Joe Shannon
@variablesource.bsky.social
Making it easier for managers to restore and enhance hydrologic function on the landscape in the face of the wildfire crisis. Otherwise nightscape photos, woodworking, biking. Located in RhodeSkyland, working on western landscapes. Banner: TheAwkwardYeti
Reposted by Joe Shannon
This is what climate change looks like. What used to be snow is now rain, and when the rain falls it's heavier so more goes to runoff.
The result is drier conditions, even during wet years.
The result is drier conditions, even during wet years.
Kinda interesting to compare water year precipitation with snowpack at a continental scale. Most of the western US has been very wet since October 1, but there is almost no snowpack anywhere except at the very highest elevations because it has been so ridiculously warm. #hydrology #wx
November 19, 2025 at 3:26 AM
This is what climate change looks like. What used to be snow is now rain, and when the rain falls it's heavier so more goes to runoff.
The result is drier conditions, even during wet years.
The result is drier conditions, even during wet years.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Scott Stephens and I have written an editorial on what we think is necessary to select for leadership in land management agencies so they are able to manage our public lands during rapid change. @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Scott Stephens and I have written an editorial on what we think is necessary to select for leadership in land management agencies so they are able to manage our public lands during rapid change. @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Joe Shannon
this question being led by a private firm (and potential privatization of rollout) is a worst case scenario if you ask me
Major scoop from @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social:
Stardust Solutions, the Israeli geoengineering startup led by a team of Israeli physicists, just raised $60 million to develop the technology to artificially cool the planet by reflecting sunlight as soon as the 2030s.
heatmap.news/climate-tech...
Stardust Solutions, the Israeli geoengineering startup led by a team of Israeli physicists, just raised $60 million to develop the technology to artificially cool the planet by reflecting sunlight as soon as the 2030s.
heatmap.news/climate-tech...
Exclusive: Stardust Solutions Raises $60 Million to Build a Solar Geoengineering System by 2030
A U.S. firm led by former Israeli government physicists, Stardust seeks to patent its proprietary sunlight-scattering particle — but it won’t deploy its technology until global governments authorize s...
heatmap.news
October 24, 2025 at 11:47 AM
this question being led by a private firm (and potential privatization of rollout) is a worst case scenario if you ask me
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Authoritarians thrive on your silence — be loud — for America.
September 7, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Authoritarians thrive on your silence — be loud — for America.
Really proud to have been a part of this team! @sophielgilbert.bsky.social’s got a great thread of what we found when looking at how fuels treatments affect carbon storage over time. The results show that not treating forests doesn’t mean “nothing happens”. Fire & drought still impact the landscape.
Forest treatments work to reduce wildfire risk to carbon storage, and also to hot drought mortality. We need more treatments, and we need them now, but also, we need them to be ongoing into the future.🧪🔥 www.frontiersin.org/journals/for...
Frontiers | Rising from the ashes: treatments stabilize carbon storage in California’s frequent-fire forests
The stability of seasonally dry Western mixed-conifer forests is threatened by the history of fire suppression, logging, and now increasing climate-driven ar...
www.frontiersin.org
September 5, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Really proud to have been a part of this team! @sophielgilbert.bsky.social’s got a great thread of what we found when looking at how fuels treatments affect carbon storage over time. The results show that not treating forests doesn’t mean “nothing happens”. Fire & drought still impact the landscape.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Cool time lapse animations on the NASA Earth Observatory site of the rapidly (crazy rapidly!) shifting channels of the Yarlung Zangbo River
Braided River in Tibet Redraws Its Channels
Images spanning nearly four decades reveal the shapeshifting nature of the Yarlung Zangbo River as it flows across the Tibetan Plateau.
earthobservatory.nasa.gov
September 3, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Cool time lapse animations on the NASA Earth Observatory site of the rapidly (crazy rapidly!) shifting channels of the Yarlung Zangbo River
Reposted by Joe Shannon
These four aerial embroideries are now available on my site! Soft flowing oceans, rocks made of pine bark chips, and lots and lots of French knots... I can never get enough of those stitches 😊 all landscapes now up here: victoriaroserichards.co.uk/collection/a... #embroidery
August 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM
These four aerial embroideries are now available on my site! Soft flowing oceans, rocks made of pine bark chips, and lots and lots of French knots... I can never get enough of those stitches 😊 all landscapes now up here: victoriaroserichards.co.uk/collection/a... #embroidery
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Many people want to bring back #beavers for water storage. Big ponds = big benefits for flood, drought, wildfire & more! But what drives big ponds? Is it *just* dam length? What drives dam length?
Get your answers in this new paper by Luwen Wan, Kate Maher, & myself!
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Get your answers in this new paper by Luwen Wan, Kate Maher, & myself!
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Factors influencing surface water accumulation in beaver pond complexes across the Western United States - Communications Earth & Environment
Dam length, woody vegetation height, and stream power index explain 74% of the variation in pond area, providing a foundation for beaver restoration and watershed management in the western US, accordi...
www.nature.com
August 11, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Many people want to bring back #beavers for water storage. Big ponds = big benefits for flood, drought, wildfire & more! But what drives big ponds? Is it *just* dam length? What drives dam length?
Get your answers in this new paper by Luwen Wan, Kate Maher, & myself!
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Get your answers in this new paper by Luwen Wan, Kate Maher, & myself!
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Prompt: How do we solve climate change?
SuperAGI: Stop burning fossil fuels and rapidly deploy renewables while electrifying everything. Then deploy CDR technology powered by the new clean grid.
Prompt: But the fossil fuel lobby controls all of our governments.
SuperAGI: Sorry to hear that.
SuperAGI: Stop burning fossil fuels and rapidly deploy renewables while electrifying everything. Then deploy CDR technology powered by the new clean grid.
Prompt: But the fossil fuel lobby controls all of our governments.
SuperAGI: Sorry to hear that.
August 11, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Prompt: How do we solve climate change?
SuperAGI: Stop burning fossil fuels and rapidly deploy renewables while electrifying everything. Then deploy CDR technology powered by the new clean grid.
Prompt: But the fossil fuel lobby controls all of our governments.
SuperAGI: Sorry to hear that.
SuperAGI: Stop burning fossil fuels and rapidly deploy renewables while electrifying everything. Then deploy CDR technology powered by the new clean grid.
Prompt: But the fossil fuel lobby controls all of our governments.
SuperAGI: Sorry to hear that.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Just read the Brown University agreement and this really jumped out.
"The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."
"The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."
July 30, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Just read the Brown University agreement and this really jumped out.
"The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."
"The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."
Reposted by Joe Shannon
The “deal” that Brown made with the Trump admin is much more extreme than is being reported. It includes government oversight of course evaluations and no barrier to government interference in faculty hiring.
Read it for yourself here:
www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...
Read it for yourself here:
www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...
www.brown.edu
July 30, 2025 at 11:46 PM
The “deal” that Brown made with the Trump admin is much more extreme than is being reported. It includes government oversight of course evaluations and no barrier to government interference in faculty hiring.
Read it for yourself here:
www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...
Read it for yourself here:
www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...
Reposted by Joe Shannon
On the #ColoradoRiver, stuff's not going well: www.inkstain.net/2025/07/retu...
Return of the Deadpool Diaries: The Colorado River news keeps getting worse
With the latest Bureau of Reclamation model runs highlighting the serious risks posed by the declining reservoir levels that Utah State’s Jack Schmidt has been warning about, there are signs …
www.inkstain.net
July 17, 2025 at 8:13 PM
On the #ColoradoRiver, stuff's not going well: www.inkstain.net/2025/07/retu...
Great thread!
For these reasons, we cannot simply look to trends in mean precipitation, or mean evaporation, to tell us anything about changes in *extreme* precipitation or evaporative demand (i.e., atmospheric "thirst"). To do so would be deeply misleading. Yet it remains common practice.
July 17, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Great thread!
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Should we suppress wildfires ‘as swiftly as possible?’ With 2025 season well underway, scholars weigh in. From the Mountain West News Bureau's @murphywoodhouse.bsky.social w/ @boisestatepublicradio.org - www.boisestatepublicradio.org/environment/...
Should we suppress wildfires ‘as swiftly as possible?’ With 2025 season well underway, scholars weigh in
The Forest Service's new chief recently published a letter that called for wildfires to be suppressed "as swiftly as possible." That may sound prudent to many, but it raised eyebrows among some who st...
www.boisestatepublicradio.org
July 11, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Should we suppress wildfires ‘as swiftly as possible?’ With 2025 season well underway, scholars weigh in. From the Mountain West News Bureau's @murphywoodhouse.bsky.social w/ @boisestatepublicradio.org - www.boisestatepublicradio.org/environment/...
Reposted by Joe Shannon
While I understand @gwandaii.bsky.social’s point that the Arctic context of wildfire’s cultural impacts is unique, there are analogues in the southern Sierra Nevada. As fire colleagues here point out, values at risk go beyond structures. Let’s also protect springs, food, and plant materials.
July 13, 2025 at 12:34 PM
While I understand @gwandaii.bsky.social’s point that the Arctic context of wildfire’s cultural impacts is unique, there are analogues in the southern Sierra Nevada. As fire colleagues here point out, values at risk go beyond structures. Let’s also protect springs, food, and plant materials.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
I have been suspicious that AI helps non experts the most. What’s surprising here is that experienced devs feel faster, but are slower. That nuance in interesting.
We ran a randomized controlled trial to see how much AI coding tools speed up experienced open-source developers.
The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.
The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.
July 10, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I have been suspicious that AI helps non experts the most. What’s surprising here is that experienced devs feel faster, but are slower. That nuance in interesting.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
This is among the best explainer I’ve seen so far regarding the Texas floods particularly because Alan ties together the meteorology issues and the emergency management issues.
I have spent the last 24 hours looking at media reports and social media posts about the Texas Hill County tragedy and being appalled by the level of misinformation I am seeing. I have tried to put together an updated, more reasoned summary I hope you'll read.
open.substack.com/pub/balanced...
open.substack.com/pub/balanced...
Latest on Texas Hill Country flood tragedy
Chantal makes landfall in South Carolina
open.substack.com
July 6, 2025 at 6:30 PM
This is among the best explainer I’ve seen so far regarding the Texas floods particularly because Alan ties together the meteorology issues and the emergency management issues.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
The people want trains. Folks should be able to take a high speed train from Binghamton to Bowling Green. From Mobile to Madison. From Pittsburgh to Portland. Don’t build detention camps. Build trains.
Build it
July 3, 2025 at 3:06 AM
The people want trains. Folks should be able to take a high speed train from Binghamton to Bowling Green. From Mobile to Madison. From Pittsburgh to Portland. Don’t build detention camps. Build trains.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Asked and answered! www.providencejournal.com/story/news/l...
What to know about Providence's new Urban Wood Depot and how to use it.
The Wood Lot will be offering free mulch, as well as lumber and artisan crafted wood pieces at below-market rates.
www.providencejournal.com
July 2, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Asked and answered! www.providencejournal.com/story/news/l...
Reposted by Joe Shannon
This was a bad vote from @magaziner.house.gov and @amo.house.gov.
THANK YOU to the 79 House Dems (see below) who voted against tabling Rep. Al Green's motion to impeach Donald Trump for high crimes & misdemeanors for his unconstitutional usurpation of Congress's warmaking powers.
Shame on the 128 who voted with the GOP to kill it.
Shame on the 128 who voted with the GOP to kill it.
June 25, 2025 at 1:39 AM
This was a bad vote from @magaziner.house.gov and @amo.house.gov.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.
June 11, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in California is not about the protests.
It is about expanding his never-ending grasp for more power. It is about moving this country toward authoritarianism.
All Americans must stand together against this gross abuse of power.
It is about expanding his never-ending grasp for more power. It is about moving this country toward authoritarianism.
All Americans must stand together against this gross abuse of power.
June 9, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in California is not about the protests.
It is about expanding his never-ending grasp for more power. It is about moving this country toward authoritarianism.
All Americans must stand together against this gross abuse of power.
It is about expanding his never-ending grasp for more power. It is about moving this country toward authoritarianism.
All Americans must stand together against this gross abuse of power.
Reposted by Joe Shannon
ICE is attacking civilians in LA right now.
Choppers are now filling the air over the area. ICE is constantly bombing civilians. The crowd is gasping and choking.
June 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
ICE is attacking civilians in LA right now.