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Sam Bloch

@samkbloch.bsky.social

210 followers 57 following 60 posts

journalist, author of SHADE: THE PROMISE OF A FORGOTTEN NATURAL RESOURCE (2025), [email protected] AVAILABLE NOW: https://bookshop.org/p/books/shade-the-promise-of-a-forgotten-natural-resource-samuel-bloch/22014863

bookshop.org

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · Jun 28

It's another summer scorcher, and people are hiding from the sun behind telephone poles and in the silhouettes of palm trees.

My new book argues that shade can protect human health, enhance urban life, and maybe even save the planet.

Preorder now: bookshop.org/p/books/shad...

Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource

The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource

bookshop.org

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 2d

"More people are realizing that EVs alone are an insufficient solution to the climate crisis, since even the most optimistic projections of adoption would not prevent a potentially catastrophic 2°C increase in global temperatures by 2100."

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

‘Car Brain’ Is Making the US Unhealthy and Dangerous. EVs Won’t Fix It.

A trio of new books argue that we need to confront the full range of costs that car-based living has imposed on our cities, our health and our society.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Sam Bloch

Frederick Deknatel @freddydeknatel.bsky.social · 2d

"One day there will be no more looking away... One day there will be an accounting."

A powerful excerpt from Omar El Akkad's searing book "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This," in my new publication, Hidden Cities.

Read and subscribe! hiddencities.substack.com/p/omar-el-ak...

Omar El Akkad: 'One Day There Will Be No More Looking Away.'

An excerpt from One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

hiddencities.substack.com

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 2d

Loved going on Late Night Live in Australia — a country that knows a thing or two about shade — to talk about my book with the great David Marr

Come for the coolibahs and verandas, stay for the Slip Slop Slap

www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Have we forgotten the value of shade? - ABC listen

On a warming planet, heatwaves are proving increasingly deadly. But in the cities where most of us live, shade can be hard to come by. In ancient times, shade was prioritised for urban comfort, but in...

www.abc.net.au

Reposted by Sam Bloch

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 3d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 4d

My piece - to be in this week's issue - on the South Shore raid and what it says about Donald Trump's America:

www.economist.com/united-state...

My view is this stuff is as much or more about creating content and fear than it is about actually catching immigrants, though that's a goal too

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 6d

"We’re getting older and I guess we’re becoming porch people," she said one night, as a neighbor walked by and said hello. "But since we don’t have a porch, this is the place where friends will drop by for a drink or to maybe watch sports with us when we bring our TV down."

The Garage Is the New Porch

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Sam Bloch

Alissa Walker @awalkerinla.bsky.social · 12d

"The A Line’s purpose is to get us out of our cars. But its stations’ designers can’t imagine a life without cars... Many stations are bordered or surrounded by large, empty parking lots, occupying too much space where new, transit-friendly development should be." @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social

The World's Longest and Most Frustrating Light Rail Is in L.A. | Connecting California

The A Line Runs Through 60 Miles and Touches Most of My Life. I Hate It Anyway

www.zocalopublicsquare.org

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 13d

"West Virginia is so poor, miserable, and misgoverned that it bans abortion and suicide in desperation to make people live here."

westvirginiawatch.com/2025/09/18/w...

West Virginia ways of life: The neo-trailer style, in a time of late capitalism and climate change • West Virginia Watch

If our Legislature were actually awake, maybe they would get the bright idea to populate West Virginia by improving the quality of life here.

westvirginiawatch.com

Reposted by Sam Bloch

Henry Grabar @henrygrabar.bsky.social · 13d

masked men snatching a family off the street in Chicago -- your tax dollars at work blockclubchicago.org/2025/09/28/a...

Armed Federal Agents Patrol Downtown, Make Arrest At Millennium Park, Witnesses Say

The federal troops were seen in Millennium Park, on the Magnificent Mile and in the Gold Coast — days after patrolling the Chicago River in a boat. "This is another brazen provocation from the Trump a...

blockclubchicago.org

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 16d

“One of the blessings of Bologna, in northern Italy, is that it knows how to ride a heat wave. A tip for anyone designing a metropolis from scratch: start with a portico, and take it from there.”

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The Exacting Magic of Film Restoration

Each year, at a festival in Bologna, movies that were once lost or damaged come back to life.

www.newyorker.com

Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 17d

“Temporary street closures are great. But they miss out a number of quantifiable benefits of permanent pedestrianization.” Terrific Diana Lind column that explains why pilots aren’t good policy:

substack.com/home/post/p-...

Can Pedestrian Pop-Ups Go Permanent in the U.S.?

Scenes from the Philadelphia subscriber event

substack.com

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 17d

The sun man @billmckibben.bsky.social glimpses the dark side of a bright future. "As temperatures continue to rise, we have to do what we can to stay cool. Which means, among other things, shade, as a matter of survival and as a matter of justice."

pioneerworks.org/broadcast/pr...

Precious Shadows | Broadcast

On shade's fragile mercy.

pioneerworks.org

Reposted by Sam Bloch

emmettfitzgerald.bsky.social @emmettfitzgerald.bsky.social · 18d

Important story on the show this week about the dangerous meatpacking industry turning to refugees for cheap labor

99% Invisible @99pi.org · 18d

A lot has changed in meat packing since Upton Sinclair released The Jungle, but the industry is still dangerous and it still relies on our most vulnerable populations.

Hear those worker’s stories on the latest episode of 99% Invisible 👉 99percentinvisible.org/episode/643-...

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 24d

Shteamer on Oneida in the park: "Avant-garde rock is as much homegrown New York folk music as a busker covering “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and it’s nice to see it being treated as such — showcased in a free, public setting, available to anyone who might happen upon it."

substack.com/home/post/p-...

Gig of the Week: 9/22/25

A lovely day in the park with Oneida, a mini fest of ’90s hardcore, a departed Swedish death-metal legend and more

substack.com

Reposted by Sam Bloch

Maria Bustillos @mariabustillos.com · 25d

Bravo to @davidrussellmoore.bsky.social and @donnydonny.bsky.social at @sludge.bsky.social for exposing Democratic PR firm SKDK's contract with the Israeli gov't to provide social media/propaganda bots.

One day later SKDK says it's cutting ties, ending the contract

readsludge.com/2025/09/17/f...

Following Sludge Report, SKDK Says It’s Dropping Its Israel Contract

The Democratic PR firm was under contract with Israel to build a social media bot program, but says it never worked on such a program.

readsludge.com

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Frederick Deknatel @freddydeknatel.bsky.social · 25d

Good thing Obama is not a Washington Post columnist or talking head on MSNBC, or he’d be fired for saying this.

Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 25d

Obama on Charlie Kirk:

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 25d

Climate action is hard, and this isn't the first time a political leader has paid the price for courage. (Think of Ada Colau getting booted in Barcelona after the superblocks.) But Engardio is right: "We are on the right side of history."

missionlocal.org/2025/09/sf-j...

Joel Engardio concedes election: ‘We are on the right side of history’

District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio badly lost his recall vote. Mayor Daniel Lurie will appoint a new San Francisco supervisor.

missionlocal.org

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Reposted by Sam Bloch

John Chase @johnchase.bsky.social · 25d

Among those handcuffed in a video promoted by DHS Sec’y Kristi Noem on X is Joe Botello, an AMERICAN citizen. @chicagotribune.com photog @staceywescott.bsky.social was there and we spoke to him. He was later released and “blessed that I’m still alive." Story: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/16/e...

US citizen says he was briefly detained in latest Chicago-area ICE blitz

An Elgin man who was born in Texas said he was handcuffed and placed in a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol vehicle, as part of the latest Chicago-area ICE blitz.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Sam Bloch

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 26d

donald trump and the white nationalists that run his government want you to think that slavery was just fine www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

National park to remove photo of enslaved man’s scars

The Trump administration is ordering the removal of information on slavery at multiple national parks in an effort to scrub them of “corrosive ideology.”

www.washingtonpost.com

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · 26d

Interesting article about the demise of Berkeley's People's Park, basically suggesting that '60s ideals of free expression — made manifest in open spaces and parks — are no longer a progressive priority but a luxury

link.latimes.com/view/6520704...

Los Angeles Times

link.latimes.com

Reposted by Sam Bloch

Brian Stelter @brianstelter.bsky.social · 26d

New PEN America statement: “The firing and suspension of multiple journalists after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk should alarm anyone who cares about free speech and a free press. Taken together, these measures risk creating a chilling effect that extends beyond those directly targeted..."

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Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · Sep 12

@samkbloch.bsky.social has two events coming up, featuring his new book on shade!

SUN. 9/14: MIAMI, FL, in conversation w/ Germane Barnes

MON. 9/15: AUSTIN, TX, in conversation w/ Charles L. Davis II

Here’s more about the book, and how it emerged from an article Bloch wrote for Places in 2019:

A New Book on Shade by Sam Bloch

This week marks the release of Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource, a new book by Sam Bloch that expands on an article published in Places in 2019.

placesjournal.org

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · Sep 11

"She and others repeatedly mentioned echoes of the pandemic: parents seeking virtual learning, restaurant staff needing car rides to avoid mass transit, would-be diners choosing instead to stay home."

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...

How Trump’s Crime Crackdown Muted Other Parts of D.C. Life

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Sam Bloch

Emily Badger @emmbadger.bsky.social · Sep 11

If the federal show of force in Washington has had a deterrent effect on crime, it appears to have deterred entirely normal aspects of city life, too.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...

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Sam Bloch @samkbloch.bsky.social · Sep 11

Thanks for this context!