Phoebe Barnard's avatar

Phoebe Barnard

@phoebebarnard.bsky.social

164 followers 221 following 92 posts

Biodiversity, climate, risk, resilience, future of society& civilization. Affiliate full professor environmental futures&conservation biology at Univ Washington; research associate at African Climate& Development Initiative& Fitzpatrick Inst Univ Cape Town

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Yep. As someone working most of my life on planetary, biodiversity+climate science, public policy+social development, I have similar views, one of which is that we've been chasing siloed symptoms rather than addressing root causes of overshoot. Looking fwd to the audiobook while walking or cooking!

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

As founding head of Namibia's biodiversity program in the 1990s-2000s, I was concerned about the effects of war, both + and -, on Namibian+Angolan biodiversity. It's complex. And not helped by landmines. My former Sudanese MSc student is an antelope biologist, fleeing from war. Fascinating article.

0 replies 3 reposts 3 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

I come from a family trained in engineering (and practiced in a 170-year old family business in slate roofing, not mine landslides). But after years countering engineers' climate denialism+trying to check a bit of reductionist tech optimism on our planetary futures options, I shake my head at this.

0 replies 1 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

How much biomass, how much diversity, what proportion of your needs over a year? Intrigued. How is the soil?

1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Hard for them to do so w/out first transforming the funding incentives system, but once that happens, under good strong leadership, I think it's very possible to break away from incrementalism and perpetuation of broken systems. Perhaps easier to start from scratch. e.g. blackmountainscollege.uk

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

A perfect and succinct observation, spot on.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

My daughter, global public health student+vegan nutrition expert, struggles constantly since 2007 to regain her health from post-viral #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis +then #LongCovid. Disciplined anti-inflammatory diet, bed rest, pacing help but only manage. Tx @sheencr.bsky.social @waggery.bsky.social

1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Reposted by Phoebe Barnard

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Just discovered this most wonderful public domain image collection for archived heritage & historical images, PICRYL - on all kinds of subjects, from natural history to archaeology, art to politics, economic & geological history. Great resource for filmmakers & scientists. picryl.com/media/a-hand...

0 replies 2 reposts 4 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Thanks Katharine, so much interesting leadership in Barbados these days! Mia Mottley for world president!🥰

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Amazing! What a satisfying and thoughtful thread on all kinds of levels. Thank you.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Reposted by Phoebe Barnard

Dr. Elizabeth Sawin's avatar Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social
[ View ]

Capitalism and extraction may yet kill much of the life and beauty of earth, I don't know, but I'm certain they won't kill the yearning or the deep inner knowing that we are part of something that matters to us.

1 replies 1 reposts 12 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Remember this. The cesspools of Twitter can discourage us, make us think that the world is full of vindictive, entitled, science-hating trolls. But it's more full of thoughtful, compassionate observers of our world and each other. Thank you Beth.

1 replies 4 reposts 6 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Just a reminder, for those exercised by "Climate: The Movie" - same old tropes and trolls. Thanks Katharine!

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Kit, among my science & civilization activities I'm making a four-film documentary series 'The Climate Restorers' where it'd be good to interview you. If you're willing, please DM me. We don't live far over the border in Washington State. www.theclimaterestorers.com (site not optimized for mobile!)

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Yes. And these kinds of events increasingly happen in quick succession. I call them 'triple-whammy' sequences which could destabilize whole regions, even countries. Ironically, a decade ago my husband+I were filming a drama called "Refugium," imagining such a scenario, with an airborne virus + EMP.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Who here can weigh in on this? I'd love to hear your pros and cons. In 2012 I was happy to work with the late great Dr Tom Lovejoy in Namibia and hear his subsequent thoughts on the concept. (He proposed the idea in, I think, the mid-1980s.) www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/debt-na...

3 replies 2 reposts 5 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Yes, you try carrying around something that many times your ordinary body length! And they are often kept in impeccable condition. And if not, the imperfections and wear tell us a lot about their body condition and dominance.

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

African paradise whydah, one of my top thousand species, and one of my top ten study species. Promiscuous brood parasites with incredible intrapopulation variation. Super for understanding natural and sexual selection, dominance and mate choice 😏

1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

As with fire ecology - coral heat survival is a measure of bleaching frequency+intensity. And that’ll determine speed of population declines+rate of extinctions. We must just stop living wastefully, folks. Please practice getting by on a third, and shifting systems. 🐠 🪸

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Happy with this paper's reception so far. A wonderful collaboration of western & indigenous scientists, futurists, historians, sociologists+cultural scholars on leaving the age of destruction behind. Features Upper Skagit elder, western medicine/indigenous healer cultural bridge Jay Bowen's painting

1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

The biggest issue isn't cost, but risk in a destabilizing global society, economy, and climate: never mind sea level. Nuclear power is the epitome of a global society lulled by centralization, command & control & capital-intensive technology which few in any society can master. Its time has passed.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

I became aware of this plan - surely the latest Aynrandian testiment to men's boondoggles - last year. I could hardly believe it was real. For a start, hmm, biodiversity? "Ah, but it's just desert." I was director of biodiversity for a desert country (Namibia) for a decade. Diversity thrives there🤨

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Dense city centres support less evolutionary unique bird communities than sparser urban areas

Analysing 17 Euro cities:"We found a significant decline in evolutionary uniqueness of 51 avian communities in highly dense urban areas, compared to low+medium-dense 52 areas." www.cell.com/iscience/pdf...

0 replies 1 reposts 2 likes

Reposted by Phoebe Barnard

Georg Bungard's avatar Georg Bungard @gbungard.bsky.social
[ View ]

This study about our behavioral crisis is a game changer. The climate crisis obv isn’t our personal fault, we’re pushed by the market to consume and policies don’t address this root problem. We should rally against this and help ourselves to a sustainable culture. Let’s not blame, but inspire change

0 replies 2 reposts 4 likes

Reposted by Phoebe Barnard

Katja Diehl's avatar Katja Diehl @katjadiehl.bsky.social
[ View ]

"Record heat, record emissions, record fossil fuel consumption, the world is further than ever from reaching its collective climate goals. At the root of all is the human “behavioural crisis”, a term coined by an interdisciplinary team of scientists."
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

0 replies 7 reposts 26 likes

Reposted by Phoebe Barnard

Harry Stevens's avatar Harry Stevens @harrystevens.bsky.social
[ View ]

🐦 North America has lost 3 billion birds in half a century.

For my Climate Lab column, I made an app where you can see the population trend for almost any bird species in the United States.

Play with it here: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

15 replies 189 reposts 299 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Yep, but if we act quickly on methane we can at least see improvement in a couple of decades. Our documentary series due out 2024 needs your help to accelerate completion 🌿 www.backtoourfuture.net ❤️

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Reposted by Phoebe Barnard

J. P. Gownder (கவுண்டர்) ☮️🕊️🏳️‍🌈 's avatar J. P. Gownder (கவுண்டர்) ☮️🕊️🏳️‍🌈 @jgownder.bsky.social
[ View ]


This insight should be broadcast constantly by the news media; naturally, you rarely, if ever, hear it. #ClimateCrisis

17 replies 962 reposts 1886 likes

Reposted by Phoebe Barnard

Kevin M. Kruse's avatar Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social
[ View ]

I know “found liable for rape in a court” isn’t as big a story as “rumored to have poor email security” but maybe the press can give this as much attention as they gave that?

17 replies 412 reposts 1740 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Just a little reminder of this profoundly important paper from two years ago, which I was just re-reading for a UN contract when by complete coincidence, a friend mentioned it privately to me on Twitter. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

0 replies 2 reposts 1 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

Failure to realize the power+importance of this one point brought the American dustbowl in the 1930s, and is busy doing so again - as though we don't have the internet, or a world full of books, to help us break the cycle of history repeating itself.
#biodiversity #hydrology #ecosystemrestoration

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Phoebe Barnard's avatar Phoebe Barnard @phoebebarnard.bsky.social
[ View ]

I think it's a nearly-universal trait - to detect signals or patterns, especially faces, amongst a 'noise' of data. This must be a proto-Mount Rushmore 🙃

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes