Michael I. Westphal
@peacewestphalia.bsky.social
1.2K followers 2K following 24 posts
Climate change, cycling, cocktails, and the Oxford comma. Westphal in a non-Westphalian world. Head of Science, IPCC Working Group III TSU; Adjunct Prof, Georgetown University.
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Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
malthus-enigma.bsky.social
Delighted to announce that Malthus Enigma: Technology, Science, and Policy for a Fragile Earth is now published in hardcover and paperback.
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
Living in Berlin, working in Potsdam.
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
30% of the WGIII authors have no prior IPCC experience.
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
51% of the authors come from developing countries/ Economies in Transition.
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
58% of the WGIII authors are men; 42% are women. In AR6 overall, one-third of the authors were women.
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
For Working Group III (mitigation), we received 1211 nominations, and the WGIII Bureau selected 222 experts from 79 countries.
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
Congratulations to all Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors, and Review Editors for the @ipcc.bsky.social Seventh Assessment Report.
glenpeters.bsky.social
Honoured to be Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) in IPCC AR7 Chapter 2 on "Past and current anthropogenic emissions and their drivers"

And quite happy with the author list... This will be a great team!

Check out the author lists here, for all WGs: apps.ipcc.ch/report/autho...
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
I am very happy to announce that I have joined RIFS Research Institute for Sustainability | at GFZ, where I am continuing my work as Head of Science for the IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
mcsweeneys.net
"Reducing our dependence on whales as an energy source will send us sliding down the slippery, spermaceti-lubricated slope to socialism. If we give up whaling, what will those lackwits come for next? Will I have to surrender my peg leg for a titanium prosthetic?"
I’m Captain Ahab and I Say We Must Never Transition Away from a Whale-Based Energy Industry
When I heard that the globalist oligarchs and fat cats in the Washington marshland were conspiring to invest in alternative, non-whale-based energy...
buff.ly
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
baumlab.bsky.social
Attention Climate Solutions Scholars! @uvic.ca seeks its next Canada Excellence Research Chair 🇨🇦: www.uvic.ca/research-inn...

You: world class scholar, looking to make a move

Us: #5 in world for climate action, collegial, stunning location (B.C.) w award-winning climate policy

Pls share widely!
Canada Excellence Research Chair - University of Victoria - University of Victoria
Find information about applying to be Canada Excellence Research Chair at the University of Victoria
www.uvic.ca
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
Imagine if people moralized about how heat in winter is unnecessary and unsustainable the way they do about AC.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
davidho.bsky.social
Motherfucking wind farms…
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
Subtract days in July in Washington, DC.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
justinwolfers.bsky.social
Firing the BLS Commissioner — the wonk in charge of the statisticians who track economic reality — is an authoritarian four alarm fire.

It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
helenczerski.bsky.social
Reading Rebecca Solnit & I love this:

""The remains of the swamp grass, the ferns ... turned into coal. And to this cemetery we intend to go, drag the dead out of their tombs, and force them to work for us." That language frames it as a zombie movie, a horror story, the dead come back to haunt us."
"The remains of the swamp grass, the ferns, the horsetails rotted under the layers of sand and clay and the
clay, became black, and turned into coal. And to this cemetery we intend to go, drag the dead out of their tombs, and force them to work for us." That language frames it as a zombie movie, a horror story, the dead come back to haunt us, in this case with their carbon.
peacewestphalia.bsky.social
I first came to DC to work on a scientific cooperation program between ORD scientists and researchers in the former Soviet Union. What a tragic loss. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
waiterich.bsky.social
Maybe this is just rage bait at this point, but I find it Interesting that heating uses 4x the energy globally as cooling does, but authors of AC-shaming articles like this never call for people to just “tough it out” through the winter without heating their homes 🤔
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
gilesyb.bsky.social
Sitting here bleary after another poor night's sleep, disinclined to engage in a day of cognitive effort, this chart from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com really strikes home on.ft.com/4eFZG4l
Shows death rates in US and eu cities by temperature, air con being the decisive factor
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
jamesrball.com
Bizarre discussion on the radio likening air condition to passive smoking because it accounts for 3% of CO2 emissions.

But: we don’t moralise turning heating on in winter, and heating accounts for 15% of emissions. If aircon is intrinsically immoral, so are radiators.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
tribelaw.bsky.social
Susie Essman, the brilliant comedian from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” recently offered some wise advice: focus on the small things in life that give you happiness. As Susie memorably put it, “The macro is fucked. We gotta go micro.” — @borowitzreport.bsky.social (July 11, 2025)
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
notamiller.bsky.social
And here's a full copy of the NCA5 website. I backed it up earlier this year, before Trump took office: replayweb.page?source=https...
ReplayWeb.page
replayweb.page
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
bobkopp.net
Attention US scientists: The @ipcc.bsky.social has issued a call for expert nominations for upcoming workshops on Engaging Diverse Knowledge Systems and Methods of Assessment. If you wish to apply via the US Academic Alliance for the IPCC, do it here, before July 11: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Aims of the workshops

Specific aims of Workshop 1 on engaging wider knowledge systems are:

to address how Indigenous Knowledge systems could be accessed and assessed by the IPCC, in particular considering effective and equitable engagement of Indigenous Knowledge holders and building on experience built up in other fora as appropriate;
to address how Iocal knowledge could be assessed by the IPCC, building on experience built up in other fora as appropriate;
to make recommendations for funding agencies as to how to support the engagement of knowledge holders in the IPCC programme of work.

The specific aims of Workshop 2 on methods of assessment are:

to make recommendations as to how systematic review methods could be applied within and outside IPCC assessments and how they could contribute to strengthening established assessment practices including uncertainty assessments;
to make recommendations to the IPCC, the Bureau and authors as to how new and extended methods of assessment such as artificial intelligence might be built into the IPCC programme of work;
to address how ex-post evaluation evidence could be assessed by the IPCC, building on experience built up in other fora as appropriate;
to identify precautionary measures or limitations that might be necessary to ensure adherence to IPCC’s principles and procedures for the preparation of reports; and
to make recommendations for scientific communities as to how new and extended methods could be used to develop literature which can more easily be assessed by the IPCC.

The goal across both workshops is to make recommendations as to how new and extended methods of assessment could be applied to different types of knowledge systems (such as scientific, Indigenous, local, practitioner).