A Vermont utility is helping people get home battery systems » Yale Climate Connections The batteries keep the lights on during power outages.

Are generators old news? In Vermont, home batteries are keeping the lights on during outages – and helping the whole grid stay stable.

A picture of Bruce, a green parrot, missing his upper beak. Photo by Alex Grabham

Bruce is a New Zealand parrot missing his top beak. It’s a serious disability, but he has managed to become the alpha of his group, through creativity. Here’s my story about Bruce and the mostly mysterious natural history of disability. Gift link: nyti.ms/4cwVGT5

Hampshire College’s demise is yet another blow to creative, outside-the-box options in higher education Hampshire College’s studen-driven, unorthodox approach to education has roots in the early 1900s and a belief that students should be active, engaged learners.

Hampshire College is closing in December after decades of offering unconventional, student-driven education. Its collapse reflects a broader shift in higher education toward vocational training and away from experimental learning.

Who Gets Guggenheims? - Public Books Unfortunately, 100 years of data show that those whom such fellowships might represent the greatest departure from their everyday experience—that is, those not at elite institutions—are least likely t...

Woohoo, here's my essay with my fav co-author on 30,000 fellowship wins across the Guggenheim, Stanford CASBS, NAEd, National Humanities Center, RSF visiting scholar, and Harvard Radcliffe.

Spoiler: it's the people working at prestigious universities

www.publicbooks.org/who-gets-gug...

Not only did they show us it is possible, they showed us how.
From everyday resistance within civil society institutions to 200K people publicly defying a Pride ban together to this massive electoral mobilization.

It's through showing each other our courage that we build the unstoppable force.

This worship of efficiency kills creativity. Every transcript I have, every piece of research, I go over again & again, looking for detail, pattern, illuminating anecdote. It’s not efficient. I flail sometimes! But it’s essential. It’s how I learn to tell the story to myself, so I can tell it to you

This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.

Home care wasn't ready for the climate crisis—even before Trump's Medicaid and FEMA cuts As extreme weather mounts, disaster relief for millions of people is being systemically gutted.

I looked into if Medicaid-funded providers who oversee disabled people living independently are ready for worsening climate events. The support they need from the federal government isn’t there, and it’s worsened under Trump. My latest for @motherjones.com.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Are White Men Missing Out?: Differences in Friendship Closeness by Gender and Ethnoracial Identity - Sex Roles Sex Roles - Research has consistently found that boys’ and men’s friendships are less close, intimate, supportive, and satisfying than girls’ and women’s...

New research challenges what we thought we knew about men's friendships. A new study by @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social Sociology grad student, Emily Fox (@emilycfox.bsky.social), asks: is the "gender friendship gap" really about gender? Spoiler: not exactly. 🧵 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Graph showing renewables overtaking fossil fuels

For when someone tells you everything is irredeemably broken - tell them that the EU produced more electricity with renewables in 2025 that from fossil fuels. And the trend is accelerating (especially after the current oil / gas price disasters).

The United States of America (USA) stands out as a conspicuous example. It is an exceptional new autocratizer due to both far-reaching changes in 2025 and their implications for the rest of the world. The extensive damage already done to American democracy under the second Trump presidency – in just one year – stands out on the world map (Figure 10). Typically, autocratizing countries of the “third wave” have taken about a decade to make such a deep dive, and the speed of decline is comparable to some coups d´états.2 Section

If you live in the US and you feel like your head has been spinning, this is why. Typically, autocratizing countries take a decade to make the kind of decline we've seen here in the past year, according to V-Dem.

Come Work With Us!

We are hiring for a Communications Lead role to support our ongoing and emerging needs across owned media, website, social media and events.

Interested? Read the detailed job description and apply on Greenhouse.

job-boards.greenhouse.io/distributeda...

United Academics of KU Secures Historic First Collective Bargaining Agreement for All Faculty and Academic Staff LAWRENCE, Kan.—Today, faculty and academic staff at the University of Kansas, represented by United Academics of the University of Kansas, announced that they have reached a tentative first contract a...

Last Friday, faculty and academic staff at the University of Kansas, represented by United Academics of the University of Kansas, announced a tentative first contract agreement that ensures due process, job security, academic freedom and dignified compensation for all.
www.aft.org/press-releas...

“Ecocide” means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts

- consensus definition for proposed inclusion of Ecocide as international crime in Rome Statute

Corpus Christi careens toward water catastrophe City officials expect to reach a “water emergency” within months and run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel deliveries to Texas airports, hike gas prices and trigger a local economic dis...

Is this bad?

“City officials expect to reach a ‘water emergency’ within months and run out of water next year.“

“The region’s largest industrial users, which collectively consume the majority of the region’s water, remain exempt from emergency curtailment.”

www.texastribune.org/2026/03/08/t...

More Than 1,000 Voters Were Turned Away Tuesday. ‘Total Chaos’ in Dallas Raises Alarms of Worsening Voter Suppression. As if election nights weren't stressful enough, more than 1,000 voters were reportedly turned away from polling locations.

The overbearing workload required to correctly cast a ballot is a feature of the policy choices made by Republicans, not a bug. Their hope is that, if they erect enough barriers to the ballot box, it will convince the “wrong” type of voters to simply give up.

thebarbedwire.com/2026/03/05/m...

News: Commanders across dozens of U.S. military bases told troops the war on Iran is part of "God's plan" so Trump can bring about "Armageddon"

News: so Trump can bring about "Armageddon." The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has been "inundated" with complaints since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran over the weekend, receiving more than 110 complaints from U.S. military personnel stationed at dozens of sites across the Middle East. Journalist Jonathan Larsen broke the story, sharing specific complaints made by troops. One such complaint made by a noncommissioned officer reported that their commander had "urged us to tell our troops that this was 'all part of God's divine plan' and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ." "He said that 'President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth," the NCO continued. "He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this which made his message seem even more crazy." MRFF told Larsen that over 110 complaints came

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has received 110+ complaints from US service members across 30+ sites about commanders using religious rhetoric

Including calling the war with Iran "part of God's plan" and Trump "anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon”

The cover of environmental Sociology now, edited by Jordan Fox, Ian Carrillo, J.P. Sapinski, and Diana Stuart

Today is the official publication day of Environmental Sociology Now!

@ucpress.bsky.social

www.ucpress.edu/books/enviro...

El Paso ICE Camp East Montana under quarantine after measles outbreak Camp East Montana, the ICE immigration detention center in El Paso, is under quarantine following a measles outbreak.

Camp East Montana in El Paso is currently under quarantine following a measles outbreak and cases of tuberculosis.

My breaking story:

12 environmental & climate justice reads » Yale Climate Connections These books and reports span topics of migration, indigenous movements, African-American communities, and the Disability Rights movement.

Books to add to your shelf:

Cities in Action | Columbia University Press As national governments and global institutions fail to address climate change, an increasing number of cities have committed to major sustainability and cli... | CUP

🧵 IT'S OUT! My book Cities in Action is now available from Columbia University Press. Why do some cities step up on climate while others stay on the sidelines? And how can we not just explain but empower city action? @columbiaup.bsky.social cup.columbia.edu/book/cities-...

Loosely Regulated Commercial Space Travel Poses An Environmental Threat A new study underscores growing unease about pollution from mostly unregulated commercial space activities.

A Falcon rocket crashing through the atmosphere left a massive metal pollution plume detected from Earth. Researchers say such contamination is rising rapidly as launch activity surges, and they warn that the atmosphere and climate could be harmed.

Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren

This isn't about choice.

It's about their desire to eliminate the "weak" in society (based on their inhumane view that the "weak" take more than they contribute and thus don't deserve life) and to profit by selling snake oil to people who reject mainstream meds.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/h...

‘We Will See Them in Court’: Environmental Lawyers Vow to Challenge Trump’s Repeal of Key Climate Finding - Inside Climate News The Trump administration repealed the EPA’s 2009 determination that greenhouse gases are a pollutant, an important legal foundation for their regulation.

"knowledge about how greenhouse gases affect hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, flooding & agriculture becomes more detailed every year. The government’s decision today is 'not based on science,' Howarth said. 'It’s a predetermined political decision.' "
insideclimatenews.org/news/1202202...

Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses

Meta's plan for launching glasses that people can use to secretly identify strangers on the street is to do it "during a dynamic political environment" when people who care about why that's bad are "focused on other concerns."

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...

Live Updates: F.A.A. Halts All Flights at El Paso Airport for 10 Days

The FAA has halted all flights into or out of El Paso for 10 days for unspecified "special security reasons," canceling more than 1,000 flights and effectively cutting a major American city off by air. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

2 active cases of tuberculosis confirmed at Camp East Montana Two cases of tuberculosis have been confirmed at Camp East Montana in El Paso County.

I have been informed by U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar and confirmed by the City of El Paso, Texas that there are two known active cases of tuberculosis registered at Camp East Montana. There are also at least 18 cases of COVID-19.

I had been hearing rumors of this from my contacts for weeks.

Fear and Anger Grow as Thousands Remain Without Power in the South More than 30 people have died across three Southern states in connection with last week’s storm, and thousands remain without power.

Tens of thousands of people across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana have gone a week without power or heat after a brutal ice storm. At least three dozen people have died in connection with the storm, officials have said.

New book explores how the 2021 winter storm endangered Texans with disabilities Lack of access to power, water and transportation proved to be especially dangerous for Texans with physical and cognitive limitations.

Sharing a recent interview I did with the Texas Standard.

www.texasstandard.org/stories/disa...