot going on, and not all of this is new, but numerous aspects of this OMB proposal are highly alarming and would, if enacted, effectively force American scientists receiving federal funding (which is...most of them in some capacity or another) to stop engaging with the public.

elizabethginexi.bsky.social@elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule. Russell Vought is going destroy American Science. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

Now, for the "good" news: these are still proposed changes! They have not yet gone into effect. The public comment period is now open, and will run through July 13. You can file a comment about this proposed rule changes here: www.regulations.gov/document/OMB...

Another significant change is the ability to terminate grants if they determine a project no longer advances agency priorities or the national interest. Grants typically run 3-5 years, so losing funds would be extremely disruptive, canceling in-progress research, personnel funding, etc. 7/n

🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n

So if I have this correct, since the end of 2024, the following news outlets have gutted their climate desks: CBS CNN Hakai Magazine (folded into Biographic after losing its namesake funder, which also lost its major funder recently) NPR Washington Post Have I missed anyone lol

Evan George@evanlgeorge.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NPR is shrinking its newsroom through layoffs and buyouts and is reducing staff dedicated to covering both climate and science. "The climate desk no longer exists separately but has been folded into the National Desk," writes Neela Banerjee, who headed the climate desk but was just laid off.

"Does this citation exist" is, for me at least, a demonstration that the bar is in Hell.

I'm sorry, what? In writing my first monograph, I spent six weeks trying to track down a citation in TWO languages I didn't know. And good thing too, because the citation was wrong. That's scholarship. That's research. You know, the thing we're trained to do?!?

Huge news: Jordan Acker, who infamously pushed state to prosecute UM student protestors, loses bid for re-election to UM Regents. The winner: Amir Makled, who provided pro bono legal support to those same UM students. Enormous victory for the Palestine/student solidarity movement.

This is embarrassing for science PEOPLE ARE DYING BECAUSE OF SOME OF THESE SPEAKERS, KATY bsky.app/profile/katy...

Katy Milkman@katymilkman.bsky.social · 4mo ago

To everyone responding with vitriol: please come! Our goal in choosing speakers was to platform both popular and unpopular figures advocating for scientific reforms to spark productive conversations across divides! If this makes you angry, come engage in dialogue — that’s how we improve.

Great summary of the cognitive dissonance of seeing the U.S. celebrate the Artemis mission while the current administration cuts science, by @chelseaeharvey.bsky.social in @eenews.bsky.social www.eenews.net/articles/art...

a “ceasefire” that lasted 17 hours and killed 254 people in lebanon is not a ceasefire and referring to it as one is inaccurate

let's be clear about what's happening: donald trump and benjamin netanyahu, whose countries have been committing genocide in gaza since 2023, unilaterally started a war with iran, and are now threatening genocide there.

I called my 89 year old grandma and she said “We only heard it but nothing more.” It’s ‘normal’ for her to hear a strike. At least it wasn’t too close. This isn’t normal. It just isn’t.

We do have fabulous maps of the Moon already, but the photos the astronauts are taking right now are very likely the ones you'll be seeing on magazine covers and in documentaries for decades. These distant, wider views, from odd angles and with human descriptions, are *contextual* 2/n

The astronauts actually acknowledged that at one point. One picked out some brown hues, and another was asked to confirm at a different window, but that one had a thermocouple on it with Kapton tape, which is bright orange, and he said it was messing with his perception of color.

New over here so introducing myself with some commentary on Artemis II!

What this also means: We should be grateful for our atmosphere 👀

Paul Byrne@theplanetaryguy.com · 4mo ago

The Artemis II crew just reported several impact flashes—explosions from hypervelocity impacts of meteoroids with the Moon—during the solar eclipse. We make a big effort to see a handful of these from Earth with telescopes. That astronauts flying by the Moon saw >4 in tens of minutes is AWESOME.

Total solar eclipse! Solar corona! From behind the Moon! #Artemis