Mike Bell
@m-kebell.bsky.social
Ecologist studying how air pollution harms natural systems and working to establish guidelines to minimize risk to human health and the environment. I spend my free time on trails and wheels to let go of what I know. Thoughts here are mine. he/him/his
Reposted by Mike Bell
New data paper out: Ammonia doesn't often make the headlines – but it’s one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss and air pollution in Europe, harming ecosystems and our health. > 90% of it in Europe comes from one source: agricultural fertiliser and manure 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
August 27, 2025 at 9:51 AM
New data paper out: Ammonia doesn't often make the headlines – but it’s one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss and air pollution in Europe, harming ecosystems and our health. > 90% of it in Europe comes from one source: agricultural fertiliser and manure 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Mike Bell
Air pollution from oil and gas kills over 90,000 people in the US every year and makes hundreds of thousands more sick, disproportionately affecting Black and brown communities. But Republicans want to drill baby drill and kill more people because they're racist af.
Air pollution from oil and gas causes 90,000 premature US deaths each year, says new study
Study analyzed health impacts of fossil fuels from exploration to end use, and found communities of color bear brunt of harm
www.theguardian.com
August 25, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Air pollution from oil and gas kills over 90,000 people in the US every year and makes hundreds of thousands more sick, disproportionately affecting Black and brown communities. But Republicans want to drill baby drill and kill more people because they're racist af.
Reposted by Mike Bell
Gutting scientific research at EPA means less protection for our air, water, and health. The consequences of this decision will be felt for generations. Deeply concerning. Unreal!
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm
www.nytimes.com
July 18, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Gutting scientific research at EPA means less protection for our air, water, and health. The consequences of this decision will be felt for generations. Deeply concerning. Unreal!
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
Reposted by Mike Bell
Signs posted at National Park Service sites seen as threats to ‘whitewash’ dark side of Colorado history https://trib.al/MqahPC8
Signs posted at National Park Service sites seen as threats to ‘whitewash’ dark side of Colorado history
Action stems from a Donald Trump executive order aimed at “restoring truth and sanity to American history” as told at national parks, historic sites.
trib.al
June 29, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Signs posted at National Park Service sites seen as threats to ‘whitewash’ dark side of Colorado history https://trib.al/MqahPC8
Reposted by Mike Bell
The Clean Air Act is VERY successful. Rolling back #EPA rules & regs is a mistake and will cost lives. The #ParisAgreement is not enough to solve the #climate emergency & also saves lives. Simon Rosanka & I take a stab at quantifying how many. Republicans attack their own best legacy 🤷🏻♀️
The legacy of the U.S. Clean Air Act at a crossroads - npj Clean Air
Chronic and acute exposure to elevated concentrations of ambient fine particulate matter represents a significant health risk. Here, we evaluate the avoided air pollution due to the U.S. Clean Air Act...
www.nature.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:01 PM
The Clean Air Act is VERY successful. Rolling back #EPA rules & regs is a mistake and will cost lives. The #ParisAgreement is not enough to solve the #climate emergency & also saves lives. Simon Rosanka & I take a stab at quantifying how many. Republicans attack their own best legacy 🤷🏻♀️
Reposted by Mike Bell
at a time when destroying the planet for profit is normal, we should all be radical
An excellent article -and podcast- questioning whether climate activists are really so radical. It makes you wonder: has any society in history been as willingly docile as ours?
A new podcast asks: Are 'radical' climate activists really that radical?
"Sabotage" tells the story of the real people behind Just Stop Oil's controversial stunts.
grist.org
May 21, 2025 at 10:29 AM
at a time when destroying the planet for profit is normal, we should all be radical
Reposted by Mike Bell
A victory for the federal scientific workforce! We could not stand by while this irreparable harm continues at NSF, NOAA and all our scientific agencies.
TODAY the judge granted our request to temporarily HALT the mass firings at federal agencies under Trump’s Executive Order.
TODAY the judge granted our request to temporarily HALT the mass firings at federal agencies under Trump’s Executive Order.
May 10, 2025 at 2:03 AM
A victory for the federal scientific workforce! We could not stand by while this irreparable harm continues at NSF, NOAA and all our scientific agencies.
TODAY the judge granted our request to temporarily HALT the mass firings at federal agencies under Trump’s Executive Order.
TODAY the judge granted our request to temporarily HALT the mass firings at federal agencies under Trump’s Executive Order.
Reposted by Mike Bell
My new piece in @rollingstone.com : “Our democracy is made up of reciprocal ties between and among all of us, and AmeriCorps strengthens these ties. We will all feel the loss of AmeriCorps...and our democracy will pay the price.” www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
April 25, 2025 at 1:58 PM
My new piece in @rollingstone.com : “Our democracy is made up of reciprocal ties between and among all of us, and AmeriCorps strengthens these ties. We will all feel the loss of AmeriCorps...and our democracy will pay the price.” www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Within the chaos I’m excited for our new publication in Oecologia. With funding being cut to a lot of air pollution monitoring it is going to be important to take advantage of biomonitors like lichen. Here we used nitrogen content and isotopes to infer deposition patterns and sources in the PNW.
Assessing nitrogen deposition and chemistry in mountainous regions of Olympic National Park and North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Pacific Northwest, USA - Oecologia
Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition (Ndep) can disrupt ecosystem dynamics, yet its spatial distribution and chemical composition in mountainous regions remains poorly understood. Accurate measuremen...
link.springer.com
April 11, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Within the chaos I’m excited for our new publication in Oecologia. With funding being cut to a lot of air pollution monitoring it is going to be important to take advantage of biomonitors like lichen. Here we used nitrogen content and isotopes to infer deposition patterns and sources in the PNW.
I’m sad about all the expertise that the public is losing through this round of DRP. So much knowledge and service disappearing without the replacement. But I’m excited for the creative solutions that will be necessary to move forward. Will it be taxing. Yes. Will we fight for you. Also yes.
April 10, 2025 at 12:38 AM
I’m sad about all the expertise that the public is losing through this round of DRP. So much knowledge and service disappearing without the replacement. But I’m excited for the creative solutions that will be necessary to move forward. Will it be taxing. Yes. Will we fight for you. Also yes.
Reposted by Mike Bell
My colleague Rohit Bhattacharya and I wrote an op-ed in our campus paper to call attention to the impact on federal cuts to science and academia and encourage our students to keep paying attention: williamsrecord.com/469399/opini...
Cuts to federal science funding are a problem for all of us
In an op-ed, professors Rohit Bhattacharya and Phoebe Cohen explain how cuts to federal research funding will have devastating consequences beyond academic circles.
williamsrecord.com
March 19, 2025 at 11:26 AM
My colleague Rohit Bhattacharya and I wrote an op-ed in our campus paper to call attention to the impact on federal cuts to science and academia and encourage our students to keep paying attention: williamsrecord.com/469399/opini...
What a lovely read. I felt lke it was ode to paying attention, an ode to passion, a love letter to spring, a fascinating look at the interconnectedness of life, and a warning of it all falling apart. It also got me more excited for spring in the front range. Bring on the Pasque flowers.
I understand some folks had trouble with the discount code yesterday. You can use the code READMIT20 for 20% off orders through www.penguinrandomhouse.com/search/pheno... - that one's not set to expire. #phenology
March 18, 2025 at 11:44 AM
What a lovely read. I felt lke it was ode to paying attention, an ode to passion, a love letter to spring, a fascinating look at the interconnectedness of life, and a warning of it all falling apart. It also got me more excited for spring in the front range. Bring on the Pasque flowers.
Hot off the presses, our new paper looking at eight different air quality models and their impact on ecosystem risk assessments. We used critical load exceedances to compare areas of model alignment and guide our analysis of which model parameters were leading to variability.
Critical load exceedances for North America and Europe using an ensemble of models and an investigation of causes of environmental impact estimate variability: an AQMEII4 study
Abstract. Exceedances of critical loads for deposition of sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) in different ecosystems were estimated using European and North American ensembles of air quality models, under th...
acp.copernicus.org
March 18, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Hot off the presses, our new paper looking at eight different air quality models and their impact on ecosystem risk assessments. We used critical load exceedances to compare areas of model alignment and guide our analysis of which model parameters were leading to variability.
Such a loss.
Just heard that Trump is putting an end to atmospheric monitoring site NY67 that is run out of my lab. This is one of the oldest NADP sites in the US, continually measuring acid rain and other pollutants since 1977. Closing it down is tragic.
March 14, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Such a loss.
I love seeing more attention being paid to air pollutants and their impacts. As long as funding doesn’t get cut with the new budget, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program should be launching a national monitoring network for PFAS at the end of the year.
The US and Europe largely solved the acid rain problem. Hooray! But now our rain is full of something a lot scarier — microplastics, PFAS, and other modern chemicals. And these pollutants are much harder to clean up. www.vox.com/climate/4016...
We got rid of acid rain. Now something scarier is falling from the sky.
Here’s why you should never, ever drink the rain.
www.vox.com
March 10, 2025 at 6:45 PM
I love seeing more attention being paid to air pollutants and their impacts. As long as funding doesn’t get cut with the new budget, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program should be launching a national monitoring network for PFAS at the end of the year.
Our new published paper developed convex hulls for 198 herbaceous species critical loads to expand their application to parks and forests. This uses the soil pH, temp, precip, and deposition data to highlight additional areas where our CL models can be applied.
Developing spatially explicit critical loads for herbaceous species across the United States using convex hulls
Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur, after land use change, is one of the most impactful stressors to terrestrial biodiversity. Deposition effects on ecosystems are pervasive, impacting spe...
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
March 7, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Our new published paper developed convex hulls for 198 herbaceous species critical loads to expand their application to parks and forests. This uses the soil pH, temp, precip, and deposition data to highlight additional areas where our CL models can be applied.
Reposted by Mike Bell
Things are so chaotic and stomach-churning in our world right now. I find a lot of solace out in nature. I want to share a tiny slice of that with you.
My book, #Phenology is available today! You can purchase it for 30% off *today only* with code MITP30 through penguinrandomhouse.com
My book, #Phenology is available today! You can purchase it for 30% off *today only* with code MITP30 through penguinrandomhouse.com
March 4, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Things are so chaotic and stomach-churning in our world right now. I find a lot of solace out in nature. I want to share a tiny slice of that with you.
My book, #Phenology is available today! You can purchase it for 30% off *today only* with code MITP30 through penguinrandomhouse.com
My book, #Phenology is available today! You can purchase it for 30% off *today only* with code MITP30 through penguinrandomhouse.com
Check out this great @westword.com article on my friend Lucy’s art show opening tonight that engaged youth in asking questions of what a world beyond fossil fuels looks like and highlights the air quality issues the Denver currently faces.
New PlatteForum Exhibit Asks What Suncor Could Be Instead of an Oil Refinery
"There's lots to despair about, but I would love to spend some time imagining what a different future could look like.”
www.westword.com
February 28, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Check out this great @westword.com article on my friend Lucy’s art show opening tonight that engaged youth in asking questions of what a world beyond fossil fuels looks like and highlights the air quality issues the Denver currently faces.
It's great seeing love for the NADP! And it's important to know that their funding is at risk with potential cuts to government programs so this won't be possible with "new" pollutants like PFAS, ammonia, and mercury...
Another dataset I like is from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, which has maps of the US that show we fixed the acid rain problem by implementing stricter emission controls on power plants.
nadp.slh.wisc.edu/maps-data/nt...
nadp.slh.wisc.edu/maps-data/nt...
February 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
It's great seeing love for the NADP! And it's important to know that their funding is at risk with potential cuts to government programs so this won't be possible with "new" pollutants like PFAS, ammonia, and mercury...
Reposted by Mike Bell
Statement by Yosemite NPS workers: “These losses, while deeply personal and impactful, may also be invisible to visitors and members of the public — we are shining a spotlight on them by putting a distress flag on El Capitan in view of Firefall. Think of it as your public lands on strike.”
February 23, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Statement by Yosemite NPS workers: “These losses, while deeply personal and impactful, may also be invisible to visitors and members of the public — we are shining a spotlight on them by putting a distress flag on El Capitan in view of Firefall. Think of it as your public lands on strike.”
Lovely article by @annehelen.bsky.social helping elucidate what is lost through the current purge of funding for services across the US. The attack on science, art, and service has been heartbreaking and I have been grieving the loss of the unseen connective tissue of society.
This is How We Fall Out of Love with the World
The Twilight of the American Passion Job
open.substack.com
February 23, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Lovely article by @annehelen.bsky.social helping elucidate what is lost through the current purge of funding for services across the US. The attack on science, art, and service has been heartbreaking and I have been grieving the loss of the unseen connective tissue of society.
Reposted by Mike Bell
Six fired federal employees told me and @alexviveros.bsky.social about their science-related jobs — and what the public could lose without them.
We talked to people from NIH, FDA, FAA, NPS, the Forest Service, and Fish & Wildlife for @sciencenews.bsky.social.
www.sciencenews.org/article/fire...
We talked to people from NIH, FDA, FAA, NPS, the Forest Service, and Fish & Wildlife for @sciencenews.bsky.social.
www.sciencenews.org/article/fire...
Fired federal workers share the crucial jobs no longer being done
Thousands of probationary federal employees received termination notices. Many were doing crucial work at science-related agencies.
www.sciencenews.org
February 21, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Six fired federal employees told me and @alexviveros.bsky.social about their science-related jobs — and what the public could lose without them.
We talked to people from NIH, FDA, FAA, NPS, the Forest Service, and Fish & Wildlife for @sciencenews.bsky.social.
www.sciencenews.org/article/fire...
We talked to people from NIH, FDA, FAA, NPS, the Forest Service, and Fish & Wildlife for @sciencenews.bsky.social.
www.sciencenews.org/article/fire...
It's kind of frustrating to start every conversation about a future project with "if our division exists later this year..." or "if there is any funding for science...".
February 19, 2025 at 1:12 PM
It's kind of frustrating to start every conversation about a future project with "if our division exists later this year..." or "if there is any funding for science...".
Still absolutely gutted to start the week after losing multiple coworkers and collaborators to last Fridays purge, but keeping the work moving towards protecting our air quality is giving me life.
February 18, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Still absolutely gutted to start the week after losing multiple coworkers and collaborators to last Fridays purge, but keeping the work moving towards protecting our air quality is giving me life.
I love seeing more work looking at the how climate is altering the recovery path that we were on from reducing air pollution deposition; especially at the watershed level.
So excited to have this paper from my dissertation out! We explored shifts in the interactive effects of climate, deposition, and watershed properties in driving lake DOC over the past 40 years. Open access ⬇️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Climate displaces deposition as dominant driver of dissolved organic carbon concentrations in historically acidified lakes - Biogeochemistry
Climate and atmospheric deposition interact with watershed properties to drive dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in lakes. Because drivers of DOC concentration are inter-related and intera...
link.springer.com
January 7, 2025 at 5:11 PM
I love seeing more work looking at the how climate is altering the recovery path that we were on from reducing air pollution deposition; especially at the watershed level.