Brian Stone

The techno-optimists have never been much interested in the low-tech fixes that actually enhance climate resilience and lower emissions (and make us happier in the process).

Ultimately, climate change is not a technological problem but one of human restraint – where/how to build, where not to, and how to moderate energy use. Technology is useful for these aims but secondary.

What is changing is not the science but the remarkably poor track record of technological innovation to offer a fix commensurate to the threat (e.g., direct air capture, a deployment of renewables that comes decades too late).

Gates follows in the steps of a growing number of techno-optimists (Musk, Shellenberger, etc.) who once acknowledged the immensity of the climate challenge and now dismiss evidence of near to medium-term devastation as alarmism.

Bill Gates says climate crisis won’t cause ‘humanity’s demise’ in call to shift focus to ‘improving lives’ Billionaire’s statement comes a day after UN said humanity missed 1.5C climate target and warned of devastation

Hurricane Melissa – ranking among the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall – sees it differently. As does Jamaica:

Americans are dying from extreme heat. Autopsy reports don’t show the full story Official reports are likely to overlook heat’s role in a death. As US temperatures rise, experts say the true toll needs to be counted

One of the many things @ninalakhani.bsky.social does so well is show the very real, very now cost of climate change at the most human level. This story is devastatingly good: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

California insurers set to charge homeowners for L.A. County fire costs Residential policyholders across California could be paying several hundred million dollars to help cover the costs of claims arising out of the January firestorms in Los Angeles County.

Residential policyholders across California could be paying several hundred million dollars to help cover the costs of claims arising out of the January firestorms in Los Angeles County.

Laurence Darmiento

www.latimes.com/business/sto...

The federal government now spends more on rebuilding devastated communities each year than the total amount budgeted for highways, bridges, airports, seaports, spaceports, and (needless to say) transit.

In First Six Months, Cost of Weather Catastrophes on Pace to Break a Record

Accounting for $110 billion in special appropriations for disaster relief after Hurricanes Milton and Helene, the total cost of disaster relief in 2024 exceeded every discretionary federal budget item with the exception of education. No wonder they've stopped counting in 2025:

The Abundance Movement’s Blind Spot | NOEMA What if Americans care more about the cost of climate disasters than carbon-free energy?

Our present politics -- even on the political left -- tends to overlook the potential for adaptive urbanism to reframe the way we think about cities. A new essay in Noema Magazine (@noemamag.com) explores this shortcoming of the abundance movement:

The Lunacy Of Rebuilding In Disaster-Prone Areas | NOEMA Why do we keep rebuilding (and subsidizing) areas that are all but certain to flood again, to burn again, to fall into the ocean? It’s time to rethink climate adaptation, with retreat as the first ste...

I explore the idea of adaptive urbanism in an essay on the missed opportunities of rebuilding after climate disasters -- we need to understand retreat as a process of renewal rather than one of abandonment:

The idea is simple. The choices that render cities too expensive, arduous to move through, and aesthetically uninspiring also elevate climate risk. Cities cannot be made more resilient to climate impacts without making them more affordable, navigable, and beautiful. I call this adaptive urbanism.