Henry Carnell
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hencarnell.bsky.social
Henry Carnell
@hencarnell.bsky.social
climate, science, health, gender journalist @motherjones.com & @climatedesk.org
MLIS student @ischool.uw.edu

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We have been working hard on getting this ready in time for NYC Climate Week. Sign up and expect stellar climate reporting in your inbox every Sunday :)
This Sunday, we are launching “Climate Desk Weekly.” This free dispatch will act as Mother Jones' Sunday newsletter and share the week’s need-to-know climate news right in your inbox from our collaboration of 15 award-winning media outlets.

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Reposted by Henry Carnell
"Can the World Address Climate Change Without the US?" by Jackie Flynn Mogensen & Henry Carnell for @motherjones.com:
www.motherjones.com/environment/...
Can the world address climate change without the US?
Even with Trump's America absent, COP30 ended in a weak deal—and a win for petrostates.
www.motherjones.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:01 PM
A little post-mortem on COP30 with @jackiefmogensen.bsky.social

How forceful the call for fossil fuel phaseout was—just for it to be struck from the decision! And, what role the US's absence played in this happening...
Can the world address climate change without the US?
Even with Trump's America absent, COP30 ended in a weak deal—and a win for petrostates.
www.motherjones.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Really good read
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

In a microcosm for the overall discourse on water problems , the key problem here (nitrate pollution) is agriculture (and poor wastewater mgmt), but the headline is data centers.

Amazon absorbing more heat than Tillamook and Lamb Weston.
'The Precedent Is Flint': How Oregon's Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis
Amazon data centers constructed in eastern Oregon's farmland have worsened a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages.
www.rollingstone.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
My latest: #COP30, global climate politics, and what happens next — for @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 24, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
I cannot stop thinking about how Olivia Nuzzi turned a climate-fueled wildfire that killed people and destroyed thousands of homes into romantic mood lighting for her affair with a guy who helped put a climate denier back in power.
Climate disaster is not ambiance
Especially not for an illicit affair with a politician who helped a climate-denying administration come to power.
heated.world
November 21, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.

Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 21, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
The UN climate change conference (COP30) having rooms shut down both to flooding and an extreme fire is a bit metaphorically excessive.
🚨If you are at #COP30, evacuate the Blue Zone immediately.

(from a source)
November 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
A sobering reflection Kai Cheng Thom today for #TransDayofRemembrance

"We grieve. And we keep going. And maybe 15 years from now, or 50, or 500, we will live in a different world."

xtramagazine.com/power/activi...
I’m sick of writing about dead trans people | Xtra Magazine
For 15 years, I hoped my words would change something. Now I’m grieving the world that could’ve been
xtramagazine.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
PTFO collaborated with @msjpauly.bsky.social and @motherjones.com on an investigation into Riley Gaines.

Riley’s messaging about trans athletes involves “predatory men” and “sexual assault.”

But there’s an important story multiple ex-teammates at Kentucky want you to know: youtu.be/iKUl8lkuGOc?...
Riley Gaines Investigated: The Lia Thomas Race, the Coach & Why She "Doesn't Even Like" Trump | PTFO
YouTube video by PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
On January 13, the Supreme Court is going to hear arguments over state laws targeting transgender girls in sports. This from @pablo.show and @motherjones.com is a great explainer on why the right-wing legal movement needs this issue to push trans people out of public life altogether
November 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Thread ⬇️
I’ve spent a lot of the last three years investigating the rise of anti-trans politics. Often, it came back to the controversy over trans women athletes.

So I teamed up with @pablo.show to look into the leading figure on the issue: Riley Gaines.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202... 1/
How right-wing superstar Riley Gaines built an anti-trans empire
The swimmer tied a trans woman for fifth. The MAGA industrial complex took care of the rest.
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
This is a really incredible feat of reporting by @msjpauly.bsky.social that everyone should read.
How right-wing superstar Riley Gaines built an anti-trans empire
The swimmer tied a trans woman for fifth. The MAGA industrial complex took care of the rest.
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
NEW: Trump's DOJ sent a subpoena to a gender-affirming care clinic seeking information on patients, including minors, and its insurance billing practices. The clinic—which doesn't even take insurance—fought the demand in court and won.
Read @garnethenderson.com in @autonomynews.co
The DOJ Subpoenaed Patient Info From a Gender-Affirming Care Clinic. It Fought Back.
A Washington judge quashed the Trump administration's attempt to subpoena patient information from the telehealth practice QueerDoc—but the fight may not be over.
www.autonomynews.co
November 19, 2025 at 10:10 PM
STAT rounded up on what is known about the authors and reviewers.

The key point: "many of the authors and reviewers have been outspoken critics of gender-affirming care, are affiliated with anti-LGBTQ+ groups, and have little-to-no experience providing clinical care for young trans people."
HHS names authors and releases peer-review comments for gender dysphoria report
The new report reveals that many of the authors and reviewers have been outspoken critics of gender-affirming care and belong to anti-LGBTQ+ groups
www.statnews.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
Tomorrow is Trans Day of Remembrance. Every year on TDOR, trans people lost to homicide and violence are remembered at memorials around the country and around the world.

But the story of Sam Nordquist, a young trans man who was tortured and killed this year, has haunted me like no other.
What happened in Room 22?
For a month, seven people held Sam Nordquist captive in a small hotel room, torturing him to death, authorities say. How did it go on in secret?
www.nbcnews.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
We finally know the identities of the 9 anonymous authors of the May HHS report on pediatric gender-affirming care. Surprise! It's stacked with people who make money advocating against pediatric gender-affirming care.

Here's our writeup from May: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
November 19, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
BREAKING: The HHS has re-released a May document purporting to review the evidence in youth gender medicine. The re-release includes authors from SEGM and the Manhattan Institute.

Read our story here:

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
HHS Re-releases Document Claiming to Review Youth Gender Medicine — Assigned
The original release did not include the names of the authors, who include conservative and anti-trans activists.
www.assignedmedia.org
November 19, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The HHS released the names of the authors of it's report on transgender healthcare, plus their post-publication peer review.

More reporting to be done, but here are the hits from our previous work:
November 19, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
This #TransgenderAwarenessWeek, we're launching the Trans News Initiative - a nearly yearlong project dedicated to tracking and analyzing news coverage of trans communities across the United States.
transnewsinitiative.org
Trans News Initiative
A database and analysis of news coverage affecting trans communities.
transnewsinitiative.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
My new big visualization project is out: The Trans News Initiative, a collaboration between UM's School of Communication, the Trans Journalists Association, and Polygraph (The Pudding): transnewsinitiative.org Here's a piece about it in the Columbia Journalism Review: www.cjr.org/news/visuali...
Trans News Initiative
A database and analysis of news coverage affecting trans communities.
transnewsinitiative.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
Transgender awareness week? Babe, i'm already living in the transgender awareness century, and this shit's getting kinda scary 😖
November 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
Detransition is being used as political fodder by the Trump admin and its allies to support extreme anti-trans policies.

In the process, the reality of detransition is lost. For our new series, I spoke with detransitioners who feel harmed by the Trump admin. Their stories are complex and important.
Detransition is key to politicians’ anti-trans agenda. But what is it really like?
The 19th spoke with two detransitioners who feel harmed and used by the Trump administration, which has positioned itself as a protector of those who detransition.
19thnews.org
November 12, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Henry Carnell
Our Sunday newsletter covered everything COP. Missed it? Read it here: link.motherjones.com/view/647e4ef...
November 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM
"The right’s gripe isn’t just that trans people exist, but that their existence is tearing down the old world—of good men, obedient women, traditional family structures—and unleashing a new, godless age of chaos and precarity on you."

Banger from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social
How the right uses "gender ideology" to blame trans people for everything
MAGA learned from global autocrats the language needed to push fear.
www.motherjones.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:14 PM