Reposted by Sophie GilbertRobinson Meyer @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I don’t think this gloss of my story gets it right. The permitting bill would enact the mandatory rules that Democrats say they want. The policy that Schumer is calling for in the screenshot — that data centers must pay for all of their grid upgrades — is what’s required by the new bill. 2267
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 02/10/2026For those curious about what's in the Senate permitting bill (BAAJA 🌴), this breakdown of what's in the bill for non-policy-experts is a nice place to start. www.policyinnovation.org/insights/wha...policyinnovation.orgWhat's in the Senate permitting bill — Environmental Policy Innovation CenterA section-by-section guide to the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, the permitting deal released September 30, 2026. Filter by energy type, reform category, bill title, or commit... 023
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I think getting a permitting deal passed this congress but delaying until post-midterm session, if there is an incoming Dem house majority then, is maximum leverage for getting it passed and signed into law. The new dem-majority house will bow to environmental groups and not pass it at all. 001
Reposted by Sophie GilbertBen Goldfarb @bengoldfarb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026The dam removals that get the most press tend to be superlative western ones, like the Klamath and Elwha—big rivers, big fish. For @biographic.bsky.social, I wrote about some equally vital, under-the-radar projects now restoring eastern streams, one old mill dam at a time. #AlewivesAreTheNewSalmon 515170
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Looking for your next home improvement project? Weirded out by all the headlines about a “monster” El Niño coming? Here are a bunch of home improvements that can actually help keep you safe(er). sophielgilbert.substack.com/p/the-super-...sophielgilbert.substack.comThe Super Duper El Niño is coming. Is there anything you can do?Yes, but nobody is talking about it 010
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 17/09/2026It’s fun watching lions on TV. It’s less fun living with them. 🧪🦁 sophielgilbert.substack.com/p/its-fun-wa...sophielgilbert.substack.comIt’s fun watching lions on TV. It’s less fun living with them.For some, losing a cow means a year’s worth of food for a child. If we want more wild carnivores, we need to make up for that. 022
Reposted by Sophie GilbertKen Sands @kensands.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Nice story on the controversy over solar in a corner of Idaho. Nice to see the gray areas on issues instead of pretending it can be black and white. (A bit tl:dr though.) 🔌💡 www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...canarymedia.comAn Idaho county banned renewables. It’s having second thoughts.Solar developments led county officials to ban renewables in 2024. Now, the Republican commissioner who instigated the moratorium is leading the charge to… 2156
Reposted by Sophie GilbertNick Frass @nickfrass.bsky.social · 09/09/2026In my most recent essay I argue that balcony solar provides a useful model for decentralized low-power grid resources with direct application to Vehicle-to-Grid. Give it a read and consider subscribing below #energysky nickfrass.substack.com/p/balcony-so...nickfrass.substack.comBalcony Solar Proves Vehicle-to-Grid Can WorkA modest proposal for a cleaner future 011
Reposted by Sophie GilbertRichard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 04/09/2026This here, by the way, is one of the biggest reasons people overestimate the potential for ag soils to sequester carbon. It’s easy to build more C back in the soil (and above ground) if land is taken out of farming & restored to a natural state. It’s way harder if the land is kept in production. 65316
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Is the world on fire, or not? Global burned area is going down, at the same time that damages from catastrophic wildfires to stuff people care about is going up. I get into it, including the 🔥🧪🌲, in long-form over here: substack.com/@sophielgilb...substack.comIs the world on fire, or not?Yes and yes. 063
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 25/08/2026The AI NIMBYs are here, and they don’t like solar. We need to reform how we understand and include the preferences of the public in our decision-making. www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...canarymedia.comAs Ohio grapples with fake comments on clean energy, some want…Apparently fake public input has promoted fossil fuels and attacked clean energy in Ohio and beyond. Here’s what officials could do to try to stymie the… 003
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Anyone know if wild carnivores can get alpha-gal syndrome (red meat allergy) from lonestar ticks? 🧪🐺 151
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Moooooving heat from milk to water is a great idea! 2103
Reposted by Sophie GilbertDavid Roberts @volts.wtf · 10/08/2026This is absolutely insane.distilled.earthScoop: Amazon Is Behind One of the Largest Planned Gas Power Plants in the USThe company confirmed to Cleanview that it acquired the GW Ranch site in West Texas, where a 7.65 GW gas plant will power its first off-grid AI data center 1520283
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 07/08/2026I type Dvorak and it is a delight. 12/10 go learn it today! 130
Reposted by Sophie GilbertSophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 06/08/2026My hot take: Abundance thinking is for environmentalists, too. We should ask ourselves what we want more of, and how we can get it. And we should be willing to work with the Abundance movement to get there. 🧪🌲🦇👷🏡 #EnergySky #GreenSky substack.com/home/post/p-...substack.comAbundance thinking is for environmentalists, tooWe should be asking ourselves what do we want more of and how can we get it? 1103
Reposted by Sophie GilbertNick Frass @nickfrass.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Is solar the Costco or Whole Foods of energy? It turns out the answer is complicated. Solar can raise or lower electricity bills depending upon how much of it is built and where. I explore these nuances in my most recent post. 🔌💡 #energysky #climatesky open.substack.com/pub/nickfras...open.substack.comIs Solar the Costco or Whole Foods of Energy?How to think about the cost of renewables 021
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 06/08/2026My hot take: Abundance thinking is for environmentalists, too. We should ask ourselves what we want more of, and how we can get it. And we should be willing to work with the Abundance movement to get there. 🧪🌲🦇👷🏡 #EnergySky #GreenSky substack.com/home/post/p-...substack.comAbundance thinking is for environmentalists, tooWe should be asking ourselves what do we want more of and how can we get it? 1103
Reposted by Sophie GilbertDavid_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 31/07/2026Got a good job down at the Data Center. I work on the line, and it's hard work but it's honest and the wage is fair; my family and I are grateful for it. I rivet the word "absolutely" onto the little apologies that chatbots do when they misunderstand a prompt. 1654563572
Reposted by Sophie GilbertSarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Ok so this lady says solar panels are getting built on "the most productive farmland" in her area. Which just ain't true at all. It ain't true here in NC either. Where I ALSO hear that talking point over & over again. Smells like astroturf! So let's get the dirt on solar farms & dirt ✨ 291181346
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 30/07/2026How could we reform the ESA so that it not only works to displace housing from species’ habitat (which is it should work- this is the “stick”), but also incentivizes housing in non-habitat (via regulatory relief for infill, a new “carrot”). marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...marginalrevolution.comThe Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing - Marginal REVOLUTIONMax Tabarrok’s paper on the Endangered Species Act and housing (WP) has just been published in the Journal of Public Economics! It’s a clever paper: Max observed that the moment an animal is put on th... 110
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 24/07/2026Equating the environmental impacts of a data canter and a solar farm is just wild, like saying a grizzly bear and a cow are equally likely to maul you because they are both big and brown. Nice reporting by @jael.bsky.social for @heatmap.news. heatmap.news/plus/the-fig... 192
Reposted by Sophie GilbertLissa Harris 🌈🗑️🔥⚔️🐀 @lissaharris.bsky.social · 24/07/2026I have made this argument on my local solar law volunteer committee farms that get subdivided to build second homes don’t go back to being farmland solar payments can help farmers keep their land 214037
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Hermit crabs and humans are both dependent on scarce housing, and share some solutions, including “vacancy chains” and markets. Hermit crabs can’t vote for abundance policies, but people can. substack.com/home/post/p-...substack.comHousing for Humans and Hermit CrabsMusings from Maine on why these coastal crustaceans would vote for Abundance 010
Reposted by Sophie GilbertRichard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Really good explanation of the indirect land use effects (i.e., deforestation and other ecosystem loss) related to crop-based biofuels by @mbolotnikova.bsky.social:vox.comThis renewable energy source is actually terrible for the planetAmerica’s biofuels policy is helping destroy the world’s rainforests 56322
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Being able to ride a horse or just hike through beautiful, open forests of the Sierras in California because they were kept open through prescribed burning and natural fire not being suppressed. Now it would be a miserable bush-wack. 030
Reposted by Sophie GilbertJim Kane @kanejim.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Wherein private equity closed-end funds discover something called physical risk.bloomberg.comPrivate Equity Turns to Heat Detectives as Climate Risks IntensifyFor decades, investment models at the largest private equity funds relied on assumptions of relatively stable weather patterns. Now frequent extreme events are creating new threats for their portfolio... 02711
Reposted by Sophie GilbertESA Journals @esajournals.bsky.social · 07/07/2026Wildfire is once again making headlines across the western US and southern Europe. What have we learned from 20 years of the Fire and Fire Surrogates study? Explore this "Ecological Applications" Special Feature, spanning studies of the long-term impacts of forest management: tinyurl.com/46zt776y 0105
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Interesting call for papers on eco-voltaics: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/... #energysky 🧪🦇🐝🪺🌻besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com 020
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 17/06/2026An environmental group that’s explicitly helping build clean energy as a core part of their mission? Yep. It’s Audubon, and they’re 50% of the way to helping build 100 GW. I spoke with a leader there yesterday, and they are for reals. More here: sophielgilbert.substack.com/p/more-egret... #energyskysophielgilbert.substack.comMore Egrets, More EnergyHow one of the nation’s oldest conservation groups is actively helping build energy and transmission infrastructure, and what they could do next 283
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 17/06/2026Conservation/environmental groups are helping build clean energy. Audubon is a real leader here- one of their 4 long-term goals is to support the buildout of clean energy, and they report on annual progress, in GW! sophielgilbert.substack.com/p/more-egret...sophielgilbert.substack.comMore Egrets, More EnergyHow one of the nation’s oldest conservation groups is actively helping build energy and transmission infrastructure, and what they could do next 011
Reposted by Sophie GilbertLissa Harris 🌈🗑️🔥⚔️🐀 @lissaharris.bsky.social · 16/06/2026they should call them cheat pumps they’re stealing heat from outdoors to pump up their numbers 25812
Reposted by Sophie GilbertJust Kevin @kevinleecaster.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Medford Irrigation District reservoir in Southern Oregon now hosts more than 1,700 solar panels mounted on floating platforms. It will only power about 60 homes, but it should save 1.5 million gallons of water annually! #EnergySky 1115
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Help! Trying to find a good attempt at re-constructing how many people-hours per year were spent on ecosystem management/stewardship by indigenous/tribal folks before colonization in N. America? Obviously a hard thing to estimate, but has anyone tried? 🧪 265
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 08/06/2026Incentives matter for conservation, and in this case, captive breeding created gecko abundance and affordability for EU pet owners (price dropped from $1500 to $40!), easing pressure on wild populations. 🧪🦎 news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-...news.mongabay.comHow trade bans and local conservation helped save a dazzling blue geckoBeauty is a curse — at least for the turquoise dwarf gecko of central Tanzania. Between December 2004 and July 2009, demand for this gecko from collectors in Europe boomed, leading to the capture and ... 0111
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 05/06/2026Good news on mangroves! They are awesome, protecting coasts from storm damage, and ppl took notice (i.e., their ecosystem service is an incentive to locals to stop cutting >> benefits from cutting them down to do fish farming), and once we stop the chop, they recover. www.bbc.com/news/article...bbc.comMangrove forests are healing after decades of human destructionSwampy mangrove forests are staging a surprise comeback - which is good news for coastal communities and the climate. 0115
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 03/06/2026I quit my tenured professor job in 2022. Change makes us deeply uncomfortable, which is why it mostly happens when it’s the only acceptable option. I’m sharing my own change journey over the last 5 years, now with the benefit of hindsight. sophielgilbert.substack.com/p/on-a-quest...sophielgilbert.substack.comChange happens when it's the only acceptable optionHow my journey from wildlife ecologist to climate bro and back again forced me to change, and even made me like it. 393
Reposted by Sophie GilbertCommunications Sustainability @commssustain.nature.com · 26/05/2026▶️AI‑generated #climate #disaster images look persuasive but don’t boost climate action. Across 3 experiments, they raised emotions but also reactance, lower trust, and reduced willingness to act when people suspected the images were AI‑made. 🧪https://www.nature.com/articles/s44458-026-00092-0nature.comRealistic AI-generated climate disaster images decrease support for climate action when artificial origin is suspected - Communications SustainabilitySupport for climate action decreases when highly realistic disaster images are suspected to be generated by artificial intelligence, as shown by three large experiments testing emotional and resistanc... 0145
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 26/05/2026This is my first time reviewing a paper where the authors are english-as-a-second-language and say they edited with ChatGPT, and the resulting writing is technically correct but absolutely exhausting to read and comprehend, far beyond the average...are others experiencing this? 🧪 371
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 25/05/2026Kids are rad, because they are tiny people (minus the inhibitions and prejudices, and plus some wild creativity), oh and people are rad too. 020
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 22/05/2026One year preprint ban for failing to capitalize on an obvious pun opportunity.... still insufficient punishment?! 020
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 20/05/2026Cool math trick: $0*2 = $0, so he's right. 030
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 18/05/2026Maybe we should just do this instead of 30x30 Old Skool protection? 020
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 18/05/2026Is the looooong mullet the human equivalent of a beaver's tail?? www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDtq...youtube.comBeaversYouTube video by Jesse Welles 000
Sophie Gilbert @sophielgilbert.bsky.social · 17/05/2026Coal is dirty, and it makes solar less effective, especially if located close together. Aerosols (which include more stuff than coal) reduced solar energy production by almost 6% in 2023! 095
Reposted by Sophie GilbertDavid Roberts @volts.wtf · 15/05/2026Grid-scale batteries are going in an absolutely wild pace. Every whingey objection to renewables you've ever heard is basically solved by batteries. This is happening whether any of the hopeless dipshits running the US want it or not.canarymedia.comThe world is installing grid batteries at a blistering paceA total of 112 gigawatts of batteries were deployed around the world in 2025 — 10 times the amount added just four years prior. 723544979