How many pieces of #plastic does it take to kill a sea bird? Turtle? Marine Mammal? Sadly, not much. www.latimes.com/science/stor...

Human #BirdFlu case in WA. #H5N5 not #H5N1. Patient is severely ill. Update coming. www.latimes.com/science/stor...

Historic number of marine mammals died along CA coast this year. Anomaly? Or a sign that our oceans are changing too fast to support these guys? Hats off to the exhausted and traumatized volunteers working tirelessly since spring #marinemammalcenter #strandingnetwork www.latimes.com/environment/...

No biggie, but noticing a few #H5N1 #BirdFlu wastewater "hits" in the SF Bay Area: Palo Alto, San Jose and Sunnyvale. 🤔

The parasite that causes Chagas disease, which kills more people in Latin America than malaria, is here in the U.S. The disease's symptoms generally don't show up for decades: heart attack, stroke, death. Have we been ignoring a potential source of #CVD ? www.latimes.com/science/stor...

You can't sell or produce foie gras in Calfiornia. So what is the bird liver delicacy doing on store shelves? www.latimes.com/science/stor...

I talked to @susrust.bsky.social @latimes.com about the USDA compensation program for dairies with H5N1-infected herds. There has never been enough of an investment in containment. Compensation without support to change practices will not end the outbreak of moo flu. www.latimes.com/science/stor...

It's not just the #H5N1 #birdflu cuts across the federal government, but the Trump admin's targeting of immigrants that could trigger a pandemic. They're our front-line livestock workers -- and when the birds start flying south in the fall... www.latimes.com/science/stor...

#GroundSquirrelInvasion? At least 14 in my back yard. I’ve never seen it like this.

Dead gray whale washes up in Richmond. Marine Mammal Center says ship strike is probable cause. Gray whale numbers are on the decline -- never recovering from the steep drop off that started in 2019. abc7news.com/post/gray-wh...

CalRecycle now has a portal for people to report illegal sales of expanded polystyrene food ware and packaging in stores and restaurants -- 6+months after the products were banned: calrecycle.ca.gov/packaging/pa...

What happened in TX was tragic; it could happen here, too. @ianjames.bsky.social www.latimes.com/environment/...

Make America Rake Again -- Trump and Newsom battle over wildfire funding @nohaggerty.bsky.social www.latimes.com/environment/...

EPA Workers Face Retaliation Over Dissent Declaration www.importantcontext.news/p/epa-worker...

And read @sammyroth.bsky.social 's latest on the Trump bill. It's a disaster for the planet. www.latimes.com/environment/...

This story by @corinnepurtill.bsky.social makes me want to simultaneously cry and scream www.latimes.com/science/stor...

Asbestos-laden fire debris hauled by fed contractors to non-hazardous waste landfills. What could be the problem?? @tonybrisco www.latimes.com/environment/...

#NewMexico with #measles outbreak in a prison “measles outbreak at a correctional facility in Deming, after five detainees tested positive “Health officials are sending personal protective equipment, test kits, and measles vaccine to the prison, which houses 400 inmates and employs 100 staff”

Wow! The pediatric death toll for the 2024-25 flu season keeps climbing. #CDC was informed of +3 deaths last week; they occurred between early Feb & mid April. The total is now 253 pediatric deaths (& more reports could still come). 90% of these kids weren't vaxed. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

Strange thing about this story: Newsom's comms team's response to my questions about his ever-present-plastic-water-bottle was to: 1) not answer any q's; but 2) instead threaten to send my editor a video of me near a plastic water bottle. www.latimes.com/environment/...

Another example of a well-intentioned CA law causing environmental damage: Compost law feeding into rampant dumping in SoCal's desert Antelope Valley. #SB1383 #CalRecycle @latimes www.latimes.com/environment/...

Dozens of illegal dump sites in the Antelope Valley: ‘It’s gotten markedly worse.’ A California law aimed at reducing the amount of greenhouse gases at landfills is exacerbating the problem, local officials and residents say. @susrust.bsky.social www.latimes.com/environment/... @latimes.com

#US removing ALL experts in #vaccines “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday said he is “retiring” all 17 members of a crucial government panel of vaccine advisors” “The group reviews vaccine data and makes recommendations that determine who is eligible for shots and whether insurers should cover them”

#SB54 shenanigans continue: 23 lawmakers say #CalRecycle exceeded its authority in the new draft regs for the state's landmark plastic legislation and undermined the law. www.latimes.com/environment/...

In the continuing saga of CA's plastic law, CalRecycle introduced draft regs re chem recycling based on a report you can't access unless you pay $187 -which is kind of a scam, bc no standards or guidelines are in report. 🤷‍♀️ #plasticwaste @gavinnewsom.bsky.social #SB54 www.latimes.com/environment/...

CA was leading the world in plastics reduction when @governor.ca.gov signed SB54 in 2022. Then he blocked its implementation. Now, his waste agency has come back w/a new package that exempts most single-use plastics, and allows for chem recycling. "It's a joke" www.latimes.com/environment/...

...it concluded since the landslide was triggered by the melting glacier, and since *that* happened due to rising global temperatures... This was a signal - and a warning - from our rapidly changing world, heard in every single part of it. Best we listen up. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 10/

LA trash haulers are bringing their loads up to the Antelope Valley and dumping it. I saw a river canyon filled -- 30 feet deep and about 60 acres in area -- of solid trash. www.latimes.com/science/stor...

Berkeley and Bay Area folks -- please join me and Mariah Blake at Mrs Dalloway's bookstore on 5/15 (7-830) to discuss Mariah's new book: They Poisoned the World, Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals. www.eventbrite.com/e/mariah-bla...

Federal talk of a national registry of autistic people is detering parents from seeking evaluation, diagnosis of children who may have the condition, @rosebroderick.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/05/01/a...

Dolphin strandings are taking a toll on L.A. County's lifeguards. Experts say there's no end in sight

#US #CDC cancels workshop designed to stop the spread of #H5N1 / #birdflu Workshop was “expected to discuss best practices for the use of personal protective equipment for people at heightened risk of bird flu, like farmworkers and veterinarians” “Farmers had requested the workshop”

Another Dairy #H5N1 D1.1 without PB2 D701N was uploaded yesterday A/dairy cow/USA/010942-001/2025 six farms total A/dairy cow/USA/007484-010/2025 A/dairy cow/USA/004738-001/2025 A/dairy cow/USA/004381-001/2025 A/dairy cow/USA/004046-001/2025 A/dairy cow/USA/004003-001/2025

I have now confirmed this further with several members of the advisory board

USDA is reporting new #H5N1 #BirdFlu dairy herds in ID, AZ and CA. CA total since 3/24 is 767. US total (across 17 states) stands at 1,032. I've been traveling, and pre-occupied, so forgive my pause on daily reports!

Chainsaw-wielding villain went across DTLA Friday night chopping down trees. When I called the LAPD Sunday morning, they didn't have a clue it had happened. "You should call public works, that's not our area," I was told by dispatcher. How is that possible? www.latimes.com/california/s...

Nationwide #H5N1 #BirdFlu total is 1,020 across 17 states. New cases in CA, ID and AZ. 763 in CA since March 2024.🐄🐄

SCOOP: Much of the IT and cybersecurity infrastructure underpinning the US health system is in danger of a possible collapse following a purge of IT staff and leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), four current and former agency workers tell WIRED.

#NewYork still struggling to contain #H5N1 / #birdflu “At least 4,180 Big Apple birds intended to be sold were found to be infected with the highly contagious virus since Mar 1” “despite the state’s temporary live market shut down in Feb and activists want a total closure of the slaughter houses”

We're now at 1,007 #H5N1 #BirdFlu infected dairy herds across 17 states. ID is the most active, but there is a pocket of spread in SoCal, as well. Confirmed w/CDFA that new ones in CA are not an artifact of slowed testing, but instead newly infected herds. 759 in CA.

Federal agents wearing plain clothes tried to question kids at elementary schools in L.A. on Monday, according to a reporter at Spectrum News. "Superintendent Carvahlo said the agents claimed they had parent permission to question the kids, but it wasn't true"

SCOOP: An unsigned agreement between the US DOGE Service (USDS) and the Department of Labor (DOL), obtained by WIRED, calls for the DOL to reimburse the USDS up to $1.3 million for work done by four DOGE affiliates, or “a slightly different number,” over an 18-month period.

Three domestic cats in Contra Costa Co w/ #H5N1 #BirdFlu, as well as an Arctic fox, a mink and a skunk. This is just the ten most recently identified on APHIS website -- mammals from OH to AK. Folks, this is not good.

Tree & Scott Mercer have been counting #graywhales for years from a perch near the Point Arena Lighthouse. This year: 299 northbound gray whales w/ 1 mother/calf pair. Last year: 484 northbound and 3 mother/calf pairs. They also have a podcast: Resilient Earth Radio. feeds.buzzsprout.com/2367142.rss

We're at 1,005 #H5N1 #BirdFlu infected dairy herds across 17 states; 759 in CA.

Another concerning spring for gray whales, as 70 reported dead in Mexico, just 5 mother-calf pairs, very few being seen by spotters along coast, and three dead in SF Bay. #whales #oceans www.latimes.com/science/stor...

Good morning! #H5N1 #BirdFlu in the nation's dairy cattle has hit 1,000 herds -- with new hits from CA, NV and ID. In CA, we're at 759. Unclear if the NV virus is B3.13 or D1.x, but did get confirmation yesterday that it's B3.13 in ID.

Speaking in Utah today, Secy Kennedy called for end of water fluoridation. An HHS official now tells us they're "directing the CDC to reconvene the Community Preventative Services Task Force to study and make a new recommendation on fluoride" tinalexander.github.io/notes/2025/0...

Update: Idaho Ag officials tell me the recent #H5N1 #BirdFlu outbreak among dairy herds is B3.13.