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ecospherics.org
Ecosystem security. Former US official. Peacemonger. My personal views.
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First day at CIMMYT as their new Chief Engagement Officer! They’re building farms of the future with smallholder farmers across the global south (to the benefit of US agriculture, too). Delighted to join this global food security group, with their hands-on approach to cutting edge science.

This omits critical minerals (other than potash & petroleum) — Canada is also a minerals superstar. It’s a comparative advantage to have those materials freely traded from a friend, ally & neighbor www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/w...

Microplastics are the time bomb planted beneath modernity. “For instance, zinc oxide accounts for around 0.7% of a tyre’s weight. Though it is essential for making tyres more durable, zinc oxide is highly toxic for fish and other aquatic life and disrupts ecosystems even in trace amounts.”

Brian Regan has a bit for you m.youtube.com/watch?v=vyma...

Mike Studeman, ex head of naval intelligence. 'anybody that tells you ‘near peer’ or this very trite and overused, you know, ‘pacing challenge’, in many areas the Chinese military has outpaced the US Military. And so we have to be realistic in many ways.' markurban.substack.com/p/chinas-cha...

🎉 @cgiar-emd.bsky.social has been named on the 2025 #TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people. A powerful recognition of her visionary leadership and CGIAR work in transforming food systems. Read more 👉 on.cgiar.org/3Epu6Kw #WithScienceWeCan on.cgiar.org/3Go0Jc1

Well that’s not good

Devastated to hear about the death of Rich Armitage. He was a larger than life character, in every sense. An honor of a lifetime working for him www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

An opportunity for GOP pols who’ve always opposed Law of the Sea to blow up the treaty? Will US warships guard mining ops? A return to privateers (which would blow up another treaty)?

An anonymous group of food industry execs published a memo warning about “a threat to food security like none other we have seen” in the UK, citing degrading soil health, water scarcity, heating, and extreme weather. Mitigation strategies don’t meet level of risk www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/whistle...

Great piece on water security at a geopolitical fulcrum — Nepal!

Vanilla comes from this orchid. Hard to grow, labor intensive to harvest, needs heat & humidity. Madagascar is the major world producer, also has graphite & nickel reserves, very low income country nonetheless. ⬆️47% US tariff

Wonder if the Europeans are rushing in to try to cut a deal first? Natural gas, antimony, pistachios, mmmm

"Integrated assessment models, used to guide how much governments should invest in cutting GHG emissions, have failed to capture major risks from climate change. Potential economic benefits of urgent climate policy action have also been significantly understated" www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Monday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the lowest on record (JAXA data) • about 570,000 km² below the 2010s mean • about 970,000 km² below the 2000s mean • about 1,540,000 km² below the 1990s mean • about 1,920,000 km² below the 1980s mean Plots: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i... 🧪⚒️🌊

Russia is a minerals powerhouse — or it could be. These are huge, decadal projects, and Russia’s investment environment is not exactly a safe bet

Oh wow — an element of the GOP has long opposed the Law of the Sea; this move for deep sea mining access from TMC may give them a hammer to break it. Would be consistent with new critical minerals EO

Sounds like a pretty weak hand at the negotiating table

Deep-Sea mining and its impact on the midwater! theconversation.com/deep-sea-min...

Heard Sen Grassley speak yesterday to an agriculture group & he noted there’s a saying: “society is nine meals away from revolution.” Felt pretty ominous in current circumstances! (even though he qualified it won’t happen here)

I believe “war plans” refers to a limited number of strategic & theater level plans on the shelf? That would be the China plan Musk was going to hear not the Yemen strike. Sounds like the Signal chat disclosed OPORDS not warplans. So, a technicality not a lie. Still very classified tho

Sen Klobuchar #DialogueNext has confidence some of her Republican colleagues will “rise up” for food security & calls coming SCOTUS cases “a stress test for democracy” “Immigrants don’t diminish America; they ARE America” Farmers are in the “headwinds” of tariffs, avian flu, US cuts

Here for bipartisan food security #dialoguenextdc hosted by @WORLDFOODPRIZE. “Here” at the Willard — was supposed to be at the US Institute of Peace. Hard to get past that

Even 'safe' #climate scenarios may overshoot 2°C warming: New PIK study shows feedback loops like #permafrost thaw could amplify global heating throughout this millennium. Paris agreement only possible with very low emissions + low climate sensitivity. www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/late...

China is doubling down on plans to tighten its global grip over critical minerals sector • Chinese investment in exploration for coal, gold, copper, lead zinc, nickel, molybdenum has risen sharply since '21 • China is world’s biggest producer for 30 of 44 critical minerals from US Geological Survey

There’s another Sharon Burke out there doing some amazing science — and training Meta, unfortunately

Mapping changes in temperature: every decade from the 1850s to 2020s

For the morning crowd: I wrote a thing on the latest #SeaLevelRise science from the @h2020protect.bsky.social project sternaparadisaea.net/2025/03/19/p...

To be clear: that for me is just another reason to see Canada as a crucial ally and partner. Losing the warm ties between us is devastating, and not just because we’re losing the support of a superpower

Ok I may be the last to know, but Kobo is an alternative to Amazon/Kindle/Audible. Canadian initiated & run company, now with Japanese ownership www.kobo.com/us/en?srslti...