Chris McDermott
@chrismcdermott.bsky.social
freelance editor | fmr. managing editor at EcoWatch | animal rights | climate | biodiversity | science | oceans | biophile | Asheville, NC
Reposted by Chris McDermott
Reposted by Chris McDermott
Good news, New York!
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Drop to Pandemic Levels in Sign of Local Climate Laws’ Impact
Phasing out fuel oil in buildings, improved energy efficiency and cleaner, greener cars contributed to a 5% decline between 2023 and 2024.
buff.ly
December 28, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Good news, New York!
Reposted by Chris McDermott
Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, keeps shooting out of the ground in Oklahoma.
Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.
Published Oct. w/ @readfrontier.bsky.social
Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.
Published Oct. w/ @readfrontier.bsky.social
Toxic Wastewater From Oil Fields Keeps Pouring Out of the Ground. Oklahoma Regulators Failed to Stop It.
Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, is spewing from old wells. Experts warn of a pollution crisis spreading underground and threatening Oklahoma’s drin...
www.propublica.org
December 27, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, keeps shooting out of the ground in Oklahoma.
Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.
Published Oct. w/ @readfrontier.bsky.social
Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.
Published Oct. w/ @readfrontier.bsky.social
Reposted by Chris McDermott
This is one of our favorites!
December 24, 2025 at 8:24 PM
This is one of our favorites!
Reposted by Chris McDermott
Reposted by Chris McDermott
Well done! A Massachusetts church displayed an “ICE was here” sign in its Nativity scene.
December 4, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Well done! A Massachusetts church displayed an “ICE was here” sign in its Nativity scene.
Reposted by Chris McDermott
📽️ WATCH: Photographer @annie-flanagan.bsky.social went to Clairton, PA, where residents live in the shadow of the country’s largest coke plant. Coke is a product used to manufacture steel.
This is what Annie saw — and inhaled — while on assignment in Clairton.
Link to our story below ⤵️
This is what Annie saw — and inhaled — while on assignment in Clairton.
Link to our story below ⤵️
December 8, 2025 at 12:01 AM
📽️ WATCH: Photographer @annie-flanagan.bsky.social went to Clairton, PA, where residents live in the shadow of the country’s largest coke plant. Coke is a product used to manufacture steel.
This is what Annie saw — and inhaled — while on assignment in Clairton.
Link to our story below ⤵️
This is what Annie saw — and inhaled — while on assignment in Clairton.
Link to our story below ⤵️
Reposted by Chris McDermott
Story: buff.ly/SBp0GZG...
www.propublica.org
November 19, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Story: buff.ly/SBp0GZG...
Reposted by Chris McDermott
NEW: Trump’s climate policies could lead to 1.3 million more temperature-related deaths by 2115, our analysis found.
“The sheer numbers are horrifying,” a climate advocate said. “These are people with lives, with families, with hopes and dreams.”
“The sheer numbers are horrifying,” a climate advocate said. “These are people with lives, with families, with hopes and dreams.”
Trump’s Anti-Green Agenda Could Lead to 1.3 Million More Climate Deaths. The Poorest Countries Will Be Impacted Most.
Most of the people expected to suffer these temperature-related deaths live in poor countries in Africa and South Asia that are least prepared to cope with the increasing heat from climate change.
www.propublica.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:00 PM
NEW: Trump’s climate policies could lead to 1.3 million more temperature-related deaths by 2115, our analysis found.
“The sheer numbers are horrifying,” a climate advocate said. “These are people with lives, with families, with hopes and dreams.”
“The sheer numbers are horrifying,” a climate advocate said. “These are people with lives, with families, with hopes and dreams.”
Reposted by Chris McDermott
How did 3M’s “forever chemicals” end up in all of us? The inside story of the corporate scientists who discovered—then helped to conceal—the dangers of its chemicals.
How 3M Discovered, Then Concealed, the Dangers of Forever Chemicals
The company found its own toxic compounds in human blood—and kept selling them.
www.newyorker.com
August 11, 2025 at 5:06 PM
How did 3M’s “forever chemicals” end up in all of us? The inside story of the corporate scientists who discovered—then helped to conceal—the dangers of its chemicals.
Reposted by Chris McDermott
You can’t ban defiance!
✊🏼✊🏾📢⚖️
✊🏼✊🏾📢⚖️
August 6, 2025 at 10:21 PM
You can’t ban defiance!
✊🏼✊🏾📢⚖️
✊🏼✊🏾📢⚖️
Reposted by Chris McDermott
A nearly Connecticut-sized, oxygen-depleted area of ocean is decidedly abnormal. But the last 4 decades of annual measurements and failed efforts to stop chemical pollution flowing off midwestern farms and into the Gulf made this week’s announcement entirely predictable.
August 8, 2025 at 4:27 PM
A nearly Connecticut-sized, oxygen-depleted area of ocean is decidedly abnormal. But the last 4 decades of annual measurements and failed efforts to stop chemical pollution flowing off midwestern farms and into the Gulf made this week’s announcement entirely predictable.
Reposted by Chris McDermott
“We’re being treated like animals… I’m brown. If I go out they can stop me every day just cuz of my skin color.”
What are we doing? 🇺🇸 (from @rokhanna.bsky.social )
What are we doing? 🇺🇸 (from @rokhanna.bsky.social )
August 6, 2025 at 2:00 AM
“We’re being treated like animals… I’m brown. If I go out they can stop me every day just cuz of my skin color.”
What are we doing? 🇺🇸 (from @rokhanna.bsky.social )
What are we doing? 🇺🇸 (from @rokhanna.bsky.social )
Reposted by Chris McDermott
Sadako Sasaki was two when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. She was 12 when she died of leukemia caused by radiation. In her hospital bed, she folded 1,000 paper cranes for peace.
Today, we fold cranes in her memory & to build a safer world free from the threat of nuclear weapons. #CranesForOurFuture
Today, we fold cranes in her memory & to build a safer world free from the threat of nuclear weapons. #CranesForOurFuture
August 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Sadako Sasaki was two when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. She was 12 when she died of leukemia caused by radiation. In her hospital bed, she folded 1,000 paper cranes for peace.
Today, we fold cranes in her memory & to build a safer world free from the threat of nuclear weapons. #CranesForOurFuture
Today, we fold cranes in her memory & to build a safer world free from the threat of nuclear weapons. #CranesForOurFuture
Reposted by Chris McDermott
There are historical cases, going back hundreds or thousands of years, of humans reacting quickly to climate change. And then there is the current case of humans both causing the climate change and refusing to react to it.
www.wired.com/story/kerr-c...
www.wired.com/story/kerr-c...
The Texas Floods Were a Preview of What’s to Come
Mounting evidence shows no US state is safe from the flooding that ravaged Texas’ Kerr Country.
www.wired.com
August 4, 2025 at 10:53 PM
There are historical cases, going back hundreds or thousands of years, of humans reacting quickly to climate change. And then there is the current case of humans both causing the climate change and refusing to react to it.
www.wired.com/story/kerr-c...
www.wired.com/story/kerr-c...
“The fossil fuel industry was sent a powerful message by the court in this case — the health, well-being, affordability, and prosperity of our communities matters more than the industry’s profits and the hollowness of its fear mongering.” ~ Dawn Wells-Clyburn, executive director of PUSH Buffalo
New York Finalizes Rule for New Buildings to Be Electric - EcoWatch
New York is now the first state to require new buildings to be built entirely electric, without hookups to fossil fuels including gas.
www.ecowatch.com
August 4, 2025 at 8:02 PM
“The fossil fuel industry was sent a powerful message by the court in this case — the health, well-being, affordability, and prosperity of our communities matters more than the industry’s profits and the hollowness of its fear mongering.” ~ Dawn Wells-Clyburn, executive director of PUSH Buffalo
Reposted by Chris McDermott
A university scientist who discovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in a lake in southeastern Louisiana was abruptly removed from her research position this week without explanation
University sidelines scientist who exposed toxic metals in Lake Maurepas
The SELU scientist who discovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in Lake Maurepas was abruptly removed from her research position without explanation.
lailluminator.com
August 2, 2025 at 4:55 PM
A university scientist who discovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in a lake in southeastern Louisiana was abruptly removed from her research position this week without explanation
Reposted by Chris McDermott
“We found an average of seven different pesticides per butterfly, including multiple insecticides that are highly toxic to insects.” ~ Staci Cibotti, lead author of the study and pesticide risk prevention specialist @xercessociety.bsky.social
Mass Die-Off of Western Monarch Butterflies Linked to Pesticides, Study Finds - EcoWatch
A new peer-reviewed study has linked pesticides as a likely cause to a mass die-off of Western monarch butterflies that occurred in 2024.
www.ecowatch.com
August 1, 2025 at 6:54 PM
“We found an average of seven different pesticides per butterfly, including multiple insecticides that are highly toxic to insects.” ~ Staci Cibotti, lead author of the study and pesticide risk prevention specialist @xercessociety.bsky.social
Reposted by Chris McDermott
This made us laugh… and cry. If you felt it too, here’s one way to help two agencies in the bunker 👇
August 1, 2025 at 3:12 PM
This made us laugh… and cry. If you felt it too, here’s one way to help two agencies in the bunker 👇
“What makes our discovery groundbreaking is not just its greater depth – it’s the astonishing abundance and diversity of chemosynthetic life we observed... this community thrives like a vibrant oasis in the vast desert of the deep sea.” ~ Mengran Du, IDSSE, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Deepest-Known Animal Communities Found Almost Six Miles Below Sea Level - EcoWatch
Thousands of mollusks and worms have been discovered by a Chinese submersible in the Mariana Trench, almost six miles below sea level.
www.ecowatch.com
August 1, 2025 at 9:59 AM
“What makes our discovery groundbreaking is not just its greater depth – it’s the astonishing abundance and diversity of chemosynthetic life we observed... this community thrives like a vibrant oasis in the vast desert of the deep sea.” ~ Mengran Du, IDSSE, Chinese Academy of Sciences
“Oil and gas development in these fragile ecosystems would have devastating impacts on biodiversity, communities, land rights and the global fight against climate change.” ~ Anna Bebbington, research manager @earth-insight.org
Pristine Forest and Endangered Gorilla Habitat at Risk as Half of DRC Opened to Bids for Oil and Gas Drilling: Report - EcoWatch
The Democratic Republic of the Congo plans to open 306 million acres of tropical forest and gorilla habitat to oil and gas drilling.
www.ecowatch.com
July 31, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“Oil and gas development in these fragile ecosystems would have devastating impacts on biodiversity, communities, land rights and the global fight against climate change.” ~ Anna Bebbington, research manager @earth-insight.org