beki m.
@beki.bsky.social
Critical urban and economic geographer. Development, finance, climate risk and governance, political economy. Birds, books, trees, records, etc. ☕️✨
bekimcelvain.com
📍 OAK | MEX | NOTTS
bekimcelvain.com
📍 OAK | MEX | NOTTS
Pinned
beki m.
@beki.bsky.social
· May 13
Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season
In Florida, risk is a feature of life. In a deepening climate crisis, financial capitalism gives risk new meaning.
www.break-down.org
My new piece on the death drive in Florida and the need for roots is out in the incredible inaugural issue of @the-breakdown.bsky.social. Grateful to the editors for the opportunity to gather my thoughts on the meanings of risk and to write about home—and in the company of such brilliant people. ✨
Reposted by beki m.
2025 was just two dumb LLMs telling each other “exaaaaactlyyyy”
December 22, 2025 at 9:14 AM
2025 was just two dumb LLMs telling each other “exaaaaactlyyyy”
Reposted by beki m.
It. Doesn't. Actually. Understand. A. Single. Word. Of. What. It. Is. Fed.
It just chops up sentences and calculates how often words follow each other. That's it. Nothing more. It can't summarize material for you because it doesn't understand that material.
It just chops up sentences and calculates how often words follow each other. That's it. Nothing more. It can't summarize material for you because it doesn't understand that material.
What about this is controversial? Beginning an inquiry by using AI to survey material is a very normal and appropriate use.
December 21, 2025 at 6:41 PM
It. Doesn't. Actually. Understand. A. Single. Word. Of. What. It. Is. Fed.
It just chops up sentences and calculates how often words follow each other. That's it. Nothing more. It can't summarize material for you because it doesn't understand that material.
It just chops up sentences and calculates how often words follow each other. That's it. Nothing more. It can't summarize material for you because it doesn't understand that material.
Reposted by beki m.
How did ESG go from BlackRock's mainstream opportunity to a political battlefield?
Christiansen et al's new commentary maps the anti-ESG backlash: 418 legislative proposals, $12B in divested funds, and the rise of explicitly anti-ESG investment products.
Christiansen et al's new commentary maps the anti-ESG backlash: 418 legislative proposals, $12B in divested funds, and the rise of explicitly anti-ESG investment products.
The war on ‘woke’: anti-ESG investing and research directions in financial geography
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has become a site of struggle, around which a range of actors at multiple scales and in different legal, political and financial spheres are mob...
www.tandfonline.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:35 AM
How did ESG go from BlackRock's mainstream opportunity to a political battlefield?
Christiansen et al's new commentary maps the anti-ESG backlash: 418 legislative proposals, $12B in divested funds, and the rise of explicitly anti-ESG investment products.
Christiansen et al's new commentary maps the anti-ESG backlash: 418 legislative proposals, $12B in divested funds, and the rise of explicitly anti-ESG investment products.
Reposted by beki m.
The dismantling of NCAR should be the trending story on Bluesky, not the fucking Oscars leaving ABC for YouTube.
Trump moves to shut down Boulder climate research lab NCAR, drawing rebukes from Colorado officials
Federal lawmakers called the planned NCAR closure “deeply dangerous” and “blatantly retaliatory.” Gov. Jared Polis said: “If true, public safety is at risk and science…
www.denverpost.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:59 PM
The dismantling of NCAR should be the trending story on Bluesky, not the fucking Oscars leaving ABC for YouTube.
Reposted by beki m.
Update: morbid symptoms can't hold us back - we're doubling down on what we do best.
Please consider supporting @unhappinesspod.bsky.social's Higher Ed Death Spiral Membership Drive! 20% off annual memberships; use code 9E144.
Note: the spiral is ongoing but the drive ends on 12/31.
Please consider supporting @unhappinesspod.bsky.social's Higher Ed Death Spiral Membership Drive! 20% off annual memberships; use code 9E144.
Note: the spiral is ongoing but the drive ends on 12/31.
Higher Ed Death Spiral Membership Drive | Ordinary Unhappiness
Get more from Ordinary Unhappiness on Patreon
ordinaryunhappiness.com
December 14, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Update: morbid symptoms can't hold us back - we're doubling down on what we do best.
Please consider supporting @unhappinesspod.bsky.social's Higher Ed Death Spiral Membership Drive! 20% off annual memberships; use code 9E144.
Note: the spiral is ongoing but the drive ends on 12/31.
Please consider supporting @unhappinesspod.bsky.social's Higher Ed Death Spiral Membership Drive! 20% off annual memberships; use code 9E144.
Note: the spiral is ongoing but the drive ends on 12/31.
Reposted by beki m.
Reposted by beki m.
Only one of the world’s four most powerful monetary authorities is acting as though the climate transition is a problem for #CentralBanks: The People's Bank of #China.
@mathiaslarsen.bsky.social @granthamlse.bsky.social & @james7jackson.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk for @lsebr.bsky.social.
@mathiaslarsen.bsky.social @granthamlse.bsky.social & @james7jackson.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk for @lsebr.bsky.social.
While Western central banks hesitate on climate, China’s acts - LSE Business Review
Only one of the world’s four most powerful monetary authorities is acting as though the climate transition is a central banking problem.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
December 13, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Only one of the world’s four most powerful monetary authorities is acting as though the climate transition is a problem for #CentralBanks: The People's Bank of #China.
@mathiaslarsen.bsky.social @granthamlse.bsky.social & @james7jackson.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk for @lsebr.bsky.social.
@mathiaslarsen.bsky.social @granthamlse.bsky.social & @james7jackson.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk for @lsebr.bsky.social.
Today is my little brother's birthday. He died in Florida in 2019 from an overdose. Few are as brilliantly funny and warm as he was, yet he lived very much alone with his addiction. If you have it, please consider a donation in Ryan's name. Or just show someone that you care about them today. ♥️
Donate - Florida Harm Reduction Collective
We’ve spent a lot of time working with vendors and suppliers to obtain lower prices. Therefore, your donations go a long way in meeting the needs of folks accessing services in Florida and across the ...
www.flhrc.org
December 10, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Today is my little brother's birthday. He died in Florida in 2019 from an overdose. Few are as brilliantly funny and warm as he was, yet he lived very much alone with his addiction. If you have it, please consider a donation in Ryan's name. Or just show someone that you care about them today. ♥️
Reposted by beki m.
My love for em dashes is as old as the hills and as mighty as my inability to make a transition between thoughts literally any other way and I will be damned if I let the clankers take that from me
December 10, 2025 at 3:00 AM
My love for em dashes is as old as the hills and as mighty as my inability to make a transition between thoughts literally any other way and I will be damned if I let the clankers take that from me
Reposted by beki m.
Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.
Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event
June 18, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.
Nice one for teaching. Can also recommend an excellent interview on the book with @greenprofgreen.bsky.social on @trashfuture.bsky.social (the pod that rarely misses)!🔥
December 3, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Nice one for teaching. Can also recommend an excellent interview on the book with @greenprofgreen.bsky.social on @trashfuture.bsky.social (the pod that rarely misses)!🔥
Reposted by beki m.
„CSU—US’s largest public uni system—went all-in with a $17mill partnership with OpenAI. . .CSU unveiled its grand technological gesture just as it proposed slashing $375mill from its budget. While admin cut ribbons on AI, they were cutting faculty positions, academic programs, student services.“
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 5:43 AM
„CSU—US’s largest public uni system—went all-in with a $17mill partnership with OpenAI. . .CSU unveiled its grand technological gesture just as it proposed slashing $375mill from its budget. While admin cut ribbons on AI, they were cutting faculty positions, academic programs, student services.“
Reposted by beki m.
The Open University already exists and it has an excellent distance learning model that does not rely on parasitic profit driven ed-tech companies pushing their products
'The Russell Group institution, one of the UK’s largest, has announced plans to expand beyond its traditional fully campus-based model of higher education and increase its digital and global presence, as well as its flexible learning opportunities.' 1/2
Half of Manchester students to be learning online in 10 years
Russell Group institution announces major pivot into digital teaching as universities evolve further beyond traditional models
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 1, 2025 at 9:33 AM
The Open University already exists and it has an excellent distance learning model that does not rely on parasitic profit driven ed-tech companies pushing their products
Definitely pitch your ideas to @the-breakdown.bsky.social! They're on the cutting edge of climate/political economy writing, are very open to non-traditional thinking and approaches, and are just a lovely and supportive editorial team to work with. ✨
Write for us!!
We're taking pitches for our third issue until December 5th
Send us your ideas for essays, dispatches, photojournalism, memoir, the works!
Full details at the link. 👩💻📚
We're taking pitches for our third issue until December 5th
Send us your ideas for essays, dispatches, photojournalism, memoir, the works!
Full details at the link. 👩💻📚
Submissions for ISSUE #3 – AIRBORNE, are now open!
We are accepting pitches exploring the importance of air in the climate and ecological crises, its role in environmental history and activism, and its future on a transformed planet.
More details 👇
We are accepting pitches exploring the importance of air in the climate and ecological crises, its role in environmental history and activism, and its future on a transformed planet.
More details 👇
November 29, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Definitely pitch your ideas to @the-breakdown.bsky.social! They're on the cutting edge of climate/political economy writing, are very open to non-traditional thinking and approaches, and are just a lovely and supportive editorial team to work with. ✨
Reposted by beki m.
CfP: a special issue of Œconomia – History | Methodology | Philosophy on the History of Climate Economics
journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/19...
journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/19...
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 AM
CfP: a special issue of Œconomia – History | Methodology | Philosophy on the History of Climate Economics
journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/19...
journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/19...
God this thread is depressingly real. With a few lovely exceptions, teaching feels demoralizing. I opened a short article I'd assigned yesterday and the reader automatically provided an AI summary missing important points. Unis everywhere are "piloting" AI study tools. Why? What are we even doing?
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 29, 2025 at 10:29 AM
God this thread is depressingly real. With a few lovely exceptions, teaching feels demoralizing. I opened a short article I'd assigned yesterday and the reader automatically provided an AI summary missing important points. Unis everywhere are "piloting" AI study tools. Why? What are we even doing?
Reposted by beki m.
Applications Now Open for the University of Glasgow Library Visiting Research Fellowship scheme - supporting scholars from across academic disciplines to come to Glasgow to work on our unique research collections. Please RT or pass on:
www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/li...
www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/li...
November 20, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Applications Now Open for the University of Glasgow Library Visiting Research Fellowship scheme - supporting scholars from across academic disciplines to come to Glasgow to work on our unique research collections. Please RT or pass on:
www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/li...
www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/li...
Reposted by beki m.
Reposted by beki m.
it's seven pages long, adobe
November 25, 2025 at 4:25 AM
it's seven pages long, adobe
Reposted by beki m.
Important new report out on precarious working conditions in Geography in UK HE. Sadly the nature and scale of the findings are grim but unsurprising. www.rgs.org/research/hig...
States of precarity in UK Higher Education geography
Findings from a discipline-focused research project exploring the lived realities of precarious academic work within UK Higher Education geography.
www.rgs.org
November 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Important new report out on precarious working conditions in Geography in UK HE. Sadly the nature and scale of the findings are grim but unsurprising. www.rgs.org/research/hig...
Reposted by beki m.
New essay, written for the excellent @transitionsec.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 8:36 AM
New essay, written for the excellent @transitionsec.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Reposted by beki m.
With the disappointing progress at Cop30, evergreen reminder it isn't "we" or "humanity" failing to address the climate crisis — oil-producing nations and fossil fuel interests are actively obstructing action, despite heroic efforts by developing nations, Indigenous peoples, and many, many others.
End of fossil fuel era inches closer as Cop30 deal agreed after bitter standoff
Wealthy countries should triple funds for countries to tackle climate impacts, but deforestation and critical minerals blocked from final deal
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:45 PM
With the disappointing progress at Cop30, evergreen reminder it isn't "we" or "humanity" failing to address the climate crisis — oil-producing nations and fossil fuel interests are actively obstructing action, despite heroic efforts by developing nations, Indigenous peoples, and many, many others.
Reposted by beki m.
Living through Brexit made visceral something that is easy to appreciate intellectually: bad policies can just make everything worse without a cathartic moment of accountability or even clarity. You won’t lose an election on deer health, it will just be part of an overwhelming sense of decline.
November 21, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Living through Brexit made visceral something that is easy to appreciate intellectually: bad policies can just make everything worse without a cathartic moment of accountability or even clarity. You won’t lose an election on deer health, it will just be part of an overwhelming sense of decline.
Reposted by beki m.
comrade JCO gets it completely
CHOP FROM THE TOP
(solemn vow never ever to screenshot badsite; solemn exception for this urgent story; rally against these anti-intellectuals detonating public goods for the working people of NJ!)
CHOP FROM THE TOP
(solemn vow never ever to screenshot badsite; solemn exception for this urgent story; rally against these anti-intellectuals detonating public goods for the working people of NJ!)
November 19, 2025 at 3:03 PM
comrade JCO gets it completely
CHOP FROM THE TOP
(solemn vow never ever to screenshot badsite; solemn exception for this urgent story; rally against these anti-intellectuals detonating public goods for the working people of NJ!)
CHOP FROM THE TOP
(solemn vow never ever to screenshot badsite; solemn exception for this urgent story; rally against these anti-intellectuals detonating public goods for the working people of NJ!)