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Michael Tobis (mt)

@mtobis.bsky.social

3.2K followers 2.2K following 1.9K posts

PhD atmospheric/oceanic sciences 1996 but a bit rusty. Opinionated. Main topics: climate, sustainability, Canada, AI and ML, journalism. Also: roots music, art, healthy plant-based food. Please think like a planet! https://initforthegold.blogspot.com

initforthegold.blogspot.com

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · May 24

Climate change summarized.

"Carbon is Forever"

🧵 0/6

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Ryan @ryanwright.bsky.social · Jun 11

Bagels vs Not Bagels.

Pictures of a NY “bagel style substitute” and a Montreal bagel.

Text:

New York Dough Thing

Not a bagel.
Seriously, it's not a bagel.
It's... fine.

Montreal Bagel

Fantastic bagel.
Seriously, it's delicious.
Don't accept pretenders.

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 1d

To be candid, I want the bubble to burst. Because it will eventually and inevitably, but the longer the current charade goes on the more our planet and communities are decimated— and the more dependent we become on the few powerful people left who control those resources.

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 2d

Energy requirements for AI mean that the only way for the bubble not to burst would require companies to multiply their carbon footprint to an unimaginable degree. Right now, while AI is barely functional and mostly a novelty for the lazy, it requires so much energy that data centers rival cities.

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 1d

So when I hear of students being encouraged to use GPT in college I don’t hear innovation. I hear cognitive atrophy, the inability to think critically for oneself, and total dependence on vulnerable centralized repositories of data for knowledge without ever understanding how knowledge is generated.

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 1d

One curious thing on this site about speaking out against the encroachment of LLMs is that inevitably you get accused of being anti-tech. I don’t hate technology. I’ve used machine learning in my own code before. But I also recognize that oligarchs are so hellbent on pushing this tech for a reason.

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 1d

Not my point really, but thanks.

Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 1d

“Taioseach” is Irish for Prime Minister.

Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 1d

“I don’t think we can mitigate for climate change.”

- Mícheál Martin, Taoiseach.

www.independent.ie/business/tec...

Taoiseach says some climate projects will not be fulfilled because they risk polarising society

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has rowed back on climate change commitments, saying Ireland may not be able fulfil all current initiatives due to the polarising effect it could have on society.

www.independent.ie

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah Slack I totally wanted to have the threads between me and colleagues discussing research ideas summarised by some crappy AI. Because I can't read 5 messages myself or something.(No, absolutely not, I didn't click anything, how do I turn this off forever?!)

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 2d

Please enjoy this executive at one of America's biggest gas companies openly admitting that expanding supply leads to increased demand for fossil fuels

He is not wrong: frantic expansion of fossil fuel supply worsens climate change. Tax it, cut subsidies, wind it down

www.ft.com/content/5ba8...

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https://www.ft.com/content/5ba8caec-61d3-4aa9-a877-9b200ef4b5b0

Will Jordan, chief legal and policy officer at EQT, a leading US gas producer, also thought that any glut would be temporary, and said US demand was also rising on the boom in power-hungry artificial intelligence data centres.

Recommended

Oil & Gas industry
BP’s new chair signals more asset sales and demands faster restructuring

“Supply leads demand — you put the supply on the market and demand gets created.,” he said. “Over the long term we’re very bullish.”

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 2d

46 mm according to our rain gauge!

Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Eleanor Bick @elbdot.bsky.social · 3d

All AI is doing is SEVERELY raising the value of books again, because with the countless bot-written articles echoing nonsense as FACTS, human-written books before the 2020s are now the only reliable source I can trust for my biological and scientific research 😭

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 3d

Line of much need heavy rain “training” over our town. :-)

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

Fair enough. Withdrawn. Thanks for the correction.

Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

“AI” will save us. Let’s definitely put all our resources into “AI”.

Facebook AI offers insight into “how many donuts are in a dozen?”

Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

#graphicdujour

Jeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · 5d

How far “off the charts” is September 2025? Sea surface temps are in this area of the North Pacific. >1.6C or ~3F above normal on average over this huge area.
I’d say even more alarming than the actual anomaly is the trend since 2010. In 15 years the anomaly jumped more than 2F! 3/

Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 10d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Graham Cummins @grahamiancummins.bsky.social · 5d

The most important thing about AI is that after the investment bubble bursts, the class of idiots and conmen that bet the farm on it (many of whom also tried to bet the farm on crypto etc) stop being the people we let decide how our whole society allocates resources.

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Mark Vossler, MD (he/him) @markvmd.bsky.social · 5d

Carbon capture is the filtered cigarette of our time

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

We had total drought for about six weeks but we’ve had a substantial rain once a week or so for the last little while.

Another event likely tomorrow. Abnormal, very few clouds, so soil is still very dry, but not as bad as you have it.

Nice to be back in touch.

Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

:-(

Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

Monthly records did fall in Ontario

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

However, referring to deniers in the past dense is extremely over-optimistic.

I have recently been included in two active climate denier groups on Facebook. They are not chastened in any way by events.

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

Right, as I keep saying, physical reality is under no obligation to be moderate.

But yes, of course imagining impacts in advance is much harder than extrapolating climate physics.

Alas, these are early days. Ecosystems are at the edge of adaptability; they will soon be far beyond that edge.

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 4d

High latitudes warm faster than other land areas. This was expected in advance. The result goes back as far as Charney 1979 (see excerpt below). It wasn't a secret; rather it was often communicated.

If policy people don't "widely understand" science (clearly they don't!) that's a separate issue.

Text from 1979 paper; includes "All the GCM's predict larger surface delta-T at high latitudes."

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Reposted by Michael Tobis (mt)

Vintage Obscura Radio @vintageobscura.net · 5d

The Judy Roberts Band - Never Was Love[US, Funk/Jazz](1979)
https://redd.it/2w2bno
https://youtu.be/y58ZyPRW6BI

The Judy Roberts Band - Never Was Love[US, Funk/Jazz](1979)

youtu.be

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Michael Tobis (mt) @mtobis.bsky.social · 5d

Regarding your article - we seem to have taken a turn toward the worst scenario (#3) recently.

People are thinking nationally rather than globally, and the consequences are bad on many axes.

Recent election results in Czechia adds to the list of countries that have shockingly lost perspective.

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