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John H Knox

John H Knox

@johnhknox.bsky.social

550 followers 130 following 23 posts

Professor of Law, Wake Forest University. From 2012 to 2018, I was the first UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment.

Chemistry 33%

Engineering 15%

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Reposted by Stefan Rahmstorf, John De Vos, Du Toit , and 6 more Stefan Rahmstorf, John De Vos, Du Toit, David Johnson, Rupert Read, Adrian Vickers, Andrew Watkins, Tim Stephens, John H. Knox

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 1d

2025 was the hottest year on record for ocean heat content. Unfortunately, we now say this every year. 🥹

"In addition to setting a new record in 2025, the global
ocean continues to show sustained and intensified warming."

+ #OpenAccess Study: doi.org/10.1007/s003...
+ Data: www.ocean.iap.ac.cn

Bar graph showing global ocean heat content change in the upper 2000 m from the late 1950s through 2025. There is a long-term warming in the time series, which is using IAP/CAS data.

Reposted by John H. Knox

Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 2d

An internet shutdown has plunged Iran into a communications blackout as authorities continue to unleash their deadly repression against protesters.

UN member states should press Iran to stop the bloodshed and pursue accountability.

Reposted by John H. Knox, Markus W. Gehring

Center for International Environmental Law @ciel.org · 2d

🚨 We denounce the Trump Administration’s move to withdraw the US from dozens of UN bodies and organizations.

🌐 This is a targeted assault on international law and the institutions that safeguard human rights, peace, and climate justice worldwide.

Read CIEL president’s statement 👉 bit.ly/4aKuFMS

Reposted by Jason Mittell, Colin F. Camerer, Stephan Lewandowsky , and 27 more Jason Mittell, Colin F. Camerer, Stephan Lewandowsky, Jennifer A. Richeson, Suzana J. Camargo, Patrick Dunleavy, Steve Peers, Glenn Lyons, Rosemary A. Joyce, Henning Melber, Paul Bowman, Peter Holmes, John Foot, Robert Wolfe, W. Andy Knight, Michael Zimmer, Adrian Daub, Gerald Friedman, Anne Norton, Nikolay Marinov, Kent Johnson, Ann Bartow, Mary Jane Curry, Ryan K. Brook, Eric J. Sundquist, John H. Knox, Albin Wagener, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Jaap Kooijman, Kristina McElheran

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 3d

Make it viral.

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, David R. Miller, Stacy D. VanDeveer , and 1 more Rosemary A. Joyce, David R. Miller, Stacy D. VanDeveer, John H. Knox

Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 3d

Better yet, disestablish all of DHS, and undo the nightmarish idiocies that we created in a panic 25 years ago. Reestablish the INS, get rid of ODNI, fix the damage from the Patriot Act, etc.

Gail Helt @gailhelt.bsky.social · 3d

For the love of all that is decent and holy: abolish ICE

Reposted by John H. Knox

Jacob Katz Cogan @jkatzcogan.bsky.social · 3d

Horrible, but not unexpected. I wrote about the Trump administration's assault on IOs in the October issue of AJIL. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

John H Knox @johnhknox.bsky.social · 3d

Actually it’s not clear that it would require a two-thirds vote. To be clear, the Senate doesn’t ratify a treaty, it provides its consent. Once it has done that, a future president could probably deposit the instrument of ratification again and rejoin without having to send it back to the Senate

Reposted by Valerie Mueller, Deborah Avant, John H. Knox

Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 3d

one net effect of this will just be to make life a little harder for Americans in ways, they can’t quite put their finger on, because some of these organizations do the invisible work of multilateralism that enables contemporary life; another will be to hold up progress on most shared global goal…

Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United

www.whitehouse.gov

Reposted by John H. Knox

Robinson Meyer @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social · 3d

The US is withdrawing from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty that has governed international climate diplomacy since 1992, per the AP: heatmap.news/sparks/us-wi...

George H.W. Bush first signed the pact, and the Senate unanimously ratified. US has been a member since then.

The U.S. Will Exit UN’s Framework Climate Treaty, According to Reports

The move would mark a significant escalation in Trump’s hostility toward climate diplomacy.

Reposted by John H. Knox

Nina Lakhani @ninalakhani.bsky.social · 11d

By me: It’s easy to feel powerless about climate chaos. Here’s what gives me hope - my swan song for @theguardian.com, at least for now
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It’s easy to feel powerless about climate chaos. Here’s what gives me hope | Nina Lakhani

I’ve spent six years writing about environmental justice. The uncomfortable truth is that we’re not all in it together – but people power is reshaping the fight

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Gavin A. Schmidt, Mary Margaret McCabe, Christina Ho , and 1 more Gavin A. Schmidt, Mary Margaret McCabe, Christina Ho, John H. Knox

Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) @msf.ca · 20d

Here’s a snapshot of the services MSF provided in #Gaza in 2025. We’ve received no updates on our Israeli registration process for 2026 and it is unclear if we will be able to continue activities.

- 800,000 consultations

- 22,700 surgical operations

- 700 million litres of water

Reposted by John H. Knox

Mongabay @mongabay.com · Nov 28

[PODCAST]

Filipino lawyer Nonette Royo, head of The Tenure Facility, shares how her team of “barefoot lawyers” has helped secure land rights across 34M hectares.

On Mongabay’s podcast, she discusses their Earthshot recognition and why tenure is key for people and planet.

Rights to millions of hectares of Indigenous & local communities’ lands restored by ‘barefoot lawyers’

Nonette Royo is a lawyer from the Philippines and executive director of The Tenure Facility, a group of “barefoot lawyers” working to secure land tenure for Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant…

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by Peter Van Elsuwege, John H. Knox

American Society of International Law @asilorg.bsky.social · Feb 13

ASIL.org/ASILStatement

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Jul 26

The first planned migration of an entire country due to climate change is happening! Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation, is at risk of being submerged under rising sea level, so it has signed an agreement with Australia to allow 280 Tuvaluans to settle in Australia as permanent residents each year.

The First Planned Migration of an Entire Country Is Underway

The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu could be submerged in 25 years due to rising sea levels, so a plan is being implemented to relocate its population to Australia.

Reposted by John H. Knox

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Jun 3

When you investigate **any** of the links or evidence put forward by permitting-bros and abundance-bros trying to claim the environmental movement is single worst opponent to clean energy on the planet, you very unsurprisingly end up reading stuff that just doesn't support their claims.

Reposted by John H. Knox

Mongabay @mongabay.com · May 31

NGOs in Indonesia have documented widespread environmental and social violations across 33 industrial tree plantations since 2023, including deforestation, peatland destruction, fires, and land conflicts with Indigenous communities.

Deforestation and fires persist in Indonesia’s pulpwood and biomass plantations

JAKARTA — Industrial plantations of trees to make paper and wood pellets are causing widespread and persistent environmental and social violations in Indonesia, despite claims to the contrary by the…

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by John H. Knox

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · May 27

Fox News' Harris Faulkner reacts to Scott Pelley's commencement speech by saying the White House could soon strip CBS of "funding" for supposedly being antisemitic.

"The administration has an answer for this. And Scott Pelley, I don't know, maybe it won’t be 60 Minutes anymore."

Reposted by Alison Johnson, John H. Knox, Matthew T. Hora

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · May 27

Scott Pelley—American author and reporter for CBS News for more than 31 years, did not hold back

Reposted by John H. Knox

Mongabay @mongabay.com · May 27

Bangladesh is making a list of sacred forests, aged trees and other socially important flora in a bid to strengthen forest conservation.

Conservationists say they believe that the new measures will help protect the biodiversity and ecology that had been overlooked in the past.

Bangladesh protects sacred forests to strengthen biodiversity conservation

With an aim to protect biodiversity that’s become fragmented and is scattered across the country, Bangladesh is listing all the old, sacred and socially important trees and forests. The Forest…

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by John H. Knox

Andrew Fishman @andrew.intercept.com.br · May 24

How To Save The Amazon by Dom Phillips "is a book both brilliant and broken, one that is ultimately as inspiring and devastating as the Amazon itself." - @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

How to Save the Amazon by Dom Phillips review – tracing the late journalist’s footprints

A team of writers complete the vital book that Guardian reporter Dom Phillips was working on at the time of his murder

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by John H. Knox

Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) @rightstracker.bsky.social · May 24

📣 NEW DATA ALERT | We are glad to be releasing 2025 human rights scores for 195 countries in June. #Journalists and #CSO civil society orgs are welcome to see the data early, under embargo.

Quick form here for early access: humanrightsmeasurement.org/data-launch-...

2025 Data Launch Registration Form | Human Rights Measurement Initiative

Data Launch Registration Form for the Rights Tracker 2024 for interested journalists and Civil Society Organizations!

humanrightsmeasurement.org

Reposted by Michael Gerrard, Andy Reisinger, John H. Knox

Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · May 23

Here it is, in a clear graphic from the NYTimes. The GOP budget destruction bill will add $3.3 TRILLION to the national debt.
And how? Entirely by tax cuts to the rich, paid for by cutting health, food for the poor, climate science, and Medicaid.

Reposted by John H. Knox

Lotte Leicht @lotteleicht.bsky.social · May 7

“This will be a key milestone in reinforcing legal protection for both people and the planet”

#UN experts urge Council of Europe states to start negotiations on a legally binding Protocol that will recognize the right to a clean, healthy, & sustainable environment

www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

Council of Europe must recognise the right to a healthy environment, UN experts urge

GENEVA – UN experts* today urged the Ministers at the Council of Europe to demonstrate leadership by starting negotiations on an additional binding Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights...

Reposted by John H. Knox

Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE @healthyenvcoe.bsky.social · May 5

UN experts urge @coe.int Member States to negotiate an additional protocol to the European Convention to protect the right to a clean, healthy & sustainable environment.

No more delays for a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll!
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

@srenvironment.bsky.social @srtoxics.bsky.social

Reposted by John H. Knox

Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · May 2

In between the stories of horrific human rights abuses and trade war insanity I remember that they have also destroyed all our research and data infrastructure and effectively ended any environmental, health, or labor regulation.

Reposted by John H. Knox

Elizabeth Kolbert @elizkolbert.bsky.social · May 2

The new Silent Spring:

75 percent of North America’s bird species are in decline, study says

Birds are rapidly vanishing from North America, with dramatic population losses in places that were once thought safe.

Reposted by John H. Knox

Aimee Gabay @aimeegabay.bsky.social · Apr 21

Seven years after four officials were charged with negligence that resulted in a toxic cyanide spill at Canadian miner Barrick Gold’s Veladero gold mine in Argentina, the case has still not gone to trial.

New for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/04/stil...

Still no trial over Argentina cyanide mine spill, 7 years after officials were charged

This is the first of a three-part series on underreported issues involving Canadian mining companies and Indigenous peoples or local communities. Read part two here. Seven years after an environmental...

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by John H. Knox

Nina Lakhani @ninalakhani.bsky.social · Apr 21

By me: Hundreds of marches, pickets and cleanup events are taking place across the US in the run-up to Earth Day on Tuesday, as environmental and climate groups step up resistance to the Trump administration’s authoritarianism and its war on the planet

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Wave of Earth Day protests as Americans mobilize against Trump

Organizers team up with pro-democracy groups for flurry of actions to demand right to free, healthy lives

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Robert W. Wallace, Dominik Wiedenhofer, John H. Knox

Eric McDaniel @ericm.cd · Apr 17

I look at close to 100 stories a week and even more outside of work. I’ve done this ten years.

This is among the most horrific things I’ve ever read — testimony from dying children whose access to medicine has been cut off by the Trump administration.

www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Haunted by hopelessness: 12 Zambians share their stories as HIV drugs run out

Mothers and children, husbands and wives, doctors, truck drivers and religious leaders are all grappling with the fallout from the sudden U.S. cuts in aid.

Reposted by John H. Knox

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · Apr 7

Climate Terminology Does Not Matter

Across tens of thousands of participants in two large-scale experiments, we found that labeling climate change in different ways had no effect on their stated willingness to act.
jayvanbavellab.substack.com/p/climate-te...

via @dgoldwert.bsky.social

Climate Terminology Does Not Matter

Our new paper finds that swapping out one climate term for another does not meaningfully change people’s stated commitment to fight climate change

jayvanbavellab.substack.com