Sarah Otterstrom
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ottermarie.bsky.social
Sarah Otterstrom
@ottermarie.bsky.social
160 followers 250 following 48 posts
I am a Mom and a biodiversity conservationist.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
czedwards.bsky.social
I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%).
Lay article attached:
One of the biggest microplastic pollution sources isn’t straws or grocery bags – it’s your tires
Every few years, the tires on your car wear thin and need to be replaced. But where does that lost tire material go? The answer, unfortunately, is often waterways, where the tiny microplastic particle...
www.pbs.org
December 24, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
davidjbier.bsky.social
The DHS data also confirms my reporting from May, showing that over 50 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador were not illegal immigrants and entered the country legally. www.cato.org/blog/dhs-doe...
DHS Doesn’t List CECOT Prison Deportees in Its Worst of the Worst Data
The United States should have allowed most of these immigrants to reside and work in the country legally. They could have been economic assets to the United States, and it serves no legitimate purpose...
www.cato.org
December 24, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
caroaceae.bsky.social
"Bond’s work leaves behind an inconvenient lesson for an era of climate urgency: that speed is not a substitute for understanding, and that good intentions, applied without care, can erase ancient worlds as efficiently as neglect." A beautiful tribute to William Bond. Forever missed by many.
William Bond, defender of grasslands
In recent years, one of the loudest ideas in environmental policy has been that trees are the planet’s universal remedy. Plant enough of them, in enough places, and carbon will be soaked up, water wil...
www.butlernature.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
chadstanton.blacksky.app
I don’t mean to sound extreme, but I don’t think we should have torture camps for people with criminal records either.
December 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
rhettayersbutler.bsky.social
70 environmental defenders & conservationists who died in 2025

Environmental progress often depends on endurance, sustained over years, by people whose work mattered long before their names did.

news.mongabay.com/2025/12/envi...
December 23, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
jakerugh.bsky.social
NEW AT DEMOGRAPHY: We use difference-in-difference approach using applicant vs. implemented counties w/ 287(g) ICE agreements 2000-2020 to identify a plausibly causal effect immigration enforcement leading to sizeable increase in Latino-White segregation.

OPEN ACCESS PDF
doi.org/10.1215/0070...
December 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
jakerugh.bsky.social
As a double-check, we do not find an effect of 287(g) local immigration enforcement on Black-White or Black-Latino segregation, as expected.

The impact is on Latino-White segregation, implying a 30% higher level of segregation (dissimilarity index) vs. areas w/out 287(g)
doi.org/10.1215/0070...
December 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
jakerugh.bsky.social
OUR CONCLUSION @readdemography.bsky.social: Local 287(g) enforcement efforts slowed declines in Latino-White segregation by 1.7 pts:

About a *1/3 reversal of nationwide decline* in Latino‒White segregation from 2000 to 2020.

UNGATED, OPEN ACCESS PDF HERE:
read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
December 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
washingtonpost.com
For months, the seven states of the Colorado River basin have failed to reach an agreement on new rules to share the river’s dwindling supply of water.

The current rules expire next year, risking water supply and power generation.
The Colorado River is on the verge of crisis. No one has a solution.
The Colorado River faces a crisis as seven states struggle to agree on water-sharing rules.
wapo.st
December 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
robertscotthorton.bsky.social
Trump's homicide spree clears the century mark. Trump's drug boat campaign has assassinated about one person each day since early September. These are murders, and our basic humanity demands that we not get complacent about them.
104 murders in 107 days
The Trump administration's drug boat campaign has assassinated about one person each day since early September. These are murders, and our basic humanity demands that we not get complacent about them.
open.substack.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
grrlscientist.bsky.social
Photography Tourism Threatens India’s Rare, Star-Spangled Galaxy Frog

#SciComm🧪 by @grrlscientist.bsky.social

#WildlifePhotography📸 #amphibians🐸 #EndangeredSpecies #Conservation🌏 www.forbes.com/sites/grrlsc...
December 17, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
alexwitze.bsky.social
Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.

The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🧪 #AGU25 #climate
Trump team plans to break up ‘global mothership’ of climate science
Much of the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s non-climate portfolio will be dispersed, the White House says.
www.nature.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
grrlscientist.bsky.social
Going Vegan Can Cut Your Carbon Footprint In Half

#SciComm🧪 by @grrlscientist.bsky.social

#GoVegan #Vegetarian #MediterraneanDiet #food #CarbonFootprint #Ecology #ClimateChange grrlscientist.medium.com/going-vegan-...
Going Vegan Can Cut Your Carbon Footprint In Half
Comparisons of four diets revealed a clear pattern: the more plant foods consumed, the smaller the ecological footprint.
grrlscientist.medium.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
thebulwark.com
To be very clear: Kennedy's team is messing with a vaccine which has led to a 99 percent drop in the incidence of hepatitis B, which kills, early and painfully, 25 percent of the children who get it.
RFK’s Anti-Vax Team Readies Its Next Moves
“Their game is, let’s really destabilize trust in the vaccine, and make people really anxious about it.”
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
bridgetbrink.com
I served as our Ambassador in Ukraine for 3 years under Putin’s missiles and drones but resigned when Trump kept appeasing Putin. America does not bow to dictators. It’s not who we are.

Here's why this Trump-Putin so-called "peace plan" is a disaster:
November 21, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
grrlscientist.bsky.social
Written In The Stars: Bogong Moths Migrate To Hidden Caves By Following The Stars

#SciComm🧪 by @grrlscientist.bsky.social

#moth🦋 #insects🪲 #Navigation #migration #Behavior #Evolution #Australia🇦🇺 medium.com/grrlscientis...
Written In The Stars: Bogong Moths Migrate To Hidden Caves By Following The Stars
Bogong moths navigate 1000 kilometers across Australia to remote alpine caves by following the stars and Earth’s magnetic field.
medium.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
pedestrianman.bsky.social
In other new, Spokane Transit was recently accepted as a transit agency member of @nacto.bsky.social!
STA has long benefited from their resources for bus stop design. Membership is next level collaboration.
nacto.org/latest/nacto...
NACTO Welcomes Five Cities and Transit Agencies as New Members - NACTO
Belgrade, Montana; the Jacksonville Transportation Authority; the Montgomery Department of Transportation; the Spokane Transit Authority; and the Toronto Transit Commission join network of more than 1...
nacto.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
schotthappens.com
A Trump-aligned dark money group is bankrolling the Utah GOP's push to repeal the state's anti-gerrymandering law.

Securing American Greatness, which spent tens of millions supporting Trump, just dropped 7 figures into the effort.

Story: dub.sh/LIxsPIR
Trump-aligned dark money backs Utah GOP prop. 4 repeal
A Trump-aligned 501(c)(4), Securing American Greatness, is bankrolling Utah GOP efforts to repeal anti-gerrymandering Prop 4; signature drive underway statewide.
dub.sh
November 18, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
cnn.com
86 million girls were vaccinated as part of a campaign led by Gavi. Its HPV vaccination program is a key piece of WHO's global strategy to put cervical cancer on a path to elimination. But the pace of its progress is now under threat after unexpected funding cuts by the US government.
US funding cuts imperil global efforts to eliminate cervical cancer | CNN
Maina Modu, an immunization officer in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, lost his wife, Hauwa, to cervical cancer in 2011. She was one of the 349,000 women globally who die from the preventable canc...
www.cnn.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
grrlscientist.bsky.social
Viral Sparrow Song Takes Canada By Storm

#SciComm by @grrlscientist.bsky.social

#birds #ornithology #Birdsong #ecology grrlscientist.substack.com/p/viral-spar...
November 12, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
weatherwest.bsky.social
I recorded a short video op-ed to help cut through the noise surrounding the ongoing COP30 climate conference. In short: now is not the time to scale back our efforts to address climate change--quite the opposite, as the intensifying consequences have never been clearer.
Now is not the time to scale back efforts to address climate change!
As the #COP30 #climate conference unfolds, competing narratives from scientists, politicians, and influential billionaires swirl. In this brief video op-ed, climate scientist Daniel Swain cuts through the noise to explain why the present moment is an especially consequential one--including where wer
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
ericlipton.nytimes.com
What a sad/incredibly important piece of journalism. If there is one thing we do as reporters--it's to document terrible moments in history that must be remembered, written down in detail & shared. Thank you Tyler Hicks and your team for this vital work. (Free link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/w...
What Our Photographer Saw as a Safe City Became a Blood Bath
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
acritschristoph.bsky.social
Defunding scientists for the nationality of who they co-author with or who they train.

One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
environmicrobio.bsky.social Roland Hatzenpichler @environmicrobio.bsky.social · Nov 14
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Sarah Otterstrom
pardoguerra.bsky.social
I am incredibly happy to discover that my friend’s book was selected as one of the NYT/NYPL best illustrated children’s books for 2025 for The Lighthouse Keeper. Felicidades @eugeniofv.bsky.social and Mariana!!! 🎉🥳🎊

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/b...
The 2025 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:44 PM