Matt Barlow
@materialbarlow.bsky.social
1.2K followers 310 following 27 posts
Postdoc in Urban Ecologies at the Technical University of Munich. Undisciplined anthropologist. He/him. mattbarlow.me
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materialbarlow.bsky.social
Excited to be part of the team to help realise this exhibition in Munich next week, our first public event/exhibition as part of the new Chair of Sustainable Urban Environments here at TUM
materialbarlow.bsky.social
Inspired by David Bond's provocation that the future of toxicity is replacing the history of empire as a vehicle for addressing the blind spots of liberalism, highlighting that theories of toxicity have paid such little attention to the political economy of petrochemical industries. #DGSKA2025
materialbarlow.bsky.social
Really enjoyed my last couple of days at the @infranortherc.bsky.social conference 'Beyond Infrastructure: Un-built environments of the anthropocene' in Vienna. My first time presenting research from my PhD in Europe 💫
materialbarlow.bsky.social
Wrapping up my time at Penn in preparation for my move to Munich... Reflecting on the books that have kept me company (and been staring at me!) over the last 10 months...
Reposted by Matt Barlow
nytransitmuseum.bsky.social
#WomensHistoryMonth: The City of Women Map is a fascinating visualization of women’s history and urban transportation. Created by Molly Roy, Rebecca Solnit, and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, the map renames subway stops after notable women with links to that area, offering an entirely new way to view #NYC.
Reposted by Matt Barlow
wired.com
WIRED @wired.com · Mar 28
BREAKING: DOGE is starting to put together a team to migrate the SSA's computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system—and the benefits on which tens of millions of Americans rely—at risk.
DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Codebase In Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse
Social Security systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, an archaic programming language. Safely rewriting that code would take years—DOGE wants it done in months.
www.wired.com
Reposted by Matt Barlow
bostonglobe.com
The Tufts graduate student detained by federal authorities in Somerville has been sent to a Louisiana detention facility, despite a federal judge’s order telling US Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to remove her from Massachusetts without notice.
Tufts graduate student detained by federal authorities sent to Louisiana - The Boston Globe
Masked plainclothes officers arrested Rumeysa Ozturk outside a Somerville home Tuesday evening.
www.bostonglobe.com
materialbarlow.bsky.social
Excited to see this out in the world! This article is a result from my year of working alongside Ari, Theo, and Lydia. Here we attempted to grapple with the ways that capitalist frontiers have always been voluminous, and are increasingly moving more explicitly into "non-terrestrial realms".
yolandaariadne.bsky.social
As the search for #criticalminerals ramps up, mining is expanding further beyond the Earth's surface. Read about how mining builds on colonial governance strategies and reshapes Amazon, deep-sea, and outer space environments in our latest paper: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #MineTheVolume
Reposted by Matt Barlow
ericklinenberg.bsky.social
Chilling report from Brown University.

Administration advises all foreign students, staff, and faculty to postpone or reconsider (ie cancel) international travel, due to federal government's crackdown on universities.

Brown also warns against *domestic travel* -since it's unclear what ICE will do.
Brown University advises all international community members to postpone, reconsider travel
One week before spring break, Brown advised international community members, including green card holders and permanent residents, to postpone international travel in a campus-wide email sent on Sunda...
www.browndailyherald.com
Reposted by Matt Barlow
victorerikray.bsky.social
This is a concentration camp.
nikkimcr.bsky.social
Trump announces an executive order authorizing a 30,000 capacity migrant detention center in Guantanamo.

"Some of them are so bad we don't even trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back, so we're going to send them out to Guatanamo Bay."
Reposted by Matt Barlow
brittneymac15.bsky.social
Ok, here's what you need to know about Trump's anti-trans executive order targeting trans youth. Teamed up with @leximcmenamin.bsky.social to explain what it means for trans youth right now, with legal input from @aclu.org attorney @harperseldin.bsky.social

www.teenvogue.com/story/trumps...
Everything We Know About Trump's Executive Order on Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth
From what it says to what it means for you.
www.teenvogue.com
Reposted by Matt Barlow
doctorvive.bsky.social
BREAKING: Acting @EPA Administrator James Payne has fired the agency's science advisors.

They will be replaced in order to, he says, "ensure that the agency receives scientific advice consistent with its legal obligations to advance our core mission," whatever that means.
BREAKING NEWS ALERT
EPA fires science advisers
01/28/2025 07:24 PM EST Acting EPA Administrator James Payne has ousted all members of two of the agency's most influential science advisory panels, giving President Donald Trump's
administration the opportunity to reshape them with its own appointees. In an obliquely worded email sent late Tuesday afternoon, Payne said a decision had been made to "reset" the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Science Advisory Board "to ensure that the agency receives scientific advice consistent with its legal
obligations to advance our core mission." EPA will seek nominations in the coming weeks, Payne added, with all members
encouraged to reapply.
Reposted by Matt Barlow
timeshighered.bsky.social
Durham University has become the latest Russell Group institution to announce plans to cut jobs, stating it needs to reduce staff costs by £20 million over the next two academic years

#highered #EduSky
Durham expects 200 jobs to go as it seeks to save £20 million
University becomes latest to announce staff cuts, saying it cannot rule out compulsory redundancies
www.timeshighereducation.com
Reposted by Matt Barlow
Reposted by Matt Barlow
tdneale.bsky.social
Hello, so, I'm an anthropologist who has studied wildfires for over a decade and, just recently, handed in a book manuscript for peer review on the pathologies of wildfire management in Australia and, to a lesser extent, Canada and the US. It's called "How to Control Fire" (TBC).
Reposted by Matt Barlow
antidogmatist.bsky.social
The uneven extraction of wealth and resources from South to North never ended, and the funds the South now demands for climate are a mere token of the kind of reparations that would actually be just (not to mention effective towards creating an actually-sustainable global society)
davidrvetter.bsky.social
World Bank: Poor nations spend more money paying off debts to the countries that impoverished them ($1.4tn) than the amount of money they've asked for to combat climate change ($1.3tn).

And remember: the paltry $300bn in finance announced at COP29 comes with strings attached.
drsimevans.carbonbrief.org
World Bank: "Developing countries spent a record $1.4tn to service their foreign debt…in 2023…squeezing budgets of many…in critical areas such as health, education, & envt"

Perspective on developing countries' unmet request at #COP29 for $1.3tn in annual climate finance…
Reposted by Matt Barlow
thierryaaron.bsky.social
I'm keen to encourage more reflection & discussion about universities role in responding to the #ClimateCrisis.

So, I've started another starter pack of key voices on this topic. Would love to add more people to it.

Suggestions are very welcome 🙂

go.bsky.app/R51quRA
Reposted by Matt Barlow
gsoh31.bsky.social
Another day, another university in crisis. This time it's Canterbury Christ Church, to lose say 400 jobs and over a quarter of posts. The reality of what is happening in UK Higher Education - and even worse, what is about to happen - is crushing. I'm so sorry. www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/n...
Uni staff told in video call 400 jobs could go to save £20m
More than a quarter of jobs at a university could be slashed in a bid to save £20 million, KentOnline can reveal.
www.kentonline.co.uk
materialbarlow.bsky.social
"Real impact on our economy will come from areas such as physics, chemistry, maths, engineering, and biomedical sciences"