Rivka Fidel, PhD
@rivkafidel.bsky.social
4K followers 430 following 140 posts
Career track professor teaching #soil and #environmental science in Tucson, Arizona. 🌵 #biochar #biogeochemistry #soilchemistry Unapologetic feminist scientist 👩‍🔬 and ally 🌈 Opinions my own
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rivkafidel.bsky.social
Co-authored my first textbook 📚, and it's FREE! 😁

Thank you Abbey, Amber and all of the chapter authors!
#soil #SoilScience #OER #onlinetextbook
openaccesselder.bsky.social
I'm happy to share some newly published #OER from the ISU Digital Press! First up is the 2nd edition of one of our most popular books, Introduction to Soil Science! The new edition welcomes a new author, @rivkafidel.bsky.social along with several improvements & updates:
doi.org/10.31274/isu...
Introduction to soil science 2nd edition. This free textbook introduced readers to introductory soil science topics including the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils; soil formation, classification, and global distribution; soil health, soils and humanity, and sustainable land management.
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
jenna-m-norton.bsky.social
“American science, the gold-standard and world-leading science and innovation enterprise, is being destroyed….Congress has a rare moment of leverage to check Trump’s executive overreach and it must stand up and do so.”

- @markhisted.org, NIH neuroscientist

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
This US government shutdown is different: what it means for science
President Trump’s budget office lays out guidelines for mass lay-offs across the federal government.
www.nature.com
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
jennanewman.bsky.social
“‘Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough… Mitigating these things—security cameras, security guards, school drills—isn’t enough. You have to act to prevent them’.…

there is evidence that mass shooters tend to follow a common path to violence, that they leave signals of their intentions”🧪🛟

*gift link
How 106 People Got Together to Stop a School Shooting — Before It Happened
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
rmcarpiano.medsky.social
Annenberg poll in April 2025: 7%pt increase (since Aug. 2023) in support for req'ing kids to have MMR vaccination to attend school. A lot could have contributed to this uptick since Aug. 2023, but recall April had TX measles outbreak (& others) plus RFK Jr.'s statements/actions about it. 🛟😷 medsky
Most Americans Favor MMR Vaccine Requirement for Public School | The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
A 2025 Annenberg survey found that 70% of U.S. adults support an MMR vaccine requirement for healthy children to attend public school.
www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
michaelemann.bsky.social
The American Petrostate
#ScienceUnderSiege
climateactiontracker.org
COUNTRY ANALYSIS: We have downgraded the #US climate action to "Critically insufficient" - it's the most aggressive, comprehensive and consequential climate policy rollback the CAT has ever analysed.

🔗 bit.ly/CAT_US
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
climateactiontracker.org
COUNTRY ANALYSIS: We have downgraded the #US climate action to "Critically insufficient" - it's the most aggressive, comprehensive and consequential climate policy rollback the CAT has ever analysed.

🔗 bit.ly/CAT_US
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
evcurvefuturist.com
Chronic underestimators, the IEA calls solar #1 by 2033—but they’ve never kept up with reality. 🚀 With 2025 smashing records & storage racing ahead, coal could be dethroned by 2027–28, maybe sooner. The sun isn’t waiting for forecasts by the fossil lobby. ☀️ #Solar #BESS #EnergyTransition #Renewables
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
joindayenu.bsky.social
🍎🍯 Shana Tova!
As we welcome the High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah invites us to pause, reflect, and envision the future we want to create.

Wish you and your loved ones a sweet, meaningful, and just new year as we enter 5786.

🎨 Artwork by Jessica Tamar Deutsch.
An illustrated Rosh Hashanah greeting card with a honeycomb border. At the center, there’s a jar of honey dripping down the sides, surrounded by bees and small flowers. Next to it is a pomegranate filled with seeds. The jar reads: “For a just and sweet new year.” Above the jar, in Hebrew, it says “Shana Tova,” and below in English it says “Shana Tova!” At the bottom of the card is the logo for Dayenu, with the organization’s name written in Hebrew and English.
Artwork by Jessica Tamar Deutsch.
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
tatsuya-amano.bsky.social
Women, non-native English speakers & those form low-income countries are disadvantaged in science but by how much? We found that women with non-English first languages from low-income countries publish up to 70% fewer in English than their counterparts. 1/5
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#languagebarriers
Scientific productivity gap based on English-language peer-reviewed papers. Shown are the maximum % differences in the number of peer-reviewed papers published by female native English speakers from a high-income country (-45%), female non-native English speakers from a high-income country (-60%), and female non-native English speakers from a lower-middle income country (-70%), compared to male native English speakers from a high-income country (red flag).
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
juliepeppito.bsky.social
NY protects NY

@riseandresist.bsky.social staged an excellent ⚡️HANDS OFF NYC ⚡️protest yesterday in front of Trump Tower on 5th Ave to let Trump know that New York does not want federal troops here.

I refashioned my giant hands for it. 👋

#nyprotectsny #notroopsinnyc #handsoff #handsoffnyc
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
gergyl.bsky.social
Ooo look, some public hydrology.
deannicolle1.bsky.social
"Perth had its wettest winter in 30 years. Why aren't its dams full?" An insightful and alarming news article by the ABC:

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
luckytran.com
Governor Katie Hobbs signed an Executive Order expanding access to COVID vaccines in Arizona.

It makes it possible for people to get the COVID vaccine without needing a prior prescription and directs insurers to cover the vaccine.
Governor Katie Hobbs Takes Action to Protect Arizonans’ Health Care Freedom
Executive Order seeks to ensure Arizonans who want COVID vaccine can get one
azgovernor.gov
rivkafidel.bsky.social
Doctors I trust more than RFK, Jr
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
globalecoguy.bsky.social
Yep.

"…clear that fossil-fuel companies, and their adjacent organizations, are the primary lobbyists for CCUS subsidies and that these subsidies benefit fossil-fuel companies at the expense of both taxpayers and the future health of our planet"

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Tracing sources of funds used to lobby the US government about carbon capture, use, and storage
Analysis of U.S. federal lobbying disclosures from 2005 through 2024 identifies the fossil fuel sector as the primary force behind a multipronged $954…
www.sciencedirect.com
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
ezralevin.bsky.social
Incredible showing for democracy and against occupation today.
freedcproject.bsky.social
This is what democracy looks like! A people united will never be defeated. We want federal forces out of DC NOW! #WeAreAllDC #FreeDC
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
freedcproject.bsky.social
This is what democracy looks like! A people united will never be defeated. We want federal forces out of DC NOW! #WeAreAllDC #FreeDC
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
thelibbiegrant.bsky.social
I actually contracted whooping cough as an adult, in my 20s, and my doctor said the same thing. It left me with damage to my lungs (which has healed over many years, fortunately) and asthma.

The vaccine I got in childhood saved my life.
kairyssdal.bsky.social
About this Florida vaccine story:

When they were little - 1 yr and 3 1/2 - my two older boys, who’d had all their shots, got whooping cough.

We asked their pediatrician what would’ve happened if they hadn’t been vaccinated.

“Oh, they’d have died.”
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
swilua.bsky.social
Obligatory reminder: if you wake up in a room with a bat, you need to get rabies shots, because their bites aren’t always detectable! Carry on!
viebrs.bsky.social
A new roommate and I found a bat flying around the apartment in the middle of the night. We thought we had scared it out, and the next morning I left for about 24 hours in lab. When I returned, the only toilet in the apartment was closed, had text books stacked on it and a sign that said "BAT".
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
wcratcliff.bsky.social
The magic gift from the PCR gods is the willingness to perform experiments with robust controls, to be skeptical of your own data, and ask for help when you need it.
baym.lol
Every few months the "good lab hands" thing comes up and it misses a key point: you can learn to have good hands. Training matters.

Good hands aren't some magic gift from the PCR gods, you have to develop them through directed repetitive practice, like any other skill
Reposted by Rivka Fidel, PhD
adamjschwarz.bsky.social
Kamala Harris at her closing campaign rally:

"Donald Trump intends to use the United States Military against American citizens who simply disagree with him."