Leah Stokes
@leahstokes.bsky.social
Professor of climate + energy policy at UCSB. Alumni of MIT, Columbia and UToronto. Hosts "A Matter of Degrees" podcast. Cuts carbon pollution! Proudly 🇨🇦 Gardener 🌱 leahstokes.com
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Leah Stokes
@leahstokes.bsky.social
· Jan 15
It's official: I'm writing a book. Should be out early fall 2026. Thrilled to be working with MIT Press.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
It got overshadowed by the pipeline news, but NYS’s deal to allow Greenidge Generation to keep operating an upstate gas plant *for the sole purpose of mining bitcoin* might be almost as big of a reversal gothamist.com/news/upstate...
Upstate NY Bitcoin mine agrees to slash emissions, will get air permit from the state
The move comes days after Hochul’s administration paved the way for a new natural gas pipeline in New York Harbor.
gothamist.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:50 PM
It got overshadowed by the pipeline news, but NYS’s deal to allow Greenidge Generation to keep operating an upstate gas plant *for the sole purpose of mining bitcoin* might be almost as big of a reversal gothamist.com/news/upstate...
Reposted by Leah Stokes
America's political elite has decided that climate change is no longer that important or worth talking about, but rest assured, it's still happening, it's extremely bad, and yes, it is going to affect you here in America.
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 8:55 PM
America's political elite has decided that climate change is no longer that important or worth talking about, but rest assured, it's still happening, it's extremely bad, and yes, it is going to affect you here in America.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
Dems backed Trump into a corner where he’s advocating for starving Americans and hemorrhaging support. If they vote to let him off the hook in exchange for nothing it’s a cataclysmic failure. I know people are in pain but insulating Republicans from political consequences is not the answer.
November 9, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Dems backed Trump into a corner where he’s advocating for starving Americans and hemorrhaging support. If they vote to let him off the hook in exchange for nothing it’s a cataclysmic failure. I know people are in pain but insulating Republicans from political consequences is not the answer.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
For the love of god can we build housing instead?
Trump: "If you go a couple of years out, you're gonna see numbers like you've never seen. We're building some of the biggest building ever built anywhere in the world. The AI buildings."
November 5, 2025 at 9:26 PM
For the love of god can we build housing instead?
Reposted by Leah Stokes
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video.
I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.
But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.
I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.
But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.
Federal agents pulling a woman out of Rayito Del Sol, a daycare by Lane Tech high school
November 5, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video.
I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.
But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.
I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.
But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
“Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg" by Rei Takver for @desmog.com:
www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg
Tax records reveal that the billionaire’s foundation has donated for years to Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Center.
www.desmog.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:35 PM
“Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg" by Rei Takver for @desmog.com:
www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
Reposted by Leah Stokes
I’ll keep pushing this line of analysis because I’m increasingly convinced the clearest path out of this mess is for Dems to adopt a relentless anti-corruption, anti-inequality, anti-oligarchy, pro-democracy platform. The Dem leadership hasn’t realized it yet, but they’re now a reform party.
November 6, 2025 at 12:06 AM
I’ll keep pushing this line of analysis because I’m increasingly convinced the clearest path out of this mess is for Dems to adopt a relentless anti-corruption, anti-inequality, anti-oligarchy, pro-democracy platform. The Dem leadership hasn’t realized it yet, but they’re now a reform party.
Democrats have spent the last nine months wringing their hands about how now one cares about climate or energy policy, blah blah blah.
Meanwhile, HIGH ELECTRICITY PRICES were key to Democrats winning in Georgia, New Jersey and Virginia. Maybe, uh, people do care?
www.axios.com/2025/11/05/n...
Meanwhile, HIGH ELECTRICITY PRICES were key to Democrats winning in Georgia, New Jersey and Virginia. Maybe, uh, people do care?
www.axios.com/2025/11/05/n...
How Spanberger, Sherrill will address high electricity costs after winning elections
Electricity prices played a big role in both New Jersey and Virginia.
www.axios.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Democrats have spent the last nine months wringing their hands about how now one cares about climate or energy policy, blah blah blah.
Meanwhile, HIGH ELECTRICITY PRICES were key to Democrats winning in Georgia, New Jersey and Virginia. Maybe, uh, people do care?
www.axios.com/2025/11/05/n...
Meanwhile, HIGH ELECTRICITY PRICES were key to Democrats winning in Georgia, New Jersey and Virginia. Maybe, uh, people do care?
www.axios.com/2025/11/05/n...
"It is a profound mistake to treat the 2024 presidential election as a referendum on the ideological direction of the United States or as evidence of a realignment or whatever else you happen to have as your hobbyhorse." - @jamellebouie.net is right as usual
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
Opinion | Make No Mistake: Trump Is an Albatross
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:41 PM
"It is a profound mistake to treat the 2024 presidential election as a referendum on the ideological direction of the United States or as evidence of a realignment or whatever else you happen to have as your hobbyhorse." - @jamellebouie.net is right as usual
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
Reposted by Leah Stokes
I hope future generations recognize how quickly and strangely the contours of what counts as a political scandal changed for this president.
O'DONNELL: Why did you pardon Changpeng Zhao?
TRUMP: Are you ready? I don't know who he is
O'DONNELL: His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2b purchase of World Liberty Financial's stablecoin. And they you pardoned him.
TRUMP: Here's the thing -- I know nothing about it
TRUMP: Are you ready? I don't know who he is
O'DONNELL: His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2b purchase of World Liberty Financial's stablecoin. And they you pardoned him.
TRUMP: Here's the thing -- I know nothing about it
November 3, 2025 at 1:37 AM
I hope future generations recognize how quickly and strangely the contours of what counts as a political scandal changed for this president.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
November 1, 1965 – “Fortune” magazine covers carbon dioxide build-up
allouryesterdays.info/2025/10/31/n...
allouryesterdays.info/2025/10/31/n...
November 1, 1965 - “Fortune” magazine covers carbon dioxide build-up - All Our Yesterdays
Sixty years ago, on this day, November 1st, 1965, Fortune magazine flags climate change in an article called “We can afford clean air” by Edmund K. Faltemeyer. “The tremendous rise in worldwide use o...
allouryesterdays.info
October 31, 2025 at 9:50 PM
November 1, 1965 – “Fortune” magazine covers carbon dioxide build-up
allouryesterdays.info/2025/10/31/n...
allouryesterdays.info/2025/10/31/n...
Reposted by Leah Stokes
The way he rubs his inhumanity in Americans” face never ceases to stun me.
He’s illegally refusing to pay food stamp benefits…
…while he throws a ridiculously over the top Gatsby party for his right wing millionaire and corporate friends.
He’s illegally refusing to pay food stamp benefits…
…while he throws a ridiculously over the top Gatsby party for his right wing millionaire and corporate friends.
November 1, 2025 at 3:36 AM
The way he rubs his inhumanity in Americans” face never ceases to stun me.
He’s illegally refusing to pay food stamp benefits…
…while he throws a ridiculously over the top Gatsby party for his right wing millionaire and corporate friends.
He’s illegally refusing to pay food stamp benefits…
…while he throws a ridiculously over the top Gatsby party for his right wing millionaire and corporate friends.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
When I worked in WaPo Opinions in 2017-2018, senior editors specifically told junior editors not to factcheck Marc Thiessen and other MAGA columnists, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to publish anything by them at all, and “we need them for intellectual diversity.”
It’s very telling that opening your publication to MAGA “thought” requires a massive downgrade in quality control.
October 30, 2025 at 10:38 PM
When I worked in WaPo Opinions in 2017-2018, senior editors specifically told junior editors not to factcheck Marc Thiessen and other MAGA columnists, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to publish anything by them at all, and “we need them for intellectual diversity.”
Reposted by Leah Stokes
Bill Gates hasn’t made sense on Climate since he teamed up with Bjorn Lomberg in 2009. This is just a restating of Bjorn’s book from this year about how we have a finite amount of money and we shouldn’t use it for climate. What they get wrong is that climate solutions are now fully profitable.
Bill Gates has a new memo out calling for a “strategic pivot” on climate change, downplaying “doomsday” talk to focus on filling enormous post-USAID budget gaps in global health and vaccine funding. I got an early glimpse of his thinking last week:
7 New Takes From Bill Gates on Climate ‘Doomsday’ Talk and Global Health
“I mean, God bless the Europeans for caring about climate.”
heatmap.news
October 29, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Bill Gates hasn’t made sense on Climate since he teamed up with Bjorn Lomberg in 2009. This is just a restating of Bjorn’s book from this year about how we have a finite amount of money and we shouldn’t use it for climate. What they get wrong is that climate solutions are now fully profitable.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva has now been waiting 36 days to be sworn in to office — setting a new record that any member of Congress has had to wait following a special election.
October 29, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva has now been waiting 36 days to be sworn in to office — setting a new record that any member of Congress has had to wait following a special election.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
The weaponization of the justice system is escalating - with the DoJ now acting openly and aggressively as the regime’s instrument to go after the political opposition.
It’s not a consolidated autocracy yet. But this most definitely isn’t rule of law either.
It’s not a consolidated autocracy yet. But this most definitely isn’t rule of law either.
NEW: Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social is one of six protestors charged in a newly unsealed indictment for "conspiracy to impede or injure" an ICE officer at Broadview. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 29, 2025 at 5:36 PM
The weaponization of the justice system is escalating - with the DoJ now acting openly and aggressively as the regime’s instrument to go after the political opposition.
It’s not a consolidated autocracy yet. But this most definitely isn’t rule of law either.
It’s not a consolidated autocracy yet. But this most definitely isn’t rule of law either.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
Not since 1935 has anyone experienced a storm like Melissa. Melissa's record wouldn't have happened without climate change, which made the hurricane's winds about 10 mph stronger, according to a rapid attribution analysis by Climate Central. yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/10/cata...
Catastrophic Hurricane Melissa hits Jamaica as the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricane on record » Yale Climate Connections
At landfall in western Jamaica, Melissa’s 185 mph winds and 892 mb pressure tied with the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 in the Florida Keys as the strongest on record for the Atlantic.
yaleclimateconnections.org
October 28, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Not since 1935 has anyone experienced a storm like Melissa. Melissa's record wouldn't have happened without climate change, which made the hurricane's winds about 10 mph stronger, according to a rapid attribution analysis by Climate Central. yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/10/cata...
Reposted by Leah Stokes
We live in a country where the media is focused more on who a Democratic mayoral candidate defines as his ‘aunt’ than on the DHS Twitter account putting out white nationalist propaganda and replying to Nazis online.
October 28, 2025 at 10:08 PM
We live in a country where the media is focused more on who a Democratic mayoral candidate defines as his ‘aunt’ than on the DHS Twitter account putting out white nationalist propaganda and replying to Nazis online.
Spoiler alert: people do not like the fascist President.
Donald Trump's approval rating in our tracker has fallen to -18, the lowest it has ever been (lower than any point in his first term) www.economist.com/interactive/...
October 28, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Spoiler alert: people do not like the fascist President.
A billionaire who thought we shouldn't give the poor free COVID vaccines, and hung out with Epstein, wrote some weird, vague stuff about how climate change "isn't that bad" and now the media is covering that rather than a record climate fueled hurricane.
The age of oligarchy sure is exhausting.
The age of oligarchy sure is exhausting.
October 28, 2025 at 7:24 PM
A billionaire who thought we shouldn't give the poor free COVID vaccines, and hung out with Epstein, wrote some weird, vague stuff about how climate change "isn't that bad" and now the media is covering that rather than a record climate fueled hurricane.
The age of oligarchy sure is exhausting.
The age of oligarchy sure is exhausting.
What can I say. We are nice. Oh and we don't have a secret police kidnapping our neighbors off the street.
Enten: "Canada is far more popular than Donald Trump is here in the United States. The net popularity of Canada is +49. Trump is -10. We're talking about Canada coming out nearly 60 points ahead on the net popularity ratings versus Donald Trump here in the US"
October 27, 2025 at 4:35 PM
What can I say. We are nice. Oh and we don't have a secret police kidnapping our neighbors off the street.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
Walz: "They are paying contractors to pay down the East Wing but they're not putting money into the food bank. So if there's a sense of frustration in America, it's very real ... when the White House press secretary said their top priority is the ballroom, we could not disagree more."
October 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Walz: "They are paying contractors to pay down the East Wing but they're not putting money into the food bank. So if there's a sense of frustration in America, it's very real ... when the White House press secretary said their top priority is the ballroom, we could not disagree more."
Reposted by Leah Stokes
The conditions at the Broadview ICE facility are getting worse. This is why we keep coming back.
Our neighbors are not alone. You can join us in demanding transparency + accountability at 1930 Beach Street.
Our neighbors are not alone. You can join us in demanding transparency + accountability at 1930 Beach Street.
October 24, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The conditions at the Broadview ICE facility are getting worse. This is why we keep coming back.
Our neighbors are not alone. You can join us in demanding transparency + accountability at 1930 Beach Street.
Our neighbors are not alone. You can join us in demanding transparency + accountability at 1930 Beach Street.
Reposted by Leah Stokes
There are nearly 23 gigawatts of thermal plants offline for maintenance as Texas continues to have way above average heat.
To pick up the slack, batteries are deploying for longer periods; they discharged over 3,000 megawatts for 2+ hours Tuesday evening. 1/2
To pick up the slack, batteries are deploying for longer periods; they discharged over 3,000 megawatts for 2+ hours Tuesday evening. 1/2
October 23, 2025 at 10:01 PM
There are nearly 23 gigawatts of thermal plants offline for maintenance as Texas continues to have way above average heat.
To pick up the slack, batteries are deploying for longer periods; they discharged over 3,000 megawatts for 2+ hours Tuesday evening. 1/2
To pick up the slack, batteries are deploying for longer periods; they discharged over 3,000 megawatts for 2+ hours Tuesday evening. 1/2