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Robert McLeman

@rmcleman.bsky.social

96 followers 67 following 25 posts

Professor of Geography & Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada.

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Sociology 34%

Political science 34%

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Reposted by Robert McLeman

Kelsea Best, PhD @kelseabest.bsky.social · Jul 8

It was so fun to talk about our book "Migration and Displacement in a Changing Climate" with Hannah! You can listen to the conversation here. @universitypress.cambridge.org @rmcleman.bsky.social @kayly.bsky.social
newbooksnetwork.com/migration-an...

Kelsea Best, Kayly Ober, Robert A. McLeman, "Migration and Displacement in a Changing Climate" (Cambridge UP, 2025) - New Books Network

newbooksnetwork.com

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · May 16

One of the more thoughtful and important commentaries I’ve read about what it’s like to be a young adult today, by NYTimes David Brooks. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/o...

Opinion | ‘We Are the Most Rejected Generation’

www.nytimes.com

Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · May 10

My pleasure. If you’re interested in having a copy, DM me a mailing address and I’ll send you one. Academic texts aren’t the most gripping reads, so I won’t be offended if you pass. Cheers!

Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · May 10

Listening to @barryglendenning.bsky.social & Guardian Football Weekly Monday mornings = best way to start week. Enjoy so much I included Barry in acknowledgments in my new coauthored book published by Cambridge U Press. Thanks Barry!

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Apr 30

First trillium in bloom this spring in my local woods, so far as I could observe. Waterloo County.

Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Apr 28

New #NHLgreen article by RinkWatch’s @rmcleman about how this past winter ODR season compared with previous winters, with great photos from #rinkwatch participants & others. www.nhl.com/news/topic/n...

NHL Green essay: Outdoor rinks at risk despite cold winter of 2024-25 | NHL.com

Wilfrid Laurier University’s McLeman discusses importance, challenges of playing outside

www.nhl.com

Reposted by Robert McLeman

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · Apr 18

Undocumented migration isn’t driven by economics alone—weather matters too. New research finds that drought in rain-fed farming areas increases migration, while extreme rainfall makes migrants less likely to return.
In @TIMES: time.com/7272152/clim...
In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Rainfall deviation in state (Left) and municipality (Right) equals average daily rainfall in 2005 minus average rainfall in baseline period (1980 to 1990), divided by SD in rainfall in that period. Red hues indicate that a state was drier in 2005 relative to 1980 to 1990; blue hues show that it was wetter.

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Reposted by Emilio Zagheni, Robert McLeman

Guy Abel @guyabel.bsky.social · Apr 17

The @nytopinion.nytimes.com today features a #dataviz of our new global migration flow estimates.
nytimes.com/interactive/...

Using privacy protected records from three billion Facebook users, we estimated country-to-country #migration flows at monthly granularity for 181 countries.

Opinion | To Understand Global Migration, You Have to See It First

These estimates, drawn from the location data of three billion Facebook users, provide a view of human migration in extraordinary detail.

www.nytimes.com

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Apr 16

Is there anything more Canadian than this? www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...

Canada Reschedules Political Debate That Conflicted With a Hockey Game (Gift Article)

A big game, but still.

www.nytimes.com

Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Apr 14

I’ve studied & written about #climatechange +migration for 20+ years, time to step aside. In what’s likely my final journal article on the topic, I summarize what researchers know & don’t know about climate & displacement. It’s open access. epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/ind...

View of Coming to Terms with Deep Uncertainty in the Study of Climate-Related Displacement | Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

epress.lib.uts.edu.au

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Apr 13

Pennywise and pound foolish. www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Canada will no longer cover travel costs of experts it nominates to UN's climate science body | CBC News

In a sudden and unexplained change from previous decades, the federal government has stopped covering the travel costs of Canadian experts volunteering for the next major global climate science assess...

www.cbc.ca

Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Apr 11

Will you be teaching a course on #climatemigration? Pls consider adopting new book by @kelseabest.bsky.social, Kayly Ober & me, ‘Migration in a changing climate’, pub’s by Cambridge. See image for description & 20% discount code.

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Apr 2

Folks won’t cancel travel to conferences already paid for. It’s the next conf they won’t attend. I canceled on an economics conf in Seattle in May where I was to be a keynote, and didn’t register for any other US confs in 2025. US acad socs aren’t the problem, but they’ll share the pain unfort’ly.

Reposted by Robert McLeman

Guy Abel @guyabel.bsky.social · Mar 27

Updated global #migration flow estimates to match new @UNDESA stock data

📄Bilateral: doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...
📄Bilateral by sex: doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...

🖥️Update details: guyabel.com/publication/...

📔Original @ScientificData papers: nature.com/articles/s41... & www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Robert McLeman

Kelsea Best, PhD @kelseabest.bsky.social · Mar 15

New book "Migration and Displacement in a Changing Climate" with the brilliant @rmcleman.bsky.social and Kayly Ober out in April and available for preorder! @cambridgeup.bsky.social

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Reposted by Robert McLeman

Jonathan Gilligan @jgilligan.org · Mar 12

Delighted to share a new publication, with the amazing @kelseabest.bsky.social & Bishawjit Mallick, using pattern-oriented agent-based modeling to explore the importance of economic inequality in determining patterns of environmentally-driven migration in Bangladesh.

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Economic inequality is a crucial determinant of observed patterns of environmental migration - Communications Earth & Environment

Levels of inequality within a community are important contributors to community-level patterns of migration, according simulations with an agent-based model of the influence of environmental shocks, l...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Robert McLeman

Nick Hedley @nickhedley.bsky.social · Mar 6

Ireland’s power grid recorded its cleanest month yet in February 2025 thanks to a new sub-sea cable linking the country and Wales.

With data and analysis from @greencollective.io

theprogressplaybook.com/2025/03/05/t...

The power of interconnections: Ireland's electricity mix is cleaner than ever

The 190km Greenlink interconnector, commissioned in late January, "is creating a new normal for carbon emissions in Irish electricity."

theprogressplaybook.com

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Reposted by Olivier Klein, Nathan Nunn, Andrea Baker , and 4 more Olivier Klein, Nathan Nunn, Andrea Baker, Robert McLeman, David H. Price, Melissa Castan, Aurélien Eyquem

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Mar 6

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me

In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

thebetter.news

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Mar 6

Why’d we do it? When I was an IPCC author, I wished I’d had such a resource. We systematically combed through 28 reports & tabulated in Excel every occurrence of discussion of migration, displacement, refugees, etc, analyzed summarized these in report. Also generated this timeline. #climatemigration

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Reposted by Benjamin Schraven

Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Mar 6

Two students & I reviewed every #IPCC report since 1990, identified, summarized how migration/displacement were assessed. Resulting 33p report too massive for a journal article available free, open access here here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Evolution of climate-related migration and displacement in IPCC reporting

Concerns about climate change impacts on migration and displacement have been expressed regularly by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since

papers.ssrn.com

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Reposted by Robert McLeman

Yale Environment 360 @yalee360.bsky.social · Mar 3

Bill McKibben says Americans upset by the gutting of U.S. climate efforts need to move beyond despair.

In an interview with Elizabeth Kolbert, he reexamines the role of protest and explains why he sees reason for hope.

Bill McKibben on Climate Activism in the Age of Trump 2.0

Activist Bill McKibben says Americans upset by the Trump administration’s gutting of U.S. climate efforts need to move beyond despair. In an interview with e360, he talks about rethinking the role of ...

e360.yale.edu

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Reposted by Robert McLeman

Gretchen Goldman, PhD @gretchentg.bsky.social · Feb 28

We are hiring for a Senior Climate Scientist at @ucsusa.bsky.social. Join us! apply.workable.com/union-of-con...

Senior Climate Scientist - Union of Concerned Scientists

Senior Climate ScientistPermanentClimate & EnergyUnion of Concerned ScientistsRemote Bargaining Unit Position: Yes Our Organization The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is an independent nonpro...

apply.workable.com

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Feb 28

I’ve cancelled May trip to econ conference in WA where I was to be keynote. I have other colleagues doing similar. Happy to support/collab with US colleagues online, but no grants or personal $ will be spent in US if tariffs in place. #academicchatter www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/w...

How Canadians Are Directing Their Ire at the U.S. Over Trump’s Tariffs (Gift Article)

Canadians are shunning American products and abandoning trips to the United States to protest the economic punishment President Trump has threatened to impose with tariffs.

www.nytimes.com

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Feb 25

Have been reading about crazy price of #eggs in USA. In Canada we have supply management system that ensures farms = well managed, not disrupted by bird flu, producers get fair income, consumers pay fair prices. Today’s price for 12 large eggs at my local store = C$3.93/US$2.75

Reposted by Robert McLeman

Kees van der Geest @keesvandergeest.bsky.social · Feb 24

📢📢 Only two weeks left to submit your abstract for the ECMN conference in Bonn (8-10 July 2025)! 86 colleagues have already submitted theirs! Here is a FAQ page and the submission form: www.climatemobilities.network/ecmn25/
Hope to see you along the Rhine River in Bonn this summer!!!

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Reposted by Robert McLeman

Nate Howes TWN @natetwnclimate.bsky.social · Feb 23

@rmcleman.bsky.social, a professor of geography and environmental studies at @wilfridlaurieruni.bsky.social, warns that #ClimateChange is having a serious effect on this traditional pastime. RInkWatch draws awareness to the difficulties from climate change. www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/clim...

Can backyard hockey rinks survive climate change in Canada? - The Weather Network

RinkWatch draws awareness to the difficulties to outdoor hockey driven by climate change.

www.theweathernetwork.com

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Feb 10

My university (Wilfrid Laurier U in Waterloo, Canada) is advertising a 12-month contract teaching position in urban environmental sustainability starting in Sept. Pls share with your networks. careers.wlu.ca/job/Waterloo...

Assistant Professor - Geography & Environmental Studies (1-year Limited Term)

careers.wlu.ca

Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Feb 5

If you’re a college/university prof, consider using TikTok to share your teaching/research. I’ve been doing it for a couple years now, absolutely worth it. Am really excited to see emergence of #hillmantok an HBCU-modelled TikTok learning community. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/s...

At Hillmantok, a Digital H.B.C.U., Class Is in Session (Gift Article)

A video welcoming students to Leah Barlow’s African American studies course inspired a virtual university of free TikTok lectures from Black academics and experts.

www.nytimes.com

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Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Jan 28

Housing for people displaced by floods in eastern Kentucky: an approach I hadn’t expected. Thought provoking article in NYTimes, gifted here. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/c...

Kentucky’s Strip Mines Get Turned Into Neighborhoods

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Kees van der Geest

Robert McLeman @rmcleman.bsky.social · Jan 4

Great op Ed in nytimes today about organized relocations in USA due to MSLR. Ive gifted it here so others can read if it’s behind pay wall www.nytimes.com/2025/01/04/o...

Opinion | Is America Just Going to Abandon Its Towns Falling Into the Ocean? (Gift Article)

Communities must be able to move to solid ground while remaining whole.

www.nytimes.com

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