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Hisham Zerriffi

@hishamzerriffi.bsky.social

17K followers 7.6K following 2.4K posts

Energy Resources, Development and Environment Lab (ERDELab) PI, @UBCforestry Assc Dean EDI. Energy, equity, justice, climate change, bioenergy. But also TTRPGs and photography (https://pixelfed.social/i/web/profile/499807930552574625). he/him. .. more

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Environmental science 36%

Energy 18%

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · Nov 8

Hello new Bluesky followers!

A re-intro:

Academic in Forestry faculty but not a forester. Work on energy, land-use, climate, equity, justice. Often at intersection of energy & forests.

With a dash of TTRPGs, nerdy stuff and politics.

And photography:

portfolio.pixelfed.social/nomademoderne

@nomademoderne's Portfolio

portfolio.pixelfed.social

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 10h

Interesting that they talk about these reactors being better because they’ll use simpler tech and then cite high temp gas, molten salt and liquid sodium as examples. As I recall all three of those have had significant technical issues.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 15h

Halfway through this seminar on Sustainable Futures and thrilled with how it has been so far. Wonderful students and a series of phenomenal guest speakers.

Huge thanks so far to Holly, Duffy, @kevinjkircher.com, Taco, @agiang.bsky.social, @debcha.bsky.social who‘ve given them a lot to think about.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · Sep 1

"Exploring Sustainable Futures" through lenses of modeling/scenarios, planning and speculative fiction.

Can't wait to teach this new grad seminar starting Tuesday. Should be a ton of fun.

HMU if you are a modeler, a planner or a writer and interested in popping in to chat with the students. (1)

Course poster showing a person, hands on hips, staring at two diverging paths. There are circles showing a desert, an industrial scene and a forest. Text says:
FRST-V-532-C-101 Directed Studies in Forest Management
Exploring Sustainable Futures
Sustainability challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss
are “wicked problems” with long-term, uncertain outcomes. This
graduate seminar explores how we think about the future, who
shapes it, and how future-oriented thinking drives action today.
Through three lenses—scenario modeling, strategic planning,
and speculative fiction—we’ll examine how different disciplines
approach sustainable futures and how their interaction can
strengthen decision-making in the face of complexity.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 17h

Been DMing for kids for about five years now and it is an absolute trip!

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 19h

Stay Alert Canadian Academics.

These hearings (a continuation from last session) on criteria for grant funding include numerous witnesses and briefs against Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Despite the evidence that addressing inequities will make Canadian research stronger. Can‘t be complacent.

Dr. Katja Thieme (she/they) @katjathieme.bsky.social · 2d

What is Steven Pinker’s expertise on systemic discrimination in the awarding of Canadian federal grants?

universityaffairs.ca/news/parliam...

Parliament reviews EDI for research grants - University Affairs

Witnesses testify for and against applying diversity criteria to scientific funding.

universityaffairs.ca

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 19h

100% this👇

A national postal service is a public good that provides equity in access. While I’m fine with paying for services, it should not be treated and run as one would a private company expected to cover costs or even make a profit.

Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21h

We could be treating Canada Post as not just an essential delivery service, but an essential social infrastructure in our communities.

Instead the government prefers to treat it as a costly burden that must be subject to death by a thousand cuts.

For isolated seniors, Canada Post delivers more than mail | CBC News

As the Canada Post strike hits the one-week mark, there are growing concerns for one group of Canadians who typically rely on the delivery service more than most — seniors.

www.cbc.ca

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 19h

It’s not actually that long. A good rebuttal to a number of persistent myths about renewables.

i think there’s a bit more nuance than is in here around fossil fuel discourse and politics regarding low income countries but the overall message is spot on.

Max Fawcett @maxfawcett.bsky.social · 19h

In which I debunk some very common (and popular) myths about renewable energy and the energy transition.

Warning: It's long, pedantic, and full of charts.

open.substack.com/pub/maxfawce...

When "blindingly obvious" facts about the energy transition are anything but

Debunking Don Wright's well-meaning interventions on the subject

open.substack.com

Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

Max Fawcett @maxfawcett.bsky.social · 19h

In which I debunk some very common (and popular) myths about renewable energy and the energy transition.

Warning: It's long, pedantic, and full of charts.

open.substack.com/pub/maxfawce...

When "blindingly obvious" facts about the energy transition are anything but

Debunking Don Wright's well-meaning interventions on the subject

open.substack.com

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 19h

Yes. That is highest in the emissions reduction hierarchy. But various types of nature based solutions, including afforestatio, etc. and various types of community development projects need to be funded. Right now, offsets are a big chunk of that space. By “a better way” I mean how do we fund that?

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 19h

I have definitely woken up after Funny Position sleeping and been very pissed off at the result

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 19h

The Canadian healthcare system may have some deficiencies and is stressed but let’s remember it also often just works.

~7 months from diagnosis to specialist to minor non-urgent but needed surgery is not bad.

Best part? Wheeling right past that cashier window in the hospital without stopping.

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Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21h

For isolated seniors, Canada Post delivers more than mail | CBC News

As the Canada Post strike hits the one-week mark, there are growing concerns for one group of Canadians who typically rely on the delivery service more than most — seniors.

www.cbc.ca

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Reposted by David G. Stewart, Aaron Sojourner, Suzanne de Cheveigné , and 2 more David G. Stewart, Aaron Sojourner, Suzanne de Cheveigné, James Connelly, Hisham Zerriffi

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 1d

Over 40% of corn grown in Indiana is used to make ethanol that cars burn. One acre of corn yields about 16,500 vehicle-miles per year of ethanol, which sounds high until you realize that one acre of solar yields about 2,700,000 vehicle-miles per year: 16,000% more driving for a given plot of land.

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Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Mary L. Dudziak, Zen Faulkes , and 2 more Shannon Vallor, Mary L. Dudziak, Zen Faulkes, Hisham Zerriffi, Finis Dunaway

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 2d

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

Huh. Learned something new today. Thanks!

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

Also, not really sure that the fighter (?) in the back is holding their sword the best way. But what do I know.

Any sword people on here? Is it usually a good idea to hold the blade of the sword as well? Even with gloves?

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

It really does seem unfair

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

You never know. Maybe there’s an underground river to raft down in the dungeon. 😂

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Reposted by Silvia Secchi, Hisham Zerriffi, Kate Jackson , and 1 more Silvia Secchi, Hisham Zerriffi, Kate Jackson, Dana Howard

Dane 🔜 NYCC AA L-34 @monkeyminion.com · 2d

I wrote a 15 page report on heraldic symbolism in medieval armor and weapon design for my art history class the night before it was due (8am class). Made up 90% of it (only found one book for reference) and got an A. GenAI could fucking never.

wrote 20 pages on Faulkner's The Bear four hours before final papers were due on trucker pills and coffee and cigarettes and got an A, fuck you.
You people couldn't hang with real slackers.
finn
wokeupchic • 4d
It's fuck Al till your homework due in 25 minutes

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

“You Had One Job” ageing body edition

Me: Need to look left

Neck: no

Me: what? Why? It’s literally your job to keep my head up and swivel it around.

Neck: hurts to look left

Me: oh. Why???

Neck: you’re getting older and spent too long looking left yesterday. Wait a day or two and try again

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

I am a very fortunate man.

I am about to spend a week or so housebound. And likely very bored.

My wife *who does not play role-playing games at all* surprised me with this single player game to keep me occupied.

I think she’s a keeper. :)

#TTRPG #NerdLife

Book showing a group of adventurers about to enter a dungeon. Text says: “Four Against Darkness: A solitaire dungeon-delving pen-and-paper game

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Reposted by David Murakami Wood, Hisham Zerriffi

Dr. Katja Thieme (she/they) @katjathieme.bsky.social · 2d

What is Steven Pinker’s expertise on systemic discrimination in the awarding of Canadian federal grants?

universityaffairs.ca/news/parliam...

Parliament reviews EDI for research grants - University Affairs

Witnesses testify for and against applying diversity criteria to scientific funding.

universityaffairs.ca

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

This game of Regulatory Whack-A-Mole with carbon offsets really needs to stop.

There continues to be massive problems with the offsets (esp. in the voluntary market) while the whole system gets bloated - all in an attempt to prove 1 ton C = 1 ton C.

There has to be a better way.

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

buff.ly

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 3d

Hopefully the hotel has a good room service menu.

Kids 1&2 have recently discovered Dr. Who so we’re making our way through the seasons. Consider me a happy #NerdDad

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 3d

Great to see John Holdren, Obama's Science Advisor, make a very clear statement about how equity and diversity improve science and technology. When I do EDI training for hiring I am clear. We're looking for great researchers and teachers and we risk missing out on those people.

buff.ly/JkgKiy6

$One of the things Obama said early on—he liked sports analogies—was it’s hard to win if half your team is on the bench. And he was talking about women and minorities in science, technology, engineering, and medicine. A large fraction of the country’s talent base is not being effectively used because of lack of access, lack of inclusion, and lack of equity. And to the extent that we fixed that, we improved the system. There’s now a substantial amount of scholarly research that shows that diversity is beneficial in science and technology. And the idea that diversity, inclusion, equity, per se, are bad ideas—which is obviously the stance that the Trump administration holds—are very destructive to the future of this country in these fields.$

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Reposted by Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 6 more Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Rosemary A. Joyce, Silvia Secchi, Adrian Daub, Raúl Pacheco-Vega, Brooke Harrington, Hisham Zerriffi, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 4d

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.

Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

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Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · 4d

Something new from this corner of the internet: a newsletter! It will be irregular, not too frequent, and full of Ursula-related news. The first one, which went out last week, contains a note from Theo Downes-Le Guin, explaining a bit of the why and the wherefore. Here's part of that note.

A Welcome from Theo Downes-Le Guin
One of the great pleasures of my work as literary executor is the sense that we are creating a community around my mother’s writing and ideas. If I’m honest with myself, however, I know that this community already exists. Any time two people read the same book, and that book resonates with them, the potentiality for a community exists, and the chance that destiny will throw those two readers together increases exponentially. This is why text is a great tool for subversion, resistance, and revolution. So at best, I am slightly hastening this coming-together.

Ursula’s dear friend, moral compass, and tech mentor Vonda McIntyre had the foresight to set up early accounts for Ursula on Twitter and Facebook, to discourage impostors. We didn’t do anything with the accounts until after 2018, because Ursula had no interest in the style of communication that socials demand. After she died, things changed. As part of my grieving, I wanted to talk and write more about her, to as many people as possible. (I also learned, over the time, that this is my job description as executor.) Instagram, because it is image-based, allowed me to share glimpses of her life without crossing the line of privacy and intimacy.

Over the years, and with the deft guidance of my colleague Molly Templeton, we have created a tone (and a respectable following) on social media that my mother would have tolerated, if not embraced. I am certain that if she had ever jumped on Twitter (now, for us, Bluesky), she would have treated it as she treated her blog—a one-way channel that idiosyncratically alternated between intimate musings and fiery analysis of the political and ethical failings of society. I miss those tweets that never were. But it is not my job to try to simulate them—I’m not her, we have what she wrote, and we are fortunate for that.

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Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 4d

Greta Thunberg, deported to Greece, says the targeting of the Sumud Flotilla is "not the story" @teenvogue.com — instead, she says:

"Israel once again violated international humanitarian law by preventing aid from getting into Gaza while people are being starved.”

Greta Thunberg On Her Detention: I'm "Not The Story" — It's Israel Violating International Humanitarian Law

“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me. But that is not the story.”

www.teenvogue.com

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 5d

Such a fun book. I even inserted Viv, the coffee shop and the whole crew as fun NPCs and setting for my players during a side quest in my home game.

FYI, Travis Baldree is on here.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 6d

The discussion, debate and even protests around old growth are very much alive here. If you decide to head this way, let me know.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 6d

3) I have a hard time believing researchers will limit it to pilots even if that is seen as best practice.

Bottom line. If you want to understand people (whether it is perceptions, behaviours, choices, etc) you have to talk to people.

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