Spencer R. Scott, PhD
spencerrscott.bsky.social
Spencer R. Scott, PhD
@spencerrscott.bsky.social
Ecologist, writer, climate activist
.
Writing a climate book with HarperOne
🌱
Regenerating soil @ Solar Punk Farms
Climate Science & Policy @ One Earth
I just realized, as I entertain the fear of AI robots taking over the world, that they too are subject to the Fermi Paradox. If inorganic intelligence was so inevitable, where is everybody (robot aliens)?
February 3, 2025 at 2:50 PM
But that’s what Trump probably wants :(
January 31, 2025 at 11:23 PM
CDC webpages are going dark as Trump reaches to control narratives that might make him look bad @lennecefer.bsky.social wrote a particularly useful article to explain why autocrats think like this and how to outmaneuver them.

open.substack.com/pub/drlennec...
January 31, 2025 at 3:43 PM
What’s our offline plan folks
January 31, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Spencer R. Scott, PhD
I appreciate all the people recommending the Shock Doctrine. I've been thinking about what makes Trump's use of these tactics a little different.

In recent decades, shock tactics were used mainly to rapidly impose neoliberal economic policies. But what Trump is doing goes way beyond that.

a 🧵
Chaos and confusion. Somebody read @naomiaklein.bsky.social The Shock Doctrine as a manual, it seems. Time for people to read it again for countermeasures also.
White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion

Trillions of dollars could be on hold, according to an Office of Management and Budget memo
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
January 28, 2025 at 9:37 PM
The brain drain has begun.
I spoke to a talented junior scientist who just got a good faculty job offer in the US and they told me “well I wouldn’t move to 1930s Germany either” so that’s how that’s going
January 28, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Spencer R. Scott, PhD
I'm not teaching my grad course 'Civil Resistance: How It Works' this semester. But here is an abridged version of the course schedule, readings, and films I used the last time I taught it (in 2022). Just in case it's useful. drive.google.com/file/d/14RRJ...
Readings - Civil Resistance How It Works Fall 2022.pdf
drive.google.com
January 26, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Spencer R. Scott, PhD
Democracy depends in part on people who refuse to comply with unlawful (and/or unethical) orders.
The Inspectors General refuse to leave until the action is taken legally, which they do not believe it was, and neither do senators like Chuck Grassley. This is what not backing down looks like.
static.politico.com/b3/3e/5baf92...
January 26, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by Spencer R. Scott, PhD
Once again pounding the "support local, independent, worker-run newsrooms" sign
4/ The biggest surprise? Media indoctrination and civil liberties repression are the most predictive of autocratic survival. These findings have big implications for “information autocracies” in the digital age.
January 25, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Wow, Jason Hickel, Tim Jackson, AND Kate Raworth?? This is like the Avengers meet-up of my anti-capitalist book shelf.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Post-growth: the science of wellbeing within planetary boundaries
There are increasing concerns that continued economic growth in high-income countries might not be environmentally sustainable, socially beneficial, or economically achievable. In this Review, we expl...
www.thelancet.com
January 25, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Spencer R. Scott, PhD
Companies Scaling Back or Denouncing DEI

Amazon
Boeing
Brown-Forman
Caterpillar
Ford
Harley-Davidson
John Deere
Lowe’s
Molson Coors
McDonald’s
Meta
Nissan
Stanley Black & Decker
Target
Tractor Supply
Toyota
Walmart

Support who supports you ✨✊
January 25, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Spencer R. Scott, PhD
Climate science never said "we only have 12 years until we fall off a cliff" - but sadly, many thought it did; and even more sadly, that misleading message fed right into the script for Trump's WEF remarks today.

Here's what the science has always said:
January 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Information asymmetry isn't a market 'failure'—it's a feature of free market capitalism run amok. When companies successfully hide their harms, they thrive. Without the checks and balances of independent journalists or regulators, the system rewards exploitation.

open.substack.com/pub/spencerr...
Information Asymmetry and the Fall of Mainstream Media
How the UnitedHealthCare shooting tipped the scales against establishment media
open.substack.com
December 11, 2024 at 11:13 PM
Hi everyone, I’m a scientist and climate activist. I run a climate education/demonstration hub, Solar Punk Farms, with my husband.
I also work at the climate nonprofit One Earth where I help map financial flows across climate solutions.
Writing a book about my climate journey w/ Harper Collins.
November 8, 2024 at 3:18 PM