Jonathan Koomey
jgkoomey.bsky.social
Jonathan Koomey
@jgkoomey.bsky.social
Climate solutions, information technology, critical thinking skills. Born at 318 ppm. https://www.koomey.com
Pinned
Tapping the sign: bsky.app/profile/jgko...
The most important thing is not to fall for people hand waving about how AI will definitely help to fix climate change so we should develop it as fast as possible. Honestly, nobody knows. It could help a lot. It could also hinder solutions.
This is a good thread, and it highlights an important point. Using averages for oil and gas emissions hides huge variation, and big progress can be made by tackling the tails of the distributions.
This is well worth a read. But it's premised on a notion that gas is still good in the short term, everywhere. By Zeke's own analysis elsewhere, US electricity emissions haven't gone down at all since the dawn of frack boom. We also know that right now, methane leaks in the Permian average 9%.
In the era of affordability politics, making clean energy cheaper may be a more viable emissions mitigation strategy than making dirty energy more expensive. My latest over at The Climate Brink digs into the debate:
January 6, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
one thing i love about parenting is how trying to teach my kid things forces me to learn them in a different way

when she is getting mad at someone over something silly, we talk about:

-why do you think this is impacting you?
-are they worth giving your energy to?
-what is the ideal outcome?
January 6, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
i realized one day that if someone has upset me, they stole a little bit from me.

if i am not invested in having a relationship with them, every extra second I give them is one i lose.

no one is changing their mind on here. when you dogpile folks you reinforce what you’re mad about.
January 6, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
My one real comment on the Jan 6 5 yr anniversary is that it was carried out by rich people. The poor hick stereotype is incorrect. It was rich people, suburban millionaires and their backers. We know this from who was arrested. It cost money to go to DC, stay at fancy hotels, fund this, etc.
Scores of now-pardoned Jan. 6 insurrectionists will gather from 11:45am for a march to the Capitol starting at the Ellipse.

One insurrectionist who says he's attending: Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to prison until 2045 until Trump intervened.
January 6, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
28 San Francisco homicides in 2025 - this is being reported incorrectly as the lowest number since 1954 - a year which actually saw significantly more homicides according to the OSU CJR database. My back of the envelope is that per capita it is the lowest number ever.
In 2025, the number of people killed in Baltimore had plummeted to a nearly 50-year low of 133 deaths, said Mayor Brandon Scott, marking the third straight year of steep declines in the homicide rate and a nearly 60 percent decrease since 2021.
Baltimore has cut homicides by almost 60 percent in five years
The number of people killed in Baltimore plummeted to a nearly 50-year low of 133 in 2025.
wapo.st
January 6, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
Great new feature out on the ways that researchers are trying to stop dormant cancer cells from reemerging years later 🧪https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04149-3
Why cancer can come back years later — and how to stop it
Researchers are targeting dormant tumour cells that might explain why some cancers reappear long after successful treatment.
www.nature.com
January 6, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
Curtis Yarvin has written a very long screed in defense of his post in which he said, “Hitler spoke the truth.”

A sampling of select portions is below and includes, in reference to Jewish people, the words:

“The only way to tell is the name and the nose.”
January 6, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
January 6, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
Our Local Reporting Network is open again for proposals! We're looking for accountability journalism projects from around the country. We cover your salary (up to $80k plus a stipend for benefits) plus provide editing and other support. Apply here:
Local Reporting Network Fellow
Remote, United States
job-boards.greenhouse.io
January 6, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
"ChatGPT started coaching Sam on how to take drugs, recover from them and plan further binges. It gave him specific doses of illegal substances ... Then, last May, tragedy struck."

Incredible piece of journalism from @leddder.bsky.social and @stephco.bsky.social:
www.sfgate.com/tech/article...
A Calif. teen trusted ChatGPT for drug advice. He died from an overdose.
"Who on earth gives that advice?"
www.sfgate.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
🌊 Microplastics are undermining the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon

oceanographicmagazine.com/news/micropl...
Microplastics are undermining the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon - Oceanographic
Research reveals microplastics may impair the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, weakening a natural buffer against climate change.
oceanographicmagazine.com
January 6, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
1. Hundreds of corps that pledged to stop donating to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election on 1/6/21 have broken their promise over the last 5 years

But we've identified 10 promise keepers:

Farmers
Airbnb
Expedia
Nike
Clorox
Eversource Energy
Holland & Hart
Qurate
Whirlpool
Lyft
Five years later, these 10 corporations still aren’t funding election deniers
Five years ago today, on January 6, 2021, a violent mob stormed the Capitol building.
popular.info
January 6, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
How microplastics are impairing the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2
www.euronews.com/green/2026/0...
How microplastics are impairing the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2
Microplastics are interfering with the ocean’s role in regulating Earth’s temperature, researchers warn.
www.euronews.com
January 6, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
For their anti-immigrant, white nationalist post about 100 million deportations, DHS stole the artwork of a non-white foreigner: Japanese illustrator Hiroshi Nagai.

Apparently no white Americans were available to design an image. View Nagai's work here: hiroshinagai.com/contents.html
December 31, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
DHS now says it's aiming for 100 million deportations. In an amazing coincidence, there are 104 million Black and Hispanic people living in the U.S. right now.
December 31, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
The impact was swift: DHS and the FBI ramped up their presence in the state, and federal funding for child care in the entire state was frozen.

But a week later, state officials said the child care centers accused of fraud were all operating as expected. https://cnn.it/4jqkIGt
January 5, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
Any climate solution that begins “a secretive team of scientists is working on…” should probably end with “this won’t fix the real problem”.

Dimming the sun isn’t climate action — it’s avoidance, or buying time at best.

www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...
Companies are coming up with plans to block out the sun
Private companies are jumping into the race to deploy particles to the atmosphere to reduce global warming, prompting enthusiasm from investors and concerns from some scientists, Josh Marcus reports
www.independent.co.uk
January 5, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
For the first time in modern Texas history, Dems have candidates running in every state and federal race on the 2026 ballot.

That includes all congressional seats, every state House and state Senate race, plus statewide judicial and State Board of Education.
January 5, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
Both Bluesky & X suck these days, for their own reasons. It's a big bummer.
I’m going to be taking a break from Bluesky for a while.

There’s a lot of good here but increasingly this place just makes me sad and angry and, increasingly, foul tempered and mean. It’s not good for me or anyone else.

I’ll check DMs occasionally but otherwise I’ll be away for a bit. Take care.
January 5, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
Washington is close to opening a new incentive program for commercial fleet operators to transition trucks and other vehicles to models that run on electric or hydrogen power. washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/01/05/1...
$126M incentive program for zero-emission trucks nears launch in WA • Washington State Standard
Washington is close to opening a new incentive program for commercial fleet operators to transition trucks and other vehicles to models that run on electric or hydrogen power.
washingtonstatestandard.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
Facts alone don’t drive climate action…

How we talk about climate change matters; messages that connect to people’s values are far more effective at building concern and support for action.

Communication is a key part of climate strategy.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Communicating the need for climate action - Nature Climate Change
It is essential to understand the best way to frame a persuasive message aimed at increasing concern about climate change and support for pro-environmental action. Now a Registered Report presents a l...
www.nature.com
January 5, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
ICYMI: There are lots of myths & misunderstandings about Australian rooftop solar power floating around, so I went straight to my favorite Australian source to get the real scoop.
What's the real story with Australian rooftop solar?
Saul Griffith joins me to debunk the myths surrounding Australia's massive influx of solar energy.
www.volts.wtf
January 5, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
There are barely enough Bsky users for a crosstab but from what data we have we gotta keep in mind what a weird place it is ideologically. If understanding politics matters to you, please remember you are currently on a platform with ~zero people who hold America's most popular political label.
January 5, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Koomey
The baffling situation here is that it seems like the only pathway to "affordability" is strenuously avoiding any government-mandated constraints of fossil fuel usage or extraction, even when one form of extraction and export is a major cause of unaffordability.....
January 5, 2026 at 10:39 PM