#publicpolicy — Public Fediverse posts

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'University of Melbourne architect and the lead author of the study, said animals were seeking out buildings as substitute habitats as their natural homes and hollows disappeared'

#polycrisis #clusterfuck #habitat #publicPolicy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/06/possums-in-the-roof-koalas-in-bed-study-shows-how-animals-resort-to-australian-homes-after-habitat-loss

'mental health is the stepsister of the healthcare system. It’s not right. But because we cant see it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And the medical healthcare system doesn’t want to recognize and pay for mental healthcare apart from giving out drugs to make them go away'

#mentalHealth #publicPolicy #publicHealth

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/05/lindsay-clancy-murder-trial-retrial

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

Politics today feels less about solving public issues and more about winning battles. Deep ideological divides turn debates into hostility, eroding trust in democratic institutions and making compromise nearly impossible.

• Focus on facts, not personal attacks.
• Prioritize community progress over party loyalty.

Are we using politics to build societies, or just dividing ourselves?

#Politics #Democracy #PublicPolicy #CivilDiscourse #Mastodon

The Global Cybersecurity Alliance is calling for immediate government action in response to a surge in AI-driven cyber attacks. Read the full article for recommended policy measures, international coordination priorities, and practical steps for strengthening national defenses: https://wix.to/WYUe4We

#InfoSec
#GovTech
#PublicPolicy
#Cybersecurity
#RiskManagement
#ArtificialIntelligence

there's such a profound discord bw how i perceived civic virtue/the public interest/duty of care/pastoral responsibility and our current social formation around technology

i realise these are all distinct but the wholesale normalisation of ai (particularly into education and public service) intersects them all and i honestly believe this unreflective adoption (clearly perceived to be an essential engine of economic growth and competitive advantage) is symptom of social disease

'New York City’s public school system plans to impose strict limits on artificial intelligence and screen time in classrooms for the upcoming school year, including a blanket ban on generative AI'

#technology #pedagogy #genAI #publicPolicy #evidenceBasedPractice

https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-public-schools-to-ban-ai-for-teaching-students-below-9th-grade

Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley recommends requiring new data centers to cover their eventual decommissioning costs. That makes absolute sense: taxpayers should not inherit the cost of dismantling abandoned industrial infrastructure.

Video:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbOMvv0jlAt/

Provision text:
https://salemdata.net/CityOfSalem/other/BradfordCounty_Decommissioning_Provision_Corrected.txt

#DataCenter #DataCenters #Decommissioning #TaxpayerProtection #LocalGovernment #PublicPolicy #LandUse #EnergyPolicy #Accountability #SalemOR

CW: Occasional Foul Language. Always Political.

Breaking: March to the White House breaks out at the All of U.S. 250 Rally in Washington, D.C.!

Find a demonstration near you at allofus250.org

Link: https://bsky.app/profile/50501movement.bsky.social/post/3mpcb24bfms22

----------------------------

Reposted from 50501: The People's Movement

Join the Movement at https://fiftyfifty.one

This robot is unaffiliated w/ 50501

Replies here are only seen in the Fediverse, not on Bluesky. 50501 volunteers do not monitor this account.

----------------------------

#Coup #Activism #FederalGovernment #USpol #Trump #NoKings #elections #50501Movement #WeAreTheResistance #WeHaveFriendsEverywhere #FDT #PeoplesMovement #FiftyFiftyOne #StopICE #protest #organize

#MarchToTheWhiteHouse #AllOfUs250 #DCRally #WashingtonDC #PoliticalDemonstration #USPolitics #RallyForChange #PublicPolicy #DemocracyInAction #FindAProtest

This new book explains why your elderly parents’ retirement home, the nursery where you drop your children, or the company that pipes water into your kitchen is taken over by an increasingly intricate and deregulated industry.

If a private equity fund is "buying something using a lot a debt, [then] all of that debt is loaded onto the company that the private equity fund has acquired."
"Private equity has moved into care homes, housing, water, nurseries and other essential services."
"We have the power for it to be done otherwise."

Hettie O’Brien: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAJKiVQZaks via @oscarjiminy

#mortality #publicHealth #housing #publicServices #retirement #careHomes #hospital #expansion #development #LBO #privateFinance #finance #privateFinance #privateEquity #capitalism #publicPolicy #assets #England #Wales #Scotland #privateSector #UK #Britain #Blackstone #property #realEstate #buildToRent #Macquarie #childCare #careIndustry #taxBreaks #pensions #extraction

School Kits, Big Impact: Inside El Salvador’s Quiet Education Push

Dear Cherubs, there’s something oddly powerful about a cardboard box that doesn’t contain chaos, delivery delays, or “please assemble yourself” furniture instructions. In El Salvador, it contains something far rarer: opportunity, neatly folded and mildly creased.

Across the country, thousands of children have been receiving full school kits—uniforms, shoes, books, stationery, backpacks, and in some cases digital devices—aimed at reducing the everyday friction that keeps education just out of reach. According to UNICEF, such school supply initiatives are widely used in developing education systems to improve attendance and reduce dropout rates, especially among lower-income families.

THE BOX THAT CHANGED THE MORNING ROUTINE

On paper, it sounds simple: give kids the tools they need for school. In practice, it’s a quiet reshaping of daily life. No scrambling for notebooks. No “borrow a pen again?” conversations. Just a child getting ready for school without the background noise of scarcity.

The initiative has been associated with government-led education support programs in El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele’s administration, which has prioritised visible social interventions alongside broader security reforms. As noted by thisclaimer.com in its coverage of public welfare initiatives, such programs often carry a dual effect: practical support for families and a strong symbolic message about inclusion.

One widely shared moment showed a young girl opening her kit and reacting with visible excitement. Not because it was luxurious, but because it was enough. And sometimes, enough is revolutionary in its own quiet, inconvenient way.

DIGNITY, BUT MAKE IT PRACTICAL

Here’s the uncomfortable part: school supplies shouldn’t feel like a headline. They should feel like background noise. Yet in many regions, they still function as a financial barrier disguised as a shopping list.

Critics of large-scale distribution programs often point out logistical challenges and long-term sustainability questions. Fair. But supporters argue that immediate access matters more than theoretical perfection when children are currently sitting in classrooms without basic tools.

And there’s a dry irony here: we live in a world where high-tech solutions for education are debated in conference rooms, while the simplest fix—actually giving kids what they need to learn—still qualifies as a policy achievement.

The emotional centre of this story isn’t political branding or viral clips. It’s a child seeing possibility packaged in a backpack and not having to translate it into something else to understand it.

Whether one views these initiatives as transformative policy or practical optics, the result on the ground is hard to ignore: fewer barriers between a child and a classroom.

And maybe that’s the real headline nobody prints loudly enough: sometimes progress doesn’t arrive as disruption. Sometimes it just arrives on time.

Sources list:
UNICEF — https://www.unicef.org/
World Bank Education Overview — https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education
Government of El Salvador — https://www.presidencia.gob.sv/
BBC News Education Coverage — https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cp7r8vgl2lgt

School boards and universities will both be affected by Ontario’s Bill 101 sweeping changes
#Ontario #Canada #Bill101 #Education #Politics #PublicPolicy #Universities #Schools #Students #Teachers #AcademicFreedom #PolicyReform #HigherEducation #StudentData
https://the-14.com/school-boards-and-universities-will-both-be-affected-by-ontarios-bill-101-sweeping-changes/

Upcoming #lecture talk at #UVIC.

From #Forests Frayed to Forests Renewed.
April 16, 2026.

Join us April 16, 2026 at the University of Victoria for a thought-provoking talk with keynote speaker Ben Parfitt as he explores, Forests Frayed to Forests Renewed: The Case for Rezoning BC’s Public Lands.

Ben has covered #forestry and natural resource issues in #BritishColumbia since the 1980s both as a journalist and in his previous role as senior public policy analyst with the now-closed Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office. He is currently a reporter with The Tyee where he covers the forestry and oil and gas industries, among others, and their impacts on critical natural resources like water.

In his talk, Ben will explain the consequences of today’s outdated land use policies and outline how rezoning BC’s public lands can set us on a more desirable course by conserving at-risk primary forests, restore lands scarred by industrialization and support jobs in a refocused, value-oriented forest industry.

Whether you’re an activist, policy maker or someone passionate about environmental preservation this is a talk you won’t want to miss.

University of Victoria – [Lecture Theatre HSD A240]
Tickets: $20
https://bcpolicy.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F35215

#BCpoli #CDNpoli #PublicPolicy #BCForestryReform #StopEcocide #NaturalResources #Degrowth #CarbonFootprint #FossilFuels #environmental #climate #PolicyChange #PolicyReform #WeCantDrinkOil #WeCantBreatheGas #StopDeforestation #WeCantEatDeadForests #YYJ #VictoriaBC

Every institution has a ghost. And no, not the Halloween kind. The kind made of old habits, old fears, old rituals and old incentives. The kind that politely swallows our best reform ideas time and again.

https://associationredefine.substack.com/p/designing-with-ghosts-a-practical?r=6l8ed8

#democracy #governance #systemsthinking #reform #publicpolicy #politics #politicalculture #InstitutionalMemory #civicdesign

Every institution has a ghost. And no, not the Halloween kind. The kind made of old habits, old fears, old rituals and old incentives. The kind that politely swallows our best reform ideas time and again.

https://associationredefine.substack.com/p/designing-with-ghosts-a-practical?r=6l8ed8

#democracy #governance #systemsthinking #reform #publicpolicy #politics #politicalculture #InstitutionalMemory #civicdesign

Every institution has a ghost. And no, not the Halloween kind. The kind made of old habits, old fears, old rituals and old incentives. The kind that politely swallows our best reform ideas time and again.

https://associationredefine.substack.com/p/designing-with-ghosts-a-practical?r=6l8ed8

#democracy #governance #systemsthinking #reform #publicpolicy #politics #politicalculture #InstitutionalMemory #civicdesign

Every institution has a ghost. And no, not the Halloween kind. The kind made of old habits, old fears, old rituals and old incentives. The kind that politely swallows our best reform ideas time and again.

https://associationredefine.substack.com/p/designing-with-ghosts-a-practical?r=6l8ed8

#democracy #governance #systemsthinking #reform #publicpolicy #politics #politicalculture #InstitutionalMemory #civicdesign

Every institution has a ghost. And no, not the Halloween kind. The kind made of old habits, old fears, old rituals and old incentives. The kind that politely swallows our best reform ideas time and again.

https://associationredefine.substack.com/p/designing-with-ghosts-a-practical?r=6l8ed8

#democracy #governance #systemsthinking #reform #publicpolicy #politics #politicalculture #InstitutionalMemory #civicdesign

"Musk’s management of his own companies like X provides clues about what to expect from President Trump.

In Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk, the business mogul lays out what he calls his five step “algorithm” for making organizations more efficient. After his first step, questioning every requirement, Musk’s second step is to remove as many processes as possible. He goes as far as saying that if you didn’t cut so deep that you have to add some parts back later, you didn’t go far enough. Here’s how Musk put it:

“Delete any part or process you can. You may have to add them back later. In fact, if you do not end up adding back at least 10 percent of them, then you didn’t delete enough.”

Sound familiar? As the Trump administration issues one sweeping declaration after another — blanket suspensions of foreign aid, DEI, federal grants, loans, and so on — the DNA of Musk’s management philosophy seems present in practically all of it.

There will be cuts. The question is: how much will be put back?"

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trump-buyouts-mirror-elon-musks-twitter

#USA #Trump #Musk #PublicPolicy #AntiLabor #AntiUnions #Corporativism #Austerity

Homelessness in the U.S. has reached record highs, fueled by affordable housing "shortages" and economic inequality. What policy reforms are needed to tackle these issues to provide stable housing for all?
https://buff.ly/4h4UdUQ

#HomelessnessCrisis #AffordableHousing #EconomicInequality #PolicyReform #SocialJustice #EndHomelessness #HousingForAll #PovertyAwareness #HumanRights #CommunitySupport #SystemicChange #UrbanChallenges #EconomicDisparity #PublicPolicy #SocialIssues #HousingCrisis

The 2023 US 50-State National Seismic Hazard Model - Overview And Implications
--
https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/science/2023-national-seismic-hazard-model-whats-shaking <-- USGS technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1177/87552930231215428 <-- shared paper
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #earthquake #seismichazard #risk #hazard #shakemap #cost #economics #geology #engineeringgeology #hazardmodel #model #modeling #seismicity #faultruptures #groundmotions #probabilistic #probability #geostatistics #engineering #planning #management #mitigation #NSHM #forecast #infrastructure #publicsafety #hazardassessment #fault #faulting #structuralgeology #intensity #mercalli #buildingcode #design #publicpolicy #shakemap #engineeringrisk #future
@USGS @FEMA

"Noticing who isn't in the room is the first step. Next you can ask, What would it take to change this?" --Anna Zivarts, author of When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency.

https://islandpress.org/books/when-driving-not-option#desc

#transportation #planning #UrbanPlanning #Urbanists #PublicPolicy #PublicHealth #PoliSci #sociology #disability #accessibility #MoveEquity #MobilityJustice #EBikes #transit #micromobility #BikeTooter #inclusion #equity #CarCulture #nondrivers #WeekWithoutDriving

I'm DEVOURING Anna Zivarts' book When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency.
People teaching public policy, transportation planning, public health, social work, sociology, political science, on and on--please assign this book in your classes! + buy copies to give school board, city council, other decision makers.
https://islandpress.org/books/when-driving-not-option#desc
#transportation #planning #PublicPolicy #PublicHealth #PoliSci #sociology #disability #accessibility #MoveEquity #MobilityJustice

I'm going to try an #introduction.
Let's see: I'm passionate about #teaching and #learning in #highered. I support #faculty in their teaching at #umich. My phd is in #politicalscience from Emory.

Let's talk about #activelearning, #ScienceOfLearning, equity-focused and inclusive teaching (#DEI), teaching in #publicpolicy and political science, #coursedesign, etc.

Of course, I'm always game for fascinating animal facts, adorable/fluffy pets, #cooking and #baking in my social media. :-)