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Steve Harrell

@steveharrell.bsky.social
2K followers 1.3K following 1.8K posts

Retired professor, unretired ethnographer, polyglot, part-time climate activist, occasional contrarian. Taiwan, China, and Whatcom County--Post mostly plants, mountains, energy transition. Occasionally political snark.

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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
An inch of rain yesterday, big amanitas and some other fungi today. Can't swear they weren't there before, but the timing is probably not coincidental.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The NYT is still the Great Gray Lady, despite all their colorful pictures and videos. They can publish this without once using the term "silly." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Posts Map Suggesting New Mexico Be Renamed as ‘New America’
The suggestion, posted on social media, appeared to be the latest in the president’s efforts to alter geographic names.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Pileated woodpeckers have discovered @bbharrell.bsky.social's suet feeder and the nearby post, so I'm posting the post and the woodpeckers too.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
We grew the mother of all cucumbers.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Induction range liberates us from direct use of fossil fuels. Still need to get our electric utility to clean up the remaining half of its act.
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Alex Marten 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇺🇦🇸🇾🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @amarten.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
30 Million acres corn for ethanol production supplies 3% of US energy, while if converted to solar the same acres would provide 100% of US energy needs. #climatechange #climate www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...
nytimes.com
Video: Opinion | The Very Good and Very Bad News on Climate
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Once-a-summer treat. Red huckleberry pancakes courtesy @bbharrell.bsky.social
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
To crazy and wrong, I would add stupid.
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Barbara B. Harrell @bbharrell.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
More from Samish Hill today. Just me and @steveharrell.bsky.social. We saw two other humans and one smiling dog during 3 miles on trail. #Bellingham #PNW #nativeplants
Ghost plant aka American Indian ghost pipe plant (Monotropa uniflora), amid blackberry seedlings. Not a fungus, but not a photosynthesizer either. Red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) too high to reach, growing out of a tree trunk as they often do. (We have one doing that at home, that I finally stuck in a cottonwood stump with a cage over it after deer uprooted it from the ground, twice.)Red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)Piggyback plant (Tolmiea menziesii), a favorite in the houseplant trade. Native ground cover here, often observed trailside.
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Barbara B. Harrell @bbharrell.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Summer color for bloomscrollers 🌺 Nodding onion, Cascade penstemon, deer-fenced cape fuchsia and crocosmia—all of intense interest to our local rufous and Anna's hummingbirds. English lavender occupies bees and other pollinators, seems to please the neighbors ;-) #PNW #Bellingham #garden #habitat
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
We don't need investor-owned utilities. Period. "The judge called Consumers’ plan to sell the dams and buy back the power at an inflated price ‘highly problematic’ and ‘inconsistent with the public interest’" bridgemi.com/michigan-env...
bridgemi.com
Judge: Michigan should reject Consumers’ ‘highly problematic’ dam sale - Bridge Michigan
After reviewing thousands of pages of legal filings tied to the sale, Judge James Varchetti concluded that the deal is not in the public interest. His conclusion is meant to advise the Michigan Public...
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
This has to be a metaphor for something. Sorry I'm too stupid to figure out exactly what. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/07/n...
nytimes.com
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
This is fascinating. Big-E environment groups long fought against building transmission lines and are now fighting the people who are fighting transmission lines. Whatever brings in the dough. heatmap.news/daily/sunzia...
heatmap.news
Build It and They Will Come Around
Environmental advocates initially opposed SunZia and CHPE, but they love the two transmission projects now.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
I think this may be significant. Most people think of AI in general as a triple negative: Polluter, rate raiser, job killer. heatmap.news/daily/data-c...
heatmap.news
The Data Center Backlash Is Impossible to Miss
Just look at Heatmap’s latest poll results.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
A new definition of "food security": Ensuring markets for soybean exports. www.scmp.com/news/china/a...
scmp.com
US farm chief says reliance on China threatens American ‘freedom’
Agriculture secretary’s warning comes as tariffs weigh on China trade and Hormuz disruptions drive up fuel and fertiliser costs.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
A good one from Jack Ohman
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
I guess it takes a boomer to see the irony in this statement, from Ainslie Johnstone at The Economist: "I’m oddly low-tech when it comes to exercise. I have one of the most basic sports watches on the market…"
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Interesting logic here: "Turns out we've succeeded in keeping more polluting cars on the road, and since there are going to be more of them, we need to allow them each to pollute more." insideclimatenews.org/news/1805202...
insideclimatenews.org
EPA Claims ‘Overwhelming Rejection’ of EVs as It Moves to Loosen Air Pollution Rules - Inside Climate News
A proposed rule would give auto manufacturers until 2029 to meet smog and particulate matter emissions standards while the agency reconsiders the requirements altogether.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
The Environmental Pollution Agency is at it again: insideclimatenews.org/news/1805202...
insideclimatenews.org
EPA Claims ‘Overwhelming Rejection’ of EVs as It Moves to Loosen Air Pollution Rules - Inside Climate News
A proposed rule would give auto manufacturers until 2029 to meet smog and particulate matter emissions standards while the agency reconsiders the requirements altogether.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
30 GW solar complex. For comparison, the world's largest hydroelectric dam, Sanxia or Three Gorges, is 22 GW. www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...
canarymedia.com
How big can solar go? These 3 projects show us the gigascale future
A handful of sensationally large developments are underway around the world, testing just how big solar can get.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Tale of two bills: IRA: Huge amount of investment in solar and batteries OBBA: Decline in investment in solar and batteries. Effects overlap in time. Net results: We're getting a lot, but we'll get less in the next few years. heatmap.news/energy/rhodi...
heatmap.news
Is U.S. Clean Energy Manufacturing Booming or Busting?
Two new reports out this week create a seemingly contradictory portrait of the country’s energy transition progress.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
The key to the current geothermal boom: "the one form of electricity generation everyone in Washington can agree on (it’s both carbon-free and borrows techniques, equipment, and personnel from the oil and gas industry)." I guess we need to take it when we can get it. heatmap.news/energy/mount...
heatmap.news
Exclusive: Western States Form New Bipartisan Geothermal Consortium
The effort brings together leaders of four Mountain West states with nonprofit policy expertise to help speed financing and permitting for development.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Anna likes coral bells.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. I think we all knew most of this separately, but as a summary it's overwhelming. Whttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/opinion/trump-is-fighting-the-worlds-stupidest-culture-war.html?unlocked_article_code=1.h1A.L18y.aQalqq5DAA2n&smid=bs-share
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump Is Fighting the World’s Stupidest Culture War
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Someone explain this to me??
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Serviceberry or Saskatoon (Amalanchier alnifolia) has a short but spectacular bloom.
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David Stroup @davidstroup.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Striking cover image (and title!) for @timothyagrose.bsky.social’s forthcoming book with @uwapress.uw.edu. The “Studies of Ethnic Groups In China” series (edited by none other than @steveharrell.bsky.social) continues to be a vital resource for scholars in the field! uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
uwapress.uw.edu
Settling Xinjiang
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Spring quartet, clockwise from upper left: Western skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), western white trillium (Trillium ovatum), salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum).
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Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Long-term studies are vital to understanding how species and ecosystems are responding to climate change and other environmental stressors, but difficult to sustain under typical short-term grant cycles. LTER has been funding these since 1980. This is breaking something that can’t be replaced.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) in emerging Philadelphus lewisii (mock-orange) branches lives up to his name.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Thousands of Bellinghamsters turned out today.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Further perverting our already screwed-up agriculture. apnews.com/article/gaso...
apnews.com
EPA approves sale of a higher-ethanol fuel to try to lower gas prices
The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it would allow gas stations to continue selling slightly cheaper E15 this summer in a move that may be good for drivers and corn growers but will like...
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Not worth the carnage, but a silver lining nevertheless: www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Octopus Energy boss: We've seen a 50% rise in solar panel sales since start of war in Iran
The UK giant is optimistic but chief executive Greg Jackson tells the BBC he is making contingency plans.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Just had to post this: the anti-matter truck: www.scientificamerican.com/article/phys...
scientificamerican.com
Physicists just took a road trip with a load of antimatter. Here’s how it went
Scientists at CERN built a container weighing about a ton to transport just 92 subatomic antimatter particles without annihilating them
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
The environmental destruction from critical mineral extraction is the tradeoff we pay for getting off fossil fuels. But in some cases, the prices is greater than the gain. I don't think anyone knows yet about the case of deep sea mining. This mandates caution. gcaptain.com/trump-admini...
gcaptain.com
Trump Administration Quietly Expands Pacific Seabed Mining Area as Environmental Review Begins
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has advanced the next phase of potential offshore mineral leasing near the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, expanding the area under considerati...
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
A story of resilience here: not only building resilience against oil shocks and weather emergencies, but demonstrating resilience against policy idiocy. Cheers to Dominion and our wobbly but still standing court system. virginiamercury.com/briefs/domin...
virginiamercury.com
Dominion produces first power from Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project • Virginia Mercury
Dominion Energy’s major Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is now sending power to the grid, after its first commercial turbine was switched on Monday
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
In addition to the killing, destruction of buildings, and GHG, there is the matter of pollution. There must be horrible health effects from all that smoke.
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Marc Kodack @ridden6570.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Virginia Beach offshore wind farm has started producing electricity
whro.org
Virginia Beach offshore wind farm has started producing electricity
The milestone comes months after the Trump administration tried to block the project from moving forward.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
So the next White House priority is "make sure brown children grow up illiterate." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/u...
nytimes.com
Stephen Miller Asks Why Texas Pays to Teach Undocumented Children
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Virtually certain from today's arguments that SCOTUS will invalidate ballots received after E-day, even if they are postmarked earlier. It'll cause a huge mess in WA, CO, and even MS, which was the object of the suit. Anything to shrink the electorate! www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
seattletimes.com
How this U.S. Supreme Court case affects WA’s vote-by-mail
A case argued today before the U.S. Supreme Court could affect Washington’s mail-in voting systems. Here’s what we know.
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
The greenhouse effect is news now?? UN report discovers (at least provisionally) a scientific fact that was first accurately calculated in 1897. Progressssss!!!!! www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/c...
nytimes.com
The Balance That Keeps Climate Stable Is Out of Whack, U.N. Report Finds
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Your taxpayer dollars at work. Can this be legal? www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/c...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration to Pay $1 Billion to Energy Giant to Cancel Wind Farms
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Amazing picture of what a landslide looks like from above. www.cascadiadaily.com/2026/mar/21/...
cascadiadaily.com
Northbound I-5 to remain closed due to slide; debris removal begins Sunday | Cascadia Daily News
Interwest Construction Inc. will start emergency debris removal March 22
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
"it’s also hard to imagine how the modern green movement can persuade enough people to support political action to fight the climate crisis, while simultaneously assuring them that their personal contributions to the crisis don’t really matter." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Get an Electric Vehicle and You Can Stop Worrying About $5 Gas
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
It's hard to capture photographically these busy critters at their nest construction, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) in Red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum)
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Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
The US is no longer a liberal democracy, according to the top global watchdog on freedom and democracy. We're falling fast, and are now classed the same as Guatemala, Colombia, and Peru www.v-dem.net/documents/75...
v-dem.net
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
What Lovins was promoting half a century ago: His BAU was mostly coal and nuclear (no fracking yet), electricity was a problem, not a solution (cuz it would be coal or nuclear). His transition was to passive technologies and conservation (less surprising). www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
foreignaffairs.com
Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?
Where are the United States' energy policies leading it, and what are its choices in terms of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and the electricity grid?
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Anybody who has missed this: Don't. www.newyorker.com/projects/int...?
newyorker.com
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Steve Harrell @steveharrell.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
@billmckibben.bsky.social is (and this is a compliment) very eloquent in stating the obvious: www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
newyorker.com
The Iran War Is Another Reason to Quit Oil
What if the drone is to warfare as the solar panel is to energy?
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