Ben Goldfarb
@bengoldfarb.bsky.social
Independent conservation journalist writing a book about fish. Author of CROSSINGS, on #roadecology, and EAGER, on beaver belief.
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Ben Goldfarb
@bengoldfarb.bsky.social
· Nov 15
To new Bluesky peeps: I'm currently working on another book, on the organisms nearest my heart. It's fundamentally about fish as engineers—both of ecosystems & human affairs—and how we revitalize their roles in our waterscapes & lives. If this aligns with your interests & expertise, cast me a line!
What's your favorite example of parental care among fishes?
December 8, 2025 at 8:41 PM
What's your favorite example of parental care among fishes?
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
I can't remember if I read "Eager" by @bengoldfarb.bsky.social because I was writing about beavers or if he inspired the essay. I do remember the book is wonderful and unexpectedly hilarious. Either way, reading & writing about beavers is fun.
shorturl.at/EBf1d
#nature #naturewriting #mondayblogs
shorturl.at/EBf1d
#nature #naturewriting #mondayblogs
Beavers: nature's brilliant water engineers
North American history is beaver history. Earth's consummate water engineers, beavers had it figured out. Now we are actively enlisting their help.
shorturl.at
December 8, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I can't remember if I read "Eager" by @bengoldfarb.bsky.social because I was writing about beavers or if he inspired the essay. I do remember the book is wonderful and unexpectedly hilarious. Either way, reading & writing about beavers is fun.
shorturl.at/EBf1d
#nature #naturewriting #mondayblogs
shorturl.at/EBf1d
#nature #naturewriting #mondayblogs
When your buddy gets his copy of @highcountrynews.org
December 8, 2025 at 5:41 PM
When your buddy gets his copy of @highcountrynews.org
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
Tired: flat streets
Wired: Speed humps, tables, etc
Inspired: Speed *dips*, because modern clearance and suspension makes taking speed bumps at speed no big deal, but dips still make drivers worry they'll damage their car, and that has the highest level of encouraging compliance
Wired: Speed humps, tables, etc
Inspired: Speed *dips*, because modern clearance and suspension makes taking speed bumps at speed no big deal, but dips still make drivers worry they'll damage their car, and that has the highest level of encouraging compliance
December 8, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Tired: flat streets
Wired: Speed humps, tables, etc
Inspired: Speed *dips*, because modern clearance and suspension makes taking speed bumps at speed no big deal, but dips still make drivers worry they'll damage their car, and that has the highest level of encouraging compliance
Wired: Speed humps, tables, etc
Inspired: Speed *dips*, because modern clearance and suspension makes taking speed bumps at speed no big deal, but dips still make drivers worry they'll damage their car, and that has the highest level of encouraging compliance
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
December 7, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
“Up to 60 per cent of the world’s tuna catch could be untraceable, or ‘dark.’”
Highly recommend this Financial Times investigation on human rights violations within one of the world’s worst-regulated industries. (Also read Ian Urbina’s Outlaw Ocean!)
ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
Highly recommend this Financial Times investigation on human rights violations within one of the world’s worst-regulated industries. (Also read Ian Urbina’s Outlaw Ocean!)
ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
The dark truth behind supermarket tuna
Major retailers are selling tuna from fisheries where crews say they are exploited and abused
ig.ft.com
December 6, 2025 at 4:57 PM
“Up to 60 per cent of the world’s tuna catch could be untraceable, or ‘dark.’”
Highly recommend this Financial Times investigation on human rights violations within one of the world’s worst-regulated industries. (Also read Ian Urbina’s Outlaw Ocean!)
ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
Highly recommend this Financial Times investigation on human rights violations within one of the world’s worst-regulated industries. (Also read Ian Urbina’s Outlaw Ocean!)
ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
I feel like few wild animals do more to enliven and enrich this country than kestrels. On the very short list for title of Best Bird.
From @benjij.bsky.social / @vox.com
www.vox.com/climate/4711...
From @benjij.bsky.social / @vox.com
www.vox.com/climate/4711...
The fascinating link between cherry pie and this bird
Meet the unpaid animal laborers who help safeguard our food.
www.vox.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:50 PM
I feel like few wild animals do more to enliven and enrich this country than kestrels. On the very short list for title of Best Bird.
From @benjij.bsky.social / @vox.com
www.vox.com/climate/4711...
From @benjij.bsky.social / @vox.com
www.vox.com/climate/4711...
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
On the day that @opb.org CEO Rachel Smolkin posted this video, saying OPB’s funding gap of $5 million was closed, I was also told by the Chief Content Officer that Hush was canceled. Eighty percent of my income, and my health insurance - gone. I was given no reason for the cancellation. 1/x
OPB has closed this year’s $5 million budget gap created when Congress ended federal funding. Our work is not done. A strong future for free and fair journalism requires your support.
https://www.opb.org/pressroom/presidents-update-funding-cut-update-building-trust/
https://www.opb.org/pressroom/presidents-update-funding-cut-update-building-trust/
December 3, 2025 at 10:04 PM
On the day that @opb.org CEO Rachel Smolkin posted this video, saying OPB’s funding gap of $5 million was closed, I was also told by the Chief Content Officer that Hush was canceled. Eighty percent of my income, and my health insurance - gone. I was given no reason for the cancellation. 1/x
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
People say “the scars of the 1910 fire are still visible.”
Look closer: the scars aren’t from the fire—they’re from the roads and salvage logging that followed.
Yellowstone burned in 1988 with the same intensity.
Because it wasn’t salvaged, most visitors have no idea a fire ever happened.
Look closer: the scars aren’t from the fire—they’re from the roads and salvage logging that followed.
Yellowstone burned in 1988 with the same intensity.
Because it wasn’t salvaged, most visitors have no idea a fire ever happened.
December 3, 2025 at 4:47 AM
People say “the scars of the 1910 fire are still visible.”
Look closer: the scars aren’t from the fire—they’re from the roads and salvage logging that followed.
Yellowstone burned in 1988 with the same intensity.
Because it wasn’t salvaged, most visitors have no idea a fire ever happened.
Look closer: the scars aren’t from the fire—they’re from the roads and salvage logging that followed.
Yellowstone burned in 1988 with the same intensity.
Because it wasn’t salvaged, most visitors have no idea a fire ever happened.
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
ICYMI: Newly issued waivers allow hundreds of miles of new border infrastructure — including double walls, patrol roads, and industrial lighting — in the last open corridors for jaguars, ocelots and dozens of other animals moving between the U.S. and Mexico.
biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
December 2, 2025 at 10:44 PM
ICYMI: Newly issued waivers allow hundreds of miles of new border infrastructure — including double walls, patrol roads, and industrial lighting — in the last open corridors for jaguars, ocelots and dozens of other animals moving between the U.S. and Mexico.
biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
If you haven't read Crossings, it's one of the best books I read this year and you should definitely order it!
Tossed out this bit of shameless self-promotion on insta last week and figured I’d post here too: my own shit makes great holiday gifts! Twenty-five buckaroos gets you a signed and personalized copy of either of my books; DM for details. Help me afford a haircut and a razor!
December 2, 2025 at 12:52 AM
If you haven't read Crossings, it's one of the best books I read this year and you should definitely order it!
"I’d rather see environmental organizations of all kinds drive home the relationship between environ. issues & the concerns voters are already talking about—health, safety, affordability."
@nijhuism.bsky.social on how enviros can start winning again.
conservationworks.substack.com/p/is-environ...
@nijhuism.bsky.social on how enviros can start winning again.
conservationworks.substack.com/p/is-environ...
Is Environmentalism Out of Ideas?
The answer depends on where you look.
conservationworks.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:28 PM
"I’d rather see environmental organizations of all kinds drive home the relationship between environ. issues & the concerns voters are already talking about—health, safety, affordability."
@nijhuism.bsky.social on how enviros can start winning again.
conservationworks.substack.com/p/is-environ...
@nijhuism.bsky.social on how enviros can start winning again.
conservationworks.substack.com/p/is-environ...
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
I read way more fiction than non-fiction, but Crossings was one of my favorite reads of the past couple years. I can honestly say I don't go more than a week without thinking about some part of it, even now, a full year plus since I read it.
Tossed out this bit of shameless self-promotion on insta last week and figured I’d post here too: my own shit makes great holiday gifts! Twenty-five buckaroos gets you a signed and personalized copy of either of my books; DM for details. Help me afford a haircut and a razor!
December 1, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I read way more fiction than non-fiction, but Crossings was one of my favorite reads of the past couple years. I can honestly say I don't go more than a week without thinking about some part of it, even now, a full year plus since I read it.
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
Highly recommend taking Ben up on this—have taken advantage of this offer in the past, which resulted in my father-in-law self-reporting that Eager is the first full book he has read since high school
Tossed out this bit of shameless self-promotion on insta last week and figured I’d post here too: my own shit makes great holiday gifts! Twenty-five buckaroos gets you a signed and personalized copy of either of my books; DM for details. Help me afford a haircut and a razor!
December 1, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Highly recommend taking Ben up on this—have taken advantage of this offer in the past, which resulted in my father-in-law self-reporting that Eager is the first full book he has read since high school
Tossed out this bit of shameless self-promotion on insta last week and figured I’d post here too: my own shit makes great holiday gifts! Twenty-five buckaroos gets you a signed and personalized copy of either of my books; DM for details. Help me afford a haircut and a razor!
December 1, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Tossed out this bit of shameless self-promotion on insta last week and figured I’d post here too: my own shit makes great holiday gifts! Twenty-five buckaroos gets you a signed and personalized copy of either of my books; DM for details. Help me afford a haircut and a razor!
Thanks to my guy @grousehollow.bsky.social for smuggling a line from EAGER into the newest edition of @merriam-webster.com. Mama we made it (“it” being the dictionary).
December 1, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Thanks to my guy @grousehollow.bsky.social for smuggling a line from EAGER into the newest edition of @merriam-webster.com. Mama we made it (“it” being the dictionary).
Mindblowing and inspiring that Ukraine has managed to continue its dam removal efforts in spite of everything.
freshwaterblog.net/2025/11/04/u...
freshwaterblog.net/2025/11/04/u...
Ukrainian river restoration project during wartime wins major award
The Bilyi River after the removal of an obsolete dam. Image: Danube-Carpathian Programme Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has brought death and destruction not only to towns and cities, but als…
freshwaterblog.net
November 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Mindblowing and inspiring that Ukraine has managed to continue its dam removal efforts in spite of everything.
freshwaterblog.net/2025/11/04/u...
freshwaterblog.net/2025/11/04/u...
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
It's really hard to overstate the conservation significance of this, and what doors it unlocks for future conservation.
Mood among my global endangered species conservation colleagues is off-the-charts happy today.
Mood among my global endangered species conservation colleagues is off-the-charts happy today.
WCS Celebrates Historic and Sweeping Trade Protections for Sharks and Rays Adopted at CITES CoP20 > Newsroom | All CITES shark and ray proposals pass – marking the most comprehensive advance in global shark conservation in CITES history.
WCS Celebrates Historic and Sweeping Trade Protections for Sharks and Rays Adopted at CITES CoP20
Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Nov. 28, 2025 – The following statement was issued today from CITES CoP20, celebrating the adoption of sweeping and historic adoption of new international trade protections for…
newsroom.wcs.org
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
It's really hard to overstate the conservation significance of this, and what doors it unlocks for future conservation.
Mood among my global endangered species conservation colleagues is off-the-charts happy today.
Mood among my global endangered species conservation colleagues is off-the-charts happy today.
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
Congratulations, you managed to enshit the internet.
![Extract from FT article.
According to the Al agency Graphite, at least 52 per cent of internet content was machine-generated by May this year. Not only does this Al-generated content threaten the integrity of the web, it could also endanger the resilience of future AI models.
[Graphic showing that AI-generated content has surpassed human-written articles since early 2025]
If Al models ingest too much synthetic data then there is a danger they might go "mad" - or suffer from model autophagy disorder. When the input for new models increasingly becomes the output of older models then it risks model collapse, says Ethan Smith, Graphite's chief executive.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2cadvbwpkxtuvmv2gpy5laml/bafkreigof2qnhtn5dlbo7igg56kbmmktjddpy4atiuexl2dkhocvlrzq7i@jpeg)
November 28, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Congratulations, you managed to enshit the internet.
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
Don't miss this new @vox.com project that uncovers the rapidly changing world of fish farming.
Stories from @mbolotnikova.bsky.social + team challenge everything you think you know about the billions of aquatic animals that shape our planet’s future:
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Stories from @mbolotnikova.bsky.social + team challenge everything you think you know about the billions of aquatic animals that shape our planet’s future:
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Eating the Ocean
How underwater factory farms are reshaping our food system.
www.vox.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Don't miss this new @vox.com project that uncovers the rapidly changing world of fish farming.
Stories from @mbolotnikova.bsky.social + team challenge everything you think you know about the billions of aquatic animals that shape our planet’s future:
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Stories from @mbolotnikova.bsky.social + team challenge everything you think you know about the billions of aquatic animals that shape our planet’s future:
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Having already dedicated a series to bison, he obviously needs to tackle another keystone mammal driven nearly to extinction by the rapacity of capitalism and now being restored to its historic range. 🦫 🦫 🦫
I figure Ken Burns has one, maybe two big documentary series in him before he fully retires. What do you think they should be? My votes include Football, Hip-Hop, World War 1, Reconstruction (though Skip Gates did this one well), Iraq/Afghanistan, 19th Century Expansionism.
November 25, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Having already dedicated a series to bison, he obviously needs to tackle another keystone mammal driven nearly to extinction by the rapacity of capitalism and now being restored to its historic range. 🦫 🦫 🦫
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
historic levels of leopards eating faces
PUNCHBOWL: “.. GOP members messaged us over the weekend saying that they, too, are considering retiring in the middle of the term. Here’s one particularly exercised senior House Republican:
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
@punchbowlnews.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 3:46 PM
historic levels of leopards eating faces
Reposted by Ben Goldfarb
Books We Love is back with a brand new batch of hand-picked titles. Mix and match tags like “Book Club Ideas” and “Eye-Opening Reads.” Find 380+ new 2025 reads, and stick around to browse more than 4,000 books from the last 13 years.
Books We Love
Here are 380+ great reads from 2025 handpicked just for you by NPR staffers and trusted critics.
n.pr
November 24, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Books We Love is back with a brand new batch of hand-picked titles. Mix and match tags like “Book Club Ideas” and “Eye-Opening Reads.” Find 380+ new 2025 reads, and stick around to browse more than 4,000 books from the last 13 years.