Steve Harrell

Steve Harrell

@steveharrell.bsky.social

Retired professor, unretired ethnographer, polyglot, part-time climate activist, occasional contrarian. Taiwan, China, and Whatcom County--Post mostly plants, mountains, energy transition. Occasionally political snark.

1.9K followers1.3K following1.8K posts

Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

To crazy and wrong, I would add stupid.

Barbara B. Harrell@bbharrell.bsky.social

This is crazy and wrong. Darkness is important to the health of many species, including ours. Do not allow this, people! #ALAN #darksky @danidarkskies.bsky.social @darkskyintl.bsky.social

nytimes.comF.C.C. Approves Test of Space Mirror to Light Night Sky Despite OutcryA start-up company has permission to try its plan to bounce solar rays onto the dark side of Earth, turning night to day for a three-mile-wide patch.

Steve Harrell reposted

Barbara B. Harrell
@bbharrell.bsky.social

Summer color for bloomscrollers 🌺 Nodding onion, Cascade penstemon, deer-fenced cape fuchsia and crocosmia—all of intense interest to our local rufous and Anna's hummingbirds. English lavender occupies bees and other pollinators, seems to please the neighbors ;-) #PNW #Bellingham #garden #habitat

Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

We don't need investor-owned utilities. Period. "The judge called Consumers’ plan to sell the dams and buy back the power at an inflated price ‘highly problematic’ and ‘inconsistent with the public interest’" bridgemi.com/michigan-env...

bridgemi.comJudge: Michigan should reject Consumers’ ‘highly problematic’ dam sale - Bridge MichiganAfter reviewing thousands of pages of legal filings tied to the sale, Judge James Varchetti concluded that the deal is not in the public interest. His conclusion is meant to advise the Michigan Public...
Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

I guess it takes a boomer to see the irony in this statement, from Ainslie Johnstone at The Economist: "I’m oddly low-tech when it comes to exercise. I have one of the most basic sports watches on the market…"

Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

Interesting logic here: "Turns out we've succeeded in keeping more polluting cars on the road, and since there are going to be more of them, we need to allow them each to pollute more." insideclimatenews.org/news/1805202...

insideclimatenews.orgEPA Claims ‘Overwhelming Rejection’ of EVs as It Moves to Loosen Air Pollution Rules - Inside Climate NewsA proposed rule would give auto manufacturers until 2029 to meet smog and particulate matter emissions standards while the agency reconsiders the requirements altogether.
Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

The key to the current geothermal boom: "the one form of electricity generation everyone in Washington can agree on (it’s both carbon-free and borrows techniques, equipment, and personnel from the oil and gas industry)." I guess we need to take it when we can get it. heatmap.news/energy/mount...

heatmap.newsExclusive: Western States Form New Bipartisan Geothermal ConsortiumThe effort brings together leaders of four Mountain West states with nonprofit policy expertise to help speed financing and permitting for development.
Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

Spring quartet, clockwise from upper left: Western skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), western white trillium (Trillium ovatum), salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum).

Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

The environmental destruction from critical mineral extraction is the tradeoff we pay for getting off fossil fuels. But in some cases, the prices is greater than the gain. I don't think anyone knows yet about the case of deep sea mining. This mandates caution. gcaptain.com/trump-admini...

gcaptain.comTrump Administration Quietly Expands Pacific Seabed Mining Area as Environmental Review BeginsThe U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has advanced the next phase of potential offshore mineral leasing near the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, expanding the area under considerati...
Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

A story of resilience here: not only building resilience against oil shocks and weather emergencies, but demonstrating resilience against policy idiocy. Cheers to Dominion and our wobbly but still standing court system. virginiamercury.com/briefs/domin...

virginiamercury.comDominion produces first power from Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project • Virginia MercuryDominion Energy’s major Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is now sending power to the grid, after its first commercial turbine was switched on Monday
Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

In addition to the killing, destruction of buildings, and GHG, there is the matter of pollution. There must be horrible health effects from all that smoke.

J Gwendie@gwendiem.bsky.social

www.livescience.com/planet-earth... 1st 2 weeks of the war between the U.S., Israel and Iran created immense present and future greenhouse gas emissions, draining the global carbon budget faster than 84 countries combined.

livescience.comIran war has already released a staggering amount of CO2 — and the destruction of schools, homes and buildings is the biggest sourceIn a new analysis, researchers estimated direct, indirect and future greenhouse gas emissions that were created in the first two weeks of the Iran war, between Feb. 28 and March 14.
Steve Harrell
@steveharrell.bsky.social

Virtually certain from today's arguments that SCOTUS will invalidate ballots received after E-day, even if they are postmarked earlier. It'll cause a huge mess in WA, CO, and even MS, which was the object of the suit. Anything to shrink the electorate! www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

seattletimes.comHow this U.S. Supreme Court case affects WA’s vote-by-mailA case argued today before the U.S. Supreme Court could affect Washington’s mail-in voting systems. Here’s what we know.