I hope it’s better than it looks. But I fear starchitecture’s last gasp is LA saddled with a $750 mil freeway overpass, and the art arranged not by chronology or culture, but by selfie potential.

A chunk of the collection is in Vegas storage, and they’re renting curatorial office space. Yikes.

I’m reminded of the TC Boyle short story “On for the Long Haul,” where a paranoid businessman moves his family to a fortified compound in Montana for the endtimes, and is promptly murdered by the paranoid loner gun nut next door.

First rule of disaster preparedness? Get to know your neighbors.

Could ‘A River Runs Through It’ Have Been a Hit Today?

Gift article.
Maclean’s nonfiction book Young Men and Fire, about the tragic 1949 Mann Gulch firefighting disaster, is deeply informed and affecting, and well worth reading.

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Could ‘A River Runs Through It’ Have Been a Hit Today? www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/b...

Maui residents are rebuilding Lahaina for locals, not tourists: ‘In Hawaii, we take care of one another’ After deadly 2023 fires, recent storms and ICE raids, Lahaina residents are determined to rebuild the town for their community

Lahaina’s attempt to avoid housing scarcity after fire disaster is “perhaps organizers’ greatest victory so far: the city council passed a law to phase out 7,000 island vacation rentals, 15% of the island’s housing stock, to house fire survivors and locals.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Three people sentenced to jail for bear-suit insurance scam in California State investigated claims of bear attacks on cars, unconvincingly backed up by video of person in bear suit

This mad libs of California environmental studies has EVERYTHING:

Extinct California grizzlies!
People in bear suits impersonating California grizzlies!
A vandalized Rolls-Royce!
Property Insurance fraud!
Biologists identifying fraudster humans in bear suits!🐻🤪

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

“In tandem with environmental groups and scientists, mothers who reared their families in LA were driving forces in preventing the worsening of air pollution.”

Mothers attended local council meetings in gas masks, calling themselves Stamp Out Smog, among the first environmental groups in L.A.

Dust storms have overtaken Coachella. Researchers say it's a sign of what's to come Researchers say that dust storms cost the U.S. billions of dollars annually already, and could be getting worse and more economically devastating.

“It was the latest instance in which dusty conditions hampered one of the nation’s largest and most profitable music festivals, which has been called “Dustchella.”...
Wind-driven dust is an overlooked environmental hazard — and one that carries a hefty price tag.”

www.latimes.com/environment/...

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

“The ‘pessimistic’ models, which show a strong weakening of the Amoc by 2100, are, unfortunately, the realistic ones.”
“We may well pass that Amoc shutdown tipping point, where it becomes inevitable, in the middle of this century, which is quite close.”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Heatwave threatens to shatter high-temperature records across eastern US Intense heat in cities like New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC is unusual for April, weather experts say

Once, April would have been ridiculously early for public health heat warnings in most of the US. Not anymore: “Heat is the No 1 weather-related killer in the US, the weather service warns.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Thanks, Jason – – I appreciate it! Hope you’re doing well, and hope to see you another time.

Thursday, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM Climate Histories of the United States: A Roundtable The scholars on this roundtable will discuss how U.S. historians are integrating climate frameworks into their research and teaching, and how historians can provide historical perspective on climate policy debates. Chair: John Brooke, Ohio State University Panelists: • Leila Blackbird, Brown University • Lawrence Culver, Utah State University • Katherine Grandjean, Wellesley College • Eric Herschthal, University of Utah • Emily Pawley, Environmental History, Dickinson College

Logo for the 2026 meeting of the Organization of American Historians conference in Philadelphia, April 16-19, with an illustration of Independence Hall.

I’m excited to be headed to Philadelphia for the Organization of American Historians 2026 conference to participate in a roundtable, “Climate Histories of the United States,” on Thursday at 11 AM. It should be a great conversation! See alt text and link for more info.

www.oah.org/conferences/...

‘Nothing but tree skeletons’: record-breaking wildfires devastate US cattle country Rising temperatures and extreme drought are driving more destructive spring fires across the American Great Plains. This year, forces aligned to create the perfect storm in Nebraska

Normally, “the vast grasslands that roll across the American Great Plains would be starting to green. But…where most of the nation’s beef producers graze their herds, this spring brought fire instead, leaving more than a million acres black and barren.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

The IMLS may not be a high profile federal agency, but it and its funding are essential for public and academic libraries, archives, museums, and other public history and humanities organizations large and small, and programs aiding disadvantaged and rural communities—its survival is a big deal!

Great! Now add back all the censored information about Indigenous history, African American history, slavery, climate change, and ecology at NPS sites, and we will be back on our way to telling everyone’s history and actual science at places preserved by the government for the public.

“Experts said the city didn’t expect such a bad drought, and new sources of reliable water didn’t arrive as expected. Those problems arose as the city increased its water sales to big industrial customers.”

Big customers that won’t have to conserve even in a crisis, but just pay out a little money.

“In a statewide survey of 800 Utahns in 2024, researchers at Utah State University found nearly a quarter considered risks tied to lake in the course of family planning. And 35% indicated they have thought to some extent about moving because of desiccation of the lake.”

A new concern raised about the dwindling Great Salt Lake: “Vegetables exposed to Great Salt Lake dust contained elevated levels of elements like arsenic and uranium, even after thorough washing…toxic-laden dust could infiltrate Utahn’s lives in pervasive ways.”

www.usu.edu/today/story/...

I’d probably be sick as a dog, but if not, and if I had just survived a space mission, reentry, and splashdown off the coast of San Diego, I would pop out of that capsule demanding ALL the fish tacos!

The red worm NASA logo on the side of the Artemis spacecraft.

The red NASA logo unveiled in 1975 nicknamed the worm.

The original NASA logo with a blue starfield and a red swoosh nicknamed the meatball.

Purely for childhood nostalgia, I like that NASA has resurrected the 1970s-90s “worm” logo. (Hilariously the older one is called the “meatball.”)

That red logo is a remnant of a more hopeful moment for space exploration and society, and despite everything it makes me glad to see it in space again.

Better yet, he’s apparently going to build it by raiding $15 million more from the NEH. Or is it the NEA? When everything’s just a slush fund, I guess it doesn’t matter.

Oh, and if they actually build it to that height, it’ll also render at least one of the runways at Reagan National unusable.

An Albert Speer collab with a West Palm Beach wedding planner, constructed by Temu.

It looks like an Albert Speer collab with a West Palm Beach wedding planner, constructed by Temu.

This is both correct and relevant, but I’ll allow it

“The sheer volume of records, all-time records that were set and broken during that time period…coming on the heels of what was the worst snow year. And the hottest winter of record.

April 2025 to March 2026 was the warmest 12-month period on record in the continental United States.”

“After a record dry winter and a summer-like March, the latest water outlook for Lake Powell and the Colorado River Basin shows an increasingly grim future.” Instead of Powell dropping below “power pool,” or 3,490 feet by the end of December, it may happen sooner.

www.sltrib.com/news/environ...

Everybody keeps asking about WHO the American Avignon Pope would be, but not WHERE he would be. So many possibilities!

Mar-a-Lago?
Branson?
Atlantic City?
Orlando?
Dallas?
Talladega?
Vegas?
Pigeon Forge?
Waco?

The options are endless! 🤪

‘Non-survivable’: heatwaves are already breaching human limits, with worse to come, study finds Analysis of six extreme heatwaves found that when temperature and humidity were accounted for, all were potentially deadly for older people

Heat, like other disasters, is often most dangerous for the elderly: “When scientists accounted for the body’s ability to function and stay cool depending on age, they found all 6 events had seen non-survivable periods for older people who could not find shade.”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The @noaa.gov data is in. March 2026 was 9.35 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century normal across the U.S., the warmest March in more than 130 years of records.

California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas were all record warm.

A nation that hyperrealitied itself from global hegemon to failed state in a decade.