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Robert Ferry@robertferry.bsky.social |
354 followers 362 following 1641 posts
Climate policy, society, and the built environment. Architect, LEED AP BD+C, and Co-founder of Land Art Generator. landartgenerator.org
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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This is true! Building more high speed rail connections between highly trafficked metropolitan areas could put all of Amtrak in the black.
www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/ne...
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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No worries. Easy to do.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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One overriding theme of the Roberts Supreme Court’s jurisprudence is that it invites substantially more litigation. It used to be the case that opinions were strategically drafted to limit ambiguity and prevent unnecessary lawsuits. Now it seems the opposite is true. Complete chaos now reigns.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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It’s a great metric if what you are measuring is decarbonization progress within a company or industry—the metric important to policy. Of course climate and physics doesn’t really care about that like you rightly point out.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Shouldn’t kg of CO2 per unit of revenue be going down if data centers are getting more efficient? Somehow tech is burning more carbon for every dollar earned? Is this all because of AI and because AI doesn’t contribute to revenue? Not great all around.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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I was on a flight to Europe the day Tony Blair won in 1997 (ending 18 years of conservative rule). An old gent handed me a paper and said I would “always remember this day.” That was the peak era of neoliberal triangulation. Hopefully Keir Starmer will have a more respectful legacy.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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To be more accurate, about 5% of Bitcoin mining is off-grid. What I meant to say is that a fraction of a % of that is actually helpful to decarbonization efforts (the remote micro hydro example). The rest is stealing renewable energy tech from being applied to other more socially valuable uses.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Cryptocurrency is the digital financialization of the shallowness of libertarian ideology.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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No. I’d prefer it just go away. I would be interested in the idea of a complementary currency that, through its use, helped contribute to environmental conservation and carbon drawdown. Bitcoin is designed to be the opposite of that unfortunately.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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BTW if that was how all Bitcoin was mined (another example would be to help finance the mitigation of hard to abate methane leaks), then that would be great. But 99.999% of Bitcoin is mined from the grid, which makes it harder to decarbonize it.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Still no use case except self-referential ones. E.g. some micro hydro projects in remote areas can be more easily financed if Bitcoin is mined when electricity demand is low. But that is only true because Bitcoin has a good exchange rate with the dollar. But why is that? No underlying reason.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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When you realize we can measure the biomass of the entire planet and observe changes over time it makes you wonder why we don’t somehow peg the value of our economies to the natural support systems that sustain our lives instead of to the amount of stuff we make to pollute and destroy those systems.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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“[The US President] is bound to [break the letter of the law for a higher purpose] at his own peril, and throw himself on the justice of his country and the rectitude of his motives.” —Thomas Jefferson Clearly there was no intention by the founders to set the presidency above the law.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Good thing about mandating a kg per seat car weight is that it is much harder to hide than emissions.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Make America Truly Great for Real This Time for Everybody (MATGFRTTFE). Is that too long for a hat?
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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It looks like it is used in other everyday products including as an additive to the steel used in gas pipelines so if we don’t need those anymore…!
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Out of MANY, one. On Independence Day let’s celebrate the entirety of the rich and interwoven tapestry of faith traditions AND secular philosophies that informed the Constitution and that have guided the American people through our greatest moments.
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Ada Palmer
@adapalmer.bsky.social
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first cohort of the American Climate Corps has been sworn in. 9,000 people will be deployed in the coming weeks to restore landscapes, erect solar panels, and work on environmental projects across America. #ShareGoodNewsToo grist.org/solutions/am...
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Too good to be true? Or a glimpse at the near future for passenger vehicles?
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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This is an interesting design solution. It sits on your EV’s roof rack, unfolds in one minute, and can offer 30 miles of off-grid range on a sunny day.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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More precisely it is an inability to imagine an *improved* future is possible and that there are steps we can take to get there. This inability is rooted in a profound mistrust of human nature. Such a bleak outlook favors a “carceral state” and “unitary executive” preference in governance.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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We often talk about there being a failure of imagination in America. The majority opinion on Monday is yet another example. We may need to live through the rise of autocracy in order to imagine it. It may very well be that conservatism has at its very foundation an inability to imagine the future.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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A new company founded by an architect in India offers passive cooling solutions with beautiful screen walls and artful objects for public spaces.
www.coolant.co
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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As conservatives like Lehman come to terms with the fact that some sectors may not as as suitable to free markets as others (when consumer choices are not entirely free), will they carry the same logic over to a reexamination of the healthcare, education, electricity, and insurance sectors as well?
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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He has been a nihilist ever since his early 1970s disillusionment with black nationalism. He isn’t concerned with history, jurisprudence, or logic. Only in a simplistic Hobbesian world of unchecked power through strength.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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It could be argued that “Nervous Democrats” did not “mount” this campaign. President Biden himself launched it when he demonstrated on national television that he is unelectable.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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"Given that climate change has been identified as the biggest medium to long-term risk for UK food security, quibbling over less than a percentage of farmland doesn't seem worth it."
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Leaving aside the use of “epiphany” when he meant “epitome,” it is tragically ironic to claim “ideocracy” on the part of Biden’s EPA when Judge Cain ideologically refuses to consider climate, environmental, or public health impacts as criteria in his decision.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideocracy
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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AI is training on this paragraph right now.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Wow. Just wow. A third grader would not make this mistake.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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It is no longer OK to try and convince moderate Republicans to not vote for Trump by suggesting they can vote R down ballot as a check on Biden. Democracy (and climate, and social justice etc.) demands a triple play this time.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Perhaps as important as the top job on the ballot this November are the contested seats in the House and Senate who will now be even more critical to checking the power of the presidency. Any court reforms would also require support of both houses.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Under this ruling can a president officially order the EPA to ignore court orders, for example regarding reviewing permits for new LNG terminals?
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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It was pretty rich that she chose to use bribery as her hypothetical given the court has basically gutted any enforcement of bribery statutes.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Barrett had the nerve in her partial concurrence to use the example of bribery to make her oh so slightly more moderate argument.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Federal judges are going to be the death of us. The pause did not impact existing projects under construction, only future ones being planned. The country has seven terminals already with another five approved facilities under construction. Before 2016 there were ZERO.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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How could Roberts, after reading both dissents, stay committed to the faulty logic of the majority? I can understand Thomas and Alito of course, but Sotomayor’s and Jackson’s arguments are so crystal clear. How were they not persuasive to the middle? I’m baffled.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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If we did still have civics education it could be taught well by using today’s dissenting opinions, especially Justice Jackson’s.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Oh my bad we don’t have civics education anymore.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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The dissenting opinions in the immunity case should be taught in every high school civics class. They serve as a perfect summary (and now eulogy) of the founding principles of our nation. Start on pg 68. Don’t stop until you finish Justice Jackson’s dissent on pg 98. static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics...
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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You are assuming that this Supreme Court would abide by their decision when evaluating the prosecution of a Democratic president by a Trump justice department. They most certainly would instead find a way to exempt Biden from immunity and prosecute him no matter how hollow the charge.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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How are courts now to enforce decisions such as United Stated v. Nixon? In that case Nixon could have simply continued to withhold the tapes after the unanimous decision. Sure he would have been in contempt, but he would be immune from prosecution for contempt.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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The American people must rise up and march on the court to demand major reforms—including expansion and term rotation—be enacted before the end of Biden’s administration.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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People buy what ad agencies sell them. It confounds me that US automakers continue to focus the lion’s share of their marketing budgets on pushing ICE cars and SUVs.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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I don’t really agree with that. Just thought it made a good retort. I think everyone should have whatever relationship to their interpretation of God they want to have because the truth is that none of us can ever really know that truth.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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“Religions are like glow-worms: they need darkness in order to shine. A certain degree of general ignorance is the condition for the existence of any religion.” —Arthur Schopenhauer
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Step 5. Call your lawmakers and demand stronger legislative action on renewable energy, electricity transmission infrastructure, residential electrification, environmental protections, methane leak mitigation, and a rapid fossil fuel phaseout.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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Two of these assertions can be proven/disproven using the scientific method. One cannot. It is therefore not helpful to advance human knowledge and understanding to conflate all three. It is just provocative and hostile. Also the concept of God means many different things to many different people.
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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I highly recommend Clark Miller’s opening essay. “This book is also about imagining the future of the human experience and human community in the wake of a sustainable energy revolution. We imagine that future as very different than the cities of today.”
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Robert Ferry
@robertferry.bsky.social
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You might like this compendium of “solar futures” published by ASU and free online. Full disclosure, I was a contributor.
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