Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Miriam Goldstein

@miriamgoldstein.bsky.social

7.2K followers 820 following 370 posts

Ocean scientist turned federal policy wonk. Executive Director of the National Ocean Protection Coalition. Views my own, especially the salty ones. Account on hiatus as I take a social media break.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Jan 23

🧵: I am getting texts on what scientists should do in this perilous and scary moment. My advice: your biggest power is to organize through your professional societies. A few ideas -

11 290 690

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Jul 2

.@SenateGOP passed their bill to give handouts to fossil fuel companies while cutting funding for coastal communities and saddling American families with trillions more in debt.

Thank you to @SenateDems and @HouseDemocrats who fought tirelessly for our coastal communities and ocean future.

3 11

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Jun 20

'Jaws' shark scared us, but we must save this vital species | Opinion

My husband wrote 'Jaws.' We need to better protect the oceans he loved. | Opinion

'Jaws' brought sharks and the ocean into the forefront of the public's imagination 50 years ago. Let's use this anniversary to protect it.

www.usatoday.com

1 14 29

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · May 13

A lot of us really, really believe in free speech regardless of the views expressed. I was taught about the Jewish lawyers in the Skokie case with great cultural pride. www.newsweek.com/story-jewish...

1 3

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

Andrew Freedman @afreedma.bsky.social · May 8

NEW: NOAA retires its widely cited billion-dollar weather and climate database amid staff cuts. Unique database had been tallying disaster costs for 45 years. www.cnn.com/2025/05/08/c...

NOAA ends extreme weather database that tracked cost of disasters since 1980 | CNN

Its discontinuation is another Trump-administration blow to the public’s view into how fossil fuel pollution is changing the world around them and making extreme weather more costly.

www.cnn.com

26 390 520

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · Apr 30

Wow. A bright yellow HUGE# Bolosoma glass sponge at 1825 m maybe >50 cm across- you could SIT IN IT!! Paul Seamount #okeanos #saveNOAA #spongethursday

2 7 60

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 30

I had the best time ever! 🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Apr 30

Thanks to today’s guest scientists!

We caught 9 sharks today: a great hammerhead, a nurse, and 7 bonnetheads! So many that we worked up two at the same time!

@vgwschutte.bsky.social @jlesaler.bsky.social @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social

1 19

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 29

Bring back Google Reader then we can talk.

Patrick Cosmos @veryimportant.lawyer · Apr 29

everything bad about the internet, tv, and every single generation is all on extremely stark display right now. only a race of angelic elder millennials who don't watch videos can get us back on track

2 9

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 29

“Like most ocean scientists…” 💀

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Apr 29

Some exciting news- for my ocean conservation and sustainable fisheries research, policy, and education efforts, I’ve been named one of the 500 most influential people shaping policy by the Washingtonian! @washingtonian.com

2 17

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 29

And also I, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, cannot even express how ashamed I am of Jonathan “You Had One Job” Greenblatt. A shanda fur die goyim, zol er krenken un gedenken. www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

Elon Musk’s Gesture Wasn’t a Fascist Salute, Says Head of ADL

Anti-Defamation League Chief Executive Jonathan Greenblatt said he didn't think Elon Musk's viral gesture to the crowd at a Monday celebration of President Trump was offensive, after it drew compariso...

www.wsj.com

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 29

Because this is true. bsky.app/profile/osit...

1 2 4

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 29

This post now lives in my head constantly. bsky.app/profile/name...

Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · Apr 25

appropos of nothing an old sikh uncle once told me at the gurudwara "1/3rd of our people are a disgrace 30% of every community is an embarrassment to the rest" math checks out js

2 3 11

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · Apr 29

Endangered species act: You can't "'harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect' plants and animals on the verge of extinction."

Trump admin: "I mean, what is HARM anyway..."

Like they don't NEED that forest, right?

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Trump officials say destroying endangered species’ habitats isn’t ‘harm’

A proposed rule would narrow the definition of harm under the Endangered Species Act and could open the door to more mining, construction and other activities.

www.washingtonpost.com

2 26 64

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

Dr. Katy Croff Bell @katycroffbell.bsky.social · Apr 29

Important thread on the current hearing on deep sea mining 👇🏼

Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · Apr 29

I will be tuning in to the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the NRC hearing on Exploring the Potential of Deep-Sea Mining to Expand American Mineral Production.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s75c...

Oversight Hearing | Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee

YouTube video by House Committee on Natural Resources GOP

www.youtube.com

2 5

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 28

If you read one Science Thing today:

Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · Apr 28

The deep-sea mining news is grim, but I want to talk about why the deep ocean is so exciting and why we still know very little about how the ecosystems function.

Why don't we know more about large, mobile fauna in the deep sea? It's because we are loud and they are fast.

Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · Apr 28

First live video of a colossal squid highlights one of the most exciting knowledge gaps in deep ocean exploration

www.southernfriedscience.com/first-live-v...

2 5

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

Jason Robertshaw @technotional.bsky.social · Apr 28

Cf., Kodama? ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Kodama

Kodama

Kodama (コダマ) are tree spirits appeared in Princess Mononoke. They are children of old trees, and are a sign that the forest is healthy. Kodama have white skin with black and grey, glowing eyes. Each K...

ghibli.fandom.com

1 1 3

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

Curtis Wilde @curtis.wilde.one · Apr 28

What’s this? What’s this? A sponge made out of glass 🎶

1 1

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 28

Sponge from previous skeet in thread - blobby white with eyeball looking holes, on a thin stalk

Jack the Pumpkin King from “Nightmare Before Christmas”

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 28

Is…is it Jack the Pumpkin King

Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · Apr 28

Advhena magnifica, a newly described glass sponge at 2256 m #spongeThursday #okeanos #saveNOAA

sponge head with two big openings attached to a stalk

4 1 18

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Apr 27

ICYMI, I have a piece in the conversation about President Trump’s disastrous executive orders related to the ocean. No not that one, the other one.

Trump is stripping protections from marine protected areas – why that’s a problem for fishing’s future, and for whales, corals and other ocean life

America’s marine protected areas help fish populations thrive. Trump’s plan to open them to industrial fishing may ultimately harm the fishing industry itself.

theconversation.com

4 67 150

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

National Ocean Protection Coalition (NOPC) @usoceanprotection.bsky.social · Apr 25

"The biggest consequence might be losing entire ecosystems before scientists have a chance to understand them. That would be a loss of the kind of science that can fuel unexpected discoveries, like new drugs or new insights into how life formed on Earth or could form on other planets."

Trump Takes a Major Step Toward Seabed Mining in International Waters (Gift Article)

A new executive order pits the United States against the rest of the world over the question of who can exploit mineral resources in shared waters.

www.nytimes.com

4 10

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

National Ocean Protection Coalition (NOPC) @usoceanprotection.bsky.social · Apr 25

From March: “All of us collectively as the people of Oceania, we have a connection to this ocean, which has inherent responsibility for its care.” - Solomon Kahoʻohalahala www.civilbeat.org/2025/03/digg...

Digging For Minerals In The Pacific’s Graveyard: The $20 Trillion Fight Over Who Controls The Seabed

“The soul of our ancestors, when they leave this world, they go into the deep.”

www.civilbeat.org

Reposted by Miriam Goldstein

National Ocean Protection Coalition (NOPC) @usoceanprotection.bsky.social · Apr 25

Last night, Trump signed an executive order attempting to
fast track deep sea mining permit approval despite
the economic, environmental, and social risks. This reckless action could cause irreversible damage to life forms we haven’t even had the opportunity to discover yet. #DefendTheDeep

Photo of orange and pink deep sea soft corals on a black rock. Text reads: SOS: the Trump administration is attempting to fast track deep sea mining. An Executive Order was released today, April 24, 2025. Photo: NOAA.

1 3 4

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 25

BREAKING: Trump moves to mine the deep sea. "The ecosystems themselves are really important in the major global cycles that allow the ocean to be productive & to create fish & shellfish & feed people..if we want to mine the deep sea, we have to be willing to give up those ecosystems." -Dr Lisa Levin

Trump Takes a Major Step Toward Seabed Mining in International Waters (Gift Article)

A new executive order pits the United States against the rest of the world over the question of who can exploit mineral resources in shared waters.

www.nytimes.com

14 14

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 23

Ocean nerds do you need a thread to make you happy? This will make you happy!

Snow Queen of Hoth @snowqueenofhoth.bsky.social · Apr 18

YOU GUYS I HAVENT TOLD YOU ABOUT FATHOMVERSE YET EVERYONE SIT DOWN SHUT UP AND PREPARE TO BE AMAZED

It’s an app called @fathomverse.bsky.social by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute @mbarinews.bsky.social

(not sponsored just a nerd)

6 27

Miriam Goldstein @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social · Apr 22

Well now I regret reading "What Moves the Dead" thanks @tkingfisher.com

Becky Hammer @beckyhammer.bsky.social · Apr 22

Spending Earth Day with my new friend

A big bun sitting on my patio next to me as I read

1 17