Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Laura Routh

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 4d

the republican governor of utah spencer cox cites my story about esmeralda 7’s apparent cancelation to criticize the trump administration:

“this is how we lose the AI/energy arms race with china”

Spencer Cox: This is how we lose the AI/energy arms race with China. Our country needs an all-of-the-above approach to energy (like Utah). We should be all in on nuclear/natural gas/geothermal and keeping our coal plants open for as long as possible. However, there are innovation/permitting/supply chain issues slowing those down. While intermittent sources have been overvalued in the past (and offshore wind is a disaster and should be discontinued), the incredible leaps in battery technology completely change the value proposition of solar in the right places. Solar with batteries can now be close to baseload power and we should keep these projects rolling until we get the gas/nuclear/geothermal plants we need.

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 3d

“These achievements have led to analysts referring to China as the world’s first significant “electrostate”, a global manufacturing superpower with a rising share of industry coming from electricity…and an economy increasingly driven by clean tech.”
bsky.app/profile/janr...

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 5d

China ≠ just coal plants and solar exports. The deeper shift: electrifying everything it can. Strategic, because China relies on imported fossil fuels. Coal is still king in the power mix—for now. But the balance is changing year by year.

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 3d

One of his many thrones

Cat pics because the news is brutal

Gray cat sitting on a pile of laundry that’s stacked high on a sofa. He’s looking at the photographer.

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Evan Frost @wildwoods.bsky.social · 4d

"World’s tropical forests are getting younger and that’s a major problem for the climate -- 140 million tons of above-ground carbon are lost per year because old-growth forests are being replaced by younger stands." 🌍 www.zmescience.com/ecology/worl...

World’s Tropical Forests are Getting Younger And That's Actually a Major Problem for the Climate

New research quantifying the global impact of forest age transitions found that 140 million tons of aboveground carbon are lost per year because of old-growth forests being replaced by younger stands.

www.zmescience.com

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 4d

“I hike back over the snow-covered dunes from the frozen lake, thinking of glacial moraines and the thousand-foot wall of ice that made them.”

Finding meaning in place through time and experience, of oneself and others. A beautiful piece!

Roy Scranton @royscranton.bsky.social · 5d

"A dune is never just a dune."

Very pleased to have this piece on the Indiana dunes, nature writing, and metaphysics up @emergencemagazine.bsky.social.

emergencemagazine.org/essay/strang...

Strange New World – Roy Scranton

Looking beyond the flat, familiar landscape of his home in South Bend, Indiana, Roy Scranton lets himself be changed by the hidden histories and depths beneath its surface, so that the land may become...

emergencemagazine.org

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 5d

Here's the TOTAL budgets of some other agencies that are being cut so the Admin can send $20B your tax dollars to their ideological friends:

- EPA (clean air and water): $9.1B

- NOAA (weather forecasts, warn if hurricane coming): $6.8B

- DOE EERE (energy efficiency & renewable energy): $3.4B

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Jennifer Molidor @jennifermolidor.bsky.social · 5d

Hanging onto every bit of good news

The river has come alive in the Klamath with wild Chinook salmon. The wider ecosystem is healing.

This most powerful story of Indigenous-led #rewilding after the largest dam removal in US history keeps getting better.

lostcoastoutpost.com/2025/oct/9/o...

One Year After Klamath Dam Removal, 'There's Just Fish Jumping All Over the Place': Scientists Describe Improvements to Water Quality and Wildlife

lostcoastoutpost.com

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · 5d

Here we go again. Go get em Coastal Commission. @thecacoast.bsky.social. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/10/09/c...

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 5d

This seems bad.

Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 5d

Antifa is not a group; the president cannot designate domestic terror groups.

My @brennancenter.org colleague @faizapatel.bsky.social is out today with a deep review of NSPM-7. It is a dangerous directive that will facilitate predatory politics-based targeting: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Reposted by Laura Routh

Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 7d

Well, folks, personal news: After 7 years, today is my last day with @latimes.com.

It's been a privilege working with some of the world's best journalists at my hometown paper. Thank you to everyone who's read and supported my work.

I'm not done telling climate stories. More news to come.

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 6d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 6d

So sinister looking!

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Luke Steuber @lukesteuber.com · 6d

Oh shit, ANTIFA is suiting up

From the sound of music. Seven children stand in a line inside a grand house, wearing identical light blue sailor-style uniforms with dark collars, neckties, and knee socks. They are arranged from tallest to shortest, standing at attention on a patterned rug with a staircase and ornate wall paneling behind them.

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Kelly Hereid @kellyhereid.bsky.social · 6d

Looks like @goldfinger300.bsky.social @earthjay.bsky.social just want to make sure everyone is awake over here, with paleoseismic evidence for Cascadia triggering the northern San Andreas ⚒️🧪

"may represent direct evidence of stress triggering and partial synchronization of these two great faults"

Unravelling the dance of earthquakes: Evidence of partial synchronization of the northern San Andreas fault and Cascadia megathrust | Geosphere | GeoScienceWorld

pubs.geoscienceworld.org

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Reposted by Laura Routh

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 7d

we charge our hyundai ioniq 5 around once every two to three weeks at a muncipal charger and i’d say it runs about $9 for 250 miles of range.

How Much It Costs to Drive an E.V. and a Gas Car in Every State

www.nytimes.com

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 6d

I wish I could! It would be nice if more people thought like that. Quit as much as you can.

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 6d

Holy moly!

Peter Brannen @peterbrannen.bsky.social · 6d

Just remembered this jaw-dropping graph by @oceansclimatecu.bsky.social showing the rate of change in CO2 during the previous two deglaciations of the Pleistocene (which, as a fun aside, featured ~400 feet of sea level rise) as compared with today

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 6d

"In Gaza, destruction is rewarded with contracts and the “peace plan” is property development.

Historian @adam_tooze & economist @ClaraEMattei
trace how capitalism profits through ruin: war, austerity, and reconstruction form one system of control. "
youtu.be/0iIEgp1LPpA

Rebuilding Gaza — For Profit | Adam Tooze

YouTube video by FREE – Forum for Real Economic Emancipation

youtu.be

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Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · 6d

If you are a federal worker, there are several credit unions and other financial institutions that are offering zero interest loans during the government shutdown.

Please go to my website for more information: www.sanders.senate.gov/resources-fo...

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 6d

“Again, in 2025, the national government is in the grip of determined reactionaries. And again, we see that their commitment to small government is merely rhetorical.” @jamellebouie.net www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | It’s Not Government They Don’t Like

www.nytimes.com

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 6d

Just another day of clicking the three dots on fossil fuel company ads and checking the “This ad is inappropriate box.”

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 6d

Also: “Altogether, this paints a picture of a North Pacific basin in which the north-to-south (meridional) temperature differential is among the weakest it has ever been in the modern record.” Interesting! I hope to learn more about this from the recording of today’s live video.

Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 6d

“While statewide temperatures were in most cases lower than recent Septembers that featured sustained record-breaking heat, they generally ranked among the top 10-20% warmest of all September temperatures in the past ~130 years.” @weatherwest.bsky.social weatherwest.com/archives/43542

Hurricane Priscilla remnants to bring widespread Southwest rain/thunderstorms (including far SoCal); more widespread precipitation possible with colder NorCal system by mid-Oct - Weather West

An very mild September across CA, but humidity & some unusual rainfall kept fire risk low September 2025 was yet another "strange" weather month along the Pacific Coast. In California, multiple episod...

weatherwest.com

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Laura Routh @laurarouth.bsky.social · 6d

“While statewide temperatures were in most cases lower than recent Septembers that featured sustained record-breaking heat, they generally ranked among the top 10-20% warmest of all September temperatures in the past ~130 years.” @weatherwest.bsky.social weatherwest.com/archives/43542

Hurricane Priscilla remnants to bring widespread Southwest rain/thunderstorms (including far SoCal); more widespread precipitation possible with colder NorCal system by mid-Oct - Weather West

An very mild September across CA, but humidity & some unusual rainfall kept fire risk low September 2025 was yet another "strange" weather month along the Pacific Coast. In California, multiple episod...

weatherwest.com

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Reposted by Laura Routh

David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 7d

About ninety percent of all global historical emissions have been produced in the lifetime of our current president.

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Reposted by Laura Routh

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 7d

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