Aaron Cozen
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aaroncozen.bsky.social
Aaron Cozen
@aaroncozen.bsky.social
itinerant biologist
September 26, 2026 at 4:43 AM
“if you want to screw up the world a little, do a bad thing; if you want to screw up the world a lot, set up accounting rules that incentivize everyone to do that bad thing”
The inimitable @mikegrunwald.bsky.social has an exceptionally well written oped on the disastrous proposal from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to give companies carbon credit for cutting down trees.
Opinion | The Latest Corporate Climate Ruse (Gift Article)
Making deforestation look climate-friendly will encourage a lot more deforestation.
www.nytimes.com
September 17, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
A deregulatory trifecta? Congress moves to block lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry. The EPA rolls back climate regs. The Supreme Court hears a landmark climate case.
Congressional Republicans Aim to Shield Fossil Fuel Companies From Climate Lawsuits - Inside Climate News
The House Judiciary Committee will consider the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act as the Trump administration moves to roll back federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
insideclimatenews.org
September 16, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
‘We’re near a breaking point:’ firefighters say US government is failing them amid intense wildfire season
‘We’re near a breaking point:’ firefighters say US government is failing them amid intense wildfire season
US grapples with federal firefighter shortage as crews say they’re spread thin and lack resources during unrelenting year of fire
www.theguardian.com
September 16, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
Going forward, the US National Science Foundation research budget for all atmospheric, ocean, and Earth sciences is $110 million per year.

Trump's illegal war with Iran cost the Department of Defense (i.e., the American taxpayers) $38 billion in the first 5 months, or $220 million per day.
Estimating the Cost of Combat Operations Against Iran
CBO assesses the Department of Defense's costs for the current armed conflict against Iran, as well as the conflict's economic and budgetary effects.
www.cbo.gov
September 15, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
Wildfires are getting so large and severe and summers so hot and dry that some forests just aren’t growing back after burning.

Recent research suggests up to 40% of Western conifer forests could transition to grassland and shrubland by 2100, taking significant carbon storage with them.
Wildfires Are Turning Forests in the American West Into Shrubland (Gift Article)
Towering woodlands in the West are being permanently replaced by tracts of spiky shrubs. Conditions “just aren’t normal anymore,” one researcher said.
www.nytimes.com
August 23, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
There is basically no distinction left between the oil companies & the administration. The casual corruption here is just breathtaking.
A White House official helped an oil company advance its projects. Now she’ll lead its DC office.
Brittany Kelm’s departure from the White House to lead the Washington office of a Houston oil company has raised questions about the close proximity between
www.eenews.net
August 22, 2026 at 7:03 PM
August 23, 2026 at 1:09 AM
August 20, 2026 at 9:09 PM
“For a new power plant, the radiative forcing from the accumulation of released CO2 exceeds the direct thermal emissions in less than half a year.”
August 10, 2026 at 6:12 PM
“If built as planned, the gas burning plants — scattered across states including Texas, Ohio and Wyoming — could release as much planet-warming pollution in a year as roughly half of all the passenger vehicles in the United States”

www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/c...
Trump’s Push for More A.I. Data Centers Will Mean Major Air Pollution (Gift Article)
www.nytimes.com
August 5, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and #climatecrisis

That’s $700,000 a minute

Iran conflict windfall over 3 months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage

Story by Jillian Ambrose and me
www.theguardian.com/business/ng-...
Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and climate crisis
Iran conflict windfall over three months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage
www.theguardian.com
August 4, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
You have to listen to Brooke’s interview with @doctorow.pluralistic.net on the latest @onthemedia.bsky.social. This is one of our best episodes in a while. Come for the incisive AI analysis. Stay for the heart and humor!
F@#$ the AI Overlords | On the Media | WNYC Studios
The race to build the most advanced artificial intelligence continues to dominate the headlines. On this week’s On the Media, who does this new technology actually serve? Plus, how ev...
www.wnycstudios.org
August 2, 2026 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
Scoop: NIH is on a mission to enlist one million Americans to share their genetic data to help with health research through a precision medicine program called “All of Us.”

What participants don’t know is that at one research site, Palantir stores the data.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Palantir has a hand in NIH's most ambitious health initiative
The defense tech firm's work with public health data has largely flown under the radar.
www.motherjones.com
July 7, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
My latest. I know a lot of people will strongly disagree. that's okay. I am just trying to get us all thinking about the problem, and potential solutions. | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Managing the pitfalls of private money
In recent months, we have learned that the relationship between the US federal government and American science is not as stable as many of us thought it to be. While many grants that were abruptly (an...
www.science.org
July 2, 2026 at 5:06 AM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
The data center industry is building behind-the-meter fossil gas power plants at a frightening pace. If allowed to go forward, these 74 plants would generate 143 GWs of electricity – enough to power CA three times over. This new report provides pollution & demographic info for each of the projects.
NEW REPORT: 74 Gas Plants Proposed for U.S. Data Centers Could Release as Much Climate Pollution as Australia

Read the report: environmentalintegrity.org/news/74-gas-...
July 1, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Why are we still buying “climate solutions” that keep the fossil fuel industry in business?

“…industry funding tends to bias researchers whether they are aware of it or not, affecting what people choose to study and what they find”
I’ve spent more than a year reporting on how the fossil fuel industry has infiltrated academia over the last 30 years, shaping fundamental paradigms on how to address climate change.

My first story in the new @propublica.org and @drilledmedia.bsky.social series, “Carbon Captured”, is out today.
NEW: This is the story of how one of the most influential climate papers in history came to exist thanks to one of the companies most responsible for causing the climate crisis — and one with a financial stake in the technologies described in the paper.

w/ @drilledmedia.bsky.social
June 26, 2026 at 6:48 AM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
NEW: This is the story of how one of the most influential climate papers in history came to exist thanks to one of the companies most responsible for causing the climate crisis — and one with a financial stake in the technologies described in the paper.

w/ @drilledmedia.bsky.social
Beyond Denial: How Oil Execs Shaped a Landmark Climate Study
BP sponsored an elite Princeton research center to address the climate problem without getting off fossil fuels. Its key work, a paper known as “Wedges,” guided climate discourse for a generation.
www.propublica.org
June 25, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
Climate.us is live. Built by members of the team behind Climate.gov, this new independent nonprofit website keeps trusted climate information easy to find, easy to use, and harder to erase. #ClimateForUs #ClimateUS
June 23, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
I have resigned from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol's Independent Standards Board.

The Protocol is openly violating its own rules and has effectively delegated forest carbon accounting standards to a secret, industry-led working group.

ghgpolicy.org/s/2026-06-08...
June 8, 2026 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule.
Russell Vought is going destroy American Science.
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...
Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule
Russell Vought is going destroy American Science
elizabethginexi.substack.com
May 29, 2026 at 2:42 AM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
BREAKING:

New proposed OMB regulation, applying to all federal grants, requiring grant reviews by senior political appointees and re-emphasizes that "peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion".

#standupforscience

public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10817.pdf
public-inspection.federalregister.gov
May 28, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
Another reminder: if there exists *any* class of people who don't have due process rights, then *nobody* actually has due process rights because the government can always just say you're in that class.
A US-born woman born was confronted by sheriff deputies in Louisiana who were convinced her ID and social security card were fakes. They turned her over to ICE, who shackled her & took her an hour away. Even after a lawyer convinced ICE of the woman's citizenship the sheriff says they did no wrong
U.S. citizen stopped in Lafayette, shackled, and detained in Louisiana ICE facility | The Lens
The U.S.-born young mother presented ICE and sheriff’s deputies with her ID and Social Security card. Agents took her anyway.
thelensnola.org
May 25, 2026 at 2:55 AM
an e- bikes for clunkers policy would pay for itself in spades

better public health outcomes
better quality of life
more money in local communities
curbing support for fossil fuel companies' climate arson
A flash policy to address the pain at the pump would be point of sale rebates for e-bikes and rapid bike lane and infrastructure build out.
May 25, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Aaron Cozen
If you're reading this, my cat and I have boarded a one-way flight out of the United States.

The Trump administration wrongfully denied my work permit renewal; after months of demanding that they follow the law, we have run out of legal recourse, and I have no choice but to leave the country. (🧵)
Support Alex's Emergency Relocation + Next Steps on Give In May
Alex is leaving the US after his work permit renewal was wrongfully denied by Trump's USCIS.
www.giveinmay.org
May 18, 2026 at 11:40 AM