Pam McElwee
@pammcelwee.bsky.social
Prof of Human Ecology @Rutgers. Co-Chair, IPBES Nexus Assessment, Ecosystems chapter lead NCA5 & IPCC author. Kansas/Oxford/Yale Alum. She/her. Brunch-eater. Mom. Working at science-policy interface to find solutions to biodiversity + climate crises 🌎☀️🐢
Pinned
Pam McElwee
@pammcelwee.bsky.social
· Nov 5
In reading Bill Gates' recent #climate memo, I'm struck by how much he ignores huge body of research and action around integrated solutions - the whole reason we wrote the @ipbes.net Nexus Assessment on climate, biodiversity, water, food and health! So a few key facts & lessons from our report: 1/
See ya, sucky 2025 💩:
- 2 research grants terminated
- cut from my advisory board role at EPA
- much time responding to Administration's attempts to gut climate science (dropping IPCC and NCA6, DOE and EPA trying to deregulate GHGs)
- countries blocking welcome of global assessment report I co-led
- 2 research grants terminated
- cut from my advisory board role at EPA
- much time responding to Administration's attempts to gut climate science (dropping IPCC and NCA6, DOE and EPA trying to deregulate GHGs)
- countries blocking welcome of global assessment report I co-led
a dumpster is on fire in a flooded area with the words everything 's fine below it .
ALT: a dumpster is on fire in a flooded area with the words everything 's fine below it .
media.tenor.com
December 31, 2025 at 11:31 PM
See ya, sucky 2025 💩:
- 2 research grants terminated
- cut from my advisory board role at EPA
- much time responding to Administration's attempts to gut climate science (dropping IPCC and NCA6, DOE and EPA trying to deregulate GHGs)
- countries blocking welcome of global assessment report I co-led
- 2 research grants terminated
- cut from my advisory board role at EPA
- much time responding to Administration's attempts to gut climate science (dropping IPCC and NCA6, DOE and EPA trying to deregulate GHGs)
- countries blocking welcome of global assessment report I co-led
I chaired an amazing panel session at #AGU25 last week on best practices and innovations in climate assessments, from state and local experiences like in CA to the global O3 assessments of the Montreal Protocol. And now we hear today #NCA6 is to be written in just a few weeks by contrarians and AI 😩
December 22, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I chaired an amazing panel session at #AGU25 last week on best practices and innovations in climate assessments, from state and local experiences like in CA to the global O3 assessments of the Montreal Protocol. And now we hear today #NCA6 is to be written in just a few weeks by contrarians and AI 😩
It seems inevitable this is the road we were headed down 🥺
The next National Climate Assessment will be written by five climate deniers and an AI in a trench coat.
I look forward to the legally required, transparent peer review process required by the US Global Change Research Act and the Information Quality Act. I always thought they would try to do a NCA with Judith Curry, five old men and a LLM.
December 22, 2025 at 10:06 PM
It seems inevitable this is the road we were headed down 🥺
Good for the senators from Colorado for fighting for NCAR.
"A Democratic senator involved in the negotiations...said that Trump’s attempt to break up a premier weather and climate center based in Boulder, Colo., was like a “stick of dynamite” that exploded any chance of a bipartisan breakthrough on spending."
thehill.com/homenews/sen...
thehill.com/homenews/sen...
Trump move to dismantle climate agency blows up Senate funding deal
A potential deal to fund large swaths of the federal government, including the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, collapsed on Thursday night after Colorado senators demanded tha…
thehill.com
December 19, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Good for the senators from Colorado for fighting for NCAR.
A crushing blow, coming during the #AGU25 meeting. And singling out the Rising Voices program is infuriating- we need more focus on bringing diverse ppl into climate science, not less!
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:44 AM
A crushing blow, coming during the #AGU25 meeting. And singling out the Rising Voices program is infuriating- we need more focus on bringing diverse ppl into climate science, not less!
Looking forward to catching up with folks at #AGU25 - let me know if you are in New Orleans! I am there Mon-Wed and chairing a couple of great sessions on Tuesday on the importance of climate assessments at local, national and global levels, including introducing our new org, USAA-IPCC!
December 14, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Looking forward to catching up with folks at #AGU25 - let me know if you are in New Orleans! I am there Mon-Wed and chairing a couple of great sessions on Tuesday on the importance of climate assessments at local, national and global levels, including introducing our new org, USAA-IPCC!
Was very poignant to be welcomed by three different Cabinet secretaries/ministers in France last week. A huge contrast to the current state of US executive branch climate denial.
The IPCC’s First Lead Author Meeting for AR7, is taking place in Paris this week. The French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr Jean-Noël Barrot welcomed around 600 authors from more than 100 countries to the Quai d’Orsay on Tuesday evening.
bit.ly/4ir09cC
bit.ly/4ir09cC
December 8, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Was very poignant to be welcomed by three different Cabinet secretaries/ministers in France last week. A huge contrast to the current state of US executive branch climate denial.
Really happy to be here in Paris at the first-ever joint working group lead author meeting! Looking forward to productive discussions this week
📣 PRESS RELEASE
#IPCC authors meet in Paris 🇫🇷 to begin drafting the Seventh Assessment Report
More than six hundred experts appointed to the three Working Groups of the IPCC are gathering in Paris this week to draft IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report.
🔗 bit.ly/4ir09cC
#IPCC authors meet in Paris 🇫🇷 to begin drafting the Seventh Assessment Report
More than six hundred experts appointed to the three Working Groups of the IPCC are gathering in Paris this week to draft IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report.
🔗 bit.ly/4ir09cC
December 1, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Really happy to be here in Paris at the first-ever joint working group lead author meeting! Looking forward to productive discussions this week
Reposted by Pam McElwee
At least 90 people have died and another 12 are missing after days of heavy rain in Vietnam led to flooding and landslides.
The Vietnamese government says 186,000 homes have been damaged across the country, with more than three million livestock swept away.
The Vietnamese government says 186,000 homes have been damaged across the country, with more than three million livestock swept away.
November 27, 2025 at 1:53 AM
At least 90 people have died and another 12 are missing after days of heavy rain in Vietnam led to flooding and landslides.
The Vietnamese government says 186,000 homes have been damaged across the country, with more than three million livestock swept away.
The Vietnamese government says 186,000 homes have been damaged across the country, with more than three million livestock swept away.
Reposted by Pam McElwee
A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT
Trump’s campaign of retribution:
At least 470 targets and counting
The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.
By PETER EISLER, NED PARKER, LINDA SO and JOSEPH TANFANI
Trump’s campaign of retribution:
At least 470 targets and counting
The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.
By PETER EISLER, NED PARKER, LINDA SO and JOSEPH TANFANI
November 26, 2025 at 6:35 PM
A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT
Trump’s campaign of retribution:
At least 470 targets and counting
The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.
By PETER EISLER, NED PARKER, LINDA SO and JOSEPH TANFANI
Trump’s campaign of retribution:
At least 470 targets and counting
The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.
By PETER EISLER, NED PARKER, LINDA SO and JOSEPH TANFANI
Now that #COP30 has shown us how urgent action really is, sharing access to a Perspective that came out earlier this fall on managing trade-offs between biodiversity and renewable energy - the IPBES nexus assessment shows that this *can* be done!
rdcu.be/eRx3d
rdcu.be/eRx3d
The trade-offs between needed renewable energy transitions and biodiversity can be overcome
Nature Reviews Biodiversity - The expansion of renewable energy is urgently needed to reduce carbon emissions, but it can entail some trade-offs with biodiversity. Here, we argue that synergistic...
rdcu.be
November 25, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Now that #COP30 has shown us how urgent action really is, sharing access to a Perspective that came out earlier this fall on managing trade-offs between biodiversity and renewable energy - the IPBES nexus assessment shows that this *can* be done!
rdcu.be/eRx3d
rdcu.be/eRx3d
Disappointing lack of urgency from #COP30 outcomes. Meanwhile, #Vietnam is getting a battering from extreme rain and floods. These are NOT coastal provinces that are used to hurricanes - these are inland mountainous areas now experiencing landslides and submerged villages
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Vietnam floods leave at least 90 dead and 12 missing
Days of torrential rain leaves vast swathes of the country inundated and facing landslides.
www.bbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Disappointing lack of urgency from #COP30 outcomes. Meanwhile, #Vietnam is getting a battering from extreme rain and floods. These are NOT coastal provinces that are used to hurricanes - these are inland mountainous areas now experiencing landslides and submerged villages
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Once upon a time we had a government with multiple levels of scientific review, advisory boards and robust processes so that one political person could not do an end-run around science. An incredibly dangerous moment for public health, climate, AI, etc when actual expertise/evidence is sorely needed
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Once upon a time we had a government with multiple levels of scientific review, advisory boards and robust processes so that one political person could not do an end-run around science. An incredibly dangerous moment for public health, climate, AI, etc when actual expertise/evidence is sorely needed
Reposted by Pam McElwee
For decades, Republicans have been slow walking progress on clean energy. That isn’t free. Home insurance premiums are through the roof because of their inaction.
Rising Home Insurance Premiums Are Eating Into Home Values in Disaster-Prone Areas
Changes in the insurance market have started to affect home prices in the most disaster-prone areas, new research finds, pushing some homeowners’ finances to the breaking point.
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:53 PM
For decades, Republicans have been slow walking progress on clean energy. That isn’t free. Home insurance premiums are through the roof because of their inaction.
😡😡😡
The House is taking up several planet-destroying, civilization-threatening, anti-children bills today. These will overturn Biden-administration protections against fossil-fuel drilling and other ecosystem destruction in Alaska and Wyoming
November 18, 2025 at 3:14 PM
😡😡😡
I left my previous job due to 'restructuring' gone awry. Being more interdisciplinary is one thing - giving all your existing departments the heave-ho (with little faculty input) is another.
November 18, 2025 at 1:55 PM
I left my previous job due to 'restructuring' gone awry. Being more interdisciplinary is one thing - giving all your existing departments the heave-ho (with little faculty input) is another.
Reposted by Pam McElwee
🎙️ The #COPOut Podcast Episode 3 on the Future of Carbon Governance is LIVE! Tune in to hear from @pammcelwee.bsky.social & @laurengifford.bsky.social as they discuss how the use science to inform climate policymaking and why the regime continues to miss the mark. cece.american.edu/copout-episo...
November 17, 2025 at 12:24 PM
🎙️ The #COPOut Podcast Episode 3 on the Future of Carbon Governance is LIVE! Tune in to hear from @pammcelwee.bsky.social & @laurengifford.bsky.social as they discuss how the use science to inform climate policymaking and why the regime continues to miss the mark. cece.american.edu/copout-episo...
Reposted by Pam McElwee
📢 In a new PLOS Climate Opinion article, the Co-Chairs of the the @ipbes.net Nexus Assessment, @pammcelwee.bsky.social and Paula Harrison, share key lessons for the UNFCCC #COP30
🔗 journals.plos.org/climate/arti...
🔗 journals.plos.org/climate/arti...
November 12, 2025 at 7:05 PM
📢 In a new PLOS Climate Opinion article, the Co-Chairs of the the @ipbes.net Nexus Assessment, @pammcelwee.bsky.social and Paula Harrison, share key lessons for the UNFCCC #COP30
🔗 journals.plos.org/climate/arti...
🔗 journals.plos.org/climate/arti...
Reposted by Pam McElwee
new from me today: not all data centers are created environmentally equal — and building them in states with cleaner grids and more access to water could go a long way in preventing environmental catastrophe
If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here’s Where They Should Go
A new analysis tries to calculate the coming environmental footprint of AI in the US and finds that the ideal sites for data centers aren’t where they’re being built.
www.wired.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:11 PM
new from me today: not all data centers are created environmentally equal — and building them in states with cleaner grids and more access to water could go a long way in preventing environmental catastrophe
Reposted by Pam McElwee
Every new report on the consequences of Trump’s dismantling of USAID is more horrifying than the last. One model estimates it's caused 600K deaths — two-thirds of them children.
We can’t give Trump a blank check to keep destroying life-saving programs.
We can’t give Trump a blank check to keep destroying life-saving programs.
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
www.newyorker.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Every new report on the consequences of Trump’s dismantling of USAID is more horrifying than the last. One model estimates it's caused 600K deaths — two-thirds of them children.
We can’t give Trump a blank check to keep destroying life-saving programs.
We can’t give Trump a blank check to keep destroying life-saving programs.
Reposted by Pam McElwee
First episode of COPOut airs SUNDAY. Tune in to hear from @laurengifford.bsky.social @katharinehayhoe.com @davidho.bsky.social @magnoliae.bsky.social @pammcelwee.bsky.social @lisaschipper.bsky.social @frediotto.bsky.social @amywestervelt.bsky.social & more!
cece.american.edu/cece-launche...
cece.american.edu/cece-launche...
November 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
First episode of COPOut airs SUNDAY. Tune in to hear from @laurengifford.bsky.social @katharinehayhoe.com @davidho.bsky.social @magnoliae.bsky.social @pammcelwee.bsky.social @lisaschipper.bsky.social @frediotto.bsky.social @amywestervelt.bsky.social & more!
cece.american.edu/cece-launche...
cece.american.edu/cece-launche...
Today Nov 6 is International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Given the environmental impacts of recent conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, we clearly need to do better. joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and...
War worsens climate and environmental challenges in Ukraine
A new study finds reduced greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine amid war but increased toxic pollution risks.
joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu
November 6, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Today Nov 6 is International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Given the environmental impacts of recent conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, we clearly need to do better. joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and...
The headwinds are strong at frderal level, but NJ really needs to get offshore wind energy sector developed - 🤞hope newly elected governor Sherrill uses her mandate to push for this www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
In New Jersey, offshore wind notches a win—and dodges a bullet
Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill slayed a GOP rival who'd vowed to ban new turbines.
www.motherjones.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:29 PM
The headwinds are strong at frderal level, but NJ really needs to get offshore wind energy sector developed - 🤞hope newly elected governor Sherrill uses her mandate to push for this www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Pam McElwee
The UNEP GAP report is not the kind of reading that makes climate scientists smile. But this figure is not all bleak - look at all the emissions curves pointing downwards!
The full report: www.unep.org/resources/em...
The full report: www.unep.org/resources/em...
November 5, 2025 at 7:34 PM
The UNEP GAP report is not the kind of reading that makes climate scientists smile. But this figure is not all bleak - look at all the emissions curves pointing downwards!
The full report: www.unep.org/resources/em...
The full report: www.unep.org/resources/em...