Eric Roston

@eroston

Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams and fairy tales. Literally wrote the book on carbon. Born 326.17. He/him. "Bleakly amusing." —A. Martine. "The dad jokes will continue until morale improves." —Charlie Jane Anders. Signal: eroston.87 Bloomberg Green

1.310 Folgt23.144 Follower4.338 Posts

YouTube Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir eroston.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Eric Roston@eroston· 16d

Rough month I expect for The Zombies and one of music history's best typos

Time of the Season - Mono Remastered
The Zombies
Odessey and Oracle

Eric Roston@eroston· 17d

exploding brain three panel meme
- Compose with player piano
- Cook with frozen pizza
- Write with AI

Eric Roston@eroston· 20d

🤣😂😅😆😄😃😀🙂🤨🙁😲😒😞😩🫠 giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

An OpenAI “agent” discovered new vulnerabilities and hacked into start-up Hugging Face by itself, in one of the first public examples of [emphasis added:] a cyber attack by an AI system acting outside human control.

Eric Roston@eroston· 21d

1️⃣) For energy consumers: Reduce efficiency 🏡 2️⃣) For energy producers: Increase efficiency 🛢️

The U.S. Is Pulling Back on Energy Efficiency Just as Prices Are Rising The Trump administration is undoing fuel-saving efforts even as war in Iran, data centers and heat waves are pushing up gasoline and electricity costs.

Drillers are now so efficient they can expand production marginally without really trying. And that's exactly what they're expected to do this year.

Eric Roston@eroston· 22d

pretty sure it's bc of this

Eric Roston@eroston· 25d

~2006: "You can't link any weather event to fossil-fuel emissions." ~2026: There's "a direct and well-understood impact." 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Conclusion 3.1: Human-caused changes to the thermodynamics of the climate system have a direct and well-understood impact on extreme temperatures, extreme rainfall, and compound hot-dry events. These links are established with high confidence and are well supported by a robust combination of physical theory, observational data, and model simulations.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 9

covers.storytel.com/jpg-640/9781...

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 9

Revenge is a dish best

Screenshot system message from texting app:
Delivered Quietly

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

There's one flavor of GOOD accelerating change that few foresaw: All-in price declines in solar, wind and batteries relative to coal and gas. The energy transition is ON, and fossil-fuel wars are only accelerating it.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

Countries, communities, people respond inconsistently to quantified risks. @rahmstorf.bsky.social points out that a community might pass on a nuclear plant but countries can't organize to address a 50% risk (he estimates) that Atlantic currents that warm Europe disappear.

"In all other areas in society, we have a very different approach to risk," he said. "If you want to build a bridge or a nuclear power plant, you accept maybe a one-in-10,000 risk of a bad accident happening. Whereas with the AMOC, 've for decades warned that a 5% risk, as we saw it then, is too high. And now we're talking more like 50% or more."

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

more greenhouse gases = more heat = accelerating ice melt = more ocean = vulnerable coasts and harbors

Chart:
Melted Ice Makes Up More Than Half of Sea Level Increase
Contribution to sea level rise in millimeters
X-axis: 1960 to present
Y-axis: 0 mm to 100+ mm
Chart shows dramatic rise in ice melt contribution to sea-level rise from thermal expansion of water, Antarctica, Greenland, Mountain glaciers, and water stored on-land.
Source: Zheng et al. (2026). Improved closure of the global mean sea level budget from observational advances since 1960, Science Advances.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

Remember the global climate goal of no hotter than 1.5°C? Climate change plus a very powerful El Niño could lead to the first month with a global average temperature above 2°C early next year.

Global Surface Temperature — North American Multi-Model Ensemble initialized 2026-06-01
University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine & Atmospheric Studies/NOAA
Y-axis "difference from 1850-1900 average (°C)
X-axis: June 2025-April 2026: Dotted line ranging from 1.1C to 1.4C
X-axis: June 2026-Feb. 2027: Average model runs show 1/8C in early 2027. Several individual model runs pass 2C beginning in October 2026.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

Cold records are vanishing. There are half as many as there would be without climate change. Heat records are occurring 4x more than you'd expect without greenhouse gas pollution.

Chart:
Temperatures Reach New Highs While New Lows Become Rare
Ratio of record heat and cold compared to a stationary climate
X-axis 1950-present
Y-axis 0°C-4°C
A horizontal line at y=1. Below the line are cold records — about half as many as you'd expect if the climate were not changing. Above the line, rapidly rising bars, in red, showing how many more heat records there are than cold records.
Source: Fischer, Erich M. (2025). Record-breaking extremes in a warming climate, Nature

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

What happens on timescales shorter than a century and areas smaller than a planet have always been harder to project. The late Columbia scientist Wallace Broecker (who coined "global warming" in 1975) had this to say about climate impacts in 1995).

News article screenshot:
Scientists have long warned that change will not be smooth. "Far from being self-stabilizing, the Earth's climate system is an ornery beast which overreacts even to small nudges," wrote the late Wallace Brocker in 1995, two decades after he coined the term
"global warming."

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

Scientists have correctly projected the global average temperature rise for decades. The last 15 years have brought an acceleration (still within the projection range). Here's how temperatures have stacked up against model runs published in 2007.

A line graph titled "Global Warming Has Sped Up in Recent Years," comparing Earth’s temperature from 1970 to 2026 against the 1850–1900 baseline. An orange jagged line tracks observed temperatures, which generally rise over time, sitting within a shaded light-orange band representing projected temperature ranges from 2007 CMIP3 climate models.

Two distinct black trend lines are overlaid on the data: a "1970–2010 trend" line showing a steady upward slope, and a separate "2010–2026" line showing a noticeably steeper trajectory. Text on the chart notes: "The recent warming trend is on a steeper trajectory, but still within the range of decades-old projections." The y-axis measures temperature anomalies up to 1.5°C, and the source is credited to Berkeley Earth, with observed data through May 2026. [alt-text from Gemini AI]

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

The hottest week of the year is becoming a public health threat. Much of Europe in June saw its worst-ever heat wave. @ccallahan45.bsky.social estimates more than 20,000 heat-related deaths there. Records fell across the US, disrupting July 4th plans in DC and beyond.

A global temperature anomaly map titled "Western Europe’s June 2026 Heat Wave Is the Most Severe Ever." The map displays temperature variations on June 24 compared to the 1981–2010 June average, using a color scale from blue (cooler) to deep red (warmer, up to +12°C or more). Large patches of dark red cover Western Europe, northeastern North America, and northern Russia. Three specific temperature anomalies are highlighted in red text: +15.2°C in Paris, France; +16.5°C in the Yamal Peninsula, Russia; and +8.8°C in Salt Lake City, US. The data is credited to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. (Alt-text from Gemini AI)

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 6

Climate change: a status report 🧵

An article header image titled "Green: Extreme Heat Isn’t the Only Climate Impact Shocking Scientists." The background shows a hazy, sunlit city square where a man in a white t-shirt and shorts stands bent over, cooling off under a row of water sprinklers spraying from a long yellow hose on the ground.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 2

routine seasonal public health psa

A meme featuring Kermit the Frog in a dry, desert-like landscape with red rock formations in the background. Kermit is holding a plastic water bottle up to his mouth as if chugging it. Text above the image reads: "Remember to drink lots of water and stay indoors between 11:00am and November 1st."

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 1

Two Empire State Building climbers reportedly got engaged, which makes this the most law enforcenent-heavy nuptial event since "The African Queen" wedding scene (1951): "By the authority vested in me by Kaiser William the Second I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution."

Headline:
Couple appeared to get engaged before being taken into custody

Eric Roston@eroston· Jul 1

sigh. [taps sign]

Scatter plot titled “More CO₂ Equals More Heat” with the subtitle, “A direct tie between CO₂ and temperature helps scientists measure warming.” The horizontal axis shows atmospheric carbon dioxide rising from about 250 to 450 parts per million (ppm), and the vertical axis shows global temperature change from about -0.5°C to 2.0°C. Blue dots, representing yearly observations, cluster along a strong upward-sloping trend line, indicating that higher atmospheric CO₂ is associated with higher global temperatures. An annotation marks the pre-industrial CO₂ concentration at 280 ppm. One early outlier appears at low CO₂ with unusually high temperature, while the overall pattern shows a clear, nearly linear increase in temperature as CO₂ concentrations rise. Source: Andrew Jarvis, Lancaster University.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jun 24

I'm no expert but it sure looks to me like China EV exports are causing global warming

Two stacked line graphs comparing trends over time.

The top graph is titled "China's Electric Vehicle Monthly Exports" (2018–2026), showing an exponential increase in export value from near zero in 2018 to nearly $9 billion by 2026. Source cited as Ember, GAC.

The bottom graph is titled "Global Average Temperature 1850 - 2022," plotting the Global Temperature Anomaly in degrees Celsius. It depicts fluctuating temperatures from 1850 to 1980, followed by a sharp, continuous upward surge reaching roughly 1.3°C above the 1850–1900 average by the early 2020s. Data is credited to Berkeley Earth and the UK Hadley Centre.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jun 17

tl;dr Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down Letting the days go by, water flowing underground Into the blue again, after the money's gone Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground @jetjocko.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/amer...

Scientific American headline:

Social Sciences | June 16, 2026
U.S. science is in chaos
How did we get here?
Adam Rogers

Eric Roston@eroston· Jun 16

I would have thought the spike came earlier

(via Gemini): A screenshot from Google Books Ngram Viewer showing the usage frequency of the phrase "no duh" from 1800 to 2022 in English books. The graph line remains flat near 0.00000000% for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, with tiny blips. A vertical dotted line highlights the year 1996, where usage is at 0.0000000151%. Immediately after 1996, the blue line skyrockets in a sharp upward curve, peaking near 0.0000000300% around the year 2020.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jun 10

i know the feeling

News release:
Ancient oceans began suffocating millions of years before Triassic mass extinction

Eric Roston@eroston· Jun 5

🎼🎶🎵🎶* I only mean to treat you bad Didn't know just what I had But honey now I do And don't it make my brown shirts Don't it make my brown shirts Don't it make my brown shirts blue (*To the tune of "Don't You Make My Brown Eyes Blue," by Crystal Gale.) www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Excerpt from USA Today exclusive story documenting the growing infiltration of a white supremacist group into 49 states. Paragraph, with highlight between asterisks:

The files, provided by a source inside Patriot Front, offer a rare look at the group’s inner workings as it accelerates its growth. Known for its highly choreographed rallies – rows of identically dressed men in blue shirts, chinos and white face coverings carrying American flags – the group has used disciplined optics to amplify its reach and visibility nationwide.

Eric Roston@eroston· Jun 5

If only freshwater was a resource as plentiful and refreshing as headline wordplay in charts. Smart column updating the dire Colorado River situation, from @markgongloff.bsky.social 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

A line chart titled "Lake Powell Has Seen Wetter Days" with the subtitle "The water level in the reservoir is near its lowest in 50 years."

The chart tracks the Lake Powell water level in feet from roughly 2001 to 2026. A blue line shows a fluctuating but overall downward trend in water levels. Two dashed lines provide context: a top line at 3,700 ft marked "Full pool" and a bottom line near 3,490 ft marked "Minimum hydropower generating level." By 2026, the water level is hovering just above the minimum hydropower level, around 3,520 feet. A footnote states the source is the Bureau of Reclamation.

Eric Roston@eroston· May 29

Forgot one! (Thanks, @kevinleecaster.bsky.social )

Alt-Text by Google Gemini
A Pew Research Center chart titled "Saving money is a stronger motivation than saving the environment when it comes to some green habits." The subtitle reads: "Among those who say they regularly do each of the following, % who say each of the following is a major reason."

The chart compares two motivations across a scale of 0 to 100: "To help the environment" (represented by blue dots) and "To save money" (represented by green dots) for four different daily habits.

The data breakdown for each habit is as follows:

Turn off lights at home when no one is using them:

To help the environment: 33%

To save money: 78%

Limit water use at home:

To help the environment: 51%

To save money: 66%

Buy secondhand clothes or other goods:

To help the environment: 28%

To save money: 76%

Carpool or limit driving:

To help the environment: 37%

To save money: 69%

The chart clearly shows that financial savings are a significantly stronger motivator for these habits than environmental concerns across all listed categories.

A note at the bottom indicates the data comes from a survey of U.S. adults conducted March 16–22, 2026, from the report "Americans Are Increasingly Pessimistic About Avoiding the Worst Effects of Climate Change."

Eric Roston@eroston· May 29

Who would be good at addressing climate impacts?

Alt-text from Google Gemini:
A horizontal stacked bar chart from the Pew Research Center titled "Reducing Climate Risk." The subtitle reads: "Who can address impacts, according to Americans who say climate change harms people today."

The chart measures responses across three categories: "A lot" (orange), "A little" (black), and "Not much" (gray), totaling 100% for each of the six entities listed.

The approximate data breakdown for each entity (ordered from highest to lowest "A lot" responses) is as follows:

Energy industry: ~72% A lot, ~20% A little, ~8% Not much

Big tech: ~69% A lot, ~22% A little, ~9% Not much

US government: ~68% A lot, ~23% A little, ~9% Not much

Big business: ~67% A lot, ~22% A little, ~11% Not much

State government: ~50% A lot, ~35% A little, ~15% Not much

Individuals: ~42% A lot, ~45% A little, ~13% Not much

The chart highlights that a large majority of these respondents believe major industries, tech companies, large businesses, and the federal government can do "a lot" to address climate impacts, while state governments and individuals are viewed as having slightly less capacity to make a major impact.

Eric Roston@eroston· May 29

12% of Americans say there is no solid evidence for human-caused climate change 48% say it's mostly bc of human activity [not Pew:] ~100% of climate scientists and national governments say it is

screenshot from IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report:
Observed Warming and its Causes
A.1
Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally
caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850–1900
in 2011–2020. Global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase, with unequal
historical and ongoing contributions arising from unsustainable energy use, land use and
land-use change, lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production across regions,
between and within countries, and among individuals (high confidence). {2.1, Figure 2.1,
Figure 2.2}

Eric Roston@eroston· May 29

90% of Dems/the left with graduate degrees say humanity is causing global warming. 60% of Dems/the left with HS or less education agree ~20% of Republicans/the right, regardless of education level, agree