iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I'm Diné. I wrote this from Tucson, inside the blast radius. My water bill has doubled. The PFAS plume from Davis-Monthan is moving toward my wellfield. My skis are hanging in the garage gathering dust. The unsettling part is how little I had to invent. open.substack.com/pub/drlennec...

open.substack.com

THE COLORADO RIVER DOES NOT REACH 2030

A Thought Exercise in Western Water, from the Near Future

0167

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Snowpack collapses → Lake Powell hits dead pool → Glen Canyon Dam goes dark → grid loses its fastest power source → electricity prices spike → people in Portland and Phoenix can't afford AC → 5,600 die in the summer of 2027 Each link managed by a different institution.

152

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

New piece: THE COLORADO RIVER DOES NOT REACH 2030 8,000 words of near-future climate fiction built from today. Every element drawn from published science or political dynamics already in motion. It's about snow, heat, a dam, a grid, and a 74-year-old woman who couldn't afford her electricity bill.

1116

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I built my work outside this ecosystem deliberately. No institutional paycheck. No funder relationships to protect. I compromised enough to understand what compromise costs — and then I stopped. I can recognize power. The first thing power does is make you dependent on it.

120

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I get told my tone is too direct. What I know — because people tell me out of earshot of the orgs that sign their paychecks — is that brown, poor, Indigenous, and plenty of white people throughout this world see exactly what I see. They just can’t say it publicly. I can.

120

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

The environmental movement has three theories of change right now: Bridge-building. Institutional DEI. Narrative change. All three require the funder’s continued centrality. Communities most affected remain the object of the theory — not its authors.

120

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

The environmental groups celebrated closing the Navajo Generating Station in 2019 as a landmark victory. Before a just transition plan existed. My tribe is still waiting for the economic future the movement promised.

120

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I have asthma. Coal and oil money funded my education. An EPA fellowship funded my PhD. I didn’t learn about environmental injustice in a seminar. I lived it in every city I studied in. Cleveland. Pittsburgh. Detroit. The Navajo Nation.

130

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

My grandmother died years before him. Likely from the uranium dust he carried home in his clothes. I think about the phone call I haven’t gotten yet. The one that tells me which aunt, uncle, or cousin got the cancer diagnosis. That call comes for too many families near those mines.

110

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

My grandfather was a Navajo uranium miner. They removed his left lung before he was much older than I am now. He spent the rest of his life watching the Four Corners plant build its smog on the horizon from his house in Shiprock. Died from pneumonia.

120

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

The environmental movement asked me to find common ground with people who want me gone. Then told me my tone was the problem. New essay. Thread 🧵

160

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Really excited to see some of my recent writing is getting traction. I’m in the long game for issues on the environment winning the left elections but we have to clean house open.substack.com/pub/drlennec...

open.substack.com

I Said Environmentalism Was Out of Ideas. I Was Wrong. It's Worse.

How the people fighting for the planet lost touch with the people living on it

0101

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Thanks for sharing this piece - happy to chat more if it’s relevant to you - Len

010

Reposted by Len Necefer, Ph.D.

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 10/02/2026

this is excellent, and broadly relevant well outside of environmentalism open.substack.com/pub/drlennec...

open.substack.com

I Said Environmentalism Was Out of Ideas. I Was Wrong. It's Worse.

How the people fighting for the planet lost touch with the people living on it

109819

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Just dropped a dispatch from the NPR-A—America’s biggest public land unit, and arguably its first petroleum sacrifice zone. We packrafted 140 miles through thawing permafrost, ancient trade routes, and the edge of a storm system that nearly stranded us.

open.substack.com

A Dispatch from America's First Petroleum Sacrifice Zone

Inside the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska where Indigenous sovereignty, fossil fuels, national security, and climate change converge on America’s largest public lands.

052

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Recently stepped away from all Meta platforms to create a space for deeper, more meaningful engagement online—and to build a more cohesive political and environmental movement through my work. To old friends: great to see you here. To new connections: welcome.

5843

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Hey y'all I'm building a list of native scholars and academics out here in #nativesky #indigisky or whatever we are calling it. I want to create a resource for those of us connected to the academy to connect. Who should be on this list? Tag them below. bsky.app/profile/did:...

84617

Reposted by Len Necefer, Ph.D.

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 24/11/2024

How bad is the drought in the northeast? Here’s the Youghiogheny River Lake Reservoir, at the PA/MD border. Notice the high water line on the bridge piers. Water level is so low it revealed a stone bridge in decent shape on the National Road built in 1813 & submerged when reservoir was built in 1944

A bridge over a very dry lake bed with a little water. The dark part of the bridge piers is the normal high water line

A dry lake bed with a stone arch bridge in the distance that was built in 1813

930272

Reposted by Len Necefer, Ph.D.

Cali Wolf @caliwolf.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Hi! I’m Cali. Colorado based RN, mom, Indigenous creator, political advocate, outdoor enthusiast. Here to see what all the fuss is about 😏

172

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

I’ve been kicking around this thought as well. Let’s chat soon!

110

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Proud to share NOVA’s Legacy of the Land, a series on Indigenous resilience to climate change. Our team at NativesOutdoors created Megadroughts and Indigenous Voices—a must-watch on Native wisdom in the Southwest. Learn more & watch here:

open.substack.com

Stories We Need to Hear: Indigenous Perspectives on Climate

Proud to share our PBS Short Film - Megadroughts and Indigenous Voices—a story of resilience in the face of climate change.

13612

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Part of my work is in the media in the environmental world. In the last few years I’ve had to sit and watch right wing actors take control and set the narrative on important environmental topics - all while non profits and their funders seemingly haven’t took the issue seriously.

open.substack.com

Months Ago, We Warned of Right-Wing Media's Control Over the Online Narrative On Envirionmental Issues. Here’s How We Change It.

We're available for hire as consultants (hint hint)

1251

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I still write and think about policy (now largely through my films & media) but I’ve also been building my substack - all at once by dr Len Necefer as well. Cheers and lets connect open.substack.com/pub/drlennec...

open.substack.com

All At Once by Dr. Len | Len Necefer | Substack

The internet brought to you all at once. A focus on environmental topics, indigenous issues, technology, politics, and humor. Click to read All At Once by Dr. Len, by Len Necefer, a Substack publicati...

050

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Most recently we spent three weeks in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska documenting this region before large scale development begins at the Willow project. All on packrafts.

120

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

In recent years we’ve built a powerhouse of indigenous talent from professional outdoor athletes, to filmmakers, to political organizers to use mass media to shape the narrative around env. issues. That has taken us to places like the Bolivian Amazon to film illegal gold mining

190

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I jumped on a tenure track role at the University of Arizona for a couple years and eventually saw the sands shifting beneath my feet - mainly the public trusting experts and institutions less and less. I decided to jump ship and put my time an energy into my company www.natives-outdoors.org

natives-outdoors.org

Natives Outdoors

Native-owned creative and athletic collective. Film, photography, storytelling, design and consulting.

160

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

This film led to a testimony in front of the House Natural Resources Committee in 2019 where I famously time checked Arizona Insurrectionist Congressman Paul Gosar

120

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I worked in the US Department of Energy for a few years and left 8 months into the 1st Trump administration. That departure led to making my first film. www.outsideonline.com/video/welcom...

outsideonline.com

The Beauty of This Alaskan Community Is in Its People

'Welcome to Gwichyaa Zhee' profiles the Gwich'in people as they battle for food security in remote Alaska

120

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

For the academics I’ve published a few papers on the role of culture in technical policy development. I came from an engineering background so this jump into social sciences pried open my brain to the complexities of society. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Energy development and Native Americans: Values and beliefs about energy from the Navajo Nation

Technical tools and techno-centric methods used for energy resource management and policy planning and development can miss important social and cultu…

160

Len Necefer, Ph.D. @lennecefer.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Hey new follows figured I’d do an intro: I'm an entrepreneur (NativesOutdoors), I have a PhD in Engineering Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon, l've worked in govt & acad. and saw the anti establishment wave moving across this country. Part filmmaker, part meme lord, and part political organizing.

5572

Reposted by Len Necefer, Ph.D.

Leah Stokes @leahstokes.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

I told @lennecefer.bsky.social he had to join us here so now please follow him!!!

2313