Rebecca Altman, PhD
@rebecca-altman.bsky.social
Currently writing An Intimate History of Plastics (Scribner, Spring 2027) Brown Institute for Environment and Society Words in Orion | The Atlantic | Science 📚 Chatty re: env history of plastic & #creativenonfiction https://rebecca-altman.com
New multimedia online exhibition! Using Amitav Ghosh’s novel 𝘎𝘶𝘯 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 as a vantage point, it draws on storylines and narrative elements to allow a multifocal engagement with the multiple social and ecological repercussions of climate change: www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/...
I learned about a brilliant project yesterday to support British Sign Language (BSL) users, creating new signs for scientific terms in chemistry, oceanography, data science & more. And they're fabulously descriptive. Do have a look and share! www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/BSL/index.ht...
Grammarly is using the identities of famous authors, editors, and academics - including Anna Wintour, Tina Brown, Stephen King, George Saunders, and more - for its AI "Expert Review" feature, without their permission. Worse? Its advice sucks. oliverfranklinwallis.substack.com/p/why-is-gra...
Why is Grammarly co-opting the identities of writers, editors, and academics to give terrible "expert" advice?
The AI company is using the identities of countless authors, journalists, and academics, without their permission, to give writing advice. The worst part? It isn't even good.
oliverfranklinwallis.substack.com
The 2026 National Science Foundation budget is $8.75 Billion.
First 6 Days of Iran War Cost U.S. $11.3 Billion, Pentagon Says
nytimes.com
Civilians in Tehran are reporting toxic oily rain following US and Israeli airstrikes on oil storage facilities. An estimated 10 million people face exposure to hazardous chemicals, with risks including skin burns and lung damage.
Award-winning activist and fisherman Diane Wilson is taking a stand against Dow with a hunger strike in response to its unprecedented request to the State of Texas to legalize its discharge of microplastics! Take action and read our latest coverage. 👉 bit.ly/dianewilsonh... #PlasticPollutes
Diane Wilson Launches Hunger Strike After Dow Requests Legalization of Microplastics Discharge in Texas
Diane Wilson initiated a hunger strike demanding action in response to Dow’s recent request to the State of Texas to legalize its discharge of microplastics.
bit.ly
They're going to poison a city with 17 million people
Fared Al Mahlool | فريد المحلول@faredalmahlool.bsky.social · 6mo agoMarch 8, 2026 - Tehran at sunrise today. But the sun is hidden behind a sky filled with smoke. After a night of intensive strikes on oil facilities, thick black clouds now hang over the city, turning morning into something that feels like night.
I'm thrilled to say Plastic Inc is out today, shifting the lens on plastic from where it ends up to where it comes from — the fossil fuel industry. "Deeply researched, sharply written & totally compelling," says @elizkolbert.bsky.social "Breath-taking & revelatory"— @christopherleonard.bsky.social
Plastic Inc. by Beth Gardiner: 9780593717103 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
An extraordinary exposé of the industry flooding our world with plastic—and now ramping up to make more than ever “Deeply researched, sharply written, and totally compelling.”...
penguinrandomhouse.com
Multiple news outlets are reporting a US attack on an Iranian #desalination plant. If verified, this violates international law protecting #water systems during wars, and it sets a dangerous precedent, given intense dependence of Gulf countries on desalination. timesofoman.com/article/1691...
Iran's FM condemns US attack on Qeshm's freshwater desalination plant, warns of grave consequences
US President Donald Trump announced that Iran promised not to attack its neighbours anymore
timesofoman.com
Geneva Convention 1977 Protocols: “It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as... drinking #water installations & supplies and irrigation works... for any other motive.”
Blatant and desperate crime: Irans FM condemns US attack on Qeshms freshwater desalination plant, warns of grave consequences - The Tribune
In a post on X, Araghchi emphasised that the US has set a dangerous precedent by targeting Irans infrastructure.
tribuneindia.com
Writer Rebecca Altman said she has focused on studying plastics because “some of the stuff coming off the plant where my dad had worked was implicated in suffering and childhood sickness in New Jersey. I just really wanted to understand this larger system of which it was a part.” buff.ly/kLy9nK4
"How does it feel to be a worker in an oil-and-gas industry and a Canadian petrostate amid the climate crisis and the early stages of a transition away from fossil fuels?" - Melanie Dennis Unrau niche-canada.org/2024/11/27/n... #envhist #envhum #fossilfuels #labour #poetry
New Book - The Rough Poets: Reading Oil-Worker Poetry
How does it feel to be a worker in an oil-and-gas industry and a Canadian petrostate amid the climate crisis and the early stages of a transition away from fossil fuels?
niche-canada.org
Wrote for the @thebulletin.org about the EPA’s latest website removals on the human causes of climate change, the administration’s yearlong assault on climate information, and why the everyday person should care about disappearing data: thebulletin.org/2026/01/epas...
EPA's December website edits cap off yearlong assault on climate info
Like climate change, the Trump administration’s efforts to remove climate data from government websites feels vast, intangible, and overwhelming.
thebulletin.org
Dear @ievajusionyte.bsky.social is a Brown University anthropologist and an EMT/paramedic who has focused on gun violence for most of her career, particularly on the US-Mexico border. But what happened here at Brown this past weekend... Read her here:
Ieva Jusionyte@ievajusionyte.bsky.social · 9mo agobecause all i’ve been capable of these days has been talking and texting with my students, and writing www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/17/o...
The Song of Styrene: Intimate Histories of Plastics to be pub'd March 2027 @scribnerbooks.bsky.social Meanwhile, 3 new titles: Consumed | Saabira Chaudhuri The Problem with Plastics | Judith Enck @beyondplastics.bsky.social w/ @adamlmahoney.bsky.social Plastic, Inc.| @bethgardiner.bsky.social
Rebecca Altman, PhD@rebecca-altman.bsky.social · last yr.Manuscript delivered 😮💨 — now begins development and editing and whatever lies beyond that. Every day I’ve gotten to do this, grateful beyond grateful. 🌱 Thank you, friends, family, for the years (5+) of support. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I feel like this is the nightmare we all dread in the US — an active shooter in your community. Brown University is still in shelter in place 3 hours in, with 2 confirmed deaths, 8 in critical condition, and no shooter(s) in custody. One of my students had to run from the scene. Horrified.
Happy to have written about plastic for @thepolycrisis.bsky.social. Thanks to @70sbachchan.bsky.social for sourcing the excellent graphics. And thanks to @rebecca-altman.bsky.social and @anjakrieger.bsky.social for being my go-to's on all-things plastic. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/pla...
Plastic Planet | Venus Bivar
Stalled negotiations and accelerating accumulation in the global petrochemicals industry
phenomenalworld.org
Hey #DiscardStudies folks. The European Commission has a public consultation period open until November 6 for its planned Circular Economy Act. If you have an article or post you want included, register and submit at ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...
European Commission - Have your say
European Commission - Have your say
ec.europa.eu
To the artists, scholars, advocates, journalists, writers, historians, lawyers, entrepreneurs, policy folks, thank you for your good work. To address plastics is to work for human rights, climate stability, human health, environmental justice, global unity, & the rights of future generations. 🙏🙏🙏
Rebecca Altman, PhD@rebecca-altman.bsky.social · 11mo agoPlastics have woven their way into the fabric of every ecosystem, into everything & everyone, into strata & time, but it has also woven a web of us, & introduced me to people who also work for change, whose presence in the world makes the work all the more meaningful. W/ thx #plasticstreaty #envhist
Plastics have woven their way into the fabric of every ecosystem, into everything & everyone, into strata & time, but it has also woven a web of us, & introduced me to people who also work for change, whose presence in the world makes the work all the more meaningful. W/ thx #plasticstreaty #envhist
“A new study of one of Canada's most urbanized rivers suggests it dumps the equivalent of about 18 cars worth of microplastics into Lake Ontario every year, a finding that shocked the lead author.” — from Chelsea Rochman’s lab #plasticpollution www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Toronto's Don River sends 500 billion microplastics into Lake Ontario each year: study | CBC News
A new study of one of Canada's most urbanized rivers suggests it dumps the equivalent of about 18 cars worth of microplastics into Lake Ontario every year, a finding that shocked the lead author and u...
cbc.ca
Environmental scientists highlight role of paint in microplastic pollution phys.org/news/2025-03... Paint: a ubiquitous yet disregarded piece of the microplastics puzzle - by Zoie Diana et al. academic.oup.com/etc/article/...
Environmental scientists highlight role of paint in microplastic pollution
Plastic waste is recognized as a major cause of environmental harm, with products like water bottles, plastic bags and clothing fibers acknowledged as major contributors to plastic pollution—but resea...
phys.org
“There was no job announcement, no search committee to identify top candidates, no interviews or reference checks.” Re: new head of the National Institutes of Environmental Health
Sharon Lerner@fastlerner.bsky.social · 11mo ago
Built overtop former Union Carbide HQ — dismantled girder by girder before built anew — 60 stories for 10K employees and apparently, per reporting here, no cockroaches.
Drew Harwell@drewharwell.com · 11mo agoCongrats workers on your new hell zone
I am very much appreciating @cassienewland.bsky.social’s opening chapter on #plastics history — begins with the whole rubber-human rights mess, ace primary sources, and puts the whole celluloid spared the elephant trope in its full context. 👏👏👏👏
Rebecca Altman, PhD@rebecca-altman.bsky.social · 11mo agoThis book. My word, this book! Plastics folks— the archaeologists on plastics are 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 I’m in do not disturb mode over here until I finish it.
