Shannon Osaka
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shannonosaka.bsky.social
Shannon Osaka
@shannonosaka.bsky.social
20K followers 400 following 260 posts
climate *zeitgeist* reporter for @washingtonpost.com. DM for Signal.
Posts Replies Media Videos
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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.
November 10, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Shannon Osaka
misernyc.bsky.social
Once again, the big divide in NYC:
November 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Shannon Osaka
bistline.bsky.social
Be careful out there. They're putting RCP8.5 in candy bars.
October 31, 2025 at 4:09 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
"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...
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.
www.bloomberg.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:15 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
oof.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:17 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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...
October 25, 2025 at 3:25 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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.
October 21, 2025 at 2:53 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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/...
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Shannon Osaka
maggieastor.bsky.social
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.
September 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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.
September 23, 2025 at 4:28 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
“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
A Trump Administration Playbook: No Data, No Problem
www.nytimes.com
September 19, 2025 at 4:26 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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...
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Shannon Osaka
postguild.bsky.social
Statement from Post Guild Leadership: The Washington Post Guild condemns the unjust firing of columnist Karen Attiah
September 15, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Shannon Osaka
drewharwell.com
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...
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
Some context on the Hyundai raid from @evanhalper.bsky.social and myself: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 9, 2025 at 5:50 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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
The health risks from plastics almost nobody knows about
Researchers have linked phthalates, chemicals found in plastics, to premature birth, infertility and ADHD.
wapo.st
September 4, 2025 at 3:14 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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...
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...
cleantechnica.com
September 2, 2025 at 2:15 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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...
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
www.thetimes.com
August 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Shannon Osaka
gwagner.com
Austrian carbon tax goes NYT: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/c...

Yes, the tax survived, while the dividends just got killed by the new government.

But the real story isn't necessarily about the "Klimabonus", but the Klimaticket(!).

mini-Austro-🧵
How a Carbon Tax Plan in Europe Survived (Mostly)
www.nytimes.com
August 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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...
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 6, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Shannon Osaka
andrewdessler.com
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
August 1, 2025 at 8:03 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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...
We fact-checked the Trump administration’s climate report
Scientists say the report cherry-picks key data and misrepresents the state of climate research.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 1, 2025 at 2:13 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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"
July 31, 2025 at 4:37 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
'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...
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
July 31, 2025 at 2:58 PM
shannonosaka.bsky.social
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...
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
July 31, 2025 at 1:53 PM