smitha rao

The Planetary Health Diet, Revisited The wealthiest 30% drive 70% of food-related environmental impacts. Can we change how we eat, farm, and share power?

The Planetary Health Diet, Revisited open.substack.com/pub/thinink/...

MacKenzie Scott gives $70 million to UNCF to financially strengthen HBCUs Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $70 million to the UNCF, the largest private provider of scholarships to minority students.

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $70 million to the UNCF, the largest private provider of scholarships to minority students.

Gosh. 🤦🏽‍♀️

WSJ headline: Trump Administration Cancels Annual Hunger Survey

The federal government is canceling the leading national survey of household food insecurity and hunger in the United States, @wsj.com reported today. The Dec 2025 survey will be canceled, while the Oct 2025 report based on Dec 2024 data will be released as usual. (1/4)

As boys shift to the right, we are seeing the rise of the ‘new chill girl’ | Naomi Beinart

"Since Donald Trump returned to office, I have noticed a phenomenon at my high school that I call the 'new chill girl'," writes high school student Naomi Beinart for the Guardian US. "The girls I talked to say it’s riskier to be outspokenly blue."

My phone wallpaper :)

Sigh. Deleted.

🙁 Jerry is leaving #BenAndJerrys (via @yobencohen.bsky.social)

“we are not mutual because of the provision of aid; we aid each other because we are already mutual.”

Rebecca Solnit on the (real) stories of mutual aid after disasters.

wagingnonviolence.org/2025/09/tell...

If *your department head and your dean* can be removed for supporting your colleague in teaching in their area of expertise, then you have no academic freedom. In a functional sense, you don't work at a university at all.

AAUP-OSU board member Richard Finlay Fletcher spoke to “Inside Higher Ed” about OSU’s ban on land acknowledgements - and its chilling effect on academic freedom. Link below.

map of the Aegean coast depicting change in vapour pressure deficit due to climate change

One of the strongest, clearest increases in likelihood & intensity, attributable to climate change, I've seen in a complex index like fire weather - the more intense & frequent events in Greece & Türkiye are already outpacing efforts to adapt.
www.worldweatherattribution.org/weather-cond...

Octavia Butler predicted our dystopian present. What can a futurist learn from her chilling accuracy? “She painted a very clear picture about survival.”

Octavia Butler Predicted Our Dystopian Present. What Can a Futurist Learn From Her Chilling Accuracy?  – Mother Jones www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

How federal officials talk about health is shifting in troubling ways • Ohio Capital Journal As a scholar of rhetoric and the mother of an autistic child, in the language of MAHA I hear a disregard for the humanity of people with disabilities and a shift from supporting them to blaming them…

How federal officials talk about health is shifting in troubling ways • Ohio Capital Journal

“MAHA rhetoric may signal a coming shift in how the federal government views the needs of people with disabilities – and its responsibilities for meeting them.”

More UChicago Ph.D. Programs Will Pause Admissions The arts and humanities dean said “nearly all” faculty leaders preferred “a broader pause for the division.” Some social sciences programs also aren’t accepting new students.

www.insidehighered.com/news/admissi...

How federal officials talk about health is shifting in troubling ways • Ohio Capital Journal As a scholar of rhetoric and the mother of an autistic child, in the language of MAHA I hear a disregard for the humanity of people with disabilities and a shift from supporting them to blaming them…

Commentary: As a scholar of rhetoric and the mother of an autistic child, in the language of MAHA I hear a disregard for the humanity of people with disabilities and a shift from supporting them to blaming them for their needs ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/08/26/h...

Support the FEMA Katrina Declaration Now! — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE Below is our Statement Of Solidarity and Support for the brave FEMA heroes of the Katrina Declaration published here on August 25th 2025. Please read and add your name to ours today!

Support the FEMA Katrina Declaration Now! — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

FEMA Employees Warn That Trump Is Gutting Disaster Response

#FEMA Employees Warn That Trump Is Gutting Disaster Response www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...

In Trump’s Second Term, Far-Right Agenda Enters the Mainstream President Trump has embraced an array of far-right views and talking points in ways that have delighted many right-wing activists who have long supported those ideas.

“Whether it is dismantling diversity programs, complaining about anti-white bias in museums or simply promoting an aura of authoritarian nationalism, Mr. Trump has embraced an array of far-right views and talking points.”

Absolutely. This did not just happen on its own.

In 2025.

By the end of September, more than 640,000 people will face Catastrophic levels of food insecurity – classified as IPC Phase 5 – across the Gaza Strip. An additional 1.14 million people in the territory will be in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and a further 396,000 people in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) conditions. Conditions in North Gaza are estimated to be as severe – or worse – than in Gaza City. However, limited data prevented an IPC classification, highlighting the urgent need for access to assess and assist. Rafah was not analyzed given indications that it is largely depopulated. Classifying famine means that the most extreme category is triggered when three critical thresholds – extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition and starvation-related deaths – have been breached. The latest analysis now affirms on the basis of reasonable evidence that these criteria have been met.

The UN announces an official designation of famine in Gaza, noting that "by the end of September, more than 640,000 people will face Catastrophic levels of food insecurity – classified as IPC Phase 5 – across the Gaza Strip."

www.wfp.org/news/famine-...

‘A whole body of health-equity research is being disappeared’ — why I resigned from the NIH As federal support vanishes for research addressing the root causes of health disparities in the United States, we are left with a dangerous void and an urgent need to rethink science funding.

💯 .."those of us with even an ounce of privilege have a responsibility to speak up...if we cannot rise to meet this moment, then what does our commitment to science — and to justice — really mean? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Extreme heat preparedness and coping among older adults: A rapid review Extreme heat events are increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity owing to climate change. In light of older adults’ heightened risks of heat-related morbidity and mortality, this rapid review ...

New research by Doherty et al.:

"Extreme heat preparedness and coping among older adults: A rapid review"

journals.plos.org/climate/arti...

Hurricane Erin achieved something most storms do not this weekend. "Extreme Rapid Intensification". Did climate change play a part? Science says, yes.
In 12 hours winds increased by ~65 mph. Only 3 other storms have done that and Erin was the earliest & only August storm to do so.
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An authoritarian regime is calling up troops from red states to occupy the capitol city, harass its residents, and further entrench his control

Arctic glaciers face ‘terminal’ decline as microbes accelerate ice melt Scientists in Svalbard in race to study polar microbes as global heating threatens fragile glacial ecosystems

Your 'moment of doom' for Aug. 15, 2025 ~ Feedback loop alert!

"these factors have the potential to trigger an amplifying positive feedback loop: ice-darkening microbes nudge up temperatures and accelerate melt, exposing more nutrient-rich debris that encourage the growth of yet more microbes..."

AccuWeather forecast for Gaza says 100F with a real feel of 111F.

There is currently a heat wave in Gaza. 100F (37.8C) at the moment with a real feel of 111F (43.8C). People are living in tents—the old, the young, pregnant women, babies—with few ways to beat the heat.

The climate crisis is making life unbearable for people trying to survive a genocide.

How Chris Wright recruited a team to upend climate science The Energy secretary handpicked climate contrarians to write a report that EPA is using to undermine U.S. regulation of greenhouse gases.

How Chris Wright recruited a team to upend climate science - E&E News by POLITICO www.eenews.net/articles/how...

Climate change brings more rapidly intensifying hurricanes; NOAA cuts makes forecasting them harder » Yale Climate Connections Hurricanes that intensify rapidly just before landfall are more deadly and destructive.

"If we keep cutting NOAA, there is an increasing risk of an Otis-like scenario, with a Cat 5 hurricane roaring ashore in a heavily populated area with inadequate warning. With global warming steadily increasing the odds of rapid intensification, we’d better stay ahead of this dangerous curve."