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Neil Tangri

@tangri0.bsky.social
827 followers 767 following 1.8K posts

Climate scientist working for climate justice. Sailor on the side. Topics: plastics, waste, climate, and just transition. At GAIA and UC Berkeley. Opinions my own etc. Blog: tangri.science/blog

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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
I don’t think that enviros are primarily responsible for limiting the framing of the debate to types of cars. That’s the work of industry-funded think tanks among others.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
"I understood that reference" meme
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Evergreen post.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
I wish we could move the EV debate away from cars. EVs include buses, two-wheelers, micromobility vehicles -- all of which are better than driving around 1-2 tonnes of steel cage so we can go to the store. Within each category, BEV > ICE. But the real challenge is to change the transport system
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
@amitav.bsky.social wrote a whole book about this. Our imaginations fail us.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The ~10 year olds at math tutoring are debating whether the FDA approves #plastic water bottles and if that limits the amount of #microplastics in the water. I think the message is getting through. (Spoiler: the FDA does *not* regulate bottled water).
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
The law is always applied differently to police officers, who tend to receive incredible deference from the courts. And prosecutors have a clear conflict of interest as they rely so heavily on police.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Maybe that’s the way the law is written. I very much doubt the prosecutors and the court would see it that way.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
You’re in good company. They completely and consistently misread Tolkien too.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
So the middle passage all over again. JFC
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Now we’re talking. I’d add: they are required to connect to the grid (no off-grid fossil-powered data centers) AND are the first to be cut when load shedding is required. That will enhance grid stability I think.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
If you needed another reason to hate #datacenters, here it is. They are sucking up all the capital that should go towards building solar & wind energy, housing, etc etc.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Yes I attended a college without fraternities and it was far better. Not perfect of course but far far better.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
He’s Catholic so doesn’t believe in divorce. Which leads to even darker possibilities.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
It all comes down to wind conditions. In a good breeze, the sailing vessel can keep the triremes at a distance and pick them off sequentially. In flat or very light conditions, the more maneuverable rowed vessels will coordinate their attack and win.
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Reposted by Neil Tangri
Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
As scientists we are trained to look for simple explanations that fit the data in front of us and make testable predictions about what will happen in the future.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I have one of these for the Indian Ocean! It’s amazing
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Damn. We’re in for a doozy.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This is a great story about the birth of chaos theory but it misses the mark. Obviously as programming became a more masculine profession, it increased in status. Much the opposite happened with teaching. At the end of the day it’s sexism.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I did not know this!
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Absolutely. And sometimes the solutions proposed are just straight greenwashing or only viable at tiny scales (bioplastics, I’m looking at you).
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Reposted by Neil Tangri
Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Phones are a distraction engine. What if the ban on phones triggered France's high school students' revolt? "According to a professor..., when his students looked up from their smartphones, they discovered that an unbearable world had been prepared for them." legrandcontinent.eu/fr/dimanches...
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Don't feed babies sugar. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
The generation raised on sugar rations – and what their health reveals 70 years later
From blood pressure to ageing, research suggests the first 1,000 days of sugar exposure could leave a decades-long mark on health
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A bonkers story about #chemicalrecycling of #plastics (and maybe cats). Something doesn't add up, and my guess is that the pyrolysis oil is just too contaminated to work with; that's why no one wants to invest, despite high oil prices. industrydecarbonization.com/news/a-promi...
industrydecarbonization.com
A promising Plastic Recycling company facing Bankruptcy
Carboliq, a company developing an advanced plastic recycling process, is in an insolvency process. The history of its technology goes back decades and is full of interesting and sometimes absurd anecd...
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Reposted by Neil Tangri
Josh Lappen @jlappen1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This is exactly my current takeaway from the last couple of days of permitting-bill analysis: The people drafting this bill, whatever their intentions, do not have deep enough expertise in environmental permitting to draft a bill like this without creating massive unintended consequences.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Wait, I missed the bear thing. What's the bear thing?
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yes, ocean productivity is not CO2 limited so more CO2 is unlikely to stimulate more. But the changes in upwelling and currents are far more complex
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"As it turns out, plastic pyrolysis plants aren’t magic cauldrons that can transform any old plastic waste into a petrochemical feedstock." I could have told them that. Oh, wait -- we did tell them that! Years ago! cen.acs.org/business/con...
cen.acs.org
Plastics pyrolysis plants have been closing. Is it the end of the line for the controversial recycling technology?
Once seen as a solution to the plastic waste problem, the process has been plagued by economic and technological difficulties
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Well this is good news.
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Reposted by Neil Tangri
Danny Cullenward @ghgpolicy.org · 05/10/2026
Anyway, maybe don't let the fossil fuel industry write your legislation next time.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The #plasticstreaty negotiations need a way forward. Torbjørn Graff Hugo has a great new policy paper out that asks how many countries are needed to get to a treaty of the willing. My comment: set the ambition bar high to solve two problems at once: tangri.science/a-treaty-of-...
tangri.science
A Treaty of the Willing – and How to Get There | Dr. Neil Tangri
How many countries do we need for a treaty of the willing?
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A good thread on Jevon's paradox and the impact of #renewable energy. Key to the counterfactual argument is that the price of electricity hasn't dropped much. Of course, we still have a long way to go to squeeze out the rest of #fossilfuels.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Unfortunately, I believe that the waste management industry is steering politicians away from #zerowaste solutions because they are not as profitable to the private sector.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
There are lots of benefits to a #zerowaste approach: integration of #wastepickers, reduced impacts to local communities, and higher recycling rates. And it's far cheaper than building landfills or incinerators! So why don't politicians invest in source separation and organics treatment?
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Solutions for landfills are pretty straightforward. Simply separating out and composting the organic waste before it gets to landfill would reduce emissions by 96%, as we have shown. www.no-burn.org/tech-guide-w...
no-burn.org
GAIA Technical Guidance Series for Policymakers and Financiers on Fast Action on Waste and Methane | GAIA
Following the commitments within the Global Methane Pledge and the COP29 Declaration to Reduce Methane from Organic Waste (ROW declaration), signatory countries have pledged to significantly reduce waste methane emissions by 2030. While this will pose an increase of political and financial resources driven towards the waste sector, there is a need to ensure the
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Important piece on #landfill emissions in Turkiye. #Methane is a potent #greenhousegas and reducing emissions is our "emergency brake" to decelerate globalwarming. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Revealed: the methane mega-leaks from UN climate summit host Turkey
Exclusive: Cop31 leader calling for global curbs on climate-heating gas has landfills producing some of world’s worst plumes
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Great thread on modeling of the new permit reform bill. Similar points could be made about other fields, especially where modeling is less well established (and therefore standards are looser). I wish there were clear standards for modeling assumptions, validation, etc.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This is definitely true in other fields as well, particularly those in which modeling isn't as well established. In plastics policy, modeling is the Wild West and peer review is ineffective in surfacing these important points.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I'm against war but I'll take the silver lining.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
WTAF
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
She has MORE like this???
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It was a privilege to witness the launch with the combined CarbonMapper and Planet crews. Really inspirational and looking forward to using the data!
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The lack of self awareness is truly gobsmacking.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Cancer capitalism: or, how fascism happens. www.anildash.com/2026/09/02/c...
anildash.com
VC isn’t VC anymore — understanding the rise of Cancer Capital - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This isn’t even remotely subtle
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Yes agreed. I worry that we will normalize shrinking research to those pieces that industry thinks it can profit from.
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Greater reliance on the private sector would reduce researcher independence and benefit to the public as we’ve seen in the biotech field. Basic science is a public good and should be primarily supported by public institutions.
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worm @rfksbrainworm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you ever wondered why visible light is those particular wavelengths, it's because life evolved to see in the narrow range where water is transparent
Diagram of absorption of emf by water. There's a gap right that dips in the 500 nm range
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Reposted by Neil Tangri
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
abolish the death penalty
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Neil Tangri @tangri0.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I have no information but I suspect R’s are actually driving the bus and D’s are willing to take what they can get when they can (based on past performance) With a president this mercurial you never know when the window will close. Also some individuals behind this bill are not for their strategy
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