Shawn Otto
@shawnotto.bsky.social
Writer, scicommer, builder, entrepresomething, nonprofit founder, campaign mgr, dad, disinfo battler, climate doer. Posting about science, politics and writing. https://shawnotto.com
New book coming soon! Hopefully fiction…
September 10, 2025 at 12:01 AM
New book coming soon! Hopefully fiction…
Reposted by Shawn Otto
I will be with Trevor Christian on @WUSBradio.bsky.social 90.1 FM in Stony Brook on Monday, June 23rd (9 AM-11 AM), as we interview @ShawnOtto.bsky.social discussing his book The War on Science #media #journalism #politcs #FreedomOfSpeech #ClimateCrisis
June 23, 2025 at 2:14 AM
I will be with Trevor Christian on @WUSBradio.bsky.social 90.1 FM in Stony Brook on Monday, June 23rd (9 AM-11 AM), as we interview @ShawnOtto.bsky.social discussing his book The War on Science #media #journalism #politcs #FreedomOfSpeech #ClimateCrisis
Reposted by Shawn Otto
In early 2016, before #Trump won his first Republican presidential nomination, a prescient book by @shawnotto.bsky.social described three components of the war on #science.
1) Industrial
2) Religious/Ideological
3) Identity Politics
Here's my review of Otto's book
denisgilbert.com/blog/f/war-o...
1) Industrial
2) Religious/Ideological
3) Identity Politics
Here's my review of Otto's book
denisgilbert.com/blog/f/war-o...
March 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
In early 2016, before #Trump won his first Republican presidential nomination, a prescient book by @shawnotto.bsky.social described three components of the war on #science.
1) Industrial
2) Religious/Ideological
3) Identity Politics
Here's my review of Otto's book
denisgilbert.com/blog/f/war-o...
1) Industrial
2) Religious/Ideological
3) Identity Politics
Here's my review of Otto's book
denisgilbert.com/blog/f/war-o...
NOAA terminates space, climate and marine life advisory committees
NOAA terminates space, climate and marine life advisory committees
Experts caution the groups play a key role in ensuring agencies use the best available science in their decision making.
www.govexec.com
March 4, 2025 at 4:01 AM
NOAA terminates space, climate and marine life advisory committees
Want to understand this madness? Read thewaronscience.com
Shawn Otto | science writer • novelist • screenwriter • speaker
Website and blog of Shawn Otto, an award-winning science writer, novelist, screenwriter, speaker, and science advocate
thewaronscience.com
February 28, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Want to understand this madness? Read thewaronscience.com
What TruMusk don’t get is this is a government by the people, which literally means a lot of people are involved in running it, and we arrive at policies by consensus, not by diktat from the presidents (pronouns: they/them)
February 12, 2025 at 3:52 AM
What TruMusk don’t get is this is a government by the people, which literally means a lot of people are involved in running it, and we arrive at policies by consensus, not by diktat from the presidents (pronouns: they/them)
This new exec order functionally puts Elon Musk in charge of the executive branch, with all departments reporting to him. Is this a coup?
Implementing The President's "Department of Government Efficiency" Workforce Optimization Initiative
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.
www.whitehouse.gov
February 12, 2025 at 3:43 AM
This new exec order functionally puts Elon Musk in charge of the executive branch, with all departments reporting to him. Is this a coup?
La Leona waterfall in Costa Rica. An intense hike and swim to get there but worth it!
February 12, 2025 at 3:36 AM
La Leona waterfall in Costa Rica. An intense hike and swim to get there but worth it!
Thanks Chris! Good rec re: the watch speed!
I spent my lunch today rewatching @shawnotto.bsky.social plenary speech from #EntSoc24. Worth the time (though I'd recommend 1.5x speed). Start at 56:40 on this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=39KG.... Pull quote: "Science is never partisan. Science is always political."
February 12, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Thanks Chris! Good rec re: the watch speed!
This is insanely cynical and/or journalistically irresponsible timing, especially with the Trump assault on anything climate related, which is certainly newsworthy and a raison d’etre for journalists in a democracy. WTF, HuffPost?
After 11 years, my time at HuffPost is coming to an end tomorrow.
Last week, I learned HuffPost would be ending its dedicated coverage of energy and climate change.
So, I took a buyout.
Last week, I learned HuffPost would be ending its dedicated coverage of energy and climate change.
So, I took a buyout.
February 6, 2025 at 9:51 PM
This is insanely cynical and/or journalistically irresponsible timing, especially with the Trump assault on anything climate related, which is certainly newsworthy and a raison d’etre for journalists in a democracy. WTF, HuffPost?
Reposted by Shawn Otto
Thinking of my uncle whose early #Alzheimer's disease encroaches like a slow but uncontrollable wildfire, & remembering how excited the #neuropsychology community was when these conferences began. RIP #NIH RIP science. And it's not as if @shawnotto.bsky.social didn't warn y'all almost 10 years ago.
January 23, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Thinking of my uncle whose early #Alzheimer's disease encroaches like a slow but uncontrollable wildfire, & remembering how excited the #neuropsychology community was when these conferences began. RIP #NIH RIP science. And it's not as if @shawnotto.bsky.social didn't warn y'all almost 10 years ago.
On a train through highland tea country to Nanu Oya.
January 15, 2025 at 9:45 AM
On a train through highland tea country to Nanu Oya.
Just a whole-ass coyote taking a leak on a street corner in the middle of auto row in downtown Glendale
January 9, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by Shawn Otto
The fires in Los Angeles County are climate change in action. Today, I spoke with BBC News about how drought is causing devastating impacts in what should be the rainy season. Thanks to climate change, the fire season in California is now year round.
January 9, 2025 at 2:19 AM
The fires in Los Angeles County are climate change in action. Today, I spoke with BBC News about how drought is causing devastating impacts in what should be the rainy season. Thanks to climate change, the fire season in California is now year round.
I love complex Italian red wine, craft beer, and single malt scotch, but I stopped drinking alcohol in 2016 after reading the shocking science on how many different types of cancer it is associated with.
Evidence Against Drinking Has Grown. Will Federal Advice Change?
Officials in other countries are warning about the health hazards of alcohol in any amount. Americans are still told that moderate drinking is safe. What gives?
www.nytimes.com
January 2, 2025 at 3:50 AM
I love complex Italian red wine, craft beer, and single malt scotch, but I stopped drinking alcohol in 2016 after reading the shocking science on how many different types of cancer it is associated with.
The prescient 1977 climate change memo to President Jimmy Carter that could have changed everything - but didn’t.
December 30, 2024 at 7:47 PM
The prescient 1977 climate change memo to President Jimmy Carter that could have changed everything - but didn’t.
This is a somewhat spineless review by someone trying to hedge their bets and straddle a fence of their own imagination. The movie is great. Go see it.
‘A Complete Unknown’ Review: Timothée Chalamet Goes Electric
The actor stars as a young Bob Dylan, who woos folk followers only to betray them later at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
www.nytimes.com
December 29, 2024 at 4:52 PM
This is a somewhat spineless review by someone trying to hedge their bets and straddle a fence of their own imagination. The movie is great. Go see it.
Hiroko Tabuchi is one of the very best reporters on critical stories in science and the environment, like the EPA’s colossal failure to regulate PFAS being spread on farm fields. Follow her. www.nytimes.com/by/hiroko-ta...
Hiroko Tabuchi
Hiroko Tabuchi covers pollution and the environment for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York.
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2024 at 3:54 PM
Hiroko Tabuchi is one of the very best reporters on critical stories in science and the environment, like the EPA’s colossal failure to regulate PFAS being spread on farm fields. Follow her. www.nytimes.com/by/hiroko-ta...
@futureisorg.bsky.social functional democracy also requires 1) policies be based on objective evidence; the undermining of objective truth is what is challenging U.S. democracy now. 2) separation of church and state; lack of this is why the Arab Spring fizzled. See my book thewaronscience.com
Shawn Otto | science writer • novelist • screenwriter • speaker
Website and blog of Shawn Otto, an award-winning science writer, novelist, screenwriter, speaker, and science advocate
thewaronscience.com
December 27, 2024 at 3:37 PM
@futureisorg.bsky.social functional democracy also requires 1) policies be based on objective evidence; the undermining of objective truth is what is challenging U.S. democracy now. 2) separation of church and state; lack of this is why the Arab Spring fizzled. See my book thewaronscience.com
EPA knew PFAS were being unwittingly spread on millions of acres of farmland two decades ago and haven’t stopped it because of staffing shortages and the arduousness of setting new regulations. REALLY?
December 27, 2024 at 3:15 PM
EPA knew PFAS were being unwittingly spread on millions of acres of farmland two decades ago and haven’t stopped it because of staffing shortages and the arduousness of setting new regulations. REALLY?
Sure, EPA, but what about the literally thousands of other PFAS chemicals? Do your job with a little more urgency please.
E.P.A. Will Make Polluters Pay to Clean Up Two ‘Forever Chemicals’
The step follows an extraordinary move that requires utilities to reduce the levels of carcinogenic PFAS compounds in drinking water to near-zero.
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2024 at 2:58 PM
Sure, EPA, but what about the literally thousands of other PFAS chemicals? Do your job with a little more urgency please.
All breadbasket states should immediately BAN use of sewage sludge as fertilizer unless tests show it is PFAS free.
December 27, 2024 at 2:53 PM
All breadbasket states should immediately BAN use of sewage sludge as fertilizer unless tests show it is PFAS free.
Total toxic failure by the EPA
EPA Promotes Fertilizer Carrying PFAS, Long After 3M Shared Risks
The agency obtained research from 3M in 2003 revealing that sewage sludge, the raw material for the fertilizer, carried toxic “forever chemicals.”
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2024 at 2:49 PM
Total toxic failure by the EPA
Yes science is attacked by the right, but also by authoritarians on the left who claim all “ways of knowing” are =, science & math are tools of white patriarchy, & there’s no objective truth. Disagree & you’re an oppressor. It’s a manipulative power play. If you love justice, love science.
December 27, 2024 at 6:27 AM
Yes science is attacked by the right, but also by authoritarians on the left who claim all “ways of knowing” are =, science & math are tools of white patriarchy, & there’s no objective truth. Disagree & you’re an oppressor. It’s a manipulative power play. If you love justice, love science.