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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism

@mateosfo.bsky.social

2.3K followers 640 following 2.5K posts

I make things, including bike rides, state housing laws, bread, and trouble. Quality varies with rainfall, political winds, and tire pressure. Run comms at @cayimby for the love of cities.

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · Mar 8

This was a lot of fun, both because we covered a lot of topics and because David and I have known each other so long and so the conversation flowed.

But the whole tl;dr of the thing is:

Housing policy is (still) climate policy. And the climate movement should do more to acknowledge this, IMO.

David Roberts @volts.wtf · Mar 7

Today on Volts: you may have noticed that some climate/energy types (like me) have become obsessed with housing & urban land use lately. Why? Why are they climate issues? What's the connection? The great @mateosfo.bsky.social and I attempt to answer those questions.

Why housing is a pass/fail question for climate

Housing is a climate issue we can't afford to ignore — Matthew Lewis explains why.

www.volts.wtf

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 17m

inside each of us there are two frogs

kermit the frog is riding a bike with a basket on the front

ALT: kermit the frog is riding a bike with a basket on the front

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 2d

Incredible (via www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...)

A group of apparent armed agents assemble at the end of a street, as seen from the perspective of a person in inflatable frog costume, their frog’s eyes dominating the foreground. The Ice facility in downtown Portland on Monday. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP/Getty Images

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Reposted by Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 3h

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 3h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Reposted by Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism

❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.ﾟ✿ ⋆ @sababausa.bsky.social · 57m

The history books having to explain cartoon frog = fascist, inflatable frog = anti-fascist…

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 2h

duh it was an e-bike, obviously

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 2h

LOL you know, he should have

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 2h

if you think that version was good you should see Jodorowsky's cast list

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 2h

guess what caused the power outage

Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 3h

Georgia Power is estimating that some 2,800+ customers southeast of Downtown Atlanta are experiencing power outages

outagemap.georgiapower.com

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 4h

ask me about the first Dune

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

Jay Rosen at NYU has been writing and warning about this since ~ 2003

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Reposted by Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism

Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 3d

Sora is not the real problem here. The real problem is that in 12, at most 24 months, there will be a Sora clone from Tencent or Alibaba that is just as good and can be run by anybody with a 5099, at which point everyone in society needs to rapidly agree to treat all digital video as fake, period.

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

ICE are not good guys. But yes to all the rest of this.

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

At this stage, any pundit or Democratic consultant who says there's no chance GOP tries to shut down elections is gaslighting you. These same people told us Project 2025 was a joke.

Assume things will be much worse than today, and if we're lucky, we'll only end up with the 3rd or 4th worst outcome.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Pritzker: "He wants to militarize major cities because he wants us to get used to the idea of troops on the streets. I believe he's gonna post people outside of polling places and if he needs to in order to control those elections, he'll assume control of the ballot boxes & count the votes himself"

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

ya! bsky.app/profile/mate...

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 15d

Perhaps the coolest thing I've learned from the rapidly-growing YIMBY tent -- the most carbon-efficient electric vehicle is one we've all used our whole lives:

The elevator.

Elevators not only move people under 100% electric power, they dramatically reduce pollution across the entire economy.

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

The United States, basically:

"We must do everything in our power to help fossil fuel workers go through a just transition to jobs that pay them an equal amount"

"How about, building housing in places that don't need fossil fuels"

"No not that"

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

"You have people earning $80,000 to $200,000 a year, almost everyone is a high school graduate,” said Cruz. “To go out and look for a comparable job, it just doesn’t exist.”

He's literally describing the housing construction industry. Carpenters, plumbers, electricians -- $80k - $200k/year.

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

The evidence keeps piling up that car culture is the primary impediment to economic growth and affordable housing.

Sometimes, trade-offs are real.

Shot: As California oil refineries close, workers can't find jobs.

Chaser: The California construction industry is short a half million workers.

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

Don't you think it's pretty wild that you are one of the people the message clearly did not work with, and yet you're here complaining that they should have tried it?

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

My final career goal is to dismantle Caltrans, yeet it into the sun, ban all highway contractors from state budgets all the way down to their 5th cousins, and create a California Department of Transportation that focuses on transportation.

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

It's not clear that Caltrans is even a part of the California government at all -- they seem to be like an invading army that slaughters our residents, pillages our finances, and there's just nothing that can be done to stop them.

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

fucking typo, $750 million

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

And Caltrans is more than happy to throw it all under the bus.

So, let's quit pretending we care about jobs or the economy.

Let's quit pretending we care about climate change and sustainability.

The numbers are right there, and point to our priorities:

Cars. We exist for cars.

Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

Those 750,000 aren't just nearly 20 times as many people as use the highway.

By nature of their mode choice, they *underpin the economic viability of the most important economic region in the world's fourth largest economy.*

You can not have urban agglomeration effects without urban transit.

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

We are willing to spend $11 billion to coddle 40,000 suburban car commuters, but not $750 million to make sure 750,000 people in our cities can get to work.

You'll never see a clearer example of the undemocratic, uneconomic nature of car culture.

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Matthew Lewis is ready for progressive federalism @mateosfo.bsky.social · 1d

But we can not convince Caltrans to save these transit systems because ...

Well, because they have to save a rural highway that's being inundated by rising seas due to climate change caused by their wide highways.

You can only conclude one thing:

We are choosing car culture over prosperity.

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