The history of #biological thought has long been dominated by a tension between the deterministic rigidity of the genotype and the fluid adaptability of the phenotype. For much of the 20th century, the Modern Synthesis emphasized the primacy of #genetic mutation and natural selection, often relegating #environmental influence to a mere background filter against which #genes were selected. However. . .
#WhatIs #Biology #EvolutionaryBiology #Neuroscience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2025/12/wi12252501.html

Drinking water protections:

By Ben Szalinski and Brenden Moore, Capital News Illinois

“Illinois Senate Bill 1723 bans #carbon #sequestration — the process of capturing and storing carbon by injecting it underground — within an area that “overlies, underlies, or passes through” a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-designated sole-source aquifer. #EPA

The new law applies to the footprint of the #Mahomet #Aquifer, which is the main source of drinking water for more than 500,000 people across a 15-county area in central Illinois.

It comes as Illinois, especially downstate, is targeted for carbon sequestration projects due to the state’s favorable geology and the availability of federal tax credits.

Studies, including those conducted by researchers at the #universityofillinois have found minimal risk to water sources from sequestration activity.

But the legislation was a priority for central Illinois community #activists #environmental advocates and a bipartisan cadre of local lawmakers with zero risk tolerance due to the lack of a clear alternative water source if the aquifer were tainted.”

💡"We need to ask deeper questions about the nature and purpose of #innovation."

Prof. at the UG Klaus Hubacek responds to the #NobelPrize for economic growth and innovation. Why innovate, and for whom?

Curious? Read more 👇
🔗 https://www.rug.nl/fse/news/energy-and-sustainability/why-innovate-and-for-whom

🧪 #SciComm #nobel #economics #environmentalscience #economic #science #technology #environmental #research #ScientistsOnMastodon @universityofgroningen

Punjab moves to purge forestry, environmental dept of corruption

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://dailytimes.com.pk/1422656/punjab-moves-to-purge-forestry-environmental-dept-of-corruption/

The idiot orange menace has halted all offshore wind projects in the US with an unsubstantiated claim of national security.
#environmental #WindPower

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/22/trump-wind-farms

Air #pollution causes harmful contaminants, such as particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, to circulate in the environment. It has been exacerbated over the past two centuries by industrialization, vehicle emissions, and, more recently, #wildfires
#Environmental #Biology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2025/12/env12222502.html

People who have been exposed to both #PFAS and PCBs are more likely to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis ( #MS ). These new research findings are based on analyses of blood samples from more than 1,800 individuals in Sweden
#Environmental #Biomedical #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2025/12/env12222501.html

How can #compassion and #mindfulness inspire real-world change? #EngagedBuddhism bridges ancient #wisdom with today’s social, political, and #environmental challenges, showing that #spiritual practice and #activism can go hand in hand. Read more about this dynamic movement here:

🌍 https://www.fabriziomusacchio.com/weekend_stories/told/2025/2025-11-18-engaged_buddhism/

#WeekendStories #Buddhism

This guy... this Con leading #Canada...the Carney Cons are bulldozing fiduciary responsibilities and shitting all over #IndigenousRights, #environmental stewardship, #humanRights, and social and climate #justice. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2025/12/19/news/ontario-ford-fast-tracking-federal-oversight

#mining #cdnpoli #onpoli #CorporateCorruption

Contrails Map

https://map.contrails.org/

#HackerNews #Contrails #Map #contrails #mapping #aviation #technology #environmental #impact #air #travel

Gorge #estuary is #flooded.
The marshes are all underwater right now.

#Esquimalt #ViewRoyal #Saanich #BCFloodwatch #YYJFloodwatch #Watershed #VictoriaBC #weather #climate #ecosystems #environmental #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #nature #wetlands

From @TheGuardian, about the high #environmental cost of #AI: “OpenAI and Oracle [sued] the local authority to overcome opposition & build a massive facility that would use 1.4 gigawatts of electricity—roughly the equivalent of powering 1.4 million homes. …” https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/16/great-lakes-us-data-centers

#Buddhism's #ecological #philosophy frames #environmental care as #ethical imperative rather than mere conservation. Through #interdependence (#paṭiccasamuppāda), non-harming (#ahiṃsā), and the #Bodhisattva ideal, it extends #compassion to all sentient beings affected by #ClimateChange. #Impermanence (#anicca) invites #mindful engagement, not passivity, distinguishing natural cycles from #anthropogenic destruction.

🌍 https://www.fabriziomusacchio.com/weekend_stories/told/2025/2025-11-17-buddhism_and_the_environment/

#WeekendStories

The hydrogen industry will need to address the potential #environmental impacts from leakage, as well as how it interacts with other atmospheric gases, before it is adopted as a long-term alternative energy source, a new study led by researchers at Auburn University and Stanford University has found. 🌍

https://sustainabilityonline.net/?p=17842

You've watched Clueless (1995) but did you see Fuel-Less?

The Forbidden Film Big Oil Tried to Erase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVrg5eRJVTA

#ClimateTown #propaganda #environmental #environmentalism #fuel #petroleum #Exon #pollution #fuelless #fueless

I find myself explaining this to people every time there is conversation over search engines and their included LLM’s. I wanted to make a single post instead of just typing the same thing over and over.

Kagi, the search engine company, offers a premium model for their search and LLM models. The price starts at around $5/mo and goes up to $25/mo if you want all the bells and whistles, including the more advanced LLM stuff. Don't get me wrong, it is a good search, one of the best in fact. They claim to “stop the slop” by filtering out (as much as they can) the LLM generated garbage that usually rises to the top in a typical Google search. The irony is they also offer LLM’s for you to use. Here are my thoughts on the irony:

The core issue with Kagi's position is not that they offer both “SlopStop” and LLM assistants. It is instead they're simultaneously policing and proliferating the same technology, and that contradiction cannot be resolved through clever product segmentation.

“SlopStop” targets "low-quality, mass-generated LLM content designed to manipulate ranking.” But Kagi Assistant gives users access to 30+ LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and others, with customizable instructions and web access. The distinction between "personal use" and "public slop" is artificial and every content farm operator starts with a single LLM assistant generating text. Kagi cannot control what users do with the content they create. The moment LLM-generated text leaves their platform and gets published anywhere, it becomes part of the slop ecosystem they're trying to filter.
Kagi's own documentation states AI should "enhance, not create or replace" human intelligence. Yet their Assistant is explicitly designed to create: "write essays, code, emails, and more.” They've simply segregated the problem. They hide the slop in search results while selling the slop-production tools in a different tab. This isn't a principled stance; it's premium arbitrage. They down rank external pollution while providing the infrastructure to generate it, then charge you for the privilege of filtering out what their own tools helped make inevitable.

Kagi acknowledges that content farms exploit LLM’s "at massive scale.” But scale is scale, regardless of intent. A thousand users generating blog posts with Kagi Assistant creates the same problem as one content farm. The difference is Kagi profits from the former through subscriptions while claiming to fight the latter through community reporting. They're not solving the slop problem but instead they are monopolizing it.

It really is not irony. It is a business model that benefits from both sides of the “AI” equation, wrapped in the language of user empowerment and community moderation. The best search experience in the world doesn't change the math that you can't credibly fight AI slop while democratizing the means of its production.

Stop letting these companies profit off the use of LLM's. Stop supporting companies who push it, make it easy to use, or even say they are fine with it. It is bad for you and me and the rest of society, and the environment. These very companies who entwine themselves into the current "AI" bubble (also see Mozilla) instead of sticking with what they are good at and what makes them unique are the very ones who will crash and bankrupt when the bubble finally bursts.

:NoAI: :SystemChangeNotClimateChange:

Sources:
“Introducing SlopStop” - https://blog.kagi.com/slopstop
“SlopStop Kagi Help” - https://help.kagi.com/kagi/features/slopstop.html
“Kagi's AI Integration Philosophy” - https://help.kagi.com/kagi/why-kagi/ai-philosophy.html

Edit: typo

#Kagi #search #searchengine #ai #llm #Google #Gemini #openai #chatgpt #slop #stoptheslop #SlopStop #environment #environmental #environmentalism #ecosocialism #socialism #AntiCapitalism

The German government's recently approved Infrastructure Future Act has triggered immediate and significant concerns from environmental advocacy groups, raising... https://news.osna.fm/?p=27554 | #news #challenge #environmental #groups #infrastructure

Yesterday, Greenpeace activists climbed onto the roof of the Czech Ministry of the Environment and hung a large banner. They are protesting against the potential appointment of Petr Macinka, a candidate from the Motorists party, as Minister. Macinka is a vocal climate change denier, and his mental abilities would be sufficient for running a pub at best. Another candidate from the Motorists party is Filip Turek, who is currently on trial for sexual harassment and rape.
#environmental #nature

Consumers continue to purchase fast fashion, despite awareness of the #environmental and social cost of doing so, a study by the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) has found. 👕

https://sustainabilityonline.net/?p=17646