File this under propaganda. Last week, the TX Texas State Board of Education modified its operating rules. Now they have to teach things like this:
I wonder if they'll also teach how the reliance on fossil fuels weakens our national security. How the Ukrainian war is a war built on fossil fuels, how Saudi Arabia is interfering in our elections, how we actually invaded another country to secure the oil supply.
I also hope they emphasize how air pollution from fossil fuels kills millions of people every year. hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/news/…
A 🧵about tenure, a form of job security that is granted to professors and academic researchers after a certain period of employment. It provides protection against unjustified dismissal, so they can focus on their research and teaching without fear of reprisal.
It basically says that you can only be fired only for cause (eg, misconduct or not doing assigned responsibilities). You can read @TAMU's policies here: rules-saps.tamu.edu/PDFs/12.01.99.…
The purpose of tenure is to safeguard academic freedom by allowing professors to explore and present controversial ideas without the risk of losing their job. It's essential for the pursuit of knowledge and the advancement of science.
My grad student, Jangho Lee, and I have a pre-print on future temperature-related mortality in U.S. cities. It is presently under review, so caveat emptor. eartharxiv.org/repository/vie…
This follows up a 🧵 I did a week or so ago. Read that for background.
Our analysis covers mortality in 106 U.S. cities that contain 65% of the U.S. population. Let me emphasize that our results apply only to cities in the U.S. We cannot comment on, e.g., rural U.S. locations or other countries.
I typically don't respond to comments like this, but this seems like a teachable moment. The comment, as written, reads like "Don't worry about climate change, we'll adapt." This is one of the most common arguments from climate dismissives.
First, note the way it's written "In reality, the MMT will adjust." It gives the impression that adaptation will happen automatically, with zero policy, and at no cost. It avoids the fact that adaptation is a choice we make.
Some people absolutely will adapt on their own, without any assistance from the gov't., and won't be negatively impacted by the cost. These people are rich.
An explanation about why people argue about what kills more, extreme heat or cold:
A lot of work has been done on connecting mortality to heat. Probably the most famous is this paper by Gaspirrini et al. thelancet.com/journals/lance…
These analyses produce plots of relative risk (RR) vs. temperature that look like this. RR is the number of temperature-related deaths at a particular temp divided by the number at the Minimum Mortality Temperature (MMT), the temp where deaths are lowest (19°C for London).