Not since 1935 has anyone experienced a storm like Melissa. Melissa's record wouldn't have happened without climate change, which made the hurricane's winds about 10 mph stronger, according to a rapid attribution analysis by Climate Central. yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/10/cata...

A team of international scientists suggests that ignoring plankton could lead scientists to underestimate how the ocean will respond to climate change. Read more: cen.acs.org/environment/... #CENChemPics #chemsky 🧪

Yes, there's lead in protein powders. No, there's no known safe level. But, exposure to trace amounts is inevitable, especially since plants naturally take up lead from the environment. And, people disagree on standards for manufacturers. Latest @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/food/food-in...

It's been a big year for chemists trying to turn PTFE (better know as Teflon) into something that won't hang out in a landfill for 1,000 years. The latest development in this area uses chunks of sodium metal. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/materials/po...

Our first weekly briefing of chemistry policy news @cenmag.bsky.social. In food world, companies and trade groups formed a supergroup called Americans for Ingredient Transparency to lobby Congress to preempt state laws on food additives and other MAHA-inspired issues: cen.acs.org/policy/Oct-2...

A 2023 marine heat wave in the central Red Sea caused 100% of monitored sea anemones to bleach, followed by the death of 94-100% of clownfish and 66-94% of the anemones across three surveyed reefs. The findings challenge the belief that Red Sea marine life would be protected from climate change.

New Mexico is proposing warning labels for #PFAS across a wide range of consumer products starting next year, similar to California's Prop 65 labels. This is part of the rule-making for a new law that also phases out many products with PFAS. More in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/policy/New-M...

My first foray into food chemicals -- which I'm learning is a busy, busy beat right now, especially at the state level

My new colleagues really commit to the bit

New job, new beat: I'm now covering PFAS, pesticides and other chemicals in food, ag and water for @cenmag.bsky.social. Would love to connect with sources -- please do reach out with tips (or just intros)! My new email is D_Erdenesanaa at acs dot org. Signal remains edelger dot 10.

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools are changing the way we can monitor the ocean. The @pulitzercenter.org is hosting a webinar on Tues, Sept 9, at 12pm US ET, for investigative journalists, environmental reporters & data enthusiasts looking to deepen their reporting using OSINT.

Published a story with @rjnskl.bsky.social last week on the future of the ocean under growing human pressures -- and the future of cultures and economies built on the ocean and coastlines. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Highly recommend to any journalists with an ocean story to tell! You get the rare gift of time (and travel $) to pursue ambitious stories. You also learn a ton from the Pulitzer Center's data and research team, as well as from your cohort -- who will be impressive journalists from around the world!

Efforts by countries like Russia and Iran to circumvent Western sanctions on their petroleum have spawned a black market at sea, leading to a surge in human rights abuses of the seafarers recruited. Story by ORN Fellow @katiemcque.bsky.social for @contextnewsroom.bsky.social. bit.ly/4mjwAuE

This is such an important story for the ocean. Losing these sea stars meant losing whole forests of kelp, whole ecosystems. And although scientists have just identified the bacteria behind the disease, as this story points out, they already knew there was a "co-conspirator" in rising temperatures.

Update: Our friend @alecluhn.bsky.social was found alive this morning! He is in good health with some injuries to his leg/foot. He is at a hospital in Bergen now. Thank you to the Norwegian helicopter team who found him and all the volunteers who searched in bad conditions. ❤️

In case I have any followers in Norway -- my colleague Alec Luhn is missing after a solo hiking trip in the Folgefonna / Nedre Buarbreen area. The Red Cross is searching, but if anyone has seen Alec by chance, they can call the local police at 02800 or email [email protected] with info.

If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, chances are you've endured a heatwave. But have you considered what this extreme heat looks like beneath the surface? #ORN Fellow @edelger.bsky.social uncovers, for @nytimes.com, how marine heatwaves, once rare, are now recurring. bit.ly/44zgG81

Easy-to-miss news amid the chaos: At the 3rd UN ocean conference, countries declared 20+ new marine protected areas, but thousands more are needed to reach a goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. Questions also remain about how meaningful these protections are. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/c...

As politicians from around the world discuss the ocean in Nice this week for #UNOC3, the ocean itself continues to warm from climate change. My latest story dives into the toll this takes on marine wildlife and fisheries: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/c...

Nice example too of the @pulitzercenter.bsky.social Ocean Reporting Network sharing, eg) I learned about NASA’s PACE program from our editor @jessicaaldred.bsky.social, now @edelger.bsky.social latest gives a deeper dive! #ocean #climate #oceanreportingnetwork

I started reporting this -- on climate change and the smallest, most numerous residents of the ocean -- before the election. Amid the chaos, I think it's still important to tell the big picture story of what's happening to the planet. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/c... 🧪

The 1900 Galveston Hurricane has a little history lesson about what can happen when you restrict international scientific communication (Spoiler: 8,000 people died) Gift link: cmf.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/noaa-galveston-weather-hurricane-20152145.php

FYI: USAID has been one of the world's largest and most important funders of global biodiversity conservation — a chronically underfunded area. It has supported efforts to protect forests, reduce illegal wildlife trafficking, and end violence towards women defending the environment.

The ocean was a huge part of the 2024 climate records. Data from Copernicus: 🌊 SST was record high from Jan-Jun 2024, and 2nd highest from Jul-Dec (after 2023) 📈 Annual SST reached record highs across nearly 1/3 (27%) of (extra-polar) ocean 🪸 All ocean basins experienced marine heatwaves 🌊🌡️🪸⚒️🧪

Most people called Diane Wilson crazy when she started complaining about pollution from Formosa Plastics in Texas. No one imagined the 76-year-old shrimper would end up controlling $70 million of the company’s money.

Fascinating story by Borso Tall in Senegal about how warmer seas are fueling a hurricane of migration. www.postandcourier.com/news/special...

Latest piece in a series looking at how marine heatwaves impact the livelihood of fisherfolk across the country. In Bali, one of the largest tuna ports, fisherfolk have to come home with empty baskets as the ocean heats up. Supported by @pulitzercenter.bsky.social www.context.news/climate-risk...

Arctic sea ice routes are a vital connector for Labrador Inuit peoples. As the ice begins to melt, old traditions fuse with innovation to fight climate change www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

A Warning From a #California Marine #Heat Wave @edelger.bsky.social reports for @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/c...

I covered record-breaking ocean temperatures again and again last year, and wondered what that heat was doing to marine life. Research is ongoing, but a monster marine heat wave from the recent past offers some sobering clues: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/c...

I'll be spending the next year reporting exclusively on how climate change is unfolding in the ocean. Would love to connect with scientists studying how warming waters are affecting marine ecosystems, fisheries, etc. 🧪 pulitzercenter.org/blog/introdu...

ICYMI last Friday, the annual WMO climate report for Latin America and the Caribbean detailed a costly string of extremes--flooding, heat, fire--that killed thousands and spread misery in the regions. insideclimatenews.org/news/1105202...

Astronomers, who know better than anyone how rare and fragile Earth's atmosphere is, are increasingly becoming climate scientists and activists. (Wrote this with my colleague Katrina Miller, who covers space and physics!) 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/s...

Quick summary of ocean records in the NY Times www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/c...

Boston🚰🤌

“There were clear fire seasons for Texas in the past, but fires have become a year-round threat,” said Yongqiang Liu, a meteorologist at the U.S. Forest Service’s Southern Research Station. www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/c...

There is nobody else reporting on political extremism in Texas like Steven is -- support his work!

Hire Kit! They have literally all the skills you could want in a journalist: relentless reporting, stylish writing, careful editing and big-picture, forward-thinking ideas on how to make newsrooms work better.

The Smokehouse Creek fire in the Texas Panhandle is now the biggest ever recorded in the state. In case you're wondering, here's the climate change context on wildfires in Texas, and future risks: www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/c...

Do you want to see what polar bears get up to when the sea ice melts and they move onto land? Incredibly cool bear's-eye view videos collected for a new scientific study show the polar bears are surprisingly active! (And hungry...) 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/c...

Climate scientist @michaelemann.bsky.social, one of the ppl behind the famous hockey stick graph of global warming, just won his lawsuit over defamatory blog posts from way back in 2012. “This is a victory for science and it’s a victory for scientists,” he said. 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/c...

Climate scientist Michael Mann's decade-old libel lawsuit against two conservative writers is finally being heard in court. The trial is expected to close tomorrow. In the meantime, his case illuminates broader shifts in the online discourse about climate change: www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/c...

A new study used data from 170,000 groundwater monitoring wells worldwide and found widespread depletion, but also interesting case studies where levels are slowing or recovering www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/c... w/ @edelger.bsky.social!

Out of scores of climate papers I read this year, this might be the coolest... and most troubling? Turns out the genes of Southern Ocean octopus populations show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed 120,000 years ago at temperatures like today's 🧪 😬 www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/c...

“There’s a lot wrapped up in it when you let yourself process what that means, to be in the presence of something that is almost gone from the planet.” Following the long journey of a species from its last appearance, to finally being marked extinct:

Your Friday read from NYT Climate: Protecting forests helps fight climate change. A new sensor in space lets us see how much.

Ongoing extreme rain and floods in East Africa have killed at least 300 people and displaced millions. Scientists say that climate change has doubled the amount of rain that would normally fall in the region at this time of year. www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/c...

I took a break from my regular programming of rising CO2 levels and temperatures to write about very cool new research 🧪 — scientists can now forecast whale and sea turtles locations up to a year in advance, and help fishermen avoid them. www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/c...

Come for my favorite visual of our groundwater series yet — stay for Chris Flavelle's essential reporting on the actual (human) power brokers fighting against conservation efforts. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...