Michael I. Westphal
@peacewestphalia.bsky.social
Climate change, cycling, cocktails, and the Oxford comma. Westphal in a non-Westphalian world. Head of Science, IPCC Working Group III TSU; Adjunct Prof, Georgetown University.
Green congestion is still congestion, with its social costs.
“The big advantage of bikes is that they go directly from where you start to where you finish, when you need to go. The advantage over cars is that they need perhaps 1/10th of the amount of space. Roads that jam up quickly with cars can carry effectively unlimited numbers of people by bicycle.”
Why e-bikes are more important the EVs
Bikes can actually transform cities in the way driverless cars promise
danielknowles.substack.com
October 12, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Green congestion is still congestion, with its social costs.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
No words
May 30, 2025 at 12:23 PM
No words
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
New starter pack with @ipcc.bsky.social #AR7 scientists (bureau, authors, REs)! Full list: apps.ipcc.ch/report/autho...
For SR cities scientists see separate starter pack!
@dianaurge.bsky.social @sherilee.bsky.social @siir-kilkis.bsky.social @janfuglestvedt.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/2FuXb3Y
For SR cities scientists see separate starter pack!
@dianaurge.bsky.social @sherilee.bsky.social @siir-kilkis.bsky.social @janfuglestvedt.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/2FuXb3Y
September 6, 2025 at 2:37 PM
New starter pack with @ipcc.bsky.social #AR7 scientists (bureau, authors, REs)! Full list: apps.ipcc.ch/report/autho...
For SR cities scientists see separate starter pack!
@dianaurge.bsky.social @sherilee.bsky.social @siir-kilkis.bsky.social @janfuglestvedt.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/2FuXb3Y
For SR cities scientists see separate starter pack!
@dianaurge.bsky.social @sherilee.bsky.social @siir-kilkis.bsky.social @janfuglestvedt.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/2FuXb3Y
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Delighted to announce that Malthus Enigma: Technology, Science, and Policy for a Fragile Earth is now published in hardcover and paperback.
May 12, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Delighted to announce that Malthus Enigma: Technology, Science, and Policy for a Fragile Earth is now published in hardcover and paperback.
Congratulations to all Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors, and Review Editors for the @ipcc.bsky.social Seventh Assessment Report.
Honoured to be Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) in IPCC AR7 Chapter 2 on "Past and current anthropogenic emissions and their drivers"
And quite happy with the author list... This will be a great team!
Check out the author lists here, for all WGs: apps.ipcc.ch/report/autho...
And quite happy with the author list... This will be a great team!
Check out the author lists here, for all WGs: apps.ipcc.ch/report/autho...
August 18, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Congratulations to all Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors, and Review Editors for the @ipcc.bsky.social Seventh Assessment Report.
I am very happy to announce that I have joined RIFS Research Institute for Sustainability | at GFZ, where I am continuing my work as Head of Science for the IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit.
August 11, 2025 at 1:34 PM
I am very happy to announce that I have joined RIFS Research Institute for Sustainability | at GFZ, where I am continuing my work as Head of Science for the IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
"Reducing our dependence on whales as an energy source will send us sliding down the slippery, spermaceti-lubricated slope to socialism. If we give up whaling, what will those lackwits come for next? Will I have to surrender my peg leg for a titanium prosthetic?"
I’m Captain Ahab and I Say We Must Never Transition Away from a Whale-Based Energy Industry
When I heard that the globalist oligarchs and fat cats in the Washington marshland were conspiring to invest in alternative, non-whale-based energy...
buff.ly
August 7, 2025 at 1:20 AM
"Reducing our dependence on whales as an energy source will send us sliding down the slippery, spermaceti-lubricated slope to socialism. If we give up whaling, what will those lackwits come for next? Will I have to surrender my peg leg for a titanium prosthetic?"
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Attention Climate Solutions Scholars! @uvic.ca seeks its next Canada Excellence Research Chair 🇨🇦: www.uvic.ca/research-inn...
You: world class scholar, looking to make a move
Us: #5 in world for climate action, collegial, stunning location (B.C.) w award-winning climate policy
Pls share widely!
You: world class scholar, looking to make a move
Us: #5 in world for climate action, collegial, stunning location (B.C.) w award-winning climate policy
Pls share widely!
Canada Excellence Research Chair - University of Victoria - University of Victoria
Find information about applying to be Canada Excellence Research Chair at the University of Victoria
www.uvic.ca
August 5, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Attention Climate Solutions Scholars! @uvic.ca seeks its next Canada Excellence Research Chair 🇨🇦: www.uvic.ca/research-inn...
You: world class scholar, looking to make a move
Us: #5 in world for climate action, collegial, stunning location (B.C.) w award-winning climate policy
Pls share widely!
You: world class scholar, looking to make a move
Us: #5 in world for climate action, collegial, stunning location (B.C.) w award-winning climate policy
Pls share widely!
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Motherfucking wind farms…
July 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Motherfucking wind farms…
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Firing the BLS Commissioner — the wonk in charge of the statisticians who track economic reality — is an authoritarian four alarm fire.
It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.
It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.
August 1, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Firing the BLS Commissioner — the wonk in charge of the statisticians who track economic reality — is an authoritarian four alarm fire.
It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.
It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Reading Rebecca Solnit & I love this:
""The remains of the swamp grass, the ferns ... turned into coal. And to this cemetery we intend to go, drag the dead out of their tombs, and force them to work for us." That language frames it as a zombie movie, a horror story, the dead come back to haunt us."
""The remains of the swamp grass, the ferns ... turned into coal. And to this cemetery we intend to go, drag the dead out of their tombs, and force them to work for us." That language frames it as a zombie movie, a horror story, the dead come back to haunt us."
July 30, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reading Rebecca Solnit & I love this:
""The remains of the swamp grass, the ferns ... turned into coal. And to this cemetery we intend to go, drag the dead out of their tombs, and force them to work for us." That language frames it as a zombie movie, a horror story, the dead come back to haunt us."
""The remains of the swamp grass, the ferns ... turned into coal. And to this cemetery we intend to go, drag the dead out of their tombs, and force them to work for us." That language frames it as a zombie movie, a horror story, the dead come back to haunt us."
I first came to DC to work on a scientific cooperation program between ORD scientists and researchers in the former Soviet Union. What a tragic loss. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm
www.nytimes.com
July 19, 2025 at 2:35 PM
I first came to DC to work on a scientific cooperation program between ORD scientists and researchers in the former Soviet Union. What a tragic loss. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Maybe this is just rage bait at this point, but I find it Interesting that heating uses 4x the energy globally as cooling does, but authors of AC-shaming articles like this never call for people to just “tough it out” through the winter without heating their homes 🤔
How do I feel about air conditioning? I’m very hot – but it’s destroying the planet | Emma Beddington
How do I feel about air conditioning? I’m very hot – but it’s destroying the planet | Emma Beddington
Yes, temperatures are rising. But more and more AC means more and more CO2 – and then more and more global heating. Let’s have some long-term thinking instead, writes Guardian columnist Emma Beddington
www.theguardian.com
July 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Maybe this is just rage bait at this point, but I find it Interesting that heating uses 4x the energy globally as cooling does, but authors of AC-shaming articles like this never call for people to just “tough it out” through the winter without heating their homes 🤔
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Sitting here bleary after another poor night's sleep, disinclined to engage in a day of cognitive effort, this chart from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com really strikes home on.ft.com/4eFZG4l
July 11, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Sitting here bleary after another poor night's sleep, disinclined to engage in a day of cognitive effort, this chart from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com really strikes home on.ft.com/4eFZG4l
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Seriously
Britain and Europe need to get serious about air conditioning
In a rapidly warming world, a former extravagance is becoming a necessity
on.ft.com
July 11, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Seriously
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Bizarre discussion on the radio likening air condition to passive smoking because it accounts for 3% of CO2 emissions.
But: we don’t moralise turning heating on in winter, and heating accounts for 15% of emissions. If aircon is intrinsically immoral, so are radiators.
But: we don’t moralise turning heating on in winter, and heating accounts for 15% of emissions. If aircon is intrinsically immoral, so are radiators.
July 11, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Bizarre discussion on the radio likening air condition to passive smoking because it accounts for 3% of CO2 emissions.
But: we don’t moralise turning heating on in winter, and heating accounts for 15% of emissions. If aircon is intrinsically immoral, so are radiators.
But: we don’t moralise turning heating on in winter, and heating accounts for 15% of emissions. If aircon is intrinsically immoral, so are radiators.
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Susie Essman, the brilliant comedian from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” recently offered some wise advice: focus on the small things in life that give you happiness. As Susie memorably put it, “The macro is fucked. We gotta go micro.” — @borowitzreport.bsky.social (July 11, 2025)
July 11, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Susie Essman, the brilliant comedian from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” recently offered some wise advice: focus on the small things in life that give you happiness. As Susie memorably put it, “The macro is fucked. We gotta go micro.” — @borowitzreport.bsky.social (July 11, 2025)
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
And here's a full copy of the NCA5 website. I backed it up earlier this year, before Trump took office: replayweb.page?source=https...
ReplayWeb.page
replayweb.page
June 27, 2025 at 8:17 PM
And here's a full copy of the NCA5 website. I backed it up earlier this year, before Trump took office: replayweb.page?source=https...
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Attention US scientists: The @ipcc.bsky.social has issued a call for expert nominations for upcoming workshops on Engaging Diverse Knowledge Systems and Methods of Assessment. If you wish to apply via the US Academic Alliance for the IPCC, do it here, before July 11: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
June 12, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Attention US scientists: The @ipcc.bsky.social has issued a call for expert nominations for upcoming workshops on Engaging Diverse Knowledge Systems and Methods of Assessment. If you wish to apply via the US Academic Alliance for the IPCC, do it here, before July 11: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
I've seen a lot of people writing recently that #netzero is dead. While #netzero may have developed a political dimension, the concept is fundamentally scientific; the world will keep warming until our net additions of CO2 & then GHGs fall to zero & possibly negative given earthsystem feedbacks.
May 12, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
There’s so much happening right now, I thought I’d put together a running thread on the dismantling of #climate and research and knowledge infrastructure in the United States 🧵
May 7, 2025 at 12:11 PM
There’s so much happening right now, I thought I’d put together a running thread on the dismantling of #climate and research and knowledge infrastructure in the United States 🧵
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory. arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory
In his 2021 book vilifying Anthony Fauci, RFK Jr. lays out support for an alternate theory.
arstechnica.com
April 30, 2025 at 6:59 PM
RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theory. arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Michael I. Westphal
Nature reports that the National Science Foundation has stopped awarding new grants and allotting funds to existing ones. All of them. @colincarlson.bsky.social says that unless the freeze is lifted, it “is going to destroy people's labs.” 2/10
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones
US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.
www.nature.com
May 1, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Nature reports that the National Science Foundation has stopped awarding new grants and allotting funds to existing ones. All of them. @colincarlson.bsky.social says that unless the freeze is lifted, it “is going to destroy people's labs.” 2/10
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...