Alex Barron
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alexrbarron.bsky.social
Alex Barron
@alexrbarron.bsky.social
9.9K followers 480 following 720 posts
Climate policy wonk. Rogue biogeochemist. Assoc. Prof. Fmr. Congressional staff (AAAS_STPF). Obama EPA & Biden OMB alum.
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This video brought back memories of a vehicular cycling course that I took while participating in a bike tour as a kid. Many, many times we were asked to repeat "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles". Even at 10yo, this seemed...not right.
WATCH: If you REALLY want to understand a BIG reason why cycling [aka riding a bike] is so dangerous in North America, and one of the biggest villains in the origin story of our unsafe status quo, invest some time watching this one, by NOT JUST BIKES (aka @theurbanistagenda.com here). Then share it.
This is Why Cycling is Dangerous in America
YouTube video by Not Just Bikes
youtu.be
Wait until he finds out that 99.8% of homeowners didn't use their fire insurance over the last 4 years.
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
"104 million U.S. residents can't reliably use a personal automobile to get around, including many people with disabilities and people living in poverty — as well as tweens, younger teens, and many elders..."
usa.streetsblog.org/2025/10/02/r...
ACTION ALERT 🚨 Rep. Sam Graves, Chairman of the T&I Committee drafting the next transportation bill, recently shared an alarming insight: “It's gonna be a traditional highway bill... We’re not gonna be spending money on murals and train stations or bike paths or walking paths.”
But ultimately, one reason to push for decarbonization is that actually shifting to clean energy infrastructure - while a big lift - can last across changes in financial situation and leadership.
Obviously it is important to remember the larger context of all the U.S. schools that don’t have climate action commitments or aren’t acting on them at all. (And that most carbon neutral schools do appear to have kept up with offset purchases).
bsky.app/profile/alex...
Higher education has some work to do on climate action. We found that the median reduction in direct (Scope 1) emissions is only ~9% - with over a third of U.S. colleges and universities actually reporting Scope 1 emissions higher than in their baseline year.

scholarworks.smith.edu/env_facpubs/35
The University of San Francisco “achieved carbon neutrality in 2019” but their public reporting suggests that they were not carbon neutral in 2020, 2021 or 2023 (the most recent year of data). (maybe a reporting issue?)
unhsimap.org/public/insti...
University of San Francisco | SIMAP
unhsimap.org
An undergrad wrote a thesis about U. Lynchburg and climate. It appears they also dropped sustainability from their institutional goals.
digitalshowcase.lynchburg.edu/cgi/viewcont...
digitalshowcase.lynchburg.edu
University of Lynchburg got some press for becoming carbon neutral but as near as we can tell it lasted only one year.
www.wfxrtv.com/news/local-n...
www.wfxrtv.com
Policy robustness over time matters. We’ve seen that offset-based carbon neutrality in U.S. Higher Ed sometimes lapses (as opposed to decarbonization which favorably locks in infrastructure). What do these lapses in neutrality look like? 🧵
bsky.app/profile/alex...
Carbon neutrality doesn’t always lead to decarbonization. But who is decarbonizing? We looked at >600 US colleges and universities and found 7 that have decarbonized direct (Scope 1) emissions by at least 50% (usually with ground source heat pump networks). This is possible folks! 1/6
Reposted by Alex Barron
As COP30 kicks off, our newly updated Rhodium Climate Outlook shows that while the world has likely avoided the most catastrophic projections, global temperature rise is on track to exceed 2°C. We project a likely range of 2.3–3.4°C and an average outcome of 2.8°C by the end of the century.
Reposted by Alex Barron
Public Utilities Commissioners are climate policymakers and we finally started acting like it
🎉 Peter Hubbard just scored a home run with his win for Georgia PSC! ⚡️Time to knock affordable energy and good jobs investment out of the park! 🌟
Reposted by Alex Barron
Anybody know if a University of Chicago economist who wasn't even in the government at the time wrote almost half of the regulatory impact analysis for EPA's endangerment/car rules draft repeal? Because it sure looks like he did. Signal jchemnick.01.

www.eenews.net/articles/whi...
White House wrote half of EPA’s cost-benefit analysis for climate rule rollback
The move — revealed in emails and internal drafts — sidelined EPA's deep bench of career economists.
www.eenews.net
Reposted by Alex Barron
Gold open access publishing fee for Nature is US$12,690.
Or, depending on where you live, you can buy a Yuan Up Pilot Electric Vehicle for US$11,500.

electrek.co/2025/07/31/b...
Reposted by Alex Barron
ELECTIONS MATTER, FOLKS. And if you love cities and understand the incredible role they play in our lives, remember that ELECTIONS FOR MAYOR REALLY MATTER.

Mayors have huge power over our quality of life, and even our lives. Don’t give that power to awful people who don’t understand better cities.
"For those at similarly recalcitrant universities, we hope this message reminds them that institutions won’t take these steps without great pressure. But...we remain convinced that this is a fight worth having."
Purdue University, where I work, does great research on climate but has no clear plan for decarbonizing its own campus. My friend Mike Johnston and the Purdue Climate Action Collective have advocated for a climate action plan for years. Mike and I wrote about how that effort is going.

#AcademicSky
On Climate Action, a View From Behind the Pack (opinion)
The fight to decarbonize a public campus in a red state is a fight worth having, Michael Johnston and Kevin Kircher write.
www.insidehighered.com
"Encounters with protest—as participants, observers, or opponents of it—are useful parts of learning for students who will eventually leave their campuses for a fractious, rough-and-tumble political world."
time.com/7323969/coll...
time.com
Reposted by Alex Barron
EPA's reorganization doesn't just rearrange deck chairs. It throws overboard the staff and expertise for curbing dangerous climate pollution. How is this “making sure we are prepared to respond to today’s environmental threats and tomorrow’s challenges”? subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
E&E News: EPA staff reorganization launches Monday
The agency is revamping the Office of Air and Radiation and the Office of Land and Emergency Management and standing up new offices aimed at better aligning with industry and state needs.
subscriber.politicopro.com
We’ve found that there are a lot of colleges and universities that aren’t making much progress addressing direct carbon pollution on campus. Students, faculty, staff, alums, and community members need to be asking questions and holding them accountable.
bsky.app/profile/alex...
Higher education has some work to do on climate action. We found that the median reduction in direct (Scope 1) emissions is only ~9% - with over a third of U.S. colleges and universities actually reporting Scope 1 emissions higher than in their baseline year.

scholarworks.smith.edu/env_facpubs/35