I’ve deeply enjoyed @robinsonmeyer’s writing ever since I learned of him while working at Editorially; his response an ethics column in today’s Weekly Climate was spot on: “some questions are better suited to an accountant than an ethicist.” (If only it were always so easy.)
It’s funny how people always cite the work of public defenders—some of the most underpaid and overworked people in the legal system—to argue that corporate lawyers are not morally culpable when they take a check from a villainous civil client.
Cyd is a *terrific* person to work with. If you’re interested in making government services better in the SF Bay Area, these positions are worth checking out.
Cloudflare's problems with Kiwi Farms isn't a new thing - an analysis conducted earlier this year found the platform has an outsized role in keeping misinformation and hate sites online. My latest for @TIME https://t.co/IWZTk30K1g
@suchwinston That reminds me of an article I read this week on pronouns — there’s a section where the author mentions the top recommendation of a university task force was about language and pronouns, rather than healthcare, bathrooms, etc. Because it’s easy. https://t.co/voJGUxATRO
@ifoundtheme@JillHarrison44 But FWIW, I was thinking less of discretionary v. rules than what work areas have leadership’s focus (and ∴ resources). e.g. will comms-oriented tools like ECHO always suffer b/c the agency sees its job as rulemaking & enforcement; public info is an extra box they have to check?
This is such a perfect overview of both how to work your way through messy/unclear pollution data from the EPA and of how limited/ripe-for-improvement those public resources ultimately are.
Want to see how frustrating it is to try to understand whether you have basic things like safe air and water?
Here's an example about a lead release in the Greenlake area of Seattle that I'm coming across this morning. It's from June.
@ifoundtheme@JillHarrison44 Ooh, that’s a really interesting framing! I hadn’t thought of the way many governments folks are forced to work because of legal risk as being like work-to-rule striking. 🤔
If they see their job as Doing The Thing but wind up hamstrung by outside barriers, could focusing on informing the public (even if slow and less direct) be a useful approach? (Is practicing this kind of thinking even something agency leadership *should* do?)