Dr. Jonathan Foley
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globalecoguy.bsky.social
Dr. Jonathan Foley
@globalecoguy.bsky.social

- Executive Director, Project Drawdown drawdown.org
- Climate scientist, working on solutions
- Passionate about science, communication, and hope
- Minnesota based, Maine born

- Personal account / My views

Environmental science 62%
Geography 17%
Pinned
We have the solutions to stop climate change.

Now, it's time to bring them to scale. Fast.

To know what works, what doesn't, and how to get moving on science-based climate solutions, visit the Drawdown Explorer.

Reposted by Jonathan A. Foley

Russia and China have launched influence operations to quickly capitalize on controversy — this time surrounding the U.S. operation to seize the Venezuelan president — by spreading conspiracy theories and disingenuous content, researchers said.
How China and Russia are using Maduro’s capture to sway U.S. discourse
Chinese and Russian influence operations have sought to capitalize on the U.S. operation in Venezuela by spreading conspiracy theories, confusion and inflammatory claims, researchers say.
www.washingtonpost.com
Crowds of protesters across the U.S. mobilized against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on Saturday, three days after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. trib.al/RXQlxWj

While I know folks might not like billionaires, that shouldn't take away from their generosity.

The Schmidts have funded many good efforts in science, the environment, and education. They're good people.

And I, for one, like seeing billionaires funding telescopes instead of toppling democracies…

I understand. My preference is obviously for Earth — the coolest planet of all. But I wouldn't mind seeing much more of both. And less going to ICE, oil subsidies, and tax loopholes for the rich.

I hear you. And that's what I've devoted my life too.

But the Schmidts have also given millions and millions to ocean, climate, and environmental work, too.

They're some of the good folks out there, and I think it's great that they are supporting lots of good causes.

Sure. In the meantime, I'd rather see folks fund telescopes than toppling democracies…

This is great! Eric and Wendy Schmidt make a massive investment in astronomy research.

More of this please.

arstechnica.com/space/2026/0...
Former Google CEO plans to singlehandedly fund a Hubble telescope replacement
“This is a very significant contribution to the astronomical community."
arstechnica.com
WSJ investigation: In the past 6 months ICE agents have fired at vehicles 13 times, leading to:

* 8 people shot
* 5 of which were U.S. citizens
* 2 died
* no victims drew a weapon

The playbook: Agents box in a vehicle, block attempts to flee, then fire

www.wsj.com/us-news/vide...
Videos Show How ICE Vehicle Stops Can Escalate to Shootings
A WSJ visual investigation found that the Minneapolis ICE killing is one of 13 incidents where federal immigration agents have used deadly force against civilians in vehicles since July.
www.wsj.com
If women quit X because of Grok’s deepfake nudes, the predators win – so I’m staying
If women quit X because of Grok’s deepfake nudes, the predators win – so I’m staying
If women quit X because of Grok’s deepfake nudes, the predators win – so I’m staying
www.independent.co.uk

I am planning on it :-)

Sure, but it's not really ideal. At least twice (if not more) the effort -- and we have no dedicated budget for this.

A question:

I am considering producing a new series of short educational videos on climate solutions. It seems that the best advice is to go with:

- short, 1-3 minute videos that do well in Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

- medium-length, 3-7-minute videos that do well on YouTube.

What do you suggest?

Reposted by Jonathan A. Foley

Join us for an interactive webinar with national experts to explore the emotional dimensions of climate change. Learn about practical tools and resources for cultivating emotional resilience.

🗓️ Feb 5, 2026
👉 https://bit.ly/49KM7Qd

Our team — with about a third of us based in the Minneapolis area — has been reeling from yesterday’s events.

This is what I shared with them. Just some words.

Maybe it helped a little? I honestly don't know.

Makes sense.

(A) Push forward climate solutions — as cheaper, faster, and better ways to run the world. (That’s what we do at Project Drawdown)

(B) Pull back on fossil fuels — since they are more expensive, dangerous, dirty, and slow.

Doing A makes B easier.
To stop climate change, we need A+B.

Focusing on only one lever is a mistake.

Focusing only on deploying cheaper climate solutions is not the whole game, although it is *critical*.

And focusing only on curtailing fossil fuels is not the whole game, as it’s unlikely to work without good (cheaper, faster) replacements.

We need both.

Of course, I think we should be working on both fronts — make renewables (and other solutions) simply the obvious choice because they are better, faster, cheaper…

AND work like hell to stop the expansion of fossil fuels, which are worse, slower, dirtier, more dangerous, etc…

I think we agree 😊

But I do think experience shows that we will get a lot of good climate action by making real climate solutions (but not natural gas!) cheaper and easier to build.

And I think this will work better than policies that constrain fossil fuels, which have big political hurdles…

Yes, I agree. I thought Yglesias’ piece was way way off.

Yeah, I hear you. That makes a lot of sense.

We’re on the same page, but I encounter a lot more Doomers who think it’s “1.5 is gone, so we’re all gonna die” and that’s simply not true…

Sure, but I think we also need to avoid the “magic number” thinking that suggests that 1.5 or 2 or whatever is some kind of absolute barrier beyond which all is lost.

Maybe it’s best to say something like:

The warmer it gets, the damages grow — even faster.

That’s why these targets are somewhat squishier than we’d like. But the overall message is “more warming, more damage” and those damages are likely to grow non-linearly, especially in some regions.

There is no single global “tipping point” that can be expressed as a simple global average temperature like 1.5 C, 2 C, or whatever.

The tipping points we might see are more specific to regional situations — e.g., the Amazon.

And the warmer the planet the gets, the more likely some might occur.

Reposted by Jonathan A. Foley

Recycling (a highly recommended climate solution) is now live on the Explorer! ♻️

Recycling reduces GHG emissions by minimizing reliance on energy-intensive primary material production, reducing demand for raw materials, and diverting paper from landfills.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/497W74u

Yeah, it was 5 years ago :-)

Tired of moon hype? Me too. Just go out and look at it.
The moon seems to have a dedicated PR team, with news outlets hyping Wolf Moons, Super Blood Moons, Cold Moons, and more, Kaitlyn Tiffany writes. She explores what's behind the moon hype:
Stop Talking About the Moon
Just look at it.
bit.ly
The moon seems to have a dedicated PR team, with news outlets hyping Wolf Moons, Super Blood Moons, Cold Moons, and more, Kaitlyn Tiffany writes. She explores what's behind the moon hype:
Stop Talking About the Moon
Just look at it.
bit.ly

In an era when science and basic reasoning is under attack, spending time and bandwidth presenting some gentle tweaks to pseudoscientific nonsense is irresponsible.

The New York Times should do better.

A better title would be “Your Zodiac Sign is Total Bullshit, Period.”

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out of Date
Over millennia, our view of the stars has shifted, because of Earth’s wobble. It may be time to rethink your sign.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Jonathan A. Foley

The start of the year is a moment for clarity. 🌍 Project Drawdown is the leading guide to science-based climate solutions. We exist so decision-makers and individuals can take climate action with confidence.

👉 Where do you see the biggest gap between knowledge and action today?

#climatesolutions