James Temple
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jtemple.bsky.social
James Temple
@jtemple.bsky.social
Climate and energy editor, Reno bureau chief, MIT Technology Review. Ski bum. Dog dad.

Please send tips (not PR pitches) through Signal: jtemple.50
Pinned
As any Bluesky discussion grows longer, the probability it will degenerate into humorless sanctimony approaches one.
Reposted by James Temple
"Its acronym, F.A.F.O., references a slang term for negative consequences." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
January 28, 2026 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by James Temple
I’m confident that the solution to widespread distrust of mainstream journalism does not involve putting woo-ish health grifters and eugenicists on national television.
January 28, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by James Temple
After being held in two of them as a boy, I fought for decades urging America to never again build concentration camps and put human beings in them. It breaks my heart to watch this happen twice now in my own lifetime.
January 27, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by James Temple
HUGE moment for the EU car market as battery EVs overtake petrol cars for the first time ever

But there's no "natural" demand for EVs amirite?

Article by @mollylempriere.carbonbrief.org

www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-evs...
January 27, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by James Temple
We have a new paper out today, looking more in detail at the potential air quality impacts of Stratospheric Aerosol Injections, finding them more driven by climatic feedbacks than by deposition. This is the 1st questions one receives when discussing this, so really important to explore in depth!
Air quality impacts of stratospheric aerosol injections are likely small and mainly driven by changes in climate, not aerosol settling
Abstract. Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is a proposed climate intervention method to offset future global warming through increased solar reflection in the stratosphere, but its broader enviro...
acp.copernicus.org
January 27, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Wild new potential treatment for glaucoma, moving into FDA trials, via @antonioregalado.bsky.social:
The first human test of a rejuvenation method will begin “shortly”
In a bid to treat blindness, Life Biosciences will try out potent cellular reprogramming technology on volunteers.
www.technologyreview.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by James Temple
Funny thing about Bari's "the future of CBS" slide is that it's exactly the same as an executive presentation at NBC News a couple of years back. (Not knocking my former employer. I think its generally smart to have stories guide coverage across platforms but this is ... not revolutionary stuff.)
Bari Weiss' remarks to CBS News staff (2/4)
January 27, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by James Temple
Google DeepMind staffers are pressing leadership on their plans to safeguard the 3,000-person unit from ICE agents.

"As we have seen, government agency tactics can change and escalate quite rapidly. With offices in many metro areas across the US, are we prepared?"

Scoop from @mzeff.bsky.social
Google DeepMind Staffers Ask Leaders to Keep Them ‘Physically Safe’ From ICE
A federal agent allegedly tried to enter Google’s Cambridge campus in the fall, WIRED has learned. Now, staffers want policies that protect them from immigration officials.
www.wired.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by James Temple
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
I grew up with Alex Pretti
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.
www.theverge.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by James Temple
Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
January 27, 2026 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by James Temple
BREAKING Greg Bovino has been removed as Border Patrol "commander at large" and will return to El Centro Calif, where he is expected to retire soon. A stunning turnaround after Pretti killing. Bovino's traveling blue city crackdown is over www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Gregory Bovino Gets Demoted
The Border Patrol chief was the public face of a traveling immigration crackdown on cities governed by Democrats.
www.theatlantic.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by James Temple
Tim Cook attending a private White House screening of the documentary Melania hours after ICE killed a man suggests horrible judgment, or worse, cowardice (M.G. Siegler/Spyglass)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
January 26, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Fervo IPO filing + some big geothermal funding this week: heatmap.news/climate-tech...
Funding Friday: FleetZero, Fervo, and a Fusion SPAC
It was a big week for geothermal.
heatmap.news
January 23, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by James Temple
The Chevy Bolt is already dead. Again — to be replaced by an internal combustion Buick.

Here's @andrewmoseman.bsky.social on why this tells us everything about the U.S. auto market:

heatmap.news/electric-veh...
The Chevy Bolt Is Already Dead. Again.
2017 – 2023 ... and 2027.
heatmap.news
January 23, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by James Temple
Snowpack is "absolutely abysmal" in California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, says Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social, climate scientist @ucanr.edu.
Snowpack in many cases "the lowest we have ever observed for mid-January"
Recording www.youtube.com/live/n744hgU...
January 22, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by James Temple
Nothing but respect for photojournalists. They always head straight into it. Truly some of the bravest among us.
January 22, 2026 at 1:20 AM
Reposted by James Temple
BREAKING: San Francisco Giants star Jung Hoo Lee has been detained by CBP at LAX. Pelosi's office says she is working to secure his release. www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giant...
Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee detained at Los Angeles International Airport
San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was detained Wednesday evening at Los Angeles International Airport, his agent Scott Boras told the Chronicle.
www.sfchronicle.com
January 22, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by James Temple
Breaking WaPo:

The recent death of a detainee at an immigrant detention camp in Texas has been officially deemed a homicide, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday by the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner.
Autopsy report classifies ICE detainee’s death as a homicide
The report deeming an ICE detainee’s death in Texas a homicide comes the same day that a federal judge temporarily barred the deportation of two witnesses.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 22, 2026 at 12:55 AM
It's really quite something that the administration is largely preventing federal scientists, some of our nation's top experts on climate, energy & the environment, from speaking to the press/public on most matters.

If any of you wanna speak on background, please do reach out: Signal: jtemple.50
January 22, 2026 at 12:20 AM
Reposted by James Temple
BREAKING: Immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, a memo obtained by AP says.
Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press reveals that the agency allows immigration officers to forcibly enter homes to make arrests without a judicial warrant.
bit.ly
January 21, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by James Temple
Absolutely outrageous that the House is subpoenaing journalist
Seth Harp over merely tweeting the name of a high-ranking government official who played a key role in the world's #1 news story.

Here's the latest and how you can contact Congress to protest:
January 21, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by James Temple
The issue with shame is the same one that plagues every other quarter of American life: Shame requires a coherent public, or at least an agreed-upon third party observer, and the culture’s ability to supply such an entity in a predictable and reliable way is gone.
I am once again encouraging all of us to do our part and Bring Back Shame
Why read past headlines: This isn't about the approval numbers. This is about party ID, which I think matters even more.

When people start to disassociate from a party, it shows they are feeling shame. Bigger deal than mere disapproval.

www.salon.com/2026/01/19/s...
January 20, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Reposted by James Temple
Tigers Between Empires - on a number of "Best Books of 2025" lists - is on shelves in bookstores right now! Come for the tigers, stay for the dirty biologists & geopolitics
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4cE...
Tigers Between Empires: Book Teaser
YouTube video by Jonathan Slaght
www.youtube.com
January 18, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by James Temple
A year in.

Our country is headed in the wrong direction.

Ceding global leadership and alliances for regional irrelevance. Selling out our children’s future for billionaire tax cuts. Eating the seed corn of our innovation advantage by undermining science and engineering education.

Great again?
January 20, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Bitcoin was invented 16 years ago. If crypto provided any utility beyond buying drugs online, creating a new form of gambling or indulging Libertarian anti-state fantasies, it would have broken into the mainstream by now.
Fed Kashkari still hating on crypto: "It's still basically useless for consumers. I mean, there's, there's nothing you can do with Bitcoin or a stablecoin that you can't already do with Venmo or with your traditional banking products, other than circumventing banking regulation."
January 14, 2026 at 5:47 PM