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Kyle Ann Sebastian

@kyleanns.bsky.social
190 followers 231 following 37 posts

📍 Chicago | Comms for @ucsusa.bsky.social | Opinions are mine, I think.

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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The hottest summer of your life so far... www.ucs.org/about/news/s...
static.klipy.com
Simpsons: The Worst Day of Your Life So Far
ALT: Simpsons: The Worst Day of Your Life So Far
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Andrew Freedman @afreedma.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Breaking: @NOAA is now forecasting this developing Super El Niño event will likely be the strongest on record, which will bring a slew of weather extremes worldwide www.cnn.com/2026/08/13/c...
cnn.com
El Niño is headed for record-shattering intensity, NOAA says | CNN
There is a nearly 70% chance that the building Super El Niño will be the strongest such event on record, according to a NOAA forecast released Thursday.
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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 06/08/2026
Attention Chicago! Are you interested in connecting science & community knowledge to advance community-led solutions? Join UCS for an in-person workshop at the Ivy Hotel on how experts & scientists can create partnerships with communities. Saturday, August 22, 1pm CT. RSVP: act.ucs.org/3RMm4lL
Flyer for a “Community Partnerships & Warehouse Pollution Workshop.” Event is Saturday, August 22, 1:00-3:30 PM at The Ivy Hotel, 233 E Ontario St, Chicago, IL. A QR code and link (bit.ly/ILactionteam82026) provide registration information. Topics include warehouse pollution in Illinois, the Warehouse Pollution Reduction Act, and the Illinois Vehicle Pollution Action Team. Guest speakers are Warehouse Workers for Justice and the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. Free lunch and stickers will be provided for attendees. The flyer also advertises Environmental Justice Community Partnerships Training and features Illinois Vehicle Pollution Action Team and Union of Concerned Scientists logos, plus a graphic of Illinois with a delivery truck and exhaust. Blue text appears on a light gray background with pastel pink, purple, teal, and peach decorative shapes.

Extended description (for accessibility):

Promotional flyer with large blue headline text reading “Community Partnerships & Warehouse Pollution Workshop.” The event takes place on Saturday, August 22, from 1:00-3:30 PM at The Ivy Hotel, 233 E Ontario St, Chicago, IL. In the upper-right corner is a QR code and the registration link bit.ly/ILactionteam82026.

A purple circle lists guest speakers:

Warehouse Workers for Justice
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization

A teal box labeled “Learn About...” includes:

Warehouse pollution in Illinois
The Warehouse Pollution Reduction Act
The Illinois Vehicle Pollution Action Team

A pink starburst states: “Free lunch and stickers for attendees.”

Near the bottom, large blue text says “Join Us For...” Above a peach-colored box reading “Environmental Justice Community Partnerships Training.”

The lower-right corner features a blue silhouette of the state of Illinois labeled “Illinois Vehicle Pollution Action Team,” alongside an illustration of an orange delivery truck emitting gray exhaust.
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Marc Alessi @marc-alessi.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Ok, I'm starting a thread of climate and weather extremes that are eye-popping that I will continuously add to (reminder that Big Oil continues to take in record profits at the expense of our planet):
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houston climate houser @zoyamiddleton.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
President Trump is holding bipartisan housing legislation hostage, just to advance his harmful attempts to undermine voting rights. edition.cnn.com/2026/06/24/p...
edition.cnn.com
Live updates: Trump suddenly refuses to sign landmark housing bill, citing his stalled elections legislation | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump canceled plans to sign a landmark housing affordability bill until he gets action on his controversial elections overhaul legislation, as he heads to Capitol Hill to meet with t...
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Frosted Poptart @toastertrollop.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
I think about this a lot.
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Ashley C. Ford @smashfizzle.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Boy oh boy do companies love to pollute Louisiana. Especially the places where all the Black folks live.
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ucsshana.bsky.social @ucsshana.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Who’s surprised? #DHS Sec. #KristiNoem changes draft FEMA review council report. Former #FEMA head Cameron Hamilton asks blunt Q. “What degree of confidence do you have that the report that you submit to DHS will be what is submitted to the president?” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
Noem at odds with Trump-appointed panel over future of FEMA
Instead of further shrinking and dismantling FEMA, the FEMA Review Council wants to make it more independent.
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Nina Lakhani @ninalakhani.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Revealed: >300 Big Agriculture lobbyists have participated at this year’s UN climate talks taking place in the Brazilian Amazon, where the industry is the leading cause of deforestation, a new investigation by me and @rachelsherrington.bsky.social has found. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
More than 300 big agriculture lobbyists have taken part in Cop30, investigation finds
Lobbyists representing industry responsible for a quarter to a third of global emissions participated in key talks at the UN climate summit
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Dylan Spaulding @dkspaulding.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Murmurs from this admin about nuclear testing are not new, which is why earlier this year, we published this piece in the @thebulletin.org on why a rapid test as a show of force is a BAD, BAD idea.
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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 22/09/2025
New START is the last remaining arms control agreement between the US and Russia. Extending it would keep sensible limits on nuclear weapons while further reductions and limits are negotiated. The US should reciprocate and get to work on a follow up to New START.
reuters.com
Putin offers Trump a temporary nuclear arms control deal that would extend status quo by one year
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that he was ready to extend by one year the last arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow that limits the number of nuclear weapons each side has if U.S. President Donald Trump does the same.
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Rachel Cohen Booth @rcobooth.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
seeing too many headlines that New Mexico is about to make child care universal and free. that's not what it's doing. the gov. announced that as of November 1 all families can compete for the same limited # of child care slots and subsidies. the goal of universal is commendable, but NM isn't there
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Stacy Woods, PhD (she/her) @geostatstacy.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Industrial meat & poultry plants dump tons of pollution into our waters—our research shows how much Tyson alone released in just 5 years. Yet the Trump #EPA won’t update weak, outdated effluent rules, again putting Industrial Ag profits over your right to #cleanwater 🧪 bit.ly/4p19Lh0
bit.ly
Waste Deep
Water pollutants from Tyson Foods' meat processing plants pose a risk to both people and the environment.
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Drivers are not being "slammed." They are speeding and they are being fined for breaking the law.
Chicago drivers are getting slammed by new speed cameras that went live in June.

The 22 new cameras helped the city issue more than 91,000 speeding tickets over their first month of operation, according to a Sun-Times/WBEZ analysis of city data.
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Dylan Spaulding @dkspaulding.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Thanks, @winkie.bsky.social at @usatoday.com for reporting on our analysis of plutonium pit production. Lots to unpack here, so here's a short thread (1/n)
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
@dkspaulding.bsky.social, 'a nuclear security expert for the @ucs.org, argued in a May report that NNSA's two-site approach for pit production is "questionable" and has unnecessarily driven up costs for reasons that are "likely more political than technical."'
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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 04/08/2025
Longstanding contamination at a nuclear weapons site has produced a radioactive wasp nest. Now DOE wants to repurpose the site to produce new nuclear bomb cores without dealing with this legacy waste first. Sounds like they have their priorities in order…
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Dylan Spaulding @dkspaulding.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Most of these jobs are driven by LANL's new production mission to make plutonium pits while funding is eliminated from exploratory science that has historically drawn young talent into the labs. Despite the growth, this doesn't bode well for the future of innovation in national security.
kob.com
Los Alamos National Lab announces plans to hire up to 1,000 workers
While one of New Mexico’s national laboratories prepares for workforce reductions, another is gearing up for a hiring surge.
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Dylan Spaulding @dkspaulding.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
"The discovery of additional radioactive nests, he added, “indicate that much greater effort must be made to assess the possible risks and hazards of what appears to be a significant source of radioactive pollutants."
nytimes.com
‘Hot Wasps’ Found at Nuclear Facility in South Carolina
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
"Though large family farms — those making $1 million or more annually — and corporate farms amounted to less than 8 percent of all farms in the United States, they received about 47 percent of subsidy payments and 67 percent of crop insurance payments in 2024" www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/u...
nytimes.com
Trump’s Tax Bill Expands Farm Subsidies. Not All Farmers Will Benefit.
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Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
"...the threat of deportation by abusive spouses is louder than ever and allows abusers to wield greater power and control over their victims." www.cbsnews.com/news/alleged...
cbsnews.com
She married a U.S. citizen for love. After she alleged abuse, he threatened deportation.
There has been a rise in the threat of deportations by abusers, said Esther Limb, Immigration Practice Director at Her Justice in New York City.
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Karen Perry Stillerman @karenstillerman.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Here we go. As if the inhumanity of ICE raids (and treatment of people protesting them) weren't bad enough, now we may face food system disruption because of them. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
reuters.com
US immigration officials raid meat production plant in Omaha, dozens detained
An immigration raid on Tuesday at a meat production plant in Omaha, Nebraska was the "largest worksite enforcement operation" in the state during the Trump presidency, the Homeland Security Department said.
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John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Laura Grego of @ucs.org on Golden Dome: "I can hardly imagine potential adversaries just sitting still, not developing the ways to counter such a system." www.axios.com/2025/05/28/t...
axios.com
Beltway bloat could doom Trump's Golden Dome
Realizing even the most basic form in three years will require intense coordination.
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
"Nuclear weapons workers don’t grow on trees, nor do the federal experts who oversee them." www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
usatoday.com
Nuclear weapons woes: Understaffed nuke agency hit by DOGE and safety worries
The consequences of DOGE's disruptions at the National Nuclear Security Administration could be far-reaching, experts say.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 16/05/2025
what i mean is: most people who utilize medicaid — who are not children, the elderly or americans with severe disabilities — work! you can’t live off of medicaid because it is health insurance! these people are just mindlessly repeating anti-welfare language from the 1990s
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Mark @tolecover.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Chicago Pope's here
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Robert Rust @rrucs.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Great blog by my colleague Dr. Chanese Forté on severe harm done to the Navajo Nation by the US nuclear weapons program. While the current admin seeks to accelerate uranium mining, frontline communities are still undercompensated and under-supported by the government. blog.ucs.org/chanese-fort...
blog.ucs.org
US Uranium Mining Legacy Still Harms the Navajo Nation
The United States needs to redress the wrongs done to the Navajo Nation as a result of uranium mining to build nuclear weapons.
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Gregory Kulacki @gkucs.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
"A concerted and well-funded effort is needed to mediate the harms caused by the nuclear weapons life cycle."
blog.ucs.org
US Uranium Mining Legacy Still Harms the Navajo Nation
The United States needs to redress the wrongs done to the Navajo Nation as a result of uranium mining to build nuclear weapons.
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
“...at best it comes down to mismanagement and incompetence, and at worst, an intentional effort to downplay the complexities and challenges of the Sentinel program to make it appear like it would be the cheaper, easier option," www.defenseone.com/technology/2...
defenseone.com
Sentinel ICBM program needs brand-new silos, Air Force says
One expert says the revelation smacks of “mismanagement and incompetence.”
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
SaveScienceNow.org
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Civil Eats @civileats.com · 29/04/2025
“The past 100 days have been devastating but also clarifying,” writes Kate Anderson, director of the Food & Environment Program at the @ucsusa.bsky.social. “We have to move boldly toward the food and farm future we know is possible.”
buff.ly
Op-ed: Trump’s Disastrous First 100 Days for Food, Farming, and Fairness
A look back on this notable benchmark as the Trump Administration cuts funding for critical programs across the food system.
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Stephen Young @atomicwonk.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
My colleague Dr. Chanese Forté appeared on the Travis Smiley show discussing her work on the impacts of nuclear weapons production, testing & development all too easily lead to exposure to harmful radiation, which happens all to often to indigenous communities. Listen here: youtu.be/zH3DWGv2D9s?...
youtu.be
Tavis Smiley LIVE 10am
YouTube video by KBLA 1580
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Shocked. Just shocked. "All three companies were founded by entrepreneurs who have been major political supporters of Trump. Musk has donated more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, and now serves as a special adviser," www.reuters.com/business/aer...
reuters.com
Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX is frontrunner to build Trump's Golden Dome missile shield
Elon Musk's SpaceX and two partners have emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part of President Donald Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense shield, six people familiar with the matter said.
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
“The weather is getting stranger and more challenging to deal with every year, while big monopoly corporations are allowed to manipulate the system and squeeze us at every part of the supply chain...The tariffs are like adding salt on the wound.”
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
gif game 💯
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
“'I would not advise testing, and I think we should rely on the scientific information,' Mr. Williams said, referring to data gathered from nonnuclear explosive testing and supercomputer modeling carried out by physicists at N.N.S.A. labs." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/s...
nytimes.com
Nuclear Testing Not Advised, Trump’s Nominee Says in Senate Hearing
Brandon Williams, the nominee to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration, said he would recommend reliance on “scientific information” rather than a restart of explosive testing.
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Lauren Rosenthal @laurenthal.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Almost all NOAA Research websites that rely on cloud services - including Amazon, Google and WordPress - are poised to disappear at midnight ET Saturday after a contract was targeted for "early termination." Labs may also feel the effects. Story for @bloomberg.com (free link):
bloomberg.com
US Weather Agency Websites to Vanish Under Planned Contract Cuts
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency is poised to eliminate most websites tied to its research division under plans for the cancellation of a cloud web services contract, a move that could s...
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
"Lehman worries that if his upstream neighbors destroy their wetlands, his farm will experience erosion, flooding and water pollution." "Protecting our soil and water is reasonable criteria if we’re going to receive government assistance."
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
"The U.S. needs more publicly funded research and development on agriculture to offset the effects of climate change...But instead the U.S. has been investing less." Great reporting by @melinawalling.bsky.social
apnews.com
Scientists shielding farming from climate change need more public funding. But they're getting less
Public funding for agricultural research in the U.S. has been declining for the last two decades, a process Trump has rapidly accelerated by freezing or pausing support for a variety of research progr...
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
“Trump has got it all wrong. Climate is a real issue and it’s hitting us right in the face,” he said. “If we don’t become sustainable real quick, we’re dead in the water.” Great reporting from @gristnews.bsky.social grist.org/food-and-agr...
grist.org
Farmers are reeling from Trump's attacks on agricultural research
A "rollercoaster" of funding cuts and layoffs have gutted critical agricultural research projects across the nation.
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Rebecca Traister @rtraister.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
When masked men in plain clothes approach you as you are walking down the street, take your belongings, surround and touch and cuff you, this is how this works now? They say "we're police" and you're supposed to go with them?
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e.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 26/03/2025
I don't care what side of the Israel-Palestine conflict your sympathies lie on, snatching up people with a valid student visa for the crime of writing an OpEd is naked fascism and if you don't oppose this you are a threat to this country's most basic values
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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 26/03/2025
The #Signalgate debacle affirms our take when Hegseth was first nominated: "Given the enormity of the challenges facing the next [defense] secretary, the US deserves someone with the experience, expertise, and judgment to deal with them wisely." Hegseth has clearly failed on all three fronts.
blog.ucs.org
Congress Needs to Ask Pete Hegseth Tough Questions
The new secretary of defense must face a number of challenges with experience, a steady hand, and a willingness to listen before making decisions. Pete Hegseth falls short.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
"It's so bizarre to me how obsessed you are with the federal government," sneered the woman to the people who elected her to be their voice in the federal government.
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Fellas, it is DEI to help win WWII?
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 13/03/2025
Translation: it's easier to force women to have more babies if we make it harder for them to go to college.
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Should we be vaccinating chickens? Upping biosecurity at 30,000 hen farms? Cutting regulations that improve animal quality of life? Start building backyard chicken coops? @karenstillerman.bsky.social breaks down the federal bird flu plan.
blog.ucs.org
What Does Science Have to Do with the Price of Eggs?
The new agriculture secretary claims to have solutions to bird flu and high egg prices, but her proposals could just make things worse.
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Stacy Woods, PhD (she/her) @geostatstacy.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
🚨Today Trump's #EPA issued guidance that reinterprets the Clean Water Act & puts wetlands & rural communities at risk. Backed by industrial ag, this move prioritizes corporate profit over the environment, farmers, and communities that benefit from #wetlands. 📢 Read more: www.ucs.org/about/news/t...
ucs.org
Trump WOTUS Guidance Puts Wetlands and Rural Communities at Risk, Science Group Says
New guidance on the Clean Water Act further erodes federal protections of vulnerable wetlands, ignoring the scientific evidence that shows wetlands are critical to maintaining clean waterways and safe...
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Kyle Ann Sebastian @kyleanns.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
One of the key ingredients in synthetic fertilizer will be impacted by Trump's tariffs and farmers will bear the costs. In 2023, Canada exported ~$4.9 billion of potash to the United States. A 25% increase would mean an increase of more than $100 per ton, on top of a floor price of >$400/ton.
blog.ucsusa.org
Farmers Will Pay More for Fertilizer Because of President Trump’s Tariffs
Farmers that were hurt by the first Trump administration's trade war are bracing for a repeat of the same policies, but on a broader scale.
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