Erica Gies / SlowWater.world

I'm thrilled to be a winner of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications! Esp heartening as I'm writing book 2, "Roots to Sky." @scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org Here are the other amazing winners: www.nationalacademies.org/news/nationa...

Imp story by Steve Grattan for @apnews.com about heart-breaking illegal logging in Suriname, which has long protected its incredible forests. I interviewed activist Hugo Jabini after he won the @goldmanprize.bsky.social in 2009. I'm sorry that his fight is still necessary. apnews.com/article/saam...

What a spectacular night!! 💯Joy, thank you for coming to TN-09 & bringing the light & love that we need in these last few days with you. People showed up, phone banked, organized, met new people! We are on the verge of something great happening in our state on November 3rd.

This is what Lula has already accomplished and what has a far stronger chance of continuing now than if Bolsonaro had won www.bbc.com/news/article...

Hopeful news for the Amazon and the future of life and rain: www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/liv...

Based on this new evidence, shouldn't the Natural Resource Damage Assessment for the spill, including BP and its drilling partners, be reopened in federal court to determine whether additional funds should be directed by them towards restoration? apnews.com/article/fish...

It’s autumn, don’t forget to look down… 🖤🤎🖤

How is this not something that requires a bunch of permits and votes and environmental impact assessments and generally a very long moment of considering what the hell are we even doing here

The case centers on whether local governments can hold giant energy companies accountable for the local harms of climate change, but it has repercussions beyond climate. n.pr/4xYf8kj

Thanks for the reprint @sierramagazine.bsky.social! We truly believe that syndication and collaboration is vital in this journalism era, and that everyone deserves to read accurate journalism about the natural world. That's why all our stories are available to read and reprint for free.

So, Banksy bought a used yacht, repaired it and retrofitted it to serve as a rescue boat to save migrants in the central Mediterranean. The whole project cost the artist $860,000. Since 2020, the boat has saved more than 3,800 people. londondaily.com/banksy-funds...

BREAKING on MS NOW: MS NOW White House reporter Laura Barrón-López has been denied entry to the White House despite the court order restoring press access.

Just emailed 26,000 people about snail facts advent calendars. This better result in 500 snail sales. Snales. Wait that just sounds like snails. Is that a good omen?? Get a calendar here: SquidFacts.net

So cool!

“Byron Sher is the godfather of California environmental law”: Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, saved old-growth redwoods, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco Bay, rivers; cleaned up leaking chemical storage tanks, curbside recycling, renewable energy, e-waste. www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/13/b...

@colinschultz.bsky.social is a smart, kind, dedicated editor. Please hire him!!!

On Musk, Bezos, etc. “... however mad you are, it’s not enough. Because there is something so profound about no longer believing in the future, about seeing no value in our shared home, in the natural world. They’re traitors to creation.” - Naomi Klein www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

Nice news that my entry for the Ashfield Film Festival has been *selected* for screening 🥂💥 "The Storm" chronicles #wildlife movement forced by a nor-easter that dumped 5" of rain on our region This clip shows just a bit of what I captured via #trailcam on a beaver dam, watch as the water rises:

I've used this washroom! It's right on our local bike path. A john named for a John. cheknews.ca/donald-j-tru...

And now I want to know where else this is happening (in which other national parks/forests etc.)

My audiobook publisher is offering 60% off Water Always Wins right now! www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...

www.latimes.com/environment/... Citing "environmental extremism," Trump officials want to end California's ability to challenge offshore oil, floating nuclear reactors and rocket launches. 🌎🦑🧪

A Tucson environmental group is suing state wildlife officials over mountain lion hunts it claims are causing the cougar population to collapse.

This is my backyard. This is happening. Great reporting by ANNIKA HAMMERSCHLAG for AP News: apnews.com/article/defo...

Common loon coming in for a landing TT: @harrycollinsphotography

A pigeon built a nest for her kitty friend when the cat became pregnant. This unusual act of interspecies care highlights the remarkable capacity for empathy and connection that can exist between different animals. 😍❤️❤️🐈🐦‍⬛

ICYMI: The proposal to overhaul federal government grantmaking is the latest step in Vought's quest to wrest control of spending from Congress and hand it to the president - a potential outcome that should alarm us all: www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/russell-voug... via @quittingcarbon.bsky.social 🔌💡

A longform piece I did on the conversion of rainforests in Liberia into cacao plantations, the economic incentives driving it, and an upcoming collision with EU rules that it’s going to provoke.

The U.S. government will lease nearly 127,500 square kilometers of seabed near American Samoa for deep-sea mining. While the Trump administration argues it secures critical minerals, Indigenous communities and environmental groups warn of irreversible harm to Pacific marine ecosystems.

People have been asking me this question for decades. The answer is in most places, reducing demand by improving efficiency and cutting waste, and recycling and reusing wastewater, are cheaper, easier, and more environmentally beneficial than desalination. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/19/o...

Trump Cuts Habitat Protections for Endangered Species "Cuts" is a massive understatement. "Under the rule, destroying an endangered species’ nest or habitat would no longer be considered illegal." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/c...

We lost Kongjian last year in a tragic accident. But his vision lives on.

An "Object at Rest" is an animated cartoon by Seth Boyden. He says, the cartoon "follows the life of a stone as it travels over the course of millennia, facing nature's greatest obstacle: human civilization." It was his final thesis film at CalArts. Well done, Seth! I feel bad for the rock though.

I just signed this too. SciAm has been educating the public about science for 180 years, and the editors I've worked with there are at the top of the field. They deserve to be treated fairly, and the magazine's reporting is needed now more than ever.

Brian Goggin's building-sized installation, "Defenestration," in San Francisco, charmed me every time I saw it. Here's a worthy description of the piece and its artist: metaphorm.org/portfolio/de...

are you interested in toad calls, cemeteries, walking around at night, and/or what the wood frog has in common with Jesus Christ? you can learn about all these things and more in my new essay for @biographic.bsky.social: www.biographic.com/listening-fo...

📣 BIG NEWS! 📣 We're re-launching bioGraphic as a completely independent nonprofit! As we make this transition, we're taking a publishing (and social media) break in July and August. Then we'll be back with more inspiring, paywall-free journalism about the natural world. More details below 👇

www.latimes.com/california/s... Trump administration takes aim at California Coastal Commission, sparking alarm 🦑🌎🧪

The height of irresponsibility. Part of the larger phenomenon of "#climate hushing."

Beautiful story on Glen Canyon's reslience by @jbrookelarsen.bsky.social @waterdesk.bsky.social waterdesk.org/2026/06/as-l...

What Bethany said. SciAm has been one of my best clients for many years. Its coverage was deep, its editors fantastic, its vision bold. The loss of core science media publications is of a piece with the loss of government science institutions. Both make society less scientifically literate.

On this day in 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire, helping to ignite a nationwide environmental movement to clean up our waters. (This photo is from the 1952 fire, just one of many previous times pollutants on the river burned.) #water