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Clay Steell

@claysteell.bsky.social
514 followers 491 following 132 posts

Kelp forest restoration & science with @bluefutureskelp.bsky.social | Lapsed fish biologist with a passion for ecology, physiology, oceans, & climate | Posts are, sadly, my own | he/him | in unceded Lekwungen territory claysteell.weebly.com

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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
For #PhycologyFriday, sharing this new publication in @psaalgae.bsky.social Journal of Phycology! doi.org/10.1111/jpy.... Headed by Dr. Lauren Dykman, @cneufeld.bsky.social & @baumlab.bsky.social, with support from Amanda+Rob Zielinski, Matt Csordas, Alex Wiebe, & many more! #kelp #salishsea
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Dagmar Fischer @dagmarfischer.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Climate change is driving a gray whale “catastrophic mortality event” in the Pacific Ocean as melting sea ice depletes food sources and the animals starve, environmental groups warn. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Pacific gray whales facing ‘catastrophic’ die-off as climate crisis hits food supply
Trump administration urged to relist a species in ‘very, very serious trouble’ under Endangered Species Act
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
#PhycologyFriday
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Had a blast today at Victoria's Prawnfest, talking kelp & urchins for @bluefutureskelp.bsky.social along with Pacific Urchin Harversters Association! Brought along some kelp gametophytes to show what culturing for restoration looks like #yyj #vanisle #kelp #urchin #prawnfest
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Blue Futures Kelp @bluefutureskelp.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Right beforehand was the Pacific Seaweed Summit hosted by Wei Wai Kum FN, Pacific Seaweed Ind. Assoc., N. Island College, & Heiltuk Climate Action. It was an inspiring & connective gathering, reconnecting with many phyco-friends & appreciating this coast’s diverse community of mariculturists+more!
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Blue Futures Kelp @bluefutureskelp.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
What a week! Blue Futures Kelp was at the Huu-ay-aht First Nations Three Star Dark Sky Festival, joining a panel on mariculture & ocean science. Thank you to HFN & Foundry Events for hosting, highly recommend this festival for anyone else with a love of stars & sea! 🌊🪐
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Real petrostate shit
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
This is really troubling and a bad sign for this government’s approach to managing wild salmon @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2026/04...
thetyee.ca
Salmon Scientists Warn the DFO Is Killing a Crucial Lab | The Tyee
The genomics program opened up the ‘black box’ of wild fish research. Former and current staff say it’s been gutted.
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karen ward @kwardvancouver.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
“When contacted by The Tyee, B.C’s Public Safety Ministry declined to say which climate groups or treaty negotiations it monitors and whether they are linked to protests or illegal activity. It also refused to explain how the secretariat’s work monitoring protests overlaps with treaty negotiations.”
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karen ward @kwardvancouver.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
social housing units built by year in Canada, 1972-2010 - by number of units - as % of all housing built
social housing units built by year, Canada, 1972-2010
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
I’m excited to be a panelist at this year’s Three Stars Dark Sky Festival, happening May 8-10 in my old home on Huu-ay-aht territory! 🌌 📍Pathways: Between Land & Sky | House of Huu-ay-aht | 📆 Sunday, May 10 👉🎟️ Plan your visit: hgb.tickit.ca/events/34302... #vanisle #explorebc #kelp #darksky
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 13/04/2026
Thread detailing Mark Carney’s war on libraries, knowledge, and culture throughout so many parts of society. His deep cuts to the public service are not in line with the vision he presents of a bold and more independent Canada.
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The Tyee @thetyee.ca · 13/04/2026
First Nations leaders are condemning Premier David Eby’s plan to suspend parts of #DRIPA as a step backward that will increase uncertainty for all British Columbians and create political problems for the NDP. Andrew MacLeod reports. #bcpoli
thetyee.ca
DRIPA’s Deadlock. ‘We Will Not Back Down’ | The Tyee
First Nations vow to fight the BC NDP in a showdown that could topple the government.
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Conor Curtis @conorcurtis.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
This is a massive warning sign. Plus continued delusions this government has over the economics of further oil and gas expansion in Canada. Plus the erosion of the public sector etc. that protects democracy, & prioritization of corporate interests closely aligned with the U.S. government. #CDNpoli
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Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Here’s the story of one of them. Awful www.thestranger.com/forced-out/f...
thestranger.com
Forced Out: The Electrical Engineer
Anti-Trans Laws in Florida Forced a Woman to Quit Her Dream Job with NASA
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Oil Change International @oilchange.org · 06/04/2026
8/This is a war brought to you by the fracking boom. Transitioning away from fossil fuels will not guarantee peace, but it may be our best chance to break free from cycles of conflict, coercion + instability fossil fuels perpetuate + build a more secure/resilient future oilchange.org/blogs/trumps...
oilchange.org
Trump’s Appalling Address to the Nation Exposed Yet Another Dark Side to the U.S. Oil and Gas Boom: War - Oil Change International
Last Wednesday evening, the world watched as the sitting president of the United States delivered yet another rambling and cruel tirade. We witnessed another example of how low this administration…
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Inside Climate News @insideclimatenews.org · 10/04/2026
The days of Britain’s fish and chip shops might be numbered. Rising temperatures and overfishing have seen the U.K.’s iconic cod decline for over a decade. Now, consumers are warned to “completely avoid” eating the fish.
insideclimatenews.org
Britain’s Most Iconic Fish Nears Breaking Point - Inside Climate News
Rising temperatures and overfishing have seen the U.K.'s iconic cod decline for over a decade. Now, consumers are warned to “completely avoid” eating the fish.
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Some beautiful new seaweed growth in the shallows here in Lekwungen territory, south Vancouver Island ☀️ #PhycologyFriday #vanisle
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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 07/04/2026
These updates have in turn bumped up my annual projection for 2026 temperatures to 1.53C (±0.11C), which puts it on track to be somewhere between the 1st and 4th warmest year on record, with a best estimate of second warmest:
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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 07/04/2026
I've updated my El Niño forecast plume with the latest April data (ECMWF, NMME, CFSv2, Canadian models). Its now looking like it might end up giving 2015/2016 a run for its money in terms of strength, with a peak of ~2.6C in the ENSO3.4 region by end of year: dashboard.theclimate...
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
We’ve tried nothing, and we’re all out of ideas!
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
I’ve recently been harvesting sea urchins with the crew of Seaworthy, a small fishing boat that sells our catch directly to customers on the dock! It’s been awesome to learn the ropes of a fishery that has huge potential to help kelp forests threatened by urchin overgrazing #urchin #kelp #vanisle
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Scott Neigh @scottneigh.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
26. Though this article doesn't mention specific instances, it reports that tech giants have recently abandoned construction of a number of multi-billion dollar data centres in the face of community opposition. www.reuters.com/sustainabili... #MovementWins2026
reuters.com
Investors press Amazon, Microsoft and Google on water, power use in US data centers
Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet's Google ​have each recently abandoned construction of multibillion-dollar data centers over community opposition and now the companies are coming under shareholder pres...
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The Breach @breachmedia.ca · 08/04/2026
Years before Alberta even became a province, First Nations signed Treaties guaranteeing their rights to the land in perpetuity. A century later, and First Nations are in court this week, using their Treaties to mount one of the strongest challenges to Alberta separatism, writes @readtheorchard.org
breachmedia.ca
How First Nations’ Treaties can hold back the tide of Alberta separatism ⋆ The Breach
Danielle Smith pledged to hold a referendum on separating Alberta from Canada. First Nations in the province are going to court this week to argue that she has no legal right to do that
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
For #PhycologyFriday, some (submerged) intertidal seaweeds here in Lekwungen territory (south Vancouver Island). Watching a sunlight dance on the Iridescent Seaweed (which has one of my fave Latin names, Mazzaella splendens) was a real treat!
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Today in AI: Canada rejected the PR application of a McMaster postdoc from the Sorbonne who works in the immunology of aging because the generative AI being used to process applications (😱) entirely hallucinated her credentials. Everyone involved should be fired. archive.is/ELrCI#select...
Kémy Adé was shocked by the immigration refusal letter she received.
In rejecting her permanent residence application, the Immigration Department cited her current job duties, which included wiring and assembling control circuits, building control and robot panels, programming and troubleshooting. The department said these duties didn’t match the Canadian work experience she claimed.
Well, no, they didn’t. Adé is a post-doctoral research fellow and guest teacher at McMaster University — and those skills are not part of her repertoire. Nor are they what she submitted in her immigration application a year ago.
“I saw this language about this job description that has nothing to do with me,” said the health scientist from France, who has a PhD from Sorbonne University in the immunology of aging. “I was disoriented how this could happen.”
But a disclaimer at the bottom of the refusal letter might provide a hint.
It’s believed to be the first time that the department explicitly referred to the use of generative AI to support application processing in immigration refusals. The disclaimer also noted that all generated content was verified by an officer and that generative AI was not used to make or recommend a decision.
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Foreign Policy @foreignpolicy.com · 18/03/2026
There exists a structural tension at the heart of Colombia’s energy transition strategy.
foreignpolicy.com
Will the Iran War Derail Colombia’s World-First Energy Transition?
An economy dependent on fossil fuels planned to wind down, rather than expand, extraction.
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UBC Oceans @ubcoceans.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Research suggests many #highseas #fisheries would be unprofitable without public support, raising questions about whether some “productive” #fishing activity exists largely because of #subsidies. news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-... @drrashidsumaila.bsky.social @seaaroundus.org @ubccoru.bsky.social
news.mongabay.com
The hidden cost of fisheries subsidies
In public finance, some costs are politely kept off the books. The ocean has long been one of them. Governments often speak of “blue growth” and “sustainable use,” yet many policies still treat marine...
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 16/03/2026
City officials and policy wonks have mostly sought to respond to rising rents by building new housing, arguing that increased supply is the only way to bring down rental costs. But that idea, according to a major new housing study, is dead wrong. hellgatenyc.com/take-that-ez...
hellgatenyc.com
'No Amount of Housing We Build Is Going to Make Prices Drop'
A major new housing study is challenging the idea behind the "abundance agenda."
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Alex Cosh @alex.readthemaple.com · 17/03/2026
NEW: Canadian troops deployed in occupied Palestine as part of Operation Proteus attended a “seminar” showcasing Israel’s genocidal methods in Gaza. www.readthemaple.com/israeli-mili...
readthemaple.com
Israeli Military Showcased Its Gaza Tactics To Canadian Troops
“When people talk about Canada as part of the problem, not part of the solution, it’s precisely this kind of thing that we’re talking about.”
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John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
The government’s latest energy futures report drops modelling for a 1.5C scenario and assumes Canada remains a major oil and gas supplier for decades to come. More climate denial dressed up as serious analysis to invent a rationale for Carney’s fossil fuel expansionist plans.
cer-rec.gc.ca
CER – Canada’s Energy Future 2026: Energy Supply and Demand Projections to 2050
Canada’s Energy Future 2026: Energy Supply and Demand Projections to 2050
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
For #PhycologyFriday, another week of surveying herring spawn in Tlai-o-qui-aht & Ahousat territory, west Vancouver Island, with lots of eggs on seaweeds!
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 10/03/2026
Climate change fears grip Nuuk as winter temperatures reach record highs.
aljazeera.com
No snow, no ski season: Greenland's warmest January shuts Nuuk resort
Climate change fears grip Nuuk as winter temperatures reach record highs.
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Another perennial reminder how we’re all constantly being duped by the viability of industrial CCS www.nationalobserver.com/2025/12/18/a...
nationalobserver.com
World's biggest carbon capture project could 'essentially drain Alberta', experts warn
Government-commissioned modelling of water use by the planned $16.5 billion Pathways CCS project, a linchpin of the energy deal signed by Ottawa and Alberta last month, concluded its use of the region...
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
For #PhycologyFriday, some views from the annual Pacific herring spawn dive surveys I’m working this year, exemplifying the importance of seaweeds as fish habitat! Seen in Toquaht and Huu-ay-aht territories, west Vancouver Island
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Shannon Waters @sobittersosweet.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
When the BC Conservatives voted for a bill to repeal the human rights code, the NDP caucus promptly put out a press release slamming the Cons who "couldn’t muster the courage to stand against it." Today, 0 NDP MLAs mustered the courage to vote against a bill to close all BC's safe consumption sites
B.C. Conservatives vote to legalize racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination, says Sharma

VICTORIA—B.C. Conservative MLAs voted this morning to repeal the B.C. Human Rights Code, which protects against discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and age. 



Former OneBC MLA Tara Armstrong’s Human Rights Code Repeal Act was defeated on first reading by votes from New Democrat and Green MLAs. A majority of B.C. Conservative MLAs voted to support it, and none voted against it.



Although it is rare to vote against bills at first reading, B.C. Conservatives have already parted with that convention multiple times in this parliament to defeat other divisive bills, like a ban on land acknowledgements, a ban on international or memorial flags on public property, and a bill to cancel National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. They have not yet offered a justification for voting against those bills but in favour of one that legalizes open racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other forms of discrimination. 


The Human Rights Code protects against discrimination like paying a woman less than a man or refusing to rent an apartment to a person because of their race. It establishes the complaint process for people who experience discrimination and harassment at work and in public life.



Niki Sharma, Attorney General:



“The B.C. Conservatives have voted down other bills at first reading, but when it came to basic rights for millions of British Columbians, they voted to rip them away. Repealing the Human Rights Code would mean a woman could be paid less just because she’s a woman, a family could be denied housing because of the colour of their skin, and a person of faith could be fired over their religion. This bill would quite literally legalize all forms of discrimination, and the B.C. Conservatives couldn’t muster the courage to stand against it.”
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Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
This is very well done & comprehensive
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
As a Mt. A alumnus, I can say without a doubt that privatizing would destroy everything that made it good & special (despite its corporatization already being underway), & it’s shocking NB is considering this. I already wrote the Premier & Min. of Education, urging other alumni to as well! #NBpoli
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
For #PhycologyFriday, check out my latest post on @bluefutureskelp.bsky.social 🌊
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
BC has a zero-sum choice between electrifying its economy + meeting climate goals, or subsidizing power generation for climate-busting LNG export terminals + data centres. You can’t have the former if you keep pushing the later, as gov/industry keep doing!
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David Syzdek @dsyzdek.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
This is crazy, second-order stuff.
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Negro Frolics @desmondcole.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
NEWS: Canadian billionaire Jim Pattison was planning to sell a warehouse for use as an ICE detention and processing facility. After pressure from the public, and from B.C. Green Party leader @emilylowan.bsky.social, Pattison's company has cancelled the sale www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Jim Pattison won't sell U.S. warehouse proposed as new ICE facility | CBC News
Jim Pattison Developments has announced it will not sell an industrial building in Ashland, Va., that was set to be turned into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility.
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Andrew Kurjata @akurjata.ca · 30/01/2026
Breaking - Jim Pattison Developments say the sale of their warehouse for use as a proposed ICE facility will not be proceeding
Statement- January 30, 2026
The transaction to sell our industrial building in Ashland, Virginia will not be proceeding.
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
We should all be screaming from the rooftops that the Al boom/bubble is incompatible with a safe future climate! It's almost solely undoing what little progress on energy transition the world had done to date!
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Chris Simms @chrisnsimms.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Sea turtles may be better able to cope with climate change than we thought. There are concerns that the reptiles face extinction because warmer conditions will make most #turtle eggs develop into females. But the animals have a genetic safety net. 🧪 🦑 🐢 www.newscientist.com/article/2512...
newscientist.com
Sea turtles may be more resilient to global warming than we thought
An “epigenetic” adaptation could prevent large numbers of loggerhead turtles from hatching as female due to climate change – a threat that was feared to lead to population collapse
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Cloe Logan @cloelogan.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The Don River was once so polluted with waste, garbage + chemicals that it caught on fire. The water itself, which flows towards Lake Ontario, was so inhospitable that it hosted life’s very antithesis. Now, researchers are starting to see a rebirth. For @nationalobserver.com
nationalobserver.com
Fish are flooding back into Toronto’s Don River
This month, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority shared its findings from the Don River in 2025, which included documenting over 20 fish species. For the first time since 2012, an Atlantic Salmon...
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
“The report marks the first time a social cost of carbon (SCC) assessment — a key measure of economic harm caused by climate change — has included damages to the ocean.” www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/26/n...
nationalobserver.com
Ocean damage nearly doubles the cost of climate change
Ignoring the blue economy has left a multi-trillion-dollar blind spot in climate finance, according to a study from Scripps Oceanography.
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The aquatic restoration happening in urban Toronto is wildly impressive & a beacon of hope in a province & country otherwise reversing course on climate+environment, I had the fortune of seeing some firsthand helping an old lab mate with it during my M.Sc www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/26/n...
nationalobserver.com
Fish are flooding back into Toronto’s Don River
This month, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority shared its findings from the Don River in 2025, which included documenting over 20 fish species. For the first time since 2012, an Atlantic Salmon...
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Clay Steell @claysteell.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
This can only end in less environmental oversight and protection, in the already flawed Canadian environmental management system tilted towards the interests of corporations and their shareholders at the expense of workers and the environment
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
This incredibly cool new research shows that the first really big large organism on land was not a giant fungus, as many gave hypothesized. It was so chemically different from fungi that the authors propose "this enigmatic organism is best assigned to an entirely extinct eukaryotic lineage."
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