iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Later before they left Brian made certain I understood that whatever sphere of discourse I fancied I shared with any interlocutor, I was wrong. Brian said (admiringly, I thought), "Did you write that story?" I started to answer, when he continued,"Or did you type it?" —The Writing Life Annie Dillard

Photo of the book The Writing Life by Annie Dillard on a table top

A favourite quote from the book:
Later, before they left, Brian made certain I understood that whatever sphere of discourse I fancied I shared with any interlocutor, I was wrong.
Brian said (admiringly, I thought),
"Did you *write* that story?"
I started to answer, when he continued,
"Or did you type it?"
— The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"She writes about a work's vision: 'It is a glowing thing, a blurred thing of beauty. Its structure is at once luminous and translucent; you can see the world through it.' "And then, two paragraphs later: 'You are wrong if you think that you can in any way take the vision and tame it to the page.'

cbc.ca

Why The Writing Life by Annie Dillard was the 'punch in the gut' choreographer Crystal Pite needed

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Reposted by Les Holt

Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller.

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

@doctorow.pluralistic.net's book The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI "challenges us to think about AI before it's too late" 13 min and so very worth a listen. Reorganizing of work Lucy & Ethel Used by the machine Used up by the machine Vaporized $$$$ @eff.org www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

cbc.ca

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Reposted by Les Holt

Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

My latest newsletter is here (sharing my Guardian piece yesterday): We mobilize to put fires out, but not yet to prevent them. While many leaders are comparing the wildfire crisis to WWII, most fail to adopt the real lessons of pre-emptive wartime action. sethdklein.substack.com/p/we-mobiliz...

We mobilize to put fires out, but not yet to prevent them.
While many leaders are comparing the wildfire crisis to the Second World War, most fail to adopt the real lessons of pre-emptive wartime action.

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Reposted by Les Holt

Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Human-driven climate crisis fuels Canada’s deadly wildfires, study finds. ** Current blazes roaring across country more than twice as likely to occur because of fossil fuel-driven global heating. ** www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

theguardian.com

Human-driven climate crisis fuels Canada’s deadly wildfires, study finds

Current blazes roaring across country more than twice as likely to occur because of fossil fuel-driven global heating

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Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Honored to have another piece in the Guardian today 👇 While many leaders are comparing the wildfire crisis to the Second World War, most fail to adopt the real lessons of pre-emptive wartime action. 🧵... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

We need a wartime mindset to fight the threat of wildfires | Seth Klein

While many leaders compare the wildfire crisis to the second world war, governments fail to adopt the real lessons of pre-emptive wartime action

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Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Imagine a progressive mayor who gets this

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Lloyd Alter @lloydalter.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I m in shock, this is amazing

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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Every letter. Every post. Every sign. Every call. It all counted.

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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Friday night lights aka late breaking news release. Ka boom. Toronto anger was not for naught. You moved a monolith: the Liberal caucus. www.thestar.com/politics/fed...

thestar.com

Federal government grounds Billy Bishop airport expansion

The just-concluded public survey suggested strong public opposition to the project, according to a federal government official.

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Reposted by Les Holt

Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 17/07/2026

Climate change does not cause wildfires, but hot and dry conditions make them much more likely to spread. In Canada, 9 of the 10 worst wildfire years were both dryer and hotter than normal. And these fires are burning in areas that were historically not managed or suppressed.

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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 17/07/2026

Over at the Climate Brink I take a deep dive into climate and wildfires in Canada, and why complaints about Canadian forest management largely miss the mark as conditions rapidly have become more favorable for megafires: www.theclimatebrink....

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

“Extreme weather. Fire weather” “Rather, it’s a landscape that waits, and then burns catastrophically under extreme weather.” “We are not necessarily seeing more fire than ever everywhere, but rather a rapid rate of increase with the increasing prevalence of fire weather driving it.” Important.

theclimatebrink.com

Canada's boreal wildfires aren't just bad forest management

Higher fire season temperatures are strongly correlated with increased area burned

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Reposted by Les Holt

Spacing @spacing.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

An open letter about jets at Toronto’s Island Airport: Veteran planners Ron Soskolne & Howard Cohen on why the proposed expansion will reverse decades of urban rejuvenation on the waterfront spacing.ca/toronto/2026...

spacing.ca

An open letter about jets at Toronto's Island Airport - Spacing Toronto

We are City Planners who have spent many years involved in the planning of Toronto’s downtown waterfront. We have also recently chosen to live there. We hope the Government of Canada will reject the G...

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Reposted by Les Holt

Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 17/07/2026

Canada's boreal forest is roughly the size of Europe (or 4.5x the size of Texas). Most fires are in remote areas far from habitation in that have never had a history of fire suppression or management. And the amount that is burning is directly linked to temperature and rainfall.

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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 17/07/2026

The forest management argument, largely valid in a California pine stand, mostly falls apart when you move it a couple of thousand kilometers north. Today's Climate Brink post provides in-depth details as to why: www.theclimatebrink.com/p/canadas-bo...

theclimatebrink.com

Canada's boreal wildfires aren't just bad forest management

Higher fire season temperatures are strongly correlated with increased area burned

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

“the future depends. . .upon leaders who possess the courage to be accountable. Such accountability is not merely an ethical obligation. It is an expression of compassion, of wisdom, and of our profound interdependence.” A wonderful and noble essay from Roshi @joanhalifax.bsky.social

upaya.org

Ethical Leadership: Understanding Power, Actualizing Accountability and Trust—by Roshi Joan Halifax

Over the years, I have witnessed many forms of leadership. I have seen leadership expressed with humility, courage, and wisdom. I have also seen leadership distorted by fear, entitlement, self-protect...

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

“Really fundamental to his life was, how do we make the world work for 100% of humanity and all of life without destroying the world and without disadvantaging people.” — Introductory video about Buckminster Fuller and his work, with Jaime Snyder from BFI

bfi.org

About Fuller

About Fuller R. Buckminster Fuller was a renowned 20th century inventor and visionary born in Milton, Massachusetts on July 12, 1895. Dedicating his life to making the world work for all of humanit…

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Reposted by Les Holt

Jeff Goodell @jeffgoodell.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

"So next time someone tells you Canada’s fires can be solved by raking the forests, you can point out that the thing filling their sky with smoke is a lightning-struck, drought-primed boreal forest doing what a warming climate is making it do more and more often." 🔥

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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

When AI can instantly mimic creative work, "it's hard to imagine many current markets for creative human expression surviving," write Thomas W. Malone and Frank Pasquale. Their answer: give creators a "learnright" and make AI companies pay to train.

techpolicy.press

In a market-based framework, companies would pay for the creative content used to train their AI systems, write Thomas W. Malone and Frank Pasquale.

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Reposted by Les Holt

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Hey @mark-carney.bsky.social say that part again about climate action not being economical? "It would have been too expensive for Canadians. Canadians who are already struggling with affordability."

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

AT THE TOP OF EVERY FEED: 6 Markers of Climate Emergency Action providing a precise roadmap for how government and institutional leaders in Canada can—and must—confront the climate crisis. —from Climate Emergency Unit, David Suzuki Institute, and @sethdklein.bsky.social’s A Good War

youtu.be

6 Markers of Climate Emergency

YouTube video by Climate Emergency Unit

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Reposted by Les Holt

Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

🔥 The climate emergency hasn't gone away - it's here & now. But our gvts aren't acting with urgency. Our 12-min video on the 6 Markers of Climate Emergency shows what real action looks like. Watch the full video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJdK... And visit: www.davidsuzukiinstitute.ca/ceu

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Leah Stokes @leahstokes.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Hard to describe the sorrow I feel watching the boreal forest burn, summer after summer. I was paddling on a lake yesterday when the smoke came in, and knew what was happening despite not having cell reception. Climate change is a heartbreaker.

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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 15/07/2026

Posted while First Nations communities in Northern Ontario are literally being incinerated and the skies above Canada’s biggest cities are glowing orange

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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Exfoliate the timeline with this absolutely incandescent performance from Raye and co. at Montreux a couple of nights ago.

youtu.be

RAYE & Guests - live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2026 - ARTE Concert

YouTube video by ARTE Concert

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Reposted by Les Holt

Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I am a media critic and journalism academic who has been publishing things on the internet since 1996...What I mean by an “internet archive” is this: Everything of mine you can find online by clicking. pressthink.org/2026/07/jay-...

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

upaya.org

Ethical Leadership: Understanding Power, Actualizing Accountability and Trust—by Roshi Joan Halifax

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Lloyd Alter @lloydalter.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

In Mark Carney's latest "Forward guidance," he claims that we need oil and gas development in the short term to "establish stability amidst this chaos." I worry that stability is hard to find in the current climate chaos. The thermometer is telling us that we have run out of time.

lloydalter.substack.com

Net Zero in 2050 is meaningless; this heat tells us that we have to cut carbon emissions now.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is trying to thread his way through short-term crises, but it will bite him in the long run.

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Reposted by Les Holt

Matt Simmons @writermjs.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

This is my last piece of writing on staff at The Narwhal. It started with a question: how can we learn to sit with uncertainty? To me, it's a hopeful, if complicated, story and I hope you'll take some time to sit with it. Thanks to all who have read my words over these past six years.

thenarwhal.ca

Climate change is forcing us to adapt to uncertainty | The Narwhal

As wildfires, floods and other climate impacts accelerate, experts say our best chance of adapting may be accepting a simple truth: we can’t predict everything

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David Zinn @davidzinn.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Millie has a plan for potholes, but it doesn’t involve fixing them.

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

“'What will I do if AI takes my job?' “…an even deeper question: How can we, in the humanities, with our rich tradition of storytelling and character exploration, harness our knowledge to shape the future of artificial intelligence (AI)?” — Kem-Laurin Lubin September 2024

uwaterloo.ca

Shaping AI: Why the humanities matter in tech innovation | Waterloo News

Kem-Laurin Lubin is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Waterloo where she focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) biases and their ongoing influences on the lived experience of people, pa...

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

“. . .five questions matter: Does it address the legacy of past pollution? Does it reduce sewage entering the lake? Does it restore habitat? Does it expand genuine public access to the shoreline? And does it treat the lake as something held in trust, a relation, not a resource? #BillyBishop #July24

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Internet Archive @archive.org · 23/04/2026

🧵 We tend to think the internet is permanent, but VANISHING CULTURE—the new 📚 from Internet Archive—starts with a simple reality: our digital record is far more fragile than we think 🕳️ 📖 Read for free: archive.org/details/vani... 🛒 Purchase in print: www.betterworldbooks.com/product/deta... ⬇️

Book cover titled “Vanishing Culture” on a teal background. Pixel-art style graphics show a VHS tape, open book, film reel, chain link, and vinyl record dissolving into digital fragments. At the bottom, a cursor icon points to the word “SAVE,” alongside an archive-style building icon, evoking digital preservation.

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Cycle Fun Montreal @cyclefunmontreal.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Ask your local Liberal why Canada's Federal gov't gave Montreal's waterfront a huge riverside park ("le Vieux‑Port de Montréal") but wants Toronto to have a noisy polluting airport. This letter to the Globe has the exactly right idea: turn Billy Bishop Airport into a federal park. Like Montreal has.

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

GOODMAN: “…are you hopeful?” McKIBBEN: “…I’m hopeful that we actually have a tool, finally, to put to work. We’re not going to stop global warming. We may be able to start shaving tenths of a degree off how hot the planet gets, and that would at the very least be helpful.”

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Grateful for @eryk.bsky.social’s studied, human POV & his steady, engaging work gathered at Cybernetic Forests, with deeply thoughtful articles like What Was ChatGPT? and vital contributions in symposiums like The Age of Noise which makes known #ImpactByTechnologies on #SocialCulturalEcosystems

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Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

People want to be with other people. A recent event showcased the wisdom of William H Whyte, and I ask: why don’t our public spaces follow his lead? www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...

theglobeandmail.com

Parks should be made for people. Why does such an obvious idea elude us?

We need to create spaces where people want to gather, as William H. Whyte argued, but the central requirements are sadly absent in Canadian public spaces

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

“I believe in your capacities. I believe in your commitment. I believe in you.” 💕 THE LAST CLASS film, @imcivicaction.bsky.social Inequality Media Civic Action’s first documentary, about @rbreich.bsky.social Prof. Robert Reich’s final semester of teaching.

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Dr. Heather Hinam 🍁 🇨🇦 @secondnaturemb.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Happy #EarthDay from my corner of the Earth. This is a compilation of places and moments from all over #Manitoba, Canada. I put it together to show that we are so much more than 'flat' and 'boring'. We're beautiful and diverse and full of life, like everywhere else on this planet we call home. 🌿

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Patrick Lynch @patrlynch1.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) in flight. Colored pencils on Canson paper, 9 x 11 in., 2024.

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Les Holt @lesholt.bsky.social · 25/02/2024

From On Being with Krista Tippett: Foundations for Being Alive Now “Four short offerings…” Nourishing. Encouraging. —Seeing the Generative Story of Our Time —Living the Questions —Taking a Long View of Time, and Becoming "Critical Yeast" —Calling and Wholeness onbeing.org/starting-poi...

onbeing.org

Foundations for Being Alive Now | The On Being Project

A special, short four-part series. Ways of seeing and living to meet the world ahead. More wisdom and practice than podcast.

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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

"We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity." -- MLK Jr., 11/8/56

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