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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 1d

This time around, #WaterYear is also gonna have water memes...

Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 3d

#WaterYear reflections on how rivers change over time. The two photos show the Chagrin River behind our house. At left, in 1880 dammed for a mill producing various wood products. At right, the spot of the dam today.

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 4d

See link below for an essay on the first iteration of the #WaterYear project

Photo is of Benham Falls on the Deschutes River south of Bend, OR. More of intense, extended rapids than falls and is the rivers feisty response to being dammed by lava 6,000 years ago.

medium.com/@WWFWater/di...

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 5d

Bean and L’il Steven competing for scarce lap resource

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 5d

New collaborator

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Reposted by Jeff Opperman

Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 5d

Weird the version of the graph I have has a very pronounced upward 📈 line for "To grow the movement for healthy and sustainable food systems for all"

Josh Nicholas @joshnicholas.com · 5d

This is kinda sad

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Reposted by Jeff Opperman

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 6d

"God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters - what will be our answer, my dear friends?"

Pope Leo hits out at critics of global warming

In his first major statement on climate change, the pontiff criticises those who minimise climate change.

www.bbc.com

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 5d

Song was written with my friend Matt Simon; here's a playlist of other songs we've written about rivers:

open.spotify.com/playlist/78d...
Let it Flow: songs for rivers
Playlist · Jeff Opperman · 5 items · 8 saves

Let it Flow: songs for rivers

open.spotify.com

Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 5d

When I did #WaterYear 3 yrs ago I was very disciplined: one photo a day w/ some story & they were numbered 1-365 to correspond to the water year. This time, I'll be looser, sometimes a photo, sometimes a song or painting.

First WY did have a theme song, here's its video:
youtu.be/LToITQjhEY8?...

Water Year

YouTube video by Jeff Opperman

youtu.be

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 7d

Three years ago I did a year-long project called #WaterYear: one photo of water each day w/ short content on water-y connections: from the hydrological to the emotional. That was on the other place, so reprising for BlueSky as today is 1st day of WaterYear in the US. See tomorrow for theme song!

Reposted by Jeff Opperman

Chris Morris @camorris64.bsky.social · 12d

In today's Plain Dealer, my illustration for a column supporting "rewilding" kids. Wading in creeks, building forts, getting scratches and bruises while climbing trees and touching grass. Column by Chagrin Falls writer and conservation scientist Jeff Opperman. This illustration sponsored by Bactine.

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 12d

I love the illustration! So happy to see that when I opened the paper. Great work

a comic speech bubble with the word comic written on it

ALT: a comic speech bubble with the word comic written on it

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Jeff Opperman

Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 12d

Growing food crops under solar panels is called Agrivoltaics. Lots of crops benefit from growing underneath them. I know in Maine they were piloting wild blueberries, and in Massachusetts cranberries. You can also graze animals like sheep or if you mount them high cows (not goats - they climb)

Lewis Standing @lewis-standing.bsky.social · 14d

www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

China is halting the expansion of the gobi desert by planting goji berries beneath solar panels.

The shade reduces heat and water stress on the plants.

Excellent

China enlists solar panels in war to halt desert sands

In arid northern China, dozens of workers prune goji berry bushes that stretch out under the protective shade of thousands of solar panels.

www.reuters.com

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 12d

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 12d

My new op-ed on how we need a "great rewilding" of childhood to counteract the "great rewiring of childhood" described in Anxious Generation @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social

Screen shot of print page in comments if can't access link www.cleveland.com/news/2025/09...

Reverse the great rewiring of childhood with a great rewilding of childhood: Jeff Opperman

Across all neighborhoods, relinquishing parental control remains a challenge, but can be accomplished most effectively through collective action — parents, neighborhoods, and schools working together ...

www.cleveland.com

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Reposted by Jeff Opperman

Oliver Milman @olliemilman.bsky.social · 17d

In Chicago - what a city this is - to see the first organized swim in its cleaned up river in 98 years

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Reposted by Jeff Opperman

Michael Mahon, PhD @mmahon.bsky.social · 14d

In short, fish biodiversity in U.S. streams are changing fast.
- Cold streams are losing biodiversity
- Warm streams are gaining in a homogenized way
- Human choices will shape the future of freshwater fish

Free access in first post.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams - Nature

In the past three decades, fish abundance, richness and uniqueness have diverged across cold and warm streams, and the effects on native fish communities of stream warming and increases in introduced fishes have magnified each other.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Jeff Opperman

Dave Tickner @davetickner.bsky.social · 22d

(1/n)

🆕: Addressing the policy & business drivers of global freshwater biodiversity loss.
cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10....

Or (to provoke a debate), is restoration of #rivers, #lakes & #wetlands a sufficient response to the global collapse in freshwater biodiversity?

A 🧵...

Addressing the policy and business drivers of global freshwater biodiversity loss

While they are important, local or catchment-level conservation efforts are by themselves unlikely to bend the curve of dramatic global-scale biodiversity loss in rivers, lakes, and freshwater wetland...

cdnsciencepub.com

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 19d

Past few months several studies on apes & fermented fruit, finding: 1. Chimps & gorillas eat a lot of it (scrump around!) 2. They like to share it (cheers, mates!) and 3. They consume up to equivalent of one alcoholic drink per day (study below). A toast to the drunken monkey hypothesis 🦍🍇🍻

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 19d

Scrump around!

Science Magazine @science.org · 19d

By munching on fermented fruit, chimpanzees consume the equivalent of roughly 1 alcoholic drink per day, new #ScienceAdvances research finds. https://scim.ag/4nIu55z

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 20d

You can't spell JAGUAR without AGUA: integrating conservation for the Amazon river and forest. There is considerable overlap in migratory corridors for jaguars and freshwater species such as river dolphins

www.forbes.com/sites/jeffop...

Putting The AGUA In JAGUAR: The Intertwined Health Of The Amazon River And Forest

Recent research shows that there is considerable overlap in the important corridors for jaguars and key freshwater species, highlighting the potential for integrated conservation.

www.forbes.com

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Reposted by Jeff Opperman

Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · 22d

"A near term crisis is unfolding before our eyes" The Colorado River’s reservoirs are so depleted that another dry year could send them plunging to dangerously low levels, a group of experts warns in a new analysis. @jfleck.bsky.social www.inkstain.net/2025/09/anal... www.latimes.com/environment/...

The dwindling Colorado River can’t wait for states to cut water use, experts say

A group of leading experts on the Colorado River say Western states urgently need to cut water use to avert a deepening crisis.

www.latimes.com

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 22d

Tom Miner Creek in Montana

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Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · Aug 29

Sediment removal begins this week in preparation for removal of the Gorge Dam on Cuyahoga River; when the Gorge Dam is removed the transformation of the lower Cuyahoga from flaming to free-flowing will be complete

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