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Shannon Osaka

@shannonosaka.bsky.social
21K followers 409 following 309 posts

climate *zeitgeist* reporter for @washingtonpost.com. Reach me on Signal: smosaka.27

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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
I was not expecting Bad Bunny to celebrate the work of linemen during halftime but I'm here for it.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
from the NYT: 'Katie Mettler, a former chair of the Washington Post guild, said: “I’m glad Will Lewis has been fired. I wish it had happened before he fired all my friends.”' www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/t...
nytimes.com
Washington Post C.E.O. Will Lewis Steps Down After Stormy Tenure
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
I don't say this often but: I'm so proud to be a climate and environment reporter. We cover an issue that is vitally important to humanity and the natural world. 14 of my climate colleagues at the Post were laid off today and I'm devastated. www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/washington...
climatecoloredgoggles.com
Breaking: Washington Post gutting its climate team
Clean energy dies in darkness. Courtesy of Jeff Bezos.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Terrible day for many amazing, hard-working, intelligent journalists at the Washington Post. I'm still here and trying to figure out how to best support my colleagues who have lost their jobs. If you feel able to share or contribute, please do: www.gofundme.com/f/standing-t...
gofundme.com
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
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Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 04/02/2026
Whatever you think of the Washington Post at this moment, here's a chance to support the dedicated, hard-working journalists who were just laid off. If you have the means, your donation is most welcome. If you don't, a kind thought and maybe spreading the word to others is support enough 💙
gofundme.com
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 26/01/2026
Proud to work with the @washingtonpost.com's fearless international reporters. They're the heart of this newsroom, and we'd understand our world less without them. #SaveThePost
Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) 

But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp. 

Despite how difficult this job can be, I am proud to be a foreign correspondent at The Washington Post.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Dang. California Energy Commission predicts that EV load growth will be almost DOUBLE that of data centers between 2025 and 2045. (This is CA specifically, which has the highest EV adoption rates in the country.) www.politico.com/newsletters/...
politico.com
California’s new grid hog isn’t who you think
No, data centers aren’t the primary driver of California’s soaring energy demand forecast.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 21/01/2026
"The outrageous seizure" of @hannahnatanson.bsky.social's records "chills speech, cripples reporting, and inflicts irreparable harm." Anything less than immediate return "would license future newsroom raids and normalize censorship by search warrant" www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
washingtonpost.com
Washington Post demands government return materials seized from reporter
The Post demanded in a court filing Wednesday that federal law enforcement officials return electronic devices the government seized from a staff reporter’s home.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Scientists were frustrated by a piece in the Guardian earlier this week that seemed to call into question the science on microplastics in the body. I wrote about why researchers are certain microplastics are in the human body -- and what we still don't know: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
A scientist questioned new microplastics findings. Then other researchers fired back.
A prominent scientist criticized microplastics research methods. Others are defending the work.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
I am BEGGING folks not to use AI to send me emails about my stories. So confusing to read through a 500-word email only to realize that it's referencing something that ... does not exist in the story. 🫠 Please just write it in your own words. I will read and respond if I am able!
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Interesting to see the Guardian's @dpcarrington.bsky.social weighing in on this. My take, as someone covering microplastics heavily for the past year (and currently sitting at a 200+ person conference with many of the scientists in question): www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body
Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
It has been amazing as a newsroom fan, watching @hannahnatanson.bsky.social's incredible, indefatigable reporting on DOGE and the Trump administration. She shows what journalism can do in a crisis. Please read what she gave to her sources - and the country - this year wapo.st/3LjmYCV
wapo.st
I am The Post’s ‘federal government whisperer.’ It’s been brutal.
One reporter’s effort to show how Trump was transforming government brought her 1,168 new sources — and nearly broke her.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Very proud of @naemas.bsky.social and my story yesterday on how thousands of the estimated 16,000 known plastic chemicals get into our food. “The problem is, none of the plastics that we have right now are safe... That’s what the data tell us.” www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
These kitchen items may be contaminating your food with chemicals
See the thousands of plastic chemicals in what we eat.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Fascinating look at what TikTok groups closer together -- brainrot, school -- and what are wildly far apart (toddlers, gaming). www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
washingtonpost.com
Are you in TikTok’s cat niche? What 121,000 videos reveal.
We re-created TikTok’s algorithm based on 1,100 users’ feeds. Explore which topics are in your feed and see what the algorithm is least likely to show you.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
The Post (me and @kcrowebasspro.bsky.social) analyzed the social media posts and appearances of prominent politicians across the country. We found that no one is talking about climate change anymore. In 2025, mentions are 60% lower than in 2024. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
This bar chart shows a decrease in mentions of 'climate' since a peak in August 2022, when Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Miser @misernyc.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Once again, the big divide in NYC:
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John Bistline @bistline.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Be careful out there. They're putting RCP8.5 in candy bars.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
"Linde’s electricity use in 2024 exceeded that of Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Samsung Electronics Co. as well as oil giant TotalEnergies SE." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
The World’s Biggest Consumers of Electricity Are Hidden in Plain Sight
Producers of industrial gases use as much power as the biggest oil and tech companies, with only a fraction of it coming from renewables.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
oof. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
De Blasio impostor tricks newspaper into running anti-Mamdani quotes
The Times of London apologized and said someone duped its reporter by claiming to be former New York mayor Bill de Blasio and criticizing Zohran Mamdani.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
A new, somewhat controversial study argues that over the past 5 years, places with the largest electricity demand growth -- including states with exploding numbers of data centers -- have actually seen falling rates. I wrote about some of the complexities: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
A clear visual representation of why public transit is still struggling. From @emilypont.bsky.social heatmap.news/politics/chi...
This line chart shows that "monthly ridership still hasn't recovered from the pandemic", using examples of the Chicago Transit Authority, the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority, and Bay Area Rapid Transit. All show a deep dip during the pandemic and only slow growth since then.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Microplastics are inside our bodies -- and a group of entrepreneurs is trying to make money on removing them. New from me and Daniel Gilbert. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
As new treatments for microplastics emerge, here’s the evidence on how well they work
Entrepreneurs aim to remove microplastics from the body, but the cost can be steep and the clinical benefit remains uncertain.
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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
I guess I have to post a screenshot from the article in order to get rid of the headline-and-photo preview that Bluesky is ludicrously flagging as adult content, lol uh anyway hope you'll read it, gift link www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/w...
Repeatedly, he insisted there was “no downside” to avoiding it.

But there is a downside: the risks of the fevers that acetaminophen can treat. It is the only drug that obstetricians commonly recommend to combat pain or fever during pregnancy, because options like ibuprofen can harm the fetus.

Decades of studies have shown a clear association between fevers early in pregnancy and a specific set of birth defects, including neural tube defects, some heart defects and cleft palates, said Dr. Eric Benner, a neonatologist at Duke University. “The evidence is really strong,” he said.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Breast, thyroid, and colon cancer rates are skyrocketing in young adults. Some of my colleagues break down the reasons why: www.washingtonpost.com/health/inter...
This is an arrow plot showing how rates of cancer in young adults, aged 15 to 49, have changed over the past 20 years. Rates of breast, thyroid, and colon and rectum cancer have increased, while the rate of lung and bronchus cancer has decreased.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
“Measuring itself is a political act with political consequences,” Dr. Pralle said. “And clearly the Trump administration does not want to do anything to alleviate a problem like climate change.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/c... from @maxinejoselow.bsky.social
nytimes.com
A Trump Administration Playbook: No Data, No Problem
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
It's not your imagination: Wildfire smoke in the U.S. has dramatically worsened since 2019. According to a new study, it's already killing 41,000 people a year - and it's poised to get much worse. new from me @johnmuyskens.bsky.social and @sadbumblebee.buzz www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
Record wildfire smoke kills more people each year than car crashes. It’s about to get worse.
The past six summers have been the smokiest on record. New research shows that smoke could become the costliest consequence of climate change for Americans.
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Washington Post Guild @postguild.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Statement from Post Guild Leadership: The Washington Post Guild condemns the unjust firing of columnist Karen Attiah
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 10/09/2025
A National Guard report accidentally emailed to the Post says veterans and active-duty troops view the D.C. deployment with "shame and alarm" @alexhorton.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
washingtonpost.com
National Guard documents show public ‘fear,’ troops’ ‘shame’ over D.C. presence
Internal documents reviewed by The Post reveal, with rare candor, how domestic missions rooted in politics risk damaging Americans’ trust in the military.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Some context on the Hyundai raid from @evanhalper.bsky.social and myself: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
washingtonpost.com
How the Hyundai raid could upend Trump’s dream of more U.S. factories
President Trump said he stood up for Georgia workers by detaining 300 South Korean nationals. Experts say he risks killing thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
For the last several months, I've been digging through endless scientific literature on what happens when pregnant mothers are exposed to plastic chemicals in their food, water, and everyday household products. The result is this story. I hope you'll take the time to read. wapo.st/4g3ZoFc
wapo.st
The health risks from plastics almost nobody knows about
Researchers have linked phthalates, chemicals found in plastics, to premature birth, infertility and ADHD.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
53% of new cars sold in China are now plug-ins ‼️ in some form or other -- 32% full EVs and 21% plug in hybrid cleantechnica.com/2025/07/21/5...
cleantechnica.com
53% EV Share in China! — June 2025 Sales Report - CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. BEVs represented close to a third of the total Chinese car market in June. June saw the continuation of the never ending grow...
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Classic. A city council in the UK won't allow locals to install EV chargers *buried under the sidewalk* and at owners' expense. In 2019, that same council declared a climate emergency 🫠🫠 www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
How the shift to electric cars is being tripped up by health and safety
Councils touting their net-zero credentials are turning down drivers’ requests to dig channels that would let them use cheap home charging, reports George Nixon
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
A study predicted economic damages from climate change 3x higher than previous assessments. But it was flawed -- all thanks to the data from just one country. I dug into this strange study and the researchers calling it out: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
A study predicted huge climate damages. But it had a fatal flaw: Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan’s erroneous data dramatically changed the results of a study on global climate damages.
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Andrew Dessler @andrewdessler.com · 01/08/2025
Lots of interesting stuff buried in the DOE report. For example, here's a reference that doesn't exist:
Lee, S., Byrne, M. P., Loikith, P. C., & O’Dell, C. W. (2024). Zonal contrasts of the tropical Pacific climate predicted by a global constraint. Climate Dynamics, 62(1–2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-023-06741-7
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
We annotated some of the most, er, interesting lines in the DOE's new climate report with the help of scientists. New from me and the rest of the team: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
We fact-checked the Trump administration’s climate report
Scientists say the report cherry-picks key data and misrepresents the state of climate research.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
So so excited that my book on microplastics and the rise of plastic has been picked up by Harper 🥹🥹 Thank you to agent extraordinaire Alice Whitwham at @cheneyagency.bsky.social, amazing editor Sarah Haugen at Harper, and family & friends for believing in this project.
A deal from Publishers Marketplace that reads:

"Climate reporter at the Washington Post Shannon Osaka's THE MIRACLE MATERIAL: HOW PLASTIC CONQUERED OUR WORLD, TRANSFORMED OUR LIVES, AND ENTERED OUR BODIES, blending reporting, history, and science to tell the hidden story of how plastic, which once promised to transform our lives for the better, has become the most insidious pollutant of all—tracing the 20th century's utopian dreams for the material, research into the health consequences of microplastics, and solutions both local and global; an account of the fossil-fuel based polymer that has built our systems of consumerism, convenience, and disposability, to Sarah Haugen at Harper, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, by Alice Whitwham at The Cheney Agency (NA). Rights:
beniamino@cheneyagency.com"
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
'But she did not intend to be silenced. “Speaking out for kids in this situation is more important than my career,” she says.' www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/in...
washingtonpost.com
Ms. Rachel grew up on Mister Rogers. Now she’s carrying on his legacy.
The YouTube star wants her audiences — adults and children alike — to see the humanity of all people.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
China calls them the "New Three" -- solar panels, EVs, and batteries -- a set of technologies the country dominates. But once, the US had a headstart. New from me and @naemas.bsky.social on how the US lost its lead in clean energy -- and how China took over. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
The U.S. invented these technologies. Then China dominated them.
China dominates the global market for clean energy technology like electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels, which were all invented in the U.S.
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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
NEW: 18,500 children have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. The Washington Post has just published every single known name. A seminal moment.
The WaPa headline says: 60,000 Gazans were killed. 18,500 of them were children. These are some of their names. 

Then follows an enormous list of small print namesThousands of small print names interspersed with some photos of some of the child victims
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
And here it is: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
EPA moves to end climate regulation under Clean Air Act
The agency proposal would rescind the landmark “endangerment finding,” which says that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
A very interesting moment in the latest Ezra Klein podcast with Jesse Jenkins and Jane Flegal. I've been thinking about this for a long time... The special report on 1.5C never said that 1.5C was a magical threshold. It said that 1.5C was much better than 2C... 1/
"Great. So let’s talk about this. If that’s a communication failure, I can’t tell the difference here between: “Every degree matters” and “We have been scaring you all unscientifically for decades in order to get you to move faster. But now that we’re moving slower, don’t worry too much.”

Jenkins: To be clear, I wasn’t scaring people with that kind of rhetoric. The science is very clear: Get there as fast as possible. We are already seeing dangerous climate change around us today.

The idea that there’s some safe zone and some dangerous zone, and there’s a threshold between the two, is just not scientifically true. The I.P.C.C. has never said that. There’s no consensus in the scientific documents that frame it that way.

What they’ve said is that every degree involves increasing risk. That’s true — and so we have a sense of urgency. We want to make as much progress as possible, as rapidly as possible. That’s what the science says."
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
One of the craziest S-curves I've seen for electric vehicles -- from Nepal. Great reporting by @lydiadepillis.bsky.social and Bhadra Sharma www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/b...
This chart says "China's neighbors are quickly adopting electric vehicles" and shows a dramatic S-curve for EV adoption in Nepal, starting at far less than 10 percent in 2020 and ending at over 70% adoption in 2025.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
"'At the simplest level, if you have impaired nutrition and growth, your brain stops growing.'" www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...
washingtonpost.com
Gazans are starving. Here’s what lack of food does to the human body.
Children suffering under severe food shortages can face lifelong consequences.
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
"The employees of a large US chemicals company “formed a ring” around her, she says. “So I filed the harassment reports with the UN. The guy had to apologise, and then he left the meeting. He was at the next meeting.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Total infiltration’: How plastics industry swamped vital global treaty talks
Petrostates and well-funded lobbyists at UN-hosted talks are derailing a deal to cut plastic production and protect people and the planet
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
"Others fear respiratory infections that might result from spending long periods in air-conditioned rooms....[and] “thermal shock,” resulting in nausea, loss of consciousness and even respiratory arrest." The strange world of how Europe views air conditioning: www.wsj.com/world/europe...
wsj.com
The New Hot Topic in European Politics Is Air Conditioning
As summer temperatures rise, battle lines have been drawn between those who want air conditioning and those who worry over the environmental cost.
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Josh Lappen @jlappen1.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Big energy policy question of the decade: Will cost crisis in fact produce a popular swing in favor of clean energy, or a new round of anti-clean revanchism? Current discourse(TM) has me pessimistic- but door's wide open to messaging that presents energy transition as the solution to volatility!
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Chemtrails and cloud seeding conspiracy theories are increasingly moving from the fringe into GOP-sponsored laws. Latest from me: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
How weather conspiracy theories moved from online fringes to state laws
On Monday, Florida’s attorney general warned, “We don’t jeopardize public health so we can bend the knee to the climate cult.”
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Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Cox Automotive released its EV numbers yesterday. This is the first quarter since Q2 2020 (pandemic!) with a year-over-year drop in sales. Down about 6.3 percent. There has been a lot of talk about how EV sales slowing down is just media vibes, but ... www.coxautoinc.com/market-insig...
coxautoinc.com
Q2 EV Sales Dip During Record First Half; Q3 Poised for Spike Before Tax Credit Expires - Cox Automotive Inc.
Cox Automotive publishes a quarterly Kelley Blue Book new-vehicle sales report enumerating electric vehicle sales.
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
And now: A thread regarding my thoughts on "1.5°C"--not only as a Paris Agreement target, but also re: relevance to recent #climate events & overlaps (or not) w/geophysical realities. (This was originally written as a response to a journalist, who used excerpts in their article.)
Time series of Earth's global average temperature over time, between 1850 and 2024, as calculated by the Berkeley Earth research group. It depicts the Earth's average temperature as having risen to near or above 1.5C above the late 1800s average by 2023-2024.
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