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Lisa H. Sideris

@lsideris.bsky.social
1.5K followers 231 following 86 posts

Professor of Environmental Studies, UC Santa Barbara; bird-lover (not a birder), lifelong wonderer, Midwestern transplant to the Best Coast, curmudgeon. Environmental ethics, science and religion es.ucsb.edu/people/lisa-sideris

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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
My just-published article-length take on the esoteric/religious roots and shoots of Silicon Valley idealogy, with particular emphasis on theories of progressive, "noospheric" evolution as a through-line and culprit. With implications for religion and ecology. www.zygonjournal.org/article/id/2...
zygonjournal.org
Planetary Thinking in a Time of Crisis: Active Evolution and Fractured Universalism in Cosmic Religion, Past and Present
This article examines the failure of universalist frameworks and narratives associated with concepts like the Anthropocene and the noosphere and considers the rise of fractured forms of planetary and ...
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My OpEd with colleague David Pellow on the #data #center backlash as a gift to Dems and environmentalists, and a sign of Trump's total disconnect with Americans. www.independent.com/2026/09/15/t...
independent.com
Trump Calls Opposition to AI Data Centers a Mistake: Americans Disagree
Seven in 10 Americans, including residents of deep red states and rural communities, oppose data center construction, and the majority of voters believe the costs of AI outweigh any benefits.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Here is my latest OpEd in The Hill, deconstructing the "no one could have stopped this" trope. Nothing in science or technology is destined to happen. Humans choose to create these dangers--or not. @deanwb.bsky.social thehill.com/opinion/tech...
thehill.com
AI’s architects made a choice. Now they’re calling it fate.
Now that the “warning shot” has occurred — OpenAI’s term for the Hugging Face incident — what can be done? Can we learn from history?
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
If you've not been following the destruction of Indiana University (largely from within), here's the latest. As an alum, three times over, and former faculty member, I'm disgusted and enraged by the current administration's determination to erase every proud IU legacy, including this newspaper.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Is climate change a religion? Here's my latest OpEd in #TheHill on the EPA's pathetic attempt to dodge science and overturn the #EndangermentFinding. #OpEdProject #PublicVoicesFellowship thehill.com/opinion/ener...
thehill.com
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
This special issue Religion in Extractive Zones is now complete with the publication of the editors' lead essay this week (Terra Rowe, Christiana Zenner, myself). All articles OPEN ACCESS w/no contributor publishing fees. Begin with our intro & lead essay. Enjoy & please share! www.mdpi.com/3370286
mdpi.com
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Here's my piece in The Hill this morning about the connection between the weakening of endangered species legislation and the flawed logic of de-extinction. #de-extinction; #direwolf thehill.com/opinion/ener...
thehill.com
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
The most accurate headline to date. Colossal researchers should hang their heads in shame, especially Miss Duplicitous Beth Shapiro. www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
newscientist.com
Colossal scientist now admits they haven’t really made dire wolves
Despite a huge media fanfare in which Colossal Biosciences claimed to have resurrected the extinct dire wolf, the company's chief scientist now concedes that the animals are merely modified grey wolve...
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Noema Magazine @noemamag.com · 13/05/2025
We once hoped planetary challenges like the climate & Covid would unite national leaders to build responsible global governance. Instead we're seeing nationalists ally with technologists for short-term gain, Boris Shoshitaishvili & @lsideris.bsky.social argue. #planetary #politics #nationalism
noemamag.com
The New Planetary Nationalism | NOEMA
The realization of human embeddedness in Earth’s natural systems does not inevitably create a cosmopolitan politics oriented toward universal well-being.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
This conversation in response to UVa scholar Willis Jenkins' work will take place this Friday 4/25 at 2 (EST), open to the public. Zoom link and text (to read in advance) posted below. Promises to be great conversation!
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Offering this as a tribute (in Spanish and English) to Francis on this sad day. Never has this world needed him so much. He saw the divine light of wonder in nature and humans alike. That's why evangelicals hate and fear him. ojs.uc.cl/index.php/ve...
ojs.uc.cl
Vista de La maravilla en un mundo incierto
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Brilliant analysis of the endtimes fascism, billionaire prepperism and abject cruelty that currently defines American politics. These insights will surprise you, unless you happen to be a religion scholar. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
The rise of end times fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
This tweet illustrates precisely the "moral hazard" point that I argued in my recent op-ed on de-extinction. Witness sec of interior Doug ("drill, baby, drill") Burgam's move to weaken endangered species legislation in light of the dire-wolf so-called de-extinction.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
My first piece as a 2025 Public Voices Fellow Bringing back the mammoth won’t fix the future #opedproject #publicvoicesfellowship #deextinction yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/04/brin...
yaleclimateconnections.org
Bringing back the mammoth won’t fix the future » Yale Climate Connections
De-extinction is a techno-fantasy that distracts from the real work of protecting our planet.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
This is the guy who's gonna get us to Mars. apnews.com/article/cybe...
apnews.com
In latest blow to Tesla, regulators recall nearly all Cybertrucks
US regulators are recalling nearly all Cybertrucks, the eighth recall of the Tesla vehicles since deliveries to customers began just over a year ago.
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Project Drawdown @projectdrawdown.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
“There’s an order of operations in which we need to implement climate solutions,” said Daniel Jasper, the policy director for the climate solutions nonprofit Project Drawdown. “Methane is something we call an emergency brake, because we’ve got to do it now.” grist.org/politics/tru...
grist.org
Trump repeals America's first-ever tax on greenhouse gases before it goes into effect
The methane fee would have had the same impact as taking 8 million gas-powered cars off the road.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
open.substack.com/pub/reedgale...
open.substack.com
Kara Swisher Rips the Bark Off Elon Musk
We talk Elon, Bezos, and the Broligarchy's Nursery School Antics
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
With the absurdity that is "de-extinction" in the news again today, after "woolly mice" were needlessly created (so close to a mammoth! better luck next time, bros ) I am sharing herewith some of my reflections on the ethics of this wasteful practice and the impoverishment of wonder as coolness.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
UCSB Environmental Studies postdoc extraordinaire Amanda Nichols in the news for her work on nuclear technologies, gender, and health justice @amanda-m-nichols.bsky.social @issrnc.bsky.social news.ucsb.edu/2025/021780/...
news.ucsb.edu
Girls and women disproportionately harmed by nuclear radiation
Pulling from 60 years of data post-World War II, a report co-authored by environmental studies researcher Amanda Nichols finds that nuclear radiation disproportionately harms girls and women
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Proudly flying the maple leaf, chez nous.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 22/02/2025
I truly think people don’t realize how many universities and colleges — especially public ones — may shut down if restrictions on and withholding of federal funding persists for even one presidency We are facing the demolition of American higher education
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
It's genuinely difficult to feel happy or hopeful about anything in the world right now. But I did feel some of those things when I wrote this essay about superblooms--an amazing natural phenomenon that I have had the pleasure of witnessing firsthand cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/02...
cswr.hds.harvard.edu
Seedbeds of Creativity: Superblooms and Superorganisms | Center for the Study of World Religions
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Amanda M. Nichols @amanda-m-nichols.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Webinar: What Scientists Are Telling Us About Radiation that Nuclear Boosters Won't Feb. 20 - 12pm EST Updates in research about public health impacts of ionizing radiation with Dr. Amanda Nichols (UCSB) + Cindy Folkers (Beyond Nuclear). Mary Olson (Gender + Radiation Project) moderating
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Sandeep Bakshi @sandeepbak.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Melbourne Uni has curated a collection of Decoloniality, First Nations Thinkers & Thought & Practices from the Global South of 677 items. Two years in the making. Humbled to feature in it; can't believe my luck to share space w/ folks I hold in high esteem. omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/decolonialit...
omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au
Browse Items · Decoloniality, First Nations Thinkers and thought and practices from the Global South
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
We got a message from the university to remove any use of the "DEI", "diversity", "equity", or "inclusion" from all public-facing documents. They said that even "biodiversity" is being flagged by the federal government. We live in the dumbest timeline.
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Association for the Study of Literature and Environment @asle-us.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Register now for this episode of ASLE Spotlight on the theme REPRODUCING ANIMALITY Friday, Feb 21, 1pm EST on Zoom forms.gle/GZgZ4GFuEMmA... #envhum #academicsky
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Every paragraph is alarming but the explanation of the "network state" ambition, to create a sovereign cryptocurrency nation, is especially enlightening. This is not just another hot take. theconversation.com/efficiency-o...
theconversation.com
Efficiency − or empire? How Elon Musk’s hostile takeover could end government as we know it
Granting tech leaders direct control over government functions fundamentally alters the relationship between private power and public governance.
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Maureen “FusionFellow” @fusionfellow.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
#santabarbara Hey everyone in Santa Barbara heads up and share the info. ICE is here and going door to door and stopping cars. Know your rights - Do not open your door, do not say anything, for help go to www.805inimigrante.org #ICEactivity
805inimigrante.org
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
"What do you do with a region that has long fixated on the apocalypticism that slumbers in its everyday, at a moment when the apocalypse becomes normalized the world over?" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Joan Didion and Mike Davis understood LA through its fires. Even they couldn’t predict this week
Fire is an inextricable part of the region’s identity, as the writers knew. But the way this divided city burns has been transformed
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Amanda M. Nichols @amanda-m-nichols.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
Check out my latest publication: www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16...
mdpi.com
Uranium and Religion: Toward a Decolonial Temporality of Extraction
Uranium mining for the production of nuclear technologies has left visible scars across the United States and perpetuated legacies of extraction that extend beyond material consumption to the exploita...
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💥 @dynamoe.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Stop Forcing A.I. into Fucking EVERYTHING!
Gold Banner on Red Background:

Stop Forcing A.I. into Fucking EVERYTHING!
Nobody Asked For It; Everyone Hates It
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
"Very bipartisan" support for geoengineering from a Congress with a significant number of climate change deniers. Interesting. The New Climate Gold Rush: Scrubbing Carbon From the Sky www.nytimes.com/2024/12/22/c...
nytimes.com
Removing Carbon From the Sky Could Be the Next Climate Gold Rush
Investors are betting that they can make a dent in global warming, and healthy profits, with companies that alter the atmosphere.
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Blue Woman Voting 📎 @bluewomanvoting123.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
I guess everyone missed that Trump actually entertained AfD at Mar A Lago www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...
theguardian.com
Far-right activists from Germany spent US election day at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
AfD parliamentary candidate and influencers posed for photos with now president-elect at his Florida home
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Center for International Environmental Law @ciel.org · 20/12/2024
🚨 NEW STUDY 🚨 Microplastics are everywhere and a new study links them to colon and lung cancer, as well as harm to digestive, respiratory, and reproductive health. While governments wait, exposure increases. We need a strong #PlasticsTtreaty, now.
washingtonpost.com
What we just found out about the possible tie between microplastics and cancer
New research published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology offers evidence that microplastics are harming human health.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
UCSB attractions.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
... and a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher in a prickly pear tree 🎶
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Science says potentially globally disastrous, but "inherently incredibly cool"!! 🙄 Drop the coolness and back away. slowly. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/s...
nytimes.com
A ‘Second Tree of Life’ Could Wreak Havoc, Scientists Warn (Gift Article)
Research on so-called mirror cells, which defy fundamental properties of living organisms, should be prohibited as too dangerous, biologists said.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Didion: "To live with the Santa Ana is to accept, consciously or unconsciously, a deeply mechanistic view of human behavior ... The winds shows us how close to the edge we are." www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/CA0...
murrieta.k12.ca.us
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Climate chaos invites populism and fascism, exacerbating climate chaos. Rinse, repeat. theconversation.com/a-doom-loop-...
theconversation.com
A ‘doom loop’ of climate change and geopolitical instability is beginning
Climate change is driving inflation and instability, which harms climate action. But it’s not too late to escape the doom loop.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
ISSR CFP: "Ecology between Religions and Sciences: Minds and Bodies in Nature" 30 June – 3 July 2025 Swindon, UK. Plenary speakers include Mike Hulme, Niels Henrik Gregersen, Susan Bratton, Lisa Sideris, Peter Scott and Panu Pihkala Mar 1 deadline for submissions www.issr.org.uk/issr-stateme...
issr.org.uk
ISSR Summer 2025 Conference: Annoucement and Call for Papers
Ecology between Religions and Sciences: Minds and Bodies in Nature 30 June – 3 July 2025 Stanton House Hotel, Swindon, UK CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS ISSR is pleased to announce its 20...
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Giving new meaning to Christmas cactus.
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Olivia of Troye @oliviaoftroye.com · 04/12/2024
Today, #KashPatel sent a letter to my counsel @markzaidesq.bsky.social threatening to sue & demanding I retract my MSNBC comments on his unfitness to serve as FBI Director. This follows his threats against media & political opponents, showing how he might act if confirmed. I stand by my statements.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Well, I already called myself out for curmudgeonliness, but OK. blueskyroast.com/roast/lsider...
blueskyroast.com
Lisa H. Sideris: The Environmental Curmudgeon with a Heart of Gold
A blend of existential dread and eco-activism that would make even Mother Nature roll her eyes (in a good way).
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Things that almost keep me from losing it.
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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
So a reminder: It’s not ‘liberals’ saying Hegseth abuses women. It’s his mom. It’s not ‘liberals’ comparing Trump to Hitler. It’s his vice-president. It’s not ‘liberals’ calling Musk a liar and a racist. It’s his own child. For the record.
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Sarah McFarland Taylor @taylormedia.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
If you are near Santa Barbara this Monday, please come by UCSB and join us for a lively conversation! Much gratitude to the Iris Committee, the Nature, Ethics, and Technology Program, Lisa Sideris (@lsideris.bsky.social), and the Walter H. Capps Center. 🌎
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Real birbs of Santa Barbara
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Finally returning home from #AAR on the Surfliner train after MC-ing a reception, presiding over a session, and giving 3 presentations. It wasn't perfect, but I did it.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
What are we going to do about all the plastic in the oceans, in our air, in our bodies, in breastmilk, in newborns, in our food, in the bodies of our nonhuman kin? Is progress possible under the incoming fascist regime? Please tell me what's possible and how I can help. news.ucsb.edu/2024/021690/...
news.ucsb.edu
A new study in Science maps out a comprehensive plan to eliminate plastic pollution by 2050
Researchers map out a comprehensive plan to eliminate plastic pollution by 2050
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Jay Turner @jayturner.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Are you ready for para-environmentalism? @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social explains why you should be. Thought-provoking piece on the weird state of environmental politics in the US.
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