iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Thanks for speaking out on this, Charlie. Very very concerning. I just wrote to them about this and copied my MP, J Wilkinson. bsky.app/profile/mari...

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I copied my MP, J Wilkinson on it, bc the scope of concern here is how this case reflects on the broader erosion of our democracy itself so ccing @mark-carney.bsky.social @liberalparty.bsky.social @avilewis.bsky.social @elizabethemay.bsky.social @davidebybc.bsky.social @timothysnyder.bsky.social

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Speaking of defamation, I’ve been pretty quiet on this account lately, but I took the time today to write a letter to CTV News, copying my MP, about this case involving @rachelgilmore.bsky.social — and why it is so critically important. Here it is:

“In Defence of Rachel Gilmore, Fact Checking, & Democracy

Dear CTV News decision makers,
As a Canadian concerned about the growth of dis/misinformation being used as a way to undermine democracies around the world, I am writing to you about your recent capitulation to the spurious accusations (that even appear to be libellous; libel also being a kind of misinformation that is personally harmful to people subject to it) & part of an inciting hate campaign by Sebastian Skamski and others directed against Rachel Gilmore.

I was shocked to hear that the reason given for this dismissal was that the
"volume of that push back" was a
"distraction" for your network. (source:
https://pressprogress.ca/ctv-cancelled-a-fact-checking-segment-in-response-to-political-pressure-from-pierre-poilievres-conservatives/_)”

“What??? What is that even supposed to mean?

That does not sound like any kind of legitimate reason for dismissal.
What it sounds like is a capitulation to the exact thing that your show is supposed to be working for the people to address — misinformation. Aren't you supposed to be "fact checking"? Isn't your primary mandate to "uphold journalistic integrity and independence under all circumstances and at all times, without exception." https://bce.ca/responsibility/. key-documents/2020-media-ethics-program.pdf

Without exception?

I'm sorry, I might not be a professional journalist, but how is capitulating to this attack campaign in such a short time fulfilling your own stated mandate, let alone standards of journalistic integrity?”

“My own background is in Earth systems science and climate change and I have watched for decades as the media has been PLAYED by bad faith agents who have infiltrated the right with well funded digital public opinion influence campaigns and pushing false balance approaches by the press in covering the topic.

(sources:
Oresekes, Merchants of Doubt; https://. councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/04/23/. climate-security-and-misinformation-a-baseline; https://www.carbonbrief.org/.
exclusive-bbc-issues-internal-guidance-on-how-to-report-climate-
change/.)

Decades of this has led to public opinion being so hijacked that our governments (eg. Carney & Eby) are now dropping the carbon tax, even though it was a just, fair, and effective policy. The media-outlets like yours-played a significant central role in allowing this not just mild confusion, but significant & deleterious hijacking of public opinion, to take place.”

“And so now you drop Rachel Gilmore.
Hired to do "fact checking" as a result of a this online attack campaign, without demonstrating you even did any fact checking about the allegations? This does not meet even a basic standard of practice for journalistic integrity, and certainly does not step up to meet the challenges of our times where we, the people, NEED the media to go to bat for the public good.

The bad faith actors that fund authoritarian candidates like Trump, and are trying to capture conservative parties globally, use illiberal forms of coercive control upon our citizens through media campaigns & targeted attacks against those who stand up against authoritarian forces to undermine our democracy. (Sources on how right leaning politics has been subjected to & a source of more dis/ misinformation than left leaning. https:/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/
sciadv.abf1234 and https://phys.org/news/.
2024-10-users-misinformation-higher-suspension-platform.amp)”

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

icymi bsky.app/profile/seth...

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Right on Vancouver. 🎉 Happy to report we subbed out our old gas hot water tank & heater for a heat pump, as well as switched to EVs, & it’s a welcome net savings every month, as well as a relief to be free of fossil furls in those areas.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

No worries, I was just curious.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

That handful being on this chart. (Src by @dpcarrington.bsky.social here www.theguardian.com/environment/...)

Chart of:
Total COz emissions since 1850 from fossil fuels, deforestation, land use change and cement (billion tonnes)

1 US
2 China
3 Russia
4 Brazil
5 Indonesia
6 Germany
India
7 UK
8 Japan
9 Canada
Guardian graphic | Source: Carbon Brief

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Is this what was behind the anomalous November heat in France?

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Also, the ppl on bluesky ARE incredibly silly, irreverent & funny. Like many even more than other cyberspaces I’ve been in. There are so many smart, diverse, & creative ppl here, I’ve found the humour to be off the charts. This claim is just demonstrably wrong.

Clip fm the article: “The platform feels like a collective endeavour toward a gentler world. Etiquette guides abound. Dunking - sharing a bad take for the purposes of mocking it - is discouraged. The people who skeet - what posting is popularly called on this platform - are better than that. But what's missing from Bluesky isn't merely Nazis, but the centre-left, the unclassifiable, and all snark unaccompanied by righteous political aims. It has no irreverent humour, no bite. Political uniformity breeds humourlessness. This is not because conservatives are funnier than liberals - anti-woke comedy is as tedious as woke - but because if everyone is "walking on eggshells" then no one risks being a bit silly.”

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

This article will not age well. It’s a poorly informed hit piece. It is also a glaring example of both false balance and sensationalism (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_b...). Oh look, a bunch of people flocked over to bluesky saying it’s better, let’s attack that to provide “balance” and clickbait.

en.m.wikipedia.org

False balance - Wikipedia

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

protect planetary boundaries, people, & our rights based democracies. Having worked with corporations, one thing I have observed is that they are organized in effective ways to influence government decisions. They have wide associations that form effective lobbies on key industry objectives. What

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

I agree w @jksteinberger.bsky.social that “We need to band together as pro-democracy, pro-equality, pro-human rights, pro-social justice movements.” jksteinberger.medium.com/what-we-are-... I also agree w her that traditional modes of activism have failed at bringing about the needed changes to

jksteinberger.medium.com

What we are up against

Exposing the secret history of the making of the climate crisis should change everything about how we act to stop it.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

This form of flooding the zone has been used in many countries including the US, Australia, UK & Canada. The Tenet media case gave us a glimpse of the kind of dark money funded into such campaigns. How do we organize to counter this? We need to do so in a way never seen before to get ahead of it.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

This @vox.com article fm 4 yrs ago does a good dive into it as well. We are seeing this method of propaganda used as an attack not only on climate action, but on democracy itself. We need all hands on deck to counter it. www.vox.com/policy-and-p...

Screenshot fm article: “What we're facing is a new form of propaganda that wasn't really possible until the digital age. And it works not by creating a consensus around any particular narrative but by muddying the waters so that consensus isn't achievable.”

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Tagging the coal companies doing this, that is, not @ketanjoshi.co! Just to be clear 🙃

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Prof. Fred Gachon (he/him) @fgachon.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Impressive work from ABC: an article describing a new hottest year in Australia without any mention of climate changes! Of course, the Australian policy is more coal and gas! www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...

abc.net.au

Australia sweats through hottest spring on record as temperatures soar 2.5C above pre-industrial levels

Another heatwave is predicted across Australia this week, as the weather bureau confirms the nation just sizzled through its hottest spring on record.

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Blue Community .net @blue-community.net · 30/11/2024

Recommended reading for the weekend If you have not yet started reading, we suggest you use the weekend to do so: “How the Commodification and Financialization of Nature endanger the Rights of Nature” by Maude Barlow. see here: blue-community.net/2...

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Rhett Ayers Butler @rhettayersbutler.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

The Rappahannock Tribe is the first in the U.S. to enshrine the rights of nature into their constitution. What sets this framework apart is its enforceability. Tribal members can bring legal cases on behalf of the river. news.mongabay.com/2024/11/rapp...

news.mongabay.com

Rappahannock Tribe first in US to enshrine rights of nature into constitution

The Rappahannock Tribe has become the first tribal nation in the United States to successfully recognize the rights of nature in their constitution, giving legal protection to the river they have liv...

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Sounds like a snug niche. All one really needs, really.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

There are 7 million annual deaths from air pollution. I agree w David Boyd: “Air #pollution on today’s scale, clearly violates the rights to life and health, the rights of the child & the right to live in a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment” www.dailypioneer.com/2024/columni...

dailypioneer.com

The smog capital of India

As Delhi battles a toxic mix of seasonal stubble burning and local pollution sources, its residents are exposed to severe and potentially life-threatening health risks The National Capital Territory ...

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

i suspect the lack of names reflects a lack of reach rather than a lack of agreeing with the cause

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mari @amari.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

“Others, including Russia, Saudi Arabia & trade groups such as the American Chemistry Council, opposed capping plastic production & backed a voluntary, nonbinding treaty that focused on improving waste management instead.” Yeah right, as IF that’s worked for climate action. Same offenders.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Fascinating. Is there a similar petition for Canada I wonder.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

i’ve not been here much been down in a land of moss & fern #naturephotography #moss

a photo of a fern frond on a bed of mosses. the frond is turned upside down, showing little balls of ochre pollen along the leaflets

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

I’m totally hearing you on this & just this week listened to a podcast about the energy vampires that cloud computing etc is, & how Amazon is part of that. After deleting twitter, Amazon is on my list but I won’t be able to on your Thanksgiving timeline. Would like to discuss further though..

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Oh cool! I didn’t know that about Coldplay. Right on. Just thinking out loud here, in the spirit of building out a federated social commons, I wonder if @jay.bsky.team @pfrazee.com would be open to us coordinating with other academic experts & them to do an assessment? Get a baseline going.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

y’al building out servers in the desert under a solar panel farm rn?

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Now that a huge contingent on the #climatechange & #energy communities are here, does anyone know if Bluesky has published sustainability reports? They are a public benefit corp, so shouldn’t they have an energy/ghg report? LCA? If not would be great to get that going @jay.bsky.team

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Rachel Klein @racheleklein.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Wish I didn’t have to write this (again!) but here we are (again!)

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

NEW REPORT 🧵: Here's what Koch seemed to *know* about climate science, using documents from the 1970's, 80's and 90's vs what Koch *said* about climate science, and what Koch *did* to fight climate mitigation. From Brown University Climate Social Science Network: cssn.org/koch-and-cli...

cssn.org

Koch and Climate Obstruction

This interim report, by Connor Gibson and Robert J. Brulle, is a result of ongoing historical research into the efforts by Koch, Inc. and its orbit organizations to obstruct climate […]

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Interesting article by @hannahritchie.bsky.social on the potentials for #upcycling old solar panels. I agree that it’s likely too optimistic, but is this what an upwards spiral looks like? 🌀 #solar #energy #recycling

an image from the linked article illustrating material efficiency, how, starting from one older panel, materials can be taken out to make more newer panels

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 15/11/2024

Sri Lanka tried RFK Jr.'s food plan, and it was catastrophic. Productivity plummeted, causing food shortages, skyrocketing prices, lost exports, and an economic collapse. Farmers faced huge losses, forcing the government to reverse the ban and import costly emergency food.

foreignpolicy.com

In Sri Lanka, Organic Farming Went Catastrophically Wrong

A nationwide experiment is abandoned after producing only misery.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Hi Leah. We used to follow each other in the bad place. I’m not on starter packs but I’ve been working on climate change & ecology since the late 80s.

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

reminds me of what a counsellor told me when i expressed disdain at my mum not wanting to go in for co-sessions. she said often older generations are often more psychologically closed off—but they don’t deny bc they are bad, but bc they are incapable of facing certain things

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Maria L @marial.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

and the double jeopardy answer is, What is a ruse?

screen capture of definition os ruse:

ruse | ruz noun
• an action intended to deceive someone; a trick
Oxford Dictionary of English

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