So, as most of you know, it has been a rough few years in the realm of science, education and journalism. I won’t get into the big picture issues individually, but they are the backdrop for this post. More or less, I think I need to walk away from volcano science communication for a while. I’ll explain why for those who are interested.

First, a brief backstory. I started writing about volcanoes on the internet back in 2008. That’s 18 years ago! That’s as many years as Edgar Martinez played for the Mariners! Anyone should be proud of doing something, anything, for that long. I first started out on my own WordPress site, moved to Science Blogs, then Big Think, then Wired and finally Discover. Along the way I wrote stories for lots of other publications like the Washington Post, EOS, Britannica and more. I had two podcasts. I had a ~50k Twitter following. There was a lot going my way in the volcano world.

However, times change. First came the demise of Twitter as a venue for science communication when it became X. That killed a large portion of my former reach, but I was OK with it because Bluesky came along and now I have ~5k followers there. Then I parted ways with Discover over a year ago because they were bought out by LabX who wanted to make changes that would take away my ability to report on volcanoes as I thought was needed. Unlike other times when I went free agent, there were no teams looking for a volcano/geology guy anymore. So, I thought I’d strike out on my own with a newsletter (didn’t work), podcast (didn’t work) and finally this revived Eruptions. I had come full circle. It was nice to get paid for a lot of this work, but I was back to busking for little to no pay (mostly the latter).

Overlay on top of this my attempts to get a book deal. Over the past decade, I have written no less than 5 full book proposals about volcanoes. I have had multiple agents. I’ve read books about book proposals, met with mentors, crafted and recrafted. None of them got enough traction to even be sent to a publishing house. I have a font of ideas, but apparently nothing that a mass media publisher (or agent who works with them) would think could turn a profit. Part of that is likely on me: I am not a trained journalist or writer. I have a style that likely doesn’t vibe with people. My brain doesn’t work well with long-threaded narratives and I don’t want to write a book that is a downer. I get it.

It is also the changes in the media landscape. People apparently don’t like to read anymore — at least not non-fiction books by weirdos about volcanoes. My profile has declined. I just missed a window or, better said, the window changed into a keyhole for getting a publisher interested in my book about volcanoes. I really have no interest in “pivoting to video” or the like, so here I am, a writer in a world where writing and reading is, apparently, going away.

Add on the absolute horror of LLM (aka “AI”) and we’re left with a scenario where writing is even less valued.

Luckily, I am a tenured professor at a school in a mostly stable place. I can always fall back on teaching and research. Well, sort of. Remember, research is now much harder as the current administration strips the National Science Foundation for parts. Basic, fundamental research on volcanoes is likely going to be something that is very hard to fund in this setting, so whatever I would like to do, I need to downsize it for the new funding landscape.

As for teaching, I have wonderful students and colleagues here. However, the current headwinds in academia meant that suddenly the ideas of a liberal arts education where process and learning is central has become passé. We are supposed to focus on careers and outcomes (which is fine as a part of the whole). We are also being told that we have to integrate AI in all its ethical, environmental, ecological and intellectual detriments into our teaching. “Students will need to know this!” they say, yet no one seems to want to push back on this misguided notion.

So, suddenly I am confronted with a teaching landscape where I have to wonder how much of the work I ask students to do in order to build skills is actually their work. I am not in the business of using my time to read AI slop. So many exciting, interesting and intellectual important projects and assignments have to go out the window because of this existisitential AI threat to student learning. If all we care about is the end product (i.e., a degree) to the point where you are willing to let an “AI” do all your thinking, then we’re toast. Then we are all juicing like Sammy Sosa with no real, authentic gain.

Yes, this is a downer. So many pillars of my path have been weakened over the last decade that trying to decide a path forward is hard. I could just continue to write about volcanoes for the public without a publisher or venue (or pay). It is noble and mostly fun, but without a sense of who is reading, it becomes hard to find the time. I could just focus on supporting the students who want to learn and do the small projects I can fund — again, both things I enjoy doing — but the constant barrage of attacks on how I teach and what I research is exhausting. The solution isn’t out there.

People say what they will about U2, but I always come back to Bono saying they have “go away and dream it all up again” after Rattle and Hum. The result for the band was Achtung Baby, probably the best rock album ever made. It is a good attitude, the ability to “dream it all up again”. Of course, with less than 6 months until I turn 50 (yes Prince, age ain’t nothing but a number, I get it), it becomes a little more muddled to imagine that.

Needless to say at this point, it might be time for me to dream it all up again. I’m not entirely sure what direction the science writing/communication might take if it indeed does take a new form. The social and monetary incentive structure for a science writer to keep on going is flimsy at best today. It actually might be closer to a collapse house on fire than anything. I do sincerely hope things with change — AI will be exposed for the scam it is, the current political climate will come back to value knowledge, the overwhelming desire for wealth will diminish, but honestly, people have been saying stuff like this since we came down from the trees.

So, with that, I am putting Eruptions on hiatus. Not sure for how long and to what ends. George De Long, captain of the USS Jeanette, wrote in his journal “Nils desperandum“, or “never despair”. His voyage in 1879 saw the ship get crushed by ice and most of the crew, including De Long, die in the Russian wilderness. Yet, to the end, he held out hope. Now, my situation is far from De Long’s. I’ll keep hoping to find that safe passage through the ice.