Kelsi Perttula, PhD

Assistant Professor of Public Health at @csueastbay.
Teaching and researching Environmental Health and Epidemiology.

It's back online!

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

This article says climate change is “believed to have played a role” in the UK's extreme heat this week.

As a climate scientist, let me fact-check that.

First, climate change is not a religion. No belief is required. It is about evidence.

And the evidence has been crystal clear for more than two decades: climate change is making heat waves hotter, longer, more frequent and more dangerous.

In fact, science has advanced far beyond saying climate change merely “played a role.” Today, we can quantify how much more likely and how much hotter climate change made a specific event.

Here's the bottom line:

Climate is changing. Humans are responsible. And we are experiencing the impacts now. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that solutions already exist, and the majority of people care - 89%, around the world!

But meaningful action depends on helping people understand not just what is happening: we need to know how it affects our lives (this heat wave being example A today) and what we can do about it.

That’s the opportunity this reporting missed.

https://t.co/vYfPDKcWWf

[Hunter📈🌈📊 @StatisticUrban]

This Ebola outbreak seems like it could get very bad. There's early evidence it's a from a wholly new zoonotic spillover event.

Cases are already outpacing the 2014-16 outbreak. The US appropriated $5.4B in aid to combat that, under Obama. But there's no reliable US this time.

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: The FDA has blocked publication of research that found widely used Covid-19 and shingles vaccines were safe. https://t.co/P4ZNeIfvPV

[Kelsi Perttula, PhD @kelsimp]

The ramifications from this are happening now, hurting people, and effects will ripple for the US and our world leadership for decades.

[Jeremiah Johnson 🌐 @JeremiahDJohns]

This is the true legacy of DOGE - the utter decimation of medical research.

MAGA idiots will try to tell you this is just cutting DEI programs. Keep in mind DOGE was filled with such idiots they killed physics grants that mentioned 'polarization' (of light) because of "DEI".

[Kelsi Perttula, PhD @kelsimp]

@Noahpinion and the billionaire-owned platforms with algorithms promoting outrage over truthful or helpful discourse.

[Kelsi Perttula, PhD @kelsimp]

Wow- my smug index is rally high given that we've had an EV since 2012. Nissan Leafs were the GOAT of EVs!

[World of Statistics @stats_feed]

Number of electric vehicle on the road:

2010
🇺🇸 USA: 3,800
🇪🇺 EU27: 2,840
🇨🇳 China: 1,940

2015
🇺🇸 USA: 400,000
🇨🇳 China: 297,000
🇪🇺 EU27: 250,000

2020
🇨🇳 China: 4.5 million
🇪🇺 EU27: 2.2 million
🇺🇸 USA: 1.7 million

2025
🇨🇳 China: 44 million
🇪🇺 EU27: 19 million
🇺🇸 USA: 8 million

Note: including BEVs and PHEVs

According to Bruegel , IEA

[Scientific American @sciam]

We have severely undercounted the number of COVID deaths, scientists say
https://t.co/nPBhEbKWfK

[Ashish K. Jha @ashishkjha]

If you ever wonder whether we have a utilization problem or price problem in US healthcare

This chart should help

Here are four procedures by rates and prices, in the US, Australia, Switzerland and Germany

We don't use more healthcare

We just pay much higher prices

[Joseph Allen @j_g_allen]

Trump has collapsed cancer research.

—> The National Cancer Institute hasn’t made a single grant this fiscal year

https://t.co/3mKjoMua8Q

[Alex @alex_avoigt]

Cost of renewable energy trend towards zero

[Jesse Peltan @JessePeltan]

I just want to highlight that while fuel use is down in China due to rapid EV adoption, coal generation is *also DOWN.*

*That’s* how much solar they’re building.

(everybody should do this)

[John Oliver @iamjohnoliver]

Hello again! Here's our piece from Sunday about Twitter. Bye! https://t.co/KqA7EUY18B

[Kelsi Perttula, PhD @kelsimp]

Good News Tuesday

[Alex @alex_avoigt]

Solar and Wind win against Coal.

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

Bluesky is the new science Twitter: new study concludes

For the past decade, Twitter has been a primary home of scientists on social media. In recent years, new leadership at Twitter has made substantive changes that have resulted in increases in the prevalence of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory, and harassment on the platform, causing many scientists to seek alternatives. [including me]

Survey results overwhelmingly confirm that changes to Twitter have made the social media platform no longer professionally useful or pleasant, and that many scientists have abandoned it in favor of Bluesky.

Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter.

https://t.co/u9Hm6EzMXm

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

Today's pairing

[Pete Buttigieg @PeteButtigieg]

Let’s be clear: when the Trump administration kills or stalls energy generation projects, that’s the White House choosing to make your electricity more expensive. Americans deserve better.

[Michael Thomas @curious_founder]

I spent weeks looking through permit documents and found 46 data centers that are planning to build their own power plants.

The combined capacity of these projects would be 56 GW—5x New York City's electricity demand.

And 90% of it was announced in the last year alone.

[Tommy Vietor @TVietor08]

Your legacy, @elonmusk

[Sam Stein @samstein]

Absolutely insane chart and entirely self-inflicted. RFK Jr.'s legacy taking shape

https://t.co/XR0n5E8gSv

[Dr. Robert Rohde @RARohde]

Is wind turbine waste a real concern?

Yes, by one estimate, in 2050 the world will generate ~3 million tonnes of wind turbine waste per year.

But for perspective, the world currently landfills ~500 million tonnes of coal combustion residues (coal ash) every year.