The hottest Adaptation Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

The Bitter Aftertaste of Roald Dahl

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 663 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Adaptation
  1. Roald Dahl is a globally famous children’s author known for books like Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and The BFG.
  2. His reputation is marred by explicit antisemitic statements he made about Jews and Israel, including accusations about collective behavior and undue financial influence.
  3. A new Broadway production about Dahl has brought his work back into the spotlight and reignited public debate over those antisemitic views, which were publicly expressed decades ago.

Cold Truths

Doomberg • 18571 implied HN points • 17 Jan 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Human life depends on a narrow band of temperature and humidity, so societies spend massive amounts of energy on heating and cooling to maintain thermal comfort. Because the planet’s average temperature is well below comfortable indoor levels, some argue modest warming would reduce the energy gap needed for decent living.
  2. Intermittent renewables like solar and wind often underperform in the coldest periods when heating is most needed, so they can’t by themselves guarantee reliable winter energy. Poor insulation and high energy costs leave many households unable to stay warm, creating real hardship and political backlash.
  3. Energy availability and infrastructure shape national power and prosperity; countries with abundant, secure energy tend to flourish while those without are vulnerable. Attacks on power plants in wartime show how denying energy can directly harm civilians and be used as a weapon.

The Economics of Climate Adaptation Optimism

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 1884 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Economic development-driven adaptation has been the main force improving climate-sensitive outcomes like crop yields, reduced deaths, and lower damages, even as the climate changes.
  2. Because adaptation’s costs and benefits are local and immediate, it often delivers larger near-term improvements than distant mitigation, and costly mitigation that slows growth can hurt the poor and weaken adaptation.
  3. Mitigation is still necessary to limit long-term warming, but it should focus on measures and R&D that provide immediate local economic benefits so they don’t undermine development and adaptation.

The Great Climate Reset

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 3680 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. The public and policy conversation has shifted quickly from apocalyptic climate messaging to a more pragmatic, energy-realism approach.
  2. Single-issue climate advocates will stay vocal and prominent in elite institutions, but their priorities may be out of step with broader public concerns.
  3. Even with a retreat from catastrophism, climate change still poses uncertain long-term risks, so sensible energy, adaptation, and evidence-based policies remain necessary.

Does that use a lot of energy? [Update]

Sustainability by numbers • 575 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. An interactive tool lets you compare the energy use of different products and activities so you can better judge their relative scale and importance.
  2. The tool was updated after lots of user feedback, with many improvements documented in a changelog, while deliberately leaving out some suggestions to avoid making it too complex.
  3. A major visible change is the addition of rough country-level energy cost comparisons to make results more meaningful, and the tool is available to use and share while remaining open to further (less frequent) feedback.
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Greenland has a 'vital strategic asset'

The Crucial Years • 4115 implied HN points • 06 Jan 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Greenland's massive ice sheet is its most important strategic asset because if it melts it could raise global sea levels by many feet and disrupt ocean currents, changing climates and flooding coastlines worldwide.
  2. Talk of seizing Greenland is a dangerous, colonial-minded idea that would violate Greenlanders' sovereignty, strain international alliances, and overlooks that most Greenlanders oppose joining the U.S.; Greenland has already banned new oil exploration and relies largely on renewables.
  3. Practical climate action works and matters: community organizing, clean transport like e-bikes, and renewable projects (from floating offshore solar to solar on reclaimed Superfund land) can help, but policy choices — for example on energy-efficiency standards for manufactured homes — will determine who benefits and who pays.

Congratulations World!

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 3032 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. 2025 had one of the lowest global death rates from extreme weather on record, at under 0.8 deaths per million people.
  2. This low toll is part of a long-term decline: death rates from extreme weather have fallen dramatically since the 1960s as better science, technology, policy, and greater wealth reduced vulnerability.
  3. Progress doesn’t eliminate risk—large, deadly disasters can still occur, and the data have limits (older undercounts and exclusion of extreme temperature impacts), so continued preparation and careful tracking are essential.

Consequences of Climate Change

David Friedman’s Substack • 314 implied HN points • 02 Mar 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. In the short run, warming tends to make us worse off because societies and systems are optimized for current conditions, but over centuries people can move, change crops, and adapt so long-run effects may be less harmful or even beneficial.
  2. Moderate warming can increase habitable land (cold areas warm more than hot ones) and CO2 fertilization raises crop yields and lowers water needs, while land loss from sea-level rise is much smaller than these potential gains.
  3. Burning all known fossil fuels could raise global temperatures by roughly 12°C over millennia and raise sea level by about 50 meters, which would be severe for many regions but, judging by past warm periods, not necessarily globally uninhabitable; the rate of warming matters because rapid change would be far more catastrophic than slow change that allows adaptation.

Revenge of the Climate Realists

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 2133 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. People who questioned the worst climate catastrophe claims were treated as pariahs even while accepting global warming; they argued the alarmism was overblown.
  2. Roger Pielke Jr. lost speaking invitations and faced a congressional investigation after arguing that rising disaster costs weren't linked to greenhouse gases.
  3. Those climate realists now claim a comeback and feel vindicated as the debate and public opinion shift.

‘Wuthering Heights’ Is Delightfully Perverted

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 278 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Adaptation
  1. The new Wuthering Heights throws out strict fidelity for a bold, stylized reinvention. It leans into raw emotion and deliberate perversity.
  2. Some viewers and critics find it superficial, but its emotional thrust and shocking choices make it a powerful, affecting experience for many people.
  3. Don’t expect a faithful Brontë adaptation; expect a polarizing, entertaining film that’s great if you want a wild, emotionally charged good time.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and "Love" The Collapse

OK Doomer • 196 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. People are moving past mourning the old future and choosing practical action. They’re learning skills like growing food, installing power systems, and staying healthy to survive and thrive.
  2. Community resilience is rising as friends and neighbors start homesteading where they live and building local networks and shared resources. At the same time, people are staying cautious about what they share and who they trust.
  3. The larger system is collapsing, so the focus has shifted from trying to save it to making a soft landing and building alternative systems. The priority now is preserving what can survive and creating practical, local solutions.

If You Can't Leave The Grid, Be The Grid

OK Doomer • 245 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Keep working and polish your ideas until they matter; recognition often comes after repeated rejection and proves you can overcome doubt.
  2. Expect serious climate and institutional disruptions this decade, so adapt now instead of waiting for others to save you.
  3. Learn practical, community-focused skills—like electrical work, plumbing, or emergency care—to keep systems running and help people rather than falling into despair.

Tale of Two Cities

The Crucial Years • 1743 implied HN points • 26 Nov 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Extreme climate impacts are happening now and escalating — cities can face Day Zero water crises, Arctic "zombie" fires are releasing ancient carbon, and ecosystems are under growing stress.
  2. Economic and political levers matter a lot — what big investors, pension funds, and city officials do can speed up or slow down the fossil-fuel era, making divestment and policy choices powerful tools.
  3. The solution requires rapid, large-scale industrial action — massive clean energy buildout and material transitions are needed fast, while rollbacks, local opposition, and risky techno-fixes could derail progress.

The Blackouts Are Coming

OK Doomer • 265 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Blackouts are becoming far more likely as data center growth, heatwaves, and storms strain the grid, so planning for outages now is important.
  2. If someone in your household relies on power for medical devices or heat/cooling, focus on a backup system that powers critical loads only, not the whole house.
  3. Don’t trust cheap DIY kits or affiliate hype — work with a professional installer who can choose reliable equipment, provide warranties, and safely size the system.

Leader’s with Blind Spots: Climate Change’s Human Toll

Adetokunbo Sees • 104 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Leaders who downplay climate risks and choose short-term economic gains over mitigation drive higher emissions and worsen environmental damage.
  2. Both historical and recent leadership choices have caused large environmental and human costs, and projections show hotter temperatures, higher seas, longer heatwaves, and economic losses by mid-century.
  3. Grassroots activism, informed voting, and public awareness campaigns are practical ways to push leaders toward stronger climate action and reduce future harm.

The New ‘Animal Farm’ Movie Is Less Equal Than the Book

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 737 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Adaptation
  1. The new animated Animal Farm softens Orwell’s pointed critique of Stalinism and changes key elements of the original allegory.
  2. Andy Serkis directed a big, star-studded 21st-century remake; Woody Harrelson voices Boxer and Kieran Culkin voices Squealer, and it opens in U.S. theaters on May 1.
  3. Orwell’s novella was a clear anti-Soviet allegory — so influential that the CIA backed a 1954 adaptation — but the new film downplays that specific political critique.

A Story Comes Out of a Transient State of Mind

Story Club with George Saunders • 91 implied HN points • 22 Feb 26
📚 Literature Adaptation
  1. Lincoln in the Bardo is getting two major adaptations: a movie to be directed by Duke Johnson and an opera by Missy Mazzoli with a libretto by Royce Vavrek scheduled for next October.
  2. There’s clear excitement and gratitude about attracting accomplished collaborators and adapters for the project.
  3. After a busy week in the U.K., there’s a plan to follow up on CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and share more about it.

Has the Rate of Global Warming More Than Doubled?

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 160 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Global warming has clearly accelerated since about 2015, with recent warming rates more than double the long-term 1970–2010 trend.
  2. If the next La Niña low is higher than past El Niño highs, that would confirm the faster warming and make 2°C of global warming likely in the 2030s instead of midcentury.
  3. The practical response is to plan and prepare to adapt to greater climate risks while still living well and focusing on what matters in daily life.

Quit your job, start a farm, write a book

As If We Were Staying • 15 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. A personal journey from biotech and capitalist life to regenerative farming shows that confronting climate reality often means remaking your life and work to fit a future that can last.
  2. Seeing capitalism like a tumor highlights how systems shape people’s habits and protections, so real change means healing both the structures and the people adapted to them.
  3. The answer lies in relational thinking and local care — reconnecting with land and community through restorative practices creates hopeful, durable ways of living.

Posts from Underground IV-V

The Lifeboat • 355 implied HN points • 12 Dec 25
📚 Literature Adaptation
  1. Some people get a weird pleasure from performative suffering, turning pain or misery into sarcastic moans that feel gratifying because they show their own degeneration.
  2. Heightened consciousness and overthinking tend to paralyze people, making them bored and prone to invent drama, guilt, or forced feelings just to feel alive.
  3. Modern tools like smartphones and the internet create an underground space where isolated, hyper-conscious personalities multiply and turn their inner life into conscious shitposting and performative personas.

The opportunity theory of depression

Wood From Eden • 3936 implied HN points • 28 Nov 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Adaptation
  1. Depression can happen when people feel there are no good opportunities in their lives. It's like a warning sign telling them to pause and wait for a better situation.
  2. Humans seek to feel useful and appreciated, which is different from just seeking social status. Feeling unimportant can lead to feelings of sadness or depression.
  3. Teenagers today sometimes feel low because they are seen as separate from adults and lack meaningful roles in society. This can make them feel powerless and contribute to depression.

100 Pages: Dew Harvesters, Water Generators, and Zeers

OK Doomer • 76 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. The illustrated survival guide now adds practical pages on dew harvesting, water generators, zeers, and heatwave mitigation to help people in different living situations prepare for emergencies.
  2. The guide has been revised and expanded using reader feedback and is being prepared for a print edition, with a downloadable PDF available now.
  3. The project relies on reader support and subscriptions to keep producing updates as climate and social stresses increase, and asks for one-time or ongoing contributions.

The "MurderBot" Apple TV Adaptation Is a Win...

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 192 implied HN points • 31 May 25
🎭️ Culture Adaptation
  1. The 'MurderBot' adaptation on Apple TV is getting great reviews for capturing the essence of its original character. People are excited to see a relatable robot with real feelings and challenges.
  2. The cast, especially Alexander Skarsgård as the lead, is praised for their performances. They bring depth to the characters, making viewers feel connected to them right away.
  3. The show is noted for its humor and heart, appealing to both fans of the books and new viewers. It's a unique take on science fiction that mixes action with emotional storytelling.

Different Kinds of Winning

The Crucial Years • 966 implied HN points • 22 Dec 23
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. There is a potential victory on pausing LNG exports, which could impact Biden's campaign and the planet positively.
  2. Campaigners and new data have highlighted the detrimental impact of LNG exports on the climate and American consumers.
  3. The administration's decision on LNG exports can be a crucial win for climate action and Biden's re-election efforts.

Dealing with randomness.

Philoinvestor • 216 implied HN points • 23 Jul 23
📖 Philosophy Adaptation
  1. Luck plays a significant role in life, but one must also believe in making their own luck.
  2. Adapt, adjust, and remain flexible to overcome challenges and achieve success.
  3. The journey towards a goal is as important as the goal itself; challenges sculpt one's character and lead to personal growth.

Sex at the limits and the limits of sex: Baker's Law

Holly Elmore • 196 implied HN points • 24 Jul 23
🔬 Science Adaptation
  1. Self-fertilization and asexuality are more common at the edges of a species range due to Baker's Law.
  2. The benefits of sex include generating variation for natural selection and avoiding the accumulation of harmful mutations.
  3. Sex and outbreeding are crucial for adapting to competition and maintaining genetic diversity over time.

Of Seals, Sea Lions, and the Locks

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 139 implied HN points • 04 May 23
🔬 Science Adaptation
  1. Harbor seals and sea lions can adapt to both saltwater and freshwater environments. They often move between these waters, showing their ability to thrive in different conditions.
  2. These animals have a unique way of navigating locks to switch from saltwater to freshwater. They can either wait for the locks to fill or use special culverts that help them travel.
  3. The history of these seals goes back to the Ice Age when they may have lived in freshwater lakes. This history could explain why they are drawn to freshwater today.

It’s February, and I am writing about… heat waves

Klement on Investing • 1 implied HN point • 16 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Adaptation
  1. Heat waves are already interfering with people’s ability to work. They’re even pushing households in traditionally cool climates to install air conditioning.
  2. Sick leave rises as heat waves lengthen, and people with circulatory problems are particularly likely to fall ill. Outdoor occupations like transport, logistics, agriculture, and construction are hit hardest.
  3. A single heat wave causes measurable lost wages and higher health costs, and while the GDP impact per event may seem small, repeated and worsening heat waves mean investing in adaptation (like cooling) is needed to limit future economic and health losses.

Object Permanence & the MurderBot Diaries: AI, Adaptation, & the Case of the Missing & Misidentified Scientists

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 38 implied HN points • 01 Jul 25
📚 Literature Adaptation
  1. The novella 'All Systems Red' features a small group of characters, which helps their personalities stand out. Fewer characters can make their interactions deeper and more engaging.
  2. ChatGPT struggles to accurately identify the fictional characters from the story. This shows that even advanced AI can have trouble with tasks that seem simple, like recognizing names.
  3. Murderbot, while not an official team member, is crucial to the story. Its unique perspective as a self-aware machine adds an interesting layer to the narrative.

Good brittle

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) • 99 implied HN points • 28 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Adaptation
  1. Situated software is made for specific needs in small groups. It may lack polish but works well for those it helps.
  2. Good brittleness means being tailored to a specific situation and easily adapting when things change. This makes systems and products more responsive.
  3. We should focus on building things that are both suited to situations and able to change easily, rather than just aiming for large, flawless systems.

Screenwriting

Story Club with George Saunders • 57 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
📚 Literature Adaptation
  1. Writing for film and TV is different from writing books. In screenwriting, many choices depend on how the scene is shot and performed, which isn’t just up to the writer.
  2. Screenwriting can feel frustrating because it limits the writer's control over language and detail while also feeling liberating since writers can imagine big, wild scenes without needing to describe every detail.
  3. It's common for writers to have strong opinions about their work in fiction, while they might be more unsure when writing scripts. This can lead to both hesitance and exploration in screenwriting.

A Desert Plant Condo

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 99 implied HN points • 02 Dec 21
🔬 Science Adaptation
  1. Desert trumpets are unique plants that grow tall and have a bulbous shape, which helps them support themselves in the dry desert climate. They start growing just after spring rains, making them easy to spot.
  2. The inflated stems of desert trumpets store carbon dioxide, allowing the plant to continue photosynthesis even when it's dry, which helps reduce water loss. This unique adaptation is important for survival in harsh conditions.
  3. Wasps often use the stems of desert trumpets to build nests. However, some wasps can parasitize each other, creating a complex food chain right inside the plant's stems.