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Zach Wendling

@zachwendling.bsky.social
285 followers 217 following 18 posts

Environmental Performance Index at the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy | Ph.D. | Energy & climate policy, Quant, YIMBY | Opinions are my own

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Reposted by Zach Wendling
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
if it took you 5 seconds of contemplation to think of an alternative you should take at least another 5-10 to at least consider the possibility that it at least crossed the minds of 1 or 2 of the people who dedicate their lives and research careers to dealing with the problems we post about on here
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Zach Wendling @zachwendling.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
They have a chance to replace it with more interesting, sustainable, and beautiful ground cover. But they won't. More likely, another $15M, no-bid contract to a crony, and we'll end up with crab grass.
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Prof. Ian Walker @ianwalker.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
We argue that this fits squarely into an emerging body of research that all points the same way: car culture and motonormativity are so entrenched, it's too late for information and incentives to make the difference. 'Hard' measures are needed if we want to get serious about reducing car harms 7/10
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Akshat Rathi @akshatrathi.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I see a lot of charts everyday. Few make me go: THIS IS CRAZY. www.carbonbrief.org/ai-boom-mean...
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Zach Wendling @zachwendling.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
This, but unironically. Via @robotson.media
A hydrological map of the USA with the caption, "my solution to gerrymandering US House districts is to reapportion representation to the 2456 HUC bioregional watershed subbasins. 1 representative per subbasin. its ya boi" A screenshot from Threads by @lancerobotson
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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Around 40% of ocean shipping is fossil fuels. So many things will get better when the fossil-fuel era ends. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Only 0.5% of 90,000 oil slicks reported over five-year period, analysis finds
Pollution incidents reported between 2014 and 2019 were compared against scientific study that used satellite imagery to count slicks
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Denmark's coal-to-wind transition is one of the most dramatic energy transformations of the past three decades. In 1990, coal provided 90% of Danish electricity. Today it is under 3%. Wind now covers roughly 60% of electricity generation. The last coal plant is scheduled to close by 2028.
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
A century of hair samples shows how sharply lead exposure fell after modern environmental rules took hold in the US. A PNAS study found that current lead concentrations in hair from Utah’s Wasatch Front are almost 100 times lower than before the EPA was established. buff.ly/odLXa0j #ShareGoodNewsToo
buff.ly
Lead in archived hair documents a decline in lead exposure to humans since the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency | PNAS
Lead (Pb) is well known to be toxic to humans. We use archived hair from individuals living along the Wasatch Front in Utah to evaluate changes in ...
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trevin @trevinflickinger.com · 09/04/2026
Happy Appomattox Day to all that celebrate
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Zach Wendling @zachwendling.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
The state of our union is … 2026: Strong 2024: Strong and getting stronger 2023: Strong 2022: Strong 2020: Stronger than ever before 2019: Strong 2018: Strong 2016: Strong 2015: Strong 2014: Strong 2013: Stronger 2012: Getting stronger and will always be strong 2011: Strong 2010: Strong
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Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change—all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.
pbs.org
WATCH: Trump, EPA's Zeldin announce end of scientific basis for U.S. action on climate change
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressiv...
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Truly Stasi-like. What would you say if you saw it in another country?
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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
This idiocy is governance as Grand Guignol. It will cripple atmospheric science in this country. “What we are seeing is the administration canceling the freedom of scientific thought and inquiry.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/c...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Plans to Break Up Premier Weather and Climate Research Center
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
WATCH: If you really STILL don’t understand how car-dependent suburbia is HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED by downtown & all the urban parts of your city, please watch this EXCELLENT video by #NotJustBikes helped by #UrbanThree & @StrongTowns.org. And then please SHARE it as much as possible. youtu.be/7Nw6qyyrTeI
Series of graphics showing the high tax generation in urban parts of cities, and the negative tax generation relative to service costs in low density parts of cities.Series of graphics showing the high tax generation in urban parts of cities, and the negative tax generation relative to service costs in low density parts of cities.Series of graphics showing the high tax generation in urban parts of cities, and the negative tax generation relative to service costs in low density parts of cities.Series of graphics showing the high tax generation in urban parts of cities, and the negative tax generation relative to service costs in low density parts of cities.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Reuters reached out to everyone that Trump or his subordinates singled out publicly for retribution, and reviewed hundreds of official orders, directives and public records. The result: the most comprehensive accounting yet of his campaign of payback. www.reuters.com/investigates...
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 09/10/2025
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
“Fine-particulate air pollution can drive devastating forms of dementia by triggering the formation of toxic clumps of protein that destroy nerve cells as they spread through the brain, research suggests.” “Unlike age or genetics, this is something we can change.”
theguardian.com
Air pollution can drive devastating forms of dementia, research suggests
Airborne particles cause toxic clumps of proteins in brain that are hallmarks of Lewy body dementia, study indicates
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Zach Wendling @zachwendling.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
www.npr.org/2025/09/02/n...
npr.org
Dozens of scientists find errors in a new Energy Department climate report
More than 85 scientists say that a recent U.S. Department of Energy report is full of errors and misrepresents climate science.
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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.net · 30/08/2025
🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics. The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.
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Jigar Shah @jigarshahdc.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
After 60 years of trying to electrify populations with fossil fuels, people finally figured out there was a much better way. One with less corruption. Electricity poverty is real and clean energy is now at scale to solve it. This will unleash human flourishing.
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Timmons Roberts @timmonsroberts.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up. NYT just covered it. 1/n www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...
nytimes.com
Law Firm Pressures Brown University to Erase Research on Anti-Wind Groups
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
The Trump administration is making us less well-informed now and in the future.
edition.cnn.com
Trump admin strips ocean and air pollution monitoring from next-gen weather satellites | CNN
The Trump administration will remove ocean and air pollution monitoring instruments from the upcoming fleet of weather satellites, and cut the number of satellites, as well.
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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Here is a perfect example of the cruelty inherent in this kind of camp, even when it's not a death factory. No one is machine-gunning or gassing detainees. But if we keep human beings in a dangerous setting, with facilities optimized to put them at risk, the camp itself will harm them. [16/17]
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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
“The fact that organized protest can break the spiral of silence, and correct our impressions of what other Americans think, is one of the most immediate and important values of protesting in the first place. Scientists have [shown] protests update our impressions of what other citizens believe.”
aol.com
What a ‘Spiral of Silence’ Can Do to a Democracy
Protests show people they are not alone in caring about an issue.
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Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · 19/02/2025
I really liked this idea of using a histogram as a legend in a choropleth map (since land isn't unemployed; people are), so I made a little guide to doing it with #rstats, {ggplot2}, and {patchwork} www.andrewheiss.com/blog/2025/02...
andrewheiss.com
How to use a histogram as a legend in {ggplot2} | Andrew Heiss
Land isn’t unemployed—people are. Here’s how to use R, {ggplot2}, {sf}, and {patchwork} to create a histogram legend in a choropleth map to better see the distribution of values.
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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 24/06/2025
[setting out dishwasher to run overnight instead of during the peak hours] I’m a virtual power plant operator
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Zach Wendling @zachwendling.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
One of many reasons Vatican City isn't in the Environmental Performance Index
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
New paper compares non-exhaust pollution (brake and tire particulates) from ICE and EV cars. Conclusion: EV's create more tire pollution b/c they're heavier, but less brake pollution due to regenerative braking. EVs come out ahead overall if >15% of driving is in a city. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Even without a spike from tariffs, the cost of car ownership (gas, insurance, maintenance, and the car itself) jumped 44% from 2007 to 2023. (Source: www.bts.gov/content/aver...) Americans pay a massive surcharge for living in a car-dependent nation.
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Jason Kuznicki @jkuznicki.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
This is really important: When stuff works well it tends to become invisible. Radicalism in politics should be thought of as the confidence that you and your movement can replicate all of the invisible stuff that you break.
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jae holzman @jael.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
something lost in the USAID situation: that agency is crucial to the developing energy grids in many countries right now. pulling them out threatens not only climate progress but seriously threatens energy access in many regions of the world. via @jeva.bsky.social heatmap.news/politics/usa...
heatmap.news
Elon Musk Pulled the Plug on America’s Energy Soft Power
For now at least, USAID’s future looks — literally — dark.
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Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
An acre of land can power a car to go 13,000 miles per year using biofuel (corn ethanol), or 900,000 miles per year using solar.
Annual miles traveled from energy generated on an acre of land

Solar 899,922
Corn 13,458
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Derek Thompson @dkthomp.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
People sometimes make fun of science that sounds stupid and random. Meanwhile, a study of lizard saliva turned into a peptide medication, which was turned into a diabetes medication, which was turned into a GLP1 weight loss drug, that just became the first therapy every approved for … sleep apnea
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Nat Bullard @nathanielbullard.com · 24/11/2024
Every year I do a big presentation on decarbonization. Here's a preview: India now consumes more coal, on an energy basis, than Europe and North America combined.
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Jigar Shah @jigarshahdc.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
We need to deploy 2-5 GW and $25B by 2030 to achieve #liftoff in enhanced #geothermal. This will bring the price down far enough to unlock 90 GW by 2040. liftoff.energy.gov/next-generat...
liftoff.energy.gov
Next-Generation Geothermal Power - Pathways to Commercial Liftoff
Learn more about the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pathways to Commercial Liftoff Report on Next-Generation Geothermal Power
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
We've just made it much easier to reuse the data on Our World in Data. Here is an overview of our new features: enhanced data downloads and the Chart Data API. ourworldindata.org/easier-to-re...
ourworldindata.org
We've made it much easier to reuse our data
An overview of our new features: enhanced data downloads and the Chart Data API.
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Jeffrey Lin @jeffrlin.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Our paper quantifying the negative effects of urban freeways on local neighborhood quality of life appears in the September issue of REStat. doi.org/10.1162/rest...
doi.org
Freeway Revolts! The Quality of Life Effects of Highways
Abstract. Why do freeways affect spatial structure? We identify and quantify the local disamenity effects of freeways. Freeways cause slower growth in central neighborhoods (where local disamenities e...
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Tamar de Waal @tamardewaal.bsky.social · 23/10/2024
'This process includes the replacement of all first-rate talents, regardless of their political loyalties, with crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is the best guarantee of their loyalty.' (The Origins of Totalitarianism, renewed version, A Harvest Book New York, 1976, 339)
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Jeff Stormer @jeffstormer.gobirds.online · 13/11/2024
Hello all: It is with a heavy heart that I remove my Starter Pack of "Trustworthy Mesopotamian Copper Ingot Merchants Within the City-State of Ur." I have been informed about some pretty unfortunate oversights on my part and ultimately platformed some creators who should not have been platformed.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
There's a good chance Trump's immigration and higher ed policy kill the golden goose that's been a-laying golden eggs of technical, medical, and economic innovation not just for the US but the entire world
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Catherine E. de Vries @catherinedevries.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
IMHO as a corruption researcher, pundits seriously UNDERestimate crony capitalist Orbanseque turn in 🇺🇸 politics moving forward Similarly, pundits OVERestimate voter punishment of corruption Here’s why ⤵️ Based on 2017 research overview with @hectorsolaz.bsky.social: shorturl.at/HfNlU A 🧵 1/n
shorturl.at
The Electoral Consequences of Corruption | Annual Reviews
Democratic elections have been assumed to play a crucial role in curbing corruption among public officials. Voters, due to their general distaste for corruption, are expected to sanction politicians w...
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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 06/11/2024
Folks, you can say "Democrats need to win in 2028 and do X" as much as you want, as long as you recognize that the 2028 elections most likely will not be like elections of old. They will likely take place in a context where institutions (media, business) will have had to kowtow to the government.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 06/11/2024
Fearing most: - mass deportations, police state required to try it, resulting death/suffering - severe recession or depression from tariffs, deportations, ensuing civil unrest - violence against protesters - weaponization of DOJ, IRS, FCC - “unleashed” cops & vigilantes - Baltics, Poland, Taiwan
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Zach Wendling @zachwendling.bsky.social · 30/10/2024
More Calvinball jurisprudence from #SCOTUS
ballsandstrikes.org
The Supreme Court’s Most Important Power Is Its Ability to Bullshit
A week before the election, the justices are allowing an illegal voter roll purge in Virginia to take effect.
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Zach Wendling @zachwendling.bsky.social · 30/10/2024
New blogpost with Lewis Wu and Abe Silverman on Google's proposed alternative to traditional Power Purchase Agreements to secure low-carbon electricity for data centers: the Clean Transition Tariff. #EnergySky🔌💡
blogs.law.columbia.edu
Guest Blog: Powering Data Centers with Clean Energy: Google’s Clean Transition Tariff - Climate Law Blog
The rising interest in artificial intelligence and data centers has sparked discussions on how to meet the immense power demand from data centers in a carbon-responsible manner. Many data center opera...
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tweety fish oh wow like a chimera or something spoooky @sifu.tweety.fish · 22/10/2024
my favorite NIST factoid is that their remit has been so broad for so long that they have a whole archive of scientific instruments where they no longer have any idea what they do www.nist.gov/blogs/taking...
nist.gov
Unidentified Museum Objects V
In celebration of National Inventors Month 2019 (yes, it’s a thing) we’re highlighting s
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Climate Solutions @climatesolutions.org · 26/09/2024
This week in New York, Gov. Jay Inslee and other climate governors launched a national apprenticeship program—funded by the Inflation Reduction Act—to train young people for careers in clean energy and climate action. www.knkx.org/environ...
knkx.org
Inslee and governors of 23 states launch ‘climate-ready workforce' initiative
Gov. Jay Inslee is in New York City for Climate Week - his last time as a sitting governor. He helped announce the launch of a “Governors’ Climate-Ready Workforce Initiative.”
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