Joe Allen

"Plus, in a time of persistent distance between individuals, cigarettes are often social — a connective experience"

"a much more sensual experience than swiping on an app."

"But I do approve of giving in to the allure of the analog and of attempts, even if misguided, to live a more embodied life."

"It’s not hard to imagine, then, that smoking might serve as an antidote..." [from covid isolationism]

"as our life experience continues to decay, ripping a heater may become more compelling than ever"

NYT runs a piece that is a smoking ad for kids

ACTUAL QUOTES IN THIS ARTICLE

"the deliberate draw and release of breath and the heady nicotine buzz all engage the senses in a way that can’t be replicated on a screen."

"it’s a celebration of being alive"

[1/n]

Opinion | You Are Contaminated

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/o...

Must-read by @dwallacewells.bsky.social
In my book I open a chapter w this from Rachel Carson:
--> "If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones - we had better know something about their nature and their power."

Cooling tower-linked infections can happen up to 2 miles from the source. And legionella are ubiquitous. That combo makes ID'ing the specific source of this outbreak difficult. Best approach is to reinforce water treatment for all cooling towers in the area (as should normally be happening, anyway…)

Creating Workplaces Free of Forever Chemicals Forever chemicals are toxic and widely used in buildings and yet they remain on the rise globally with little regulation to control them. In the United States, for example, Environmental Protection Ag...

hbr.org/2025/04/crea...

Risks from forever chemicals are accumulating:
--> 200M in U.S. have them in their water
--> 99% have them in our blood
--> Less well-known: They are widely found in the air and dust in our buildings

In HBR, we show how companies can tackle that last point

Relying on temp for heat risk misleads. Texas, which hits 100, isn't going to be the problem today...
LEFT: temp
RIGHT: wet bulb globe temp

What's that?? --> www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Energy-efficient Strategies May Produce 10 Times More Health Benefits in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe The health benefits of energy interventions are greatest in countries such as Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria, according to a new study which provides a digital tool to help EU countries measure these e...

Coverage of our latest research analyzing the health and climate co-benefits of energy conservation measures in buildings
--> air quality-related health burdens can be up to 10x the climate burden
--> new (free!) digital tool called CoBE-EU
www.bu.edu/sph/news/art...

Energy-efficient Strategies May Produce 10 Times More Health Benefits in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe The health benefits of energy interventions are greatest in countries such as Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria, according to a new study which provides a digital tool to help EU countries measure these e...

New article our paper! www.bu.edu/sph/news/art... @busph.bsky.social @joeallenjoe.bsky.social and many others not on here. tl;dr, if you want to improve health and the climate, build renewables in places with coal!

Harvard, Trump Administration Clash in Key Court Hearing The Ivy League school is fighting to get its federal funding restored.

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

“You can’t violate the constitution to terminate a contract. There are limits to what you can terminate and why and how.” -U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs

They're breaking the law. And it's not just the Harvard case. Now the big question comes for the country - do people care?

How Trump’s crackdown on Harvard and other universities is affecting the world Mr. Trump’s ideological war on universities is putting students, professors and scientists under pressure. That could undermine the global dominance that American science has enjoyed for decades.

Could America gamble away its scientific supremacy in the service of ideology? It has happened before.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Harvard’s Healthier Materials Playbook - Healthy Buildings Related Links More about PFAS levels in buildings with healthier furnishings Pinpointing chemical exposure using silicone wristbands Washington PostThese t

The healthier materials landscape can be unnecessarily confusing. Here's a simple 2-part playbook we're using at Harvard.

Harvard's Healthier Materials Playbook
healthybuildings.hsph.harvard.edu/research/mat...

HBR: Creating Workplaces Free of Forever Chemicals
hbr.org/2025/04/crea...

The L.A. fires released a plume of lead from homes and cars that showed up in air quality monitors, and then in blood of firefighters, and in soil and dust

Learn more about our work:
www.latimes.com/environment/...

lafirehealth.org

abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/vid...

"based on their physical appearance"

I covered the L.A. fires in the Palisades. So I had my blood tested for lead The Los Angeles County wildfires unleashed all kinds of contaminants once locked away in paints, plastics and elsewhere. Among the most concerning is lead, so, like hundreds of Angelenos, a reporter w...

www.latimes.com/environment/...

We know:
--> smoke from the fires had high levels of lead, detected at least 20 miles away
--> firefighters in L.A. had elevated lead in the blood compared to other firefighters
--> lead is being detected in soil and there is simply not enough testing and remediation happening

Good article by @nohaggerty.bsky.social covering our L.A. Fire Health research consortium, and the on-going issue of lead (and arsenic) in soil after the fires. 🧵

4/ Now for the breakdown: At this week’s ACIP meeting, CDC scientists showed deep expertise. But many new committee members lacked basic knowledge, confused core science, and echoed conspiracy theories. That’s pretty alarming for a group tasked with shaping vaccine policy for 330 million Americans.

From miasma to COVID-19: Exploring evolving understanding of airborne illnesses | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Carl Zimmer discussed the book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe at a June 24 Studio event.

hsph.harvard.edu/news/from-mi...

Really great interview of @carlzimmer.com about his book, AIR-BORNE, by my colleague Yonatan Gard, with some nice @hsph.harvard.edu history (and cautionary tale about the importance of basic research w utility and importance that isn't always recognized in the moment...). Link in 🧵

The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, empowered by RFK Jr., is just getting started The ACIP, the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel newly empowered by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is just getting started.

What a lede: "The meeting began with an airing of pandemic-era grievances and closed with a move to cement a decades-old, long-dismissed anti-vaccine talking point into U.S. national policy." @jasonmast.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/2025/06/26/c...

The denigrating and characterization of Harvard by outsiders is really so off-base. Want to know the Harvard I know? I'm on a zoom with a Harvard professor who is calling into a meeting *from a bomb shelter* in Israel, to support the people of L.A. impacted by the fires.

Sunken Superyacht Bayesian Is Raised Off Sicily

Prior --> Posterior

DID YOU KNOW:
--> the heat index assumes you’re **in the shade** and **resting**
--> but being in direct sunlight can add 15 degrees to the heat index

#WBGT #WetBulbGlobeTemp

It's hot today - and even more deadly tomorrow. Reminder: WBGT (wet bulb globe temp) shows true daytime heat risk outdoors.

Left: air temp (looks hot but manageable)
Right: WBGT (shows how truly deadly it will be across wide swath of U.S.)

What's WBGT? www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

New USC study links wildfire smoke exposure and heat stress to adverse birth outcomes Related News First genome-wide comparison of vapers and smokers finds similar DNA changes linked to disease risk August 12, 2024 Prenatal maternal stressors linked to higher blood pressure during firs...

keck.usc.edu/news/new-usc...

"It is only by looking at the cumulative impacts of burdens communities are facing, now and into the future, that we can start to truly quantify health risks of climate hazards and target interventions to strengthen community resilience.” -Rima Habre