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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 · 06/11/2025
No surprise there.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Why is this surprising? Of course it’s in everything.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Feels that way because it’s true!
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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 · 05/10/2025
No.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
No brainer!
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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 · 07/08/2025
Preach!
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Full issue here: www.mdpi.com/si/184746
mdpi.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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Reposted by Lisa H. Sideris
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
link to Jenkins's text: drive.google.com/file/d/18L7i...
drive.google.com
Migrations of the Sacred.pdf
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Zoom link: uni-ms.zoom-x.de/j/61826788705
uni-ms.zoom-x.de
Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting
Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.
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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 · 18/04/2025
Can I borrow your script?
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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 · 14/04/2025
Thanks for sharing. Doesn't look like it worked. 😕 Screaming into the void here, every day.
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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
They don't care They're planning on creating network states supported by crypto, run by tech overlords.
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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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Reposted by Lisa H. Sideris
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 · 09/03/2025
Great essay, hitting all the right points. This environmental ethicist agrees. publish.iupress.indiana.edu/read/extinct...
publish.iupress.indiana.edu
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Is Soros in the room with us now?
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Honestly, I think I mostly have a problem with the language of things being cool and exciting that involve toying with or creating living creatures. It's just not the right affect. It enables an attitude toward life that worries me sometimes.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Stable geniuses strike again.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
It doesn't seem reason enough to create new sentient lifeforms. Especially in the service of de-extinction.
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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
See my bluesky page for more developed critiques ...
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
www.counterpointknowledge.org/what-if-anyt...
counterpointknowledge.org
What, If Anything, Is De-Extinction? - Counterpoint: Navigating Knowledge
What, If Anything, Is De-Extinction? By Lisa H. Sideris The prospect of developing genetic technologies that aim to “bring back” extinct species is met with palpable excitement by some members of the ...
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
publish.iupress.indiana.edu/read/extinct...
publish.iupress.indiana.edu
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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
You're right that it has little connection to realizing de-extinction goals, which is a farce anyway. But why is it cool and exciting? Was there some urgent need to make fluffy mice that I'm unaware of?
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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 · 04/03/2025
Such an absurd waste of resources by people with no interest in actual conservation or the value of life.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Proudly flying the maple leaf, chez nous.
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Reposted by Lisa H. Sideris
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 · 26/02/2025
"Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit ... Greed has marked the upward surge of mankind." U-huh.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
The God View. That says it all.
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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Inroads. But yeah.
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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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Lisa H. Sideris @lsideris.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
So sorry to hear that. He had more influence on my thinking than any other scholar and suppored my career early on.
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Reposted by Lisa H. Sideris
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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Reposted by Lisa H. Sideris
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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