jayson m porter

“Horses come with speed, social status, and occasionally courage. Still, their strides are too long and inconsistent to carry strenuous weight in extreme conditions. For that, empires needed mules.” www.sciencehistory.org/stories/maga...

How can Tupac Amaru Shakur's famous poem, the Rose that Grew from the Concrete, help us explore the relations between ecology and racialization?

"ROADS ARE MORE THAN MEANS TO ENDS. They are ends with far-reaching ecological and social footprints. They have “depth-of-edge influence” ranging from meters, to miles, to memories." "Not so Fast," a new essay with the @sciencehistory.org! www.sciencehistory.org/stories/maga...

Youth filmmakers in Warren, RI made a documentary short on flooding & climate impacts w/support from my students at Brown & local arts org The Collaborative. It's screening this Thurs, 10/15, at 7pm, & I hope you'll come @ecorinews.bsky.social @brown-ibes.bsky.social english.brown.edu/events

IT’S COMING!!!! 😮😮😮 We are nearly a MONTH away from the publication of my new book IN LATIN AMERICA YOU COULD BE FREE: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY on @basicbooksgroup.bsky.social! I’ve never been prouder of a book I wrote.

It’s arguably a privilege to have been radicalized by books and not life

Beronda L. Montgomery, Jori Lewis, and Ashia Ajani in the same room on November 12th at the University of Maryland, College Park!!

Environmental writer series at UMD, College Park this fall!! We hope to see you there!

Our Plant Perspectives special issue on "Global more-than-human histories of palms" is out! Immense gratitude to my co-editors Sophie Chao and Pilar Egüez Guevara for their time, trust, and brilliance!! www.whp-journals.co.uk/PP/index

I’m excited to finally see this collaboration with @postcolsandwich.bsky.social in print in this Plant Humanities volume! We researched and wrote our dissertations together, and we’re sharing space with writers I admire like Sumana Roy, Judith Carney, Romita Ray, Gary Paul Nahban, and Yota Batsaki.

The richest man owns X. The second and fourth richest men control Google. The third richest man owns The Washington Post. The sixth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. And now the seventh richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros. See the problem here?

I’m teaching global environmental history and I’d love my students to read something on olive trees in Palestine. Do you have favorite articles on this topic?

Grateful to be back in Mississippi for this!

I didn’t know that sorrel (hibiscus) leaves taste so good.

The Greenhouse #envhum book talks start up again this month! Episode 199: Sara Pritchard @sarabpritchard.bsky.social on Transforming Night: The History and Science of Light Pollution (@uwapress.uw.edu, 2026), Monday 24 August 2026, 4pm Central European / 10am Eastern. newnatures.org/greenhouse/e...

The newest issue of 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘌𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 (@globalenvironment.bsky.social) is guest edited by PhD candidate Lijuan Klassen & RCC Director Christof Mauch! It brings an environmental humanities perspective to planetary health: liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/toc/whpge/current #envhist #envhum

Last night, the Supreme Court ruled that the VRA cannot protect even against *intentionally* discriminatory voting policies When we say there is no federal statute remaining the enforce the 15th Amendment, this is what we mean

I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t realize that most gums are made from plastics and aren’t biodegradable.

“In Nicaragua, señores, the mouse catches the cat.” Sandinista corrido from the 1920s. Source: Gregorio Selser (1981)

Moving tribute to my Columbia colleague David Rosner, who passed away unexpectedly a few days ago. David was pivotal to uncovering the dangers of lead, silica, and many products of industrial America. blanphear.substack.com/p/how-rosner...

I infamously hate conferences (surely there must be a better way), but man HSS / ESHS is going to be fun this year. EVERYONE is going. Summer in Edinburgh. So much plant stuff (too much plant stuff). Reminder that early bird registration ends today! #histSTM #hss2026 #eshs2026

NEW: How are you getting involved around the city this week? @colleengrablick.bsky.social's picks include a performance by the Ratical Left, a community museum reopening, and more.

When you go to the pharmacy you probably walk away with your medication in one hand, and a lengthy receipt in the other. What should you do with that receipt? This week we explain why the paper that receipts are printed on can add a lot of complications for recycling, and for your health.

Prof Porter is amazing 🔥🌈🌱

Grateful to Dean Shonekan for coming to our grand opening today to cut the green ribbon. The CEDAR Gallery to support students through climate anxiety and eco-grief is officially open! Shout out to our incredible student environmental justice organization, 17 for Peace and Justice.

BREAKING: Activists have shut down multiple intersections throughout downtown Washington DC in opposition to Trump's attacks on workers, DC Home Rule, climate, and international peace. The actions kick off #MayDay events across the country.

85 cities now have May Day strikes next week. As more unions & groups like Indivisible support them, the list is growing paydayreport.com/map-65-citie...

Sabotage and the Black Girl Commons —My latest essay is live and open. There’s a small glitch with one misattributed citation, which I’ll get them to fix. Shout out to Sarah Haley, whose work is a primary inspiration. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

"Benches are where optimistic visions of civic life meet reality. To remove them, or to curate who gets to sit, is to abandon the work of defining a civic ideal and determining, together, how to live up to it." NEW: Why benches are slowly disappearing from public spaces — and why we need them back:

We're pleased to note that Björn Billing's recent article in 'Environment and History', "Visualising Icebergs: Early Modern Depictions, ca 1570–1770", is now available #openaccess: www.doi.org/10.3828/whpe... @eandhwhp.bsky.social #envhist #icebergs

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our screening and discussion of "Without Shade, Without Rest" earlier this week! Read The Brown Daily Herald's coverage ⤵️ @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social @climatesollab.bsky.social @immokaleeworkers.bsky.social @working-films.bsky.social

A man standing atop one of the historic Teotihuacan pyramids opened fire on tourists Monday, killing one Canadian and leaving at least 13 people, authorities said. n.pr/4comA0Q

Two CFPs for workshops focused on women in natural history collections: Women, Marine Science and Algae Collections: Framing Nineteenth-Century Marine Herbaria, 8 Oct, Paris Female Networks of Knowledge: Natural History between Private and Public Spaces, 19-20 Nov, Vienna womnh.hypotheses.org/cfp

Check out my partner’s latest essay on finding the perfect latte. This is where her foodie and food-writing journey all began!! substack.com/@theraveeepl...

I’m excited to go to Boston this week for a symposium on Monocultures at Tufts University. We mustn’t forget that there are more plantations today than ever before, and they continue to harm, people, places, and our planet.

Writing letters of recommendation and mentoring students in college is demanding and hidden labor, but one of my favorite students is a Truman Scholar as of today and forever, so I’m feeling a little differently about writing letters today (but probably not forever).

I wish we lived in a world where we knew as much as much about the Congolese Rainforests as we do the Amazon Rainforests.

I have to teach a 200-level global environmental history lecture course in the fall, and I’m honestly pretty nervous about it. What articles or readings have you taught or would teach in a global environmental history class?

Check out our Black and Indigenous Eco-Micro Gallery to support students through climate anxiety and other environmental concerns. Please follow us on IG @cedargalleryumd for more updates on our student-led initiatives.

I’m heading to Tokyo in July. Are there any environmental historians or environmental humanities scholars who want to connect?

What’s the role of history—historical archives and historical thinking—in the formation of environmental justice movements in the past and today?

It was my honor to guide a climate anxiety workshop in this space with the skilled & dedicated students of 17 for Peace & Justice. It is beautiful, welcoming, created & maintained with intention. Spaces where structurally beleaguered people can just *be* are rare & precious & worth tending.