Whose Land Is This Really, and... Why? On the case of "why farmland matters"

Thought-provoking essay from Sarah Mock sarahmock.substack.com/p/whose-land...

Severe and tornadic storms erupt across Iowa and Wisconsin.

An update on the saga of 45Z, the Clean Fuels Production credit that *might* pay farmers for regenerative practices. This one's had a lot of twists and turns since it was created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Map of U.S., from coolwx.com, showing locations currently experiencing record-breaking temperatures. There are countless such locations in the Western U.S., with hundreds of red dots (locations breaking daily record highs) and countless pink dots (locations breaking March monthly record highs). The region of record heat extends from the Pacific Coast to east the Mississippi River, and from Canada to Mexico. The region of red and pink dots is vastly larger even than yesterday's (or the day before, or the day before, or the day before, same as it ever was, same...as it ever was...).

Incredibly, even *more* locations across U.S. are today experiencing their warmest March temperatures on record--many by a wide margin, with some even breaking April records. This includes most or all of: AZ, UT, CO, NM, WY, NE, KS, MO, IA, plus portions of many other states. 🫠

An Open Letter to Georgetown Students, In Response to Recent Announcements about "Generative AI" Image source: Bibliothèque nationale de France An Open Letter to Georgetown Students, In Response to Recent Announcements by the University about “Generative AI” Dear students, As you know, in …

Solidarity with Emily Tucker and her open letter to students. Tucker writes, "But the great thing is, you don’t have to go along with this, and I urge you not to. You can refuse to use the chatbot. You can tell your professors that you don’t want them to use it or to require you to use it."

Attention researchers who use USDA datasets

Blizzard warning for all but far northwestern Wisconsin.

All of Wisconsin, except far northwestern Wisconsin, is now under a BLIZZARD WARNING through tomorrow.

Travel should be avoided across all parts of the state until the storm winds down.

Stay safe tonight and tomorrow.

Releasing agriculture from the food security mandate The state of food security is achieved if no one has to worry whether or how they can acquire—typically purchase—healthy and nutritious meals. In theory, food security could be addressed from two side...

Releasing agriculture from the food security mandate www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Tonight, I was looking at water.noaa.gov to see where the US is flooding. My 11-year old pointed to the ongoing major flooding in North Dakota, and I said "Oh, that's Devils Lake. It's always flooding there." They asked "Why?" and a rabbit hole yawned before me.

Data centers: an emerging threat to freshwater biodiversity in the United States This study lays the foundation for future research to quantify data center (DC) impacts on freshwater biodiversity in the US. The proliferation of DCs…

On the thermal water pollution front (both from direct evap cooling and indirect thermoelectric water use), this new study may be useful: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Important commentary here regarding water use of data centers.
Data Centers Water Footprint: The Need for More Transparency - Privette - 2026 - AGU Advances - Wiley Online Library agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The Colorado River Crisis is Here States fail to reach a deal; Lake Powell Deadpool appears imminent

Federal officials now project that Lake Powell will "most probably" drop below power pool level — meaning Glen Canyon Dam will no longer be able to generate hydropower — before the end of this year: www.landdesk.org/p/the-colora... via @landdesk.bsky.social

Big Tech Says Generative AI Will Save the Planet. It Doesn't Offer Much Proof A new report finds that of 154 specific claims about how AI will benefit the climate, just a quarter cited academic research. A third included no evidence at all.

when big tech companies say that AI will save the planet, what kinds of AI are they actually talking about — and what's their proof? i took a look at some great new research from @ketanjoshi.co and talked to other experts about how a lot of this talk is probably bullshit:

The Power of Perennial Agriculture Agroecologist and professor Liz Carlisle discusses her latest book, a collection of guest essays that makes the case for more diverse crops.

The Power of Perennial Agriculture
Agroecologist and professor Liz Carlisle discusses her latest book, a collection of guest essays that makes the case for more diverse crops on our farms and on our plates. civileats.com/2026/02/18/t...

As a Colorado River deadline passes, reservoirs keep declining Seven states have missed a federal deadline to reach a water deal on the Colorado River. They remain divided how to cut water use.

As a Colorado River deadline passes, reservoirs keep declining

Thanks, Joe!

Fixing Streams: A Biophysical Perspective on the Spatial Fix and Dam Decommissioning in the Driftless Area The theory of the spatial fix has been increasingly invoked in socioecological contexts to investigate capitalism’s attempts to overcome its interlocking social and ecological crises through spatia...

I'm really grateful to have been part of this paper led by former MS student Sydney Widell that tells the story of & interrogates what is arguably the largest watershed-wide dam decommissioning effort led by the federal gov following major flooding and breaches in 2018. w/ @creekthinker.bsky.social

Fixing Streams: A Biophysical Perspective on the Spatial Fix and Dam Decommissioning in the Driftless Area The theory of the spatial fix has been increasingly invoked in socioecological contexts to investigate capitalism’s attempts to overcome its interlocking social and ecological crises through spatia...

I'm really grateful to have been part of this paper led by former MS student Sydney Widell that tells the story of & interrogates what is arguably the largest watershed-wide dam decommissioning effort led by the federal gov following major flooding and breaches in 2018. w/ @creekthinker.bsky.social

When the university meets the grassroots: participatory action research and just transitions in agriculture - Agriculture and Human Values Agriculture and Human Values - Confronting the deep-rooted social inequities and environmental harm in animal agriculture research demands approaches that link Just Transitions (JT) with...

Important new article led by @anafochesatto.bsky.social : When the university meets the grassroots: participatory action
research and just transitions in agriculture doi.org/10.1007/s104...

When the university meets the grassroots: participatory action research and just transitions in agriculture - Agriculture and Human Values Agriculture and Human Values - Confronting the deep-rooted social inequities and environmental harm in animal agriculture research demands approaches that link Just Transitions (JT) with...

Important new article led by @anafochesatto.bsky.social : When the university meets the grassroots: participatory action
research and just transitions in agriculture doi.org/10.1007/s104...

Unlocking the benefits of transparent and reusable science for climate risk management Adam B. Pollack https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6642-0591 adam.b.pollack@dartmouth.edu, Lisa Auermuller https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3696-6491, Casey D. Burleyson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6218-9361, Jentry Campbell https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8615-5094, Madison Condon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8764-2249, Courtney Cooper, Matteo Coronese https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4134-1971, Sönke Dangendorf https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3679-5234, James Doss-Gollin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3428-2224, Prabhat Hegde https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1748-346X, Casey Helgeson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5333-9954, Robert E. Kopp https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4016-9428, Jan Kwakkel, Corey Lesk, Justin Mankin https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2520-4555, Robert E. Nicholas https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2615-2574, Jennie Rice https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7833-9456, Samantha Roth https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8867-4426, Vivek Srikrishnan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0049-3805, Moira Scheeler https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9675-7694, Nancy Tuana https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5449-6097, Chris Vernon, Mengqi Zhao https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5385-2758, and Klaus Keller https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5451-8687 -20Authors Info & Affiliations Edited by Stephen Pacala, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ; received November 25, 2024; accepted December 5, 2025 January 14, 2026 123 (3) e2422157123

🚨 Publication alert! Very happy to see our paper "Unlocking the benefits of transparent and reusable science for climate risk management" out in PNAS today. With @crispapoll.bsky.social @jdossgollin.bsky.social @bobkopp.net and many others.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

“Hand wave”? I believe the point Adam (and I) are trying to make is that empirical evidence doesn’t back up yield increases as a necessary or sufficient condition to decrease deforestation.

A situated proposal for a grounded approach to socio-hydrology Socio-hydrology, a range of attempts to better account for ‘the social’ in hydrological processes, has made significant progress during the Panta Rhei…

Fully support this: "We maintain that cultivating situated engagement, with researchers from different disciplines becoming part of and explicitly involved in the water problems they are jointly studying and aspire to help solve, is one promising approach to advance socio-hydrology."

Another example - from just today - of excellent and essential climate and weather research from @ncar-ucar.bsky.social with clear impacts on flood-prone communities
doi.org/10.1038/s432... #NCAR

Hanging in there! Absolutely, that would be great 👍

Really beautiful, Andrew! Thanks for sharing.

Another example - from just today - of excellent and essential climate and weather research from @ncar-ucar.bsky.social with clear impacts on flood-prone communities
doi.org/10.1038/s432... #NCAR

Purdue to students: Come and be an AI meat widget! There are emerging best practices for meeting the challenge of AI in education. What Purdue is doing is the opposite.

Purdue's "plan" to have AI competencies, including "projects" for assessment in place by Fall of 2026 is absurd, impossible, and counterproductive. We have good models for addressing the challenge and this ain't it. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

@wisconet.bsky.social

It's available to watch online through the UW-Madison library search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9910...