a good title is half the battle

Your Backpack Got Worse On Purpose In 1986, a corporation that made women's lingerie bought every backpack brand you've ever trusted.

“In 2000, they bought The North Face. Same year, they bought Eastpak. In 2004, Kipling. In 2007, Eagle Creek. By the time they were done, VF Corporation controlled an estimated 55% of the US backpack market….More than half. One company.”

You would think that would flag monopoly concerns….

I know this is true. I've known it for a while. I still have trouble believing it each time I see it because it is so mind boggling.

This is the fourth largest economy in the world.

"Fossil gas down 60% in 2026 v 2023."

[NEWS] 18-22 MAI 2026 | sociAMM au congrès "Histoires d'eau" du Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques #CTHS : sociamm.phisoc.ulb.be/les-nouvelle... #envhist #eau #histoire

The @cndhistassoc.bsky.social has written to Minister @JulieDabrusin to take issue with this attack on knowledge. You should too! cha-shc.ca/advocacy/cha... #cdnhist #envhist

Excited to read this as pumpkins are very important in our house. (Photo from 2019.) tinyurl.com/ead27cmy @uwapress.uw.edu #envhist

The rise in climate pollution from the US is 2025 canceled out the reductions from China, India, Japan, and the EU combined.

Today's winner of the Internet. Congratulations!

It feels like yesterday that online-engineers-of-a-certain-age were saying that heavy freight could never be electrified. To quote William Gibson, "The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet." Fossil fuel interests want to keep it that way.

Better Off in Brazil? With diminishing opportunities at home, some U.S. soybean farmers have relocated thousands of miles South. A new book considers the impact.

Glad to see @alofstehage.bsky.social's book on US farmers in Brazil featured in Offrange magazine. I'm biased, but the global agribusiness links between the US and Brazil are such an important and little-understood story.
ambrook.com/offrange/boo...

Well, if you're a deeply corrupt tool of oil and gas like #TedCruz, you're just doing your job, right?

Check out Marc Reyes's review Prakash Kumar's review of "A History of India's Green Revolution: Reign of Technocracy," published in 2025 @universitypress.cambridge.org; review now available @hnetreviews.bsky.social #envhist #envhum #envtech #aghist
www.h-net.org/reviews/show...

The Climate Scientist Who Fought Back — The Fenton Forecast Podcast Dr. Michael Mann

"The Climate Scientist Who Fought Back" | My interview with the legendary @dfenton.bsky.social for the new #FentonForecast podcast: www.fentonforecast.com/episodes/epi...

Associate Editor- The John Dickinson Writings Project University Overview The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school co...

JOB: Associate Editor, The John Dickinson Writings Project

Looking for someone with a PhD in early American history, ideally with previous experience working on a similar project

Presented with the usual caveat about staff salaries here....

New electric ferry pioneers whale detection device, experts still concerned about strikes A new all-electric, passenger-only ferry is charging ahead after receiving approval from the Vancouver Park Board last week. It will be operating in an area commonly frequented by humpback whales. The...

A new all-electric, passenger-only ferry has received approval from the Vancouver Park Board last week. It will be operating in an area commonly frequented by #humpback #whales. www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

"Over the course of March, the nation got more electricity from renewables than it did from natural gas, which is typically the single-largest source of energy on the U.S. grid. It’s the first time renewables have bested the fossil fuel in the U.S. across an entire month"
(From Canary Media)

Map of the contiguous United States showing the spring bloom index anomaly as of April 19, 2026 from the USA National Phenology Network. Many areas are earlier than normal.

Aside from Florida, nearly the entire contiguous U.S. has experienced earlier than average first plant blooms in 2026. Earlier springs can cause longer allergy seasons, accelerate wildfire risk, increase pests/mosquitoes, and lead to less reliable snow-fed water.

Map: www.usanpn.org/data/maps/sp...

In his “most notorious [job] interview,” Karp met Louis Mosley, an Oxford graduate whose grandfather Oswald Mosley was the British fascist leader during World War II and once named “worst Briton of the twentieth century.” As soon as Mosley sat down, Karp began reciting from memory, for several minutes, one of Oswald’s 1939 speeches demanding Britain seek peace with Nazi Germany. When finished, Karp executed tai chi moves and walked out without saying goodbye. Mosley sat stunned, convinced his family’s past had torpedoed him. Instead, he was hired and now runs Palantir’s UK business.

Crazy? Would a crazy guy do this?!?

National Park Service sued for authorizing mining at Mojave National Preserve Colosseum Mine operations at Mojave National Preserve have triggered a lawsuit.

Citizen organizations stepping up to defend #American #NationalParks. #Mohave #NPS #Interior #NPCA #Earthjustice #mining #California
www.sfgate.com/national-par...

Rethinking Incomplete Metaphors for the Earth System We often hear about the Anthropocene, but what if it’s not the only way to understand our impact on Earth? Ideas like the noosphere and technosphere offer striking new ways to see humanity’s role o…

Latest on EHN from @valeriazambianchi.bsky.social on metaphors for the earth system #envhist #envhum #histsci #histtech

We've published a new piece in 'Global Environment', in which Valerio Caruso interviews Steven High on 'Environmental History and Deindustrialisation Studies'; #openaccess here: doi.org/10.3828/whpg.... #envhist #deindustrialisation

Check out the new review of Andrew S. Ramey's "Saving the Chesapeake: The History of Movement," published in 2025 by @uvapress.bsky.social; review now available @hnetreviews.bsky.social #envhist #envhum #water
www.h-net.org/reviews/show...

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗼-𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁?

Upcoming S&T in Asia @ Harvard talk!

Zoom registration: seow.scholars.harvard.edu/STinAsia

#histstm #envhist #sts 🧪

Archaeologists in the Holy Land just uncovered a 3,000-year-old Israelite tablet…

It reads: “Iran is only weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon.”

Cover of Mother Jones with an image of fingers pointing at John Roberts and the coverline "Blame John Roberts for Everything"

The NYT big expose on SCOTUS today pairs well with @ariberman.bsky.social and @pemalevy.bsky.social's cover story on how ~everything wrong with this country today can be laid at the feet of John Roberts: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

As someone who used to be on the Board of Scientific Counselors providing outside science advice to EPA’s ORD, this is excruciating. No more ORD, no more independent advice, no more scientific discovery that doesn’t fit with political appointees views.

The 17 Companies That Own Everything You Buy (2026) A small group of major companies own everything we buy. Well, just about everything. When you go to the grocery store, you may see 20,000 different products. What amazing variety! But flip the labels ...

1/3 Imagine what would happen if we all stopped buying products owned by the same 25 or so corporations. It wouldn’t be difficult, swap out Campbell’s soup (a company that breaks clean water laws 500 times a year and just pays the fines) for another brand. Buy Lundberg rice instead of Uncle

Stranded and dying, the German whale is a parable of our troubled relationship with these sea giants Even as we empathise with these intelligent animals, our relentless push for resources kills them in their thousands, just as whalers once hunted them to the brink of extinction

The sad story of a whale's fatal run-in with human society.
@theguardian.com #whales #pollution #environment #oceans
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Tired of waiting for your EV to charge up? One Chinese company has a novel solution Chinese car company NIO is putting up EV battery swapping stations all around the world. NPR took a ride in one car for the experience.

At the start of the 20th century, one city had an electric taxi service. When batteries ran low, taxis returned to the dispatcher to swap out batteries. An old solution returns! Looks like a workable solution has been devised.
@npr.org #EV #environment #renewables #energy
www.npr.org/2026/04/18/n...

Photos: How overfishing in Southeast Asia is an ecological and human crisis A rare look at one of the world's most critical and understudied environmental crises. Southeast Asia produces more than half of the world's fish, yet its waters are among the most depleted and contes...

Great photojournalism on the crisis of #overfishing in #SoutheastAsia. @npr.org #extinction #environment #oceans
www.npr.org/sections/the...