Lawrence Culver
@lawrencecphd.bsky.social
Historian of environment/climate/disaster/cities/culture. SLC via AL and LA; UCLA Bruin. Book: The Frontier of Leisure: SoCal and the Shaping of Modern America; currently writing a book about climate and history in the US and North America.
Americans think this desk is named for the ideal: “resolute.” Nope. The HMS Resolute went north to find the Erebus and Terror, the lost ships of the Arctic Franklin Expedition. American whalers found it, and Victoria gifted us a desk scavenged from a rescue ship lost seeking a doomed expedition.
November 14, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Americans think this desk is named for the ideal: “resolute.” Nope. The HMS Resolute went north to find the Erebus and Terror, the lost ships of the Arctic Franklin Expedition. American whalers found it, and Victoria gifted us a desk scavenged from a rescue ship lost seeking a doomed expedition.
“By combining…their concerns with our flood and wind predictions, we can create maps and reports that show where the big risks are in real time…All of that work stopped overnight.”
Vital research canceled so aspiring trillionaires get tax cuts instead. Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/c...
Vital research canceled so aspiring trillionaires get tax cuts instead. Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/c...
He Helped Cities Anticipate Damage From Storms
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:46 PM
“By combining…their concerns with our flood and wind predictions, we can create maps and reports that show where the big risks are in real time…All of that work stopped overnight.”
Vital research canceled so aspiring trillionaires get tax cuts instead. Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/c...
Vital research canceled so aspiring trillionaires get tax cuts instead. Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/c...
“When an ecosystem is so ingrained in your psyche, so essential to your culture and so central to the stories you tell about your reason for being, you have no choice but to safeguard it.”
www.latimes.com/environment/...
www.latimes.com/environment/...
Five Native tribes are coming together to protect a California cultural landscape
A coalition of five California desert tribes will co-manage the 624,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument.
www.latimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM
“When an ecosystem is so ingrained in your psyche, so essential to your culture and so central to the stories you tell about your reason for being, you have no choice but to safeguard it.”
www.latimes.com/environment/...
www.latimes.com/environment/...
It’s upper basin states Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico against the lower basin – California, Arizona, and Nevada. “They had to reach an agreement that almost by definition is going to result in hardship to some of those water users.”
Thus no agreement.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Thus no agreement.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Western US states fail to agree on plan to manage Colorado River before federal deadline
Stakeholders have spent months ironing out disagreements over how to distribute water from the sprawling basin
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:02 PM
It’s upper basin states Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico against the lower basin – California, Arizona, and Nevada. “They had to reach an agreement that almost by definition is going to result in hardship to some of those water users.”
Thus no agreement.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Thus no agreement.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Lawrence Culver
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
Fascinating read about Arctic art history and the panoramic paintings popular in empires and settler societies trying to comprehend newly acquired or coveted territory, and the long fascination with the Arctic, like the Arctic expedition in Frankenstein, published a year before this painting.
Today we have "Translating the Arctic, ca. 1819" by Oliver Aas
This is the sixth post in Part V of the Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North series edited by @issygapp.bsky.social and guest edited by @sarahmpicks.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/11/10/t...
#envhist #arctic #envhum
This is the sixth post in Part V of the Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North series edited by @issygapp.bsky.social and guest edited by @sarahmpicks.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/11/10/t...
#envhist #arctic #envhum
Translating the Arctic, ca. 1819
Henry Aston Barker's 1819 Arctic panorama introduced immersive Arctic imagery to Britain, blending exploration, art, and translation to shape public understanding and imagination.
niche-canada.org
November 11, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Fascinating read about Arctic art history and the panoramic paintings popular in empires and settler societies trying to comprehend newly acquired or coveted territory, and the long fascination with the Arctic, like the Arctic expedition in Frankenstein, published a year before this painting.
The climate disasters have arrived, & “as Octavia Butler believed, America’s past is a good place to start when trying to predict how climate change will reconfigure its society in the future.” We’ve “already seen large, sudden movements of people driven by disaster and local changes in climate.”
Insightful article. Here's a gift link so that people can actually read it. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
A subscription to @theatlantic.com is a good thing.
A subscription to @theatlantic.com is a good thing.
What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century
Many places may become uninhabitable. Many people may be on their own.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:36 PM
The climate disasters have arrived, & “as Octavia Butler believed, America’s past is a good place to start when trying to predict how climate change will reconfigure its society in the future.” We’ve “already seen large, sudden movements of people driven by disaster and local changes in climate.”
Now that people can see the new Frankenstein film at home, I thought I’d repost this thread and gift article. The Year Without a Summer and Mary Shelley‘s brilliance and creativity gave us a story that more than two centuries later, we keep returning to.
Gift article—and happy Halloween!🎃
Frankenstein is sci-fi, cli-fi, and a document of climate history. It’s also a Gothic fever dream—part Enlightenment, part Romantic Era, written by an incredibly well-read teenager from an infamous family in a turbulent affair with a volatile romantic poet. (1/4)
Frankenstein is sci-fi, cli-fi, and a document of climate history. It’s also a Gothic fever dream—part Enlightenment, part Romantic Era, written by an incredibly well-read teenager from an infamous family in a turbulent affair with a volatile romantic poet. (1/4)
November 8, 2025 at 4:52 AM
Now that people can see the new Frankenstein film at home, I thought I’d repost this thread and gift article. The Year Without a Summer and Mary Shelley‘s brilliance and creativity gave us a story that more than two centuries later, we keep returning to.
“What we know is that 31 people died, 16,000 structures were destroyed, and an untold number of people may never recover financially or psychically.
And we know, thanks to dogged reporting throughout the year, that mistakes were made and the cost is incalculable.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
And we know, thanks to dogged reporting throughout the year, that mistakes were made and the cost is incalculable.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Commentary: Bungled warnings hit weary Eaton and Palisades fire victims like 'a sucker punch'
There is mounting evidence that in both the Eaton and Palisades infernos, fumbles by fire department personnel contributed to disastrous consequences.
www.latimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:04 AM
“What we know is that 31 people died, 16,000 structures were destroyed, and an untold number of people may never recover financially or psychically.
And we know, thanks to dogged reporting throughout the year, that mistakes were made and the cost is incalculable.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
And we know, thanks to dogged reporting throughout the year, that mistakes were made and the cost is incalculable.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Unchanged since 1818, its “formula” of sunspots, tides, and planets is a dubious but fascinating relic of weather prediction, and it remains a record for weather history, and the history of how people tried to understand & predict weather & climate. Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
The Farmers’ Almanac Succumbs to the Digital Age
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Unchanged since 1818, its “formula” of sunspots, tides, and planets is a dubious but fascinating relic of weather prediction, and it remains a record for weather history, and the history of how people tried to understand & predict weather & climate. Gift article.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
“In recent months, a small army of historians, librarians, scientists and other volunteers has fanned out across America’s national parks and museums to photograph and painstakingly archive cultural and intellectual treasures they fear are under threat.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
A small army is racing against time and Trump to preserve U.S. history
Like 'monks' in the Middle Ages, volunteers are working to preserve cultural treasures they fear are under threat from President Trump’s war against 'woke.'
www.latimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:35 AM
“In recent months, a small army of historians, librarians, scientists and other volunteers has fanned out across America’s national parks and museums to photograph and painstakingly archive cultural and intellectual treasures they fear are under threat.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Part of a longer thread I posted after I was back in Altadena last month, these posts show trees that survived a fire that destroyed houses, how their survival is proof they were not primary vectors for fire spread, and the efforts now underway to save them.
When I visited Altadena, lots where trees and flowers were still being watered were teeming with hummingbirds, woodpeckers rattled in trees, and ravens took turns croaking at me and flying directly overhead.
November 4, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Part of a longer thread I posted after I was back in Altadena last month, these posts show trees that survived a fire that destroyed houses, how their survival is proof they were not primary vectors for fire spread, and the efforts now underway to save them.
Dense vegetation surrounding houses in fire zones is dubious, but forcing residents to cut down trees that survived fires and were not primary modes of fire transmission is even more dubious, especially if wooden decks and other flammable materials can remain. (1/3)
www.latimes.com/lifestyle/st...
www.latimes.com/lifestyle/st...
'Zone zero' rule could be California's wildfire savior — or its environmental undoing
The state's proposed 'zone zero' rules are commonsense fire safety, proponents say, but opponents fear they will decimate Southern California's urban forest.
www.latimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Dense vegetation surrounding houses in fire zones is dubious, but forcing residents to cut down trees that survived fires and were not primary modes of fire transmission is even more dubious, especially if wooden decks and other flammable materials can remain. (1/3)
www.latimes.com/lifestyle/st...
www.latimes.com/lifestyle/st...
All the good passwords must’ve been stolen by the British Museum
November 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
All the good passwords must’ve been stolen by the British Museum
Reposted by Lawrence Culver
David Lynch altar for the Día de Muertos celebration at Hollywood Forever.
November 1, 2025 at 8:49 PM
David Lynch altar for the Día de Muertos celebration at Hollywood Forever.
Most public grade schools in California are paved-over “nature deserts” sorely lacking in trees or shade — leaving the state’s 5.8 million school-age children to bake in the sun during classroom breaks as rising global temperatures usher in more dangerous heat waves.
www.latimes.com/environment/...
www.latimes.com/environment/...
Most of California's public K-12 students go to school on campuses with virtually no shade
A team of researchers has mapped the tree canopies at public schools across California. What they've found so far is that many kids face a dangerous lack of shade and greenery.
www.latimes.com
November 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Most public grade schools in California are paved-over “nature deserts” sorely lacking in trees or shade — leaving the state’s 5.8 million school-age children to bake in the sun during classroom breaks as rising global temperatures usher in more dangerous heat waves.
www.latimes.com/environment/...
www.latimes.com/environment/...
Reposted by Lawrence Culver
On DHS’s unauthorized use of Norman Rockwell’s paintings across social media, an op-ed from our family today in @usatoday.com www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
We're Norman Rockwell's family. Trump's DHS has shamefully misused his work. | Opinion
As Norman Rockwell's family, we know he'd be devastated to see the Department of Homeland Security's unauthorized misuse of his work.
www.usatoday.com
November 2, 2025 at 1:03 PM
On DHS’s unauthorized use of Norman Rockwell’s paintings across social media, an op-ed from our family today in @usatoday.com www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
Firefighters on the ground urged evacuation warnings. Why didn’t they happen?
“It could have been a technical issue. It could have been somebody got busy and didn’t push the right button. Who knows?”
Not a satisfying answer for something that cost 18 lives.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
“It could have been a technical issue. It could have been somebody got busy and didn’t push the right button. Who knows?”
Not a satisfying answer for something that cost 18 lives.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Firefighters urged mass Altadena evacuations. It took three hours for command center to act
County Supervisor Kathryn Barger conceded this week that county fire department was responsible for "a gap" between when evacuation alerts were needed and actually ordered.
www.latimes.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Firefighters on the ground urged evacuation warnings. Why didn’t they happen?
“It could have been a technical issue. It could have been somebody got busy and didn’t push the right button. Who knows?”
Not a satisfying answer for something that cost 18 lives.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
“It could have been a technical issue. It could have been somebody got busy and didn’t push the right button. Who knows?”
Not a satisfying answer for something that cost 18 lives.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Gift article—and happy Halloween!🎃
Frankenstein is sci-fi, cli-fi, and a document of climate history. It’s also a Gothic fever dream—part Enlightenment, part Romantic Era, written by an incredibly well-read teenager from an infamous family in a turbulent affair with a volatile romantic poet. (1/4)
Frankenstein is sci-fi, cli-fi, and a document of climate history. It’s also a Gothic fever dream—part Enlightenment, part Romantic Era, written by an incredibly well-read teenager from an infamous family in a turbulent affair with a volatile romantic poet. (1/4)
October 31, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Gift article—and happy Halloween!🎃
Frankenstein is sci-fi, cli-fi, and a document of climate history. It’s also a Gothic fever dream—part Enlightenment, part Romantic Era, written by an incredibly well-read teenager from an infamous family in a turbulent affair with a volatile romantic poet. (1/4)
Frankenstein is sci-fi, cli-fi, and a document of climate history. It’s also a Gothic fever dream—part Enlightenment, part Romantic Era, written by an incredibly well-read teenager from an infamous family in a turbulent affair with a volatile romantic poet. (1/4)
Sooooo random!🙄
Great coverage from @emorwee.bsky.social of the first entire unit to be let go at CBS News under new management: the climate team 🙃 heated.world/p/cbs-news-k...
The fall of the CBS News climate team
David Ellison, the new pro-Trump chief executive of Paramount Skydance, has dismantled the best climate change reporting team in cable news.
heated.world
October 31, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Sooooo random!🙄
Gift article, and a nice reminder that nature is more resilient than we think:“Demolition on the last dam was completed in Oct. of 2024. Just days later, salmon were swimming upstream…One year after salmon are spreading throughout the uppermost reaches of the river.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/c...
A River Restoration in Oregon Gets Fast Results: The Salmon Swam Right Back
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Gift article, and a nice reminder that nature is more resilient than we think:“Demolition on the last dam was completed in Oct. of 2024. Just days later, salmon were swimming upstream…One year after salmon are spreading throughout the uppermost reaches of the river.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/c...
A thoughtful response to the Bill Gates climate memo:
“The choice we are faced with is not between "good for us" & "the end of the world," but instead how much harm we are willing to tolerate, and endure, in the years to come.”
“The choice we are faced with is not between "good for us" & "the end of the world," but instead how much harm we are willing to tolerate, and endure, in the years to come.”
I wanted to offer some thoughts on the Gates climate memo that has been circulating this week. While I can't directly speak for others, I can say that my own response is one of dismay & deep frustration (and that this view is shared by many climate/Earth scientists). [1/n]
October 31, 2025 at 3:40 PM
A thoughtful response to the Bill Gates climate memo:
“The choice we are faced with is not between "good for us" & "the end of the world," but instead how much harm we are willing to tolerate, and endure, in the years to come.”
“The choice we are faced with is not between "good for us" & "the end of the world," but instead how much harm we are willing to tolerate, and endure, in the years to come.”
Gift article. OBAA joins a short list of the best films ever made about California—its past, and where it might be headed. This article includes several of the locations in the film, all far from Hollywood, but Californian to their core.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
We Traveled the Real California That ‘One Battle After Another’ Imagined
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Gift article. OBAA joins a short list of the best films ever made about California—its past, and where it might be headed. This article includes several of the locations in the film, all far from Hollywood, but Californian to their core.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
“More and more people are hitting the wall. There’s less and less help now.”
“No law firm is going to be able to compensate a long‑term renter like me.”
“70% of severely fire-damaged homes in Altadena have not filed permits to rebuild or have been sold.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
“No law firm is going to be able to compensate a long‑term renter like me.”
“70% of severely fire-damaged homes in Altadena have not filed permits to rebuild or have been sold.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Months after fire in Altadena, determination turns to despair
The adrenaline that drove victims in the aftermath of the Eaton fire has worn off for many, leaving a sense of "great disillusionment."
www.latimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:18 AM
“More and more people are hitting the wall. There’s less and less help now.”
“No law firm is going to be able to compensate a long‑term renter like me.”
“70% of severely fire-damaged homes in Altadena have not filed permits to rebuild or have been sold.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
“No law firm is going to be able to compensate a long‑term renter like me.”
“70% of severely fire-damaged homes in Altadena have not filed permits to rebuild or have been sold.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Lawrence Culver
Following Hurricane Melissa's devastation, Jamaica’s decade-long effort to build financial resilience will be tested. Its $150 million catastrophe bond, triggered by a storm’s low pressure and path, will provide quick relief. Jamaica’s model may serve as a guide for other climate-vulnerable nations.
Jamaica invested heavily in climate disaster insurance. It looks about to pay off | CBC News
Jamaica’s decade-long effort to build layers of financial protection in case of natural disasters might help the country access millions of dollars in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Melissa — an...
www.cbc.ca
October 30, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Following Hurricane Melissa's devastation, Jamaica’s decade-long effort to build financial resilience will be tested. Its $150 million catastrophe bond, triggered by a storm’s low pressure and path, will provide quick relief. Jamaica’s model may serve as a guide for other climate-vulnerable nations.