Rocky Kistner
@therockyfiles.bsky.social
Independent journalist, Society of Environmental Journalists board. Formerly with ABC News, PBS Frontline, Marketplace public radio, NRDC OnEarth, HuffPost contributing writer. Mizzou J School alum. TheRockyFiles.org, https://themoneytrail.substack.com/
How the Trump admin saved the coal industry: “Many of the items that were on your wish list are now done.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/c... via @NYTimes @bradplumer @hclaire_brown
The Coal Industry Asked for a Rescue. Trump Obliged.
In a previously unreported letter, a top lobbyist floated the idea of using emergency powers to keep aging coal plants open.
nytimes.com
Great reporting: how toxic lead is leaking out of the bones of an aging generation, posing new risks of dementia and Alzheimers: "That effectively turns your skeleton into a time bomb." @MJ_Coren @asteckelberg www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
Column | Lead you absorbed as a child may cause dementia as you age
Americans born between 1951 and 1980 are invisibly scarred by lead exposure that embedded the toxic metal into their bones. It reemerges later in life.
washingtonpost.com
Could the decline of once abundant menhaden be killing wild ospreys along the Atlantic? Scientists and fishermen worry more should be done to protect them: “We need action now, not five years from now." washingtonpost.com/climate-envi... @cablecowboy1 @washingtonpost
Ospreys are disappearing along the East Coast. Scientists think they know why.
At the center of a widening crisis for one of the nation's great wildlife comebacks is a fish most Americans would hardly recognize.
washingtonpost.com
This: "Amazon is building more data centers than any company in the world. In the United States, the company now consumes more electricity than the federal government....Amazon plans to more than quadruple its data center capacity" @MichaelThomaswrites open.substack.com/pub/michaelt...
Amazon is building 44 GW of data centers. Here's how it plans to power them.
For our latest report, we analyzed hundreds of documents and satellite images to produce the most comprehensive look at Amazon’s power strategy
open.substack.com
Great interview with a climate scientist: why the record El Niño gives us "a glimpse into the future of what our planet will look like if we continue to burn fossil fuels and warm up the planet." @BBCNews @MichaelEMann x.com/MichaelEMann...
Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) on X
I discussed the "Godzilla" El Niño and how it's likely to combine with human-caused warming to supercharge extreme weather in the months ahead with @CaitrionaPerry of @BBCNews, live from #ClimateWeekN...
x.com
The fossil fuel connection: “climate change from all climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions over the last 70 years has resulted in a 36% decline in annual average mountain snowpacks” yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/09/scie... @barbaragrady @CC_Yale
Scientists link fossil fuel producers to the West’s worsening water shortages » Yale Climate Connections
A new study blames 122 companies for contributing to severe drought in the region.
yaleclimateconnections.org
Powered by fossil fuels, scientists warn the planet continues its relentless churn toward a dangerous future: “These are not separate emergencies; the planet is telling us, in every region at once, that it is out of balance" tinyurl.com/nj3m3pbp @olliemilman
‘Planetary boundaries’ necessary for flourishing of life have been massively breached, scientists warn
New report shows key indicators of Earth’s health are ‘outside the safe operating space’ as climate disaster looms
tinyurl.com
“Why are we reading...if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage and the possibility of meaningfulness, and press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power?” tinyurl.com/y38557nv
Annie Dillard, Pulitzer-winning author of ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,’ dies at 81
With the publication of her 1974 book, she was hailed as a 20th-century Thoreau, a visionary whose shimmering prose offered glimpses of the eternal.
tinyurl.com
This will not bode well for CNN jobs: “It will cut jobs and raise prices, all as it consolidates the media even more to enable authoritarians.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/b... via @NYTimes
Paramount Settles States’ Lawsuit, Clearing Way for Warner Bros. Merger
By resolving a lawsuit filed by a group of states, the media mogul David Ellison removed the last major hurdle he faced in buying Warner Bros. Discovery.
nytimes.com
White House press corps fights back: “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202... @ScottNover @washingtonpost
Major TV networks halt video coverage of Trump over CNN ban
CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico, filed a lawsuit over the ban, which the president defended as “an assault on the FAKE NEWS.”
washingtonpost.com
Training journalists to be entrepreneurs: “Journalism doesn’t stop being essential just because the funding around it dries up" washingtonpost.com/business/202... @ScottNover @washingtonpost
After losing their Voice of America jobs, journalists pitch their second acts
American University set up a program to help VOA staffers. Now they’re set on becoming entrepreneurs.
washingtonpost.com
Trump's order to change Chesapeake Bay cleanup policies face local backlash: “This executive order is just the latest of Trump’s assaults on Bay restoration, stripping away the accountability measures and federal coordination" @Jeremy_Cox @ChesBayJournal tinyurl.com/44y7ncvy
Update: Trump order unravels Obama-era cleanup framework for Chesapeake Bay
Note: This is an update to the Bay Journal article that appeared on Sept. 17, 2026.
tinyurl.com
A @Guardian investigation questions the IPCC's conflict of interest policies: "At least a dozen IPCC lead authors are employed by or linked to Saudi Aramco, Saudi institutions and other oil and gas interests" www.theguardian.com/environment/... @dpcarrington
How Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports
Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’
theguardian.com
“Interesting winter forecast: U.S. temps will be cooler than normal, but the rest of the world will be hotter: “The average Global surface temps will be around +2C beyond pre-industrial levels for the first time on record and and very likely higher than anything in 120,000 years…”
Jeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · last wk.Cool Florida Winter - But ironically Record Warm Earth! The Winter ahead looks cool in the Southern US. BUT importantly - NOT cold. It’s one of the only places on Earth that will be cooler than normal this winter. This map is called the Super Ensemble - it’s a mix of World’s best seasonal models 1/
My relatives buried in Arlington Cemetery are rolling over in their graves: Trump's arch will “house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas...” wapo.st/4hojaMW @ddiamond @Aoife__Walsh @washingtonpost
Trump says planned 250-foot arch will be ‘military complex’ for drones, snipers
The president’s post about the 250-foot arch planned near Arlington National Cemetery comes as veterans groups, historic preservationists and others attempt to stop the project.
wapo.st
Shoot the messenger: Trump bans major media he doesn’t like from White House briefings: “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.” @ScottNover @washingtonpost www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Trump says he’s banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House
The president has a history of feuding with news organizations and has at times tried to ban them and their journalists.
washingtonpost.com
Study finds a massive amount of microplastics flow into the world's oceans, mostly from developing countries: "really the only way we’re going to really reduce [it] is just by getting away from a codependent relationship with plastic.” wapo.st/4xXvWZz @washingtonpost
Rivers are delivering a staggering amount of microplastics into the ocean, study finds
Nearly all of the pollution — 96 percent — comes from rivers in developing countries. High plastic use, mismanagement of plastic waste, strong rainfall and high solar radiation are major factors.
wapo.st
A fascinating documentary explores Elon Musk's bizarre desire to populate the world, among other things:“ It’s like a Gatling gun of sperm in his DMs” wapo.st/4j8LuVK @travismandrews @washingtonpost
‘Musk’ film is almost four hours long, engrossing and terrifying. What to know.
The documentary paints the tech trillionaire as a power-hungry megalomaniacal conman with a god complex. Musk accuses filmmaker Alex Gibney of compiling a "hit list" against him.
wapo.st
The fight over union newspaper jobs: “AI is clearly part of the plan moving forward…because it’s been part of the plan for quite some time, and the company has made huge investments in artificial intelligence products.” www.cjr.org/analysis/mcc... @cjr @RiddhiKSetty
McClatchy’s post-layoff future.
“AI is clearly part of the plan moving forward,” Ariane Lange, an investigative reporter at the Sacramento Bee, said. “It’s been part of the plan for quite some time.”
cjr.org
And it’s accelerating: “About 12.5 trillion tons (11.3 trillion metric tons) of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice five feet deep across the continental United States.” @NBCNews www.nbcnews.com/science/clim...
Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland, Antarctica in 47 years
The numbers behind the melting ice are both mind-bogglingly huge and deceptively small.
nbcnews.com
Americans are increasingly worried about rising extreme weather impacts: "Last year, the U.S. registered 23 weather- or climate-related disasters that each caused at least $1 billion in damage, together costing roughly $115 billion in damages." tinyurl.com/5fh34djp @Gallup
38% in U.S. Say Extreme Weather Damaged Their Community
Nearly four in 10 Americans say extreme weather damaged their community in the past year, and six in 10 of them worry about future impacts.
tinyurl.com
In the wake of the Nepal disaster, a call to action: a renowned climate scientist says fight climate change by voting for science. "You can make support for urgent and dramatic climate action a litmus test issue as you go to the voting booth." tinyurl.com/4t8wzbrm @MichaelEMann @guardian
Nepal’s glacial collapse foreshadowed a future of climate disaster | Michael Mann
The deluge capped a summer of extreme climate events, from deadly heatwaves to wildfires. We must take action now
tinyurl.com
Oil execs say a fuel crisis is here: “All these mechanisms helped to mitigate the price and supply risk...Those have largely now played out" www.wsj.com/business/ene... @WSJ @benmorenne @CollinEatonHC
Oil Executives Say the Great Fuel Crisis Is Here
Trump officials say the oil-market disruption is temporary, but Chevron’s Mike Wirth and others warn global supplies are running low, with no respite in sight.
wsj.com
Caged! My dog's kennel provides bigger sleeping spaces than this: "...nearly 1,500 detainees were living in “cramped conditions” inside windowless housing pods without views to the outside or natural light." wapo.st/4h1hNmT @SilviaElenaFF @washingtonpost
Alligator Alcatraz detainees were put in small cages, DHS watchdog report finds
The Florida facility’s staff referred to the enclosures as “calming areas.” Investigators said their use violated federal standards and did not align with “standards for humane treatment.”
wapo.st
As the planet burns, the Trump admin plans to unleash fossil fuel polluters: "if the U.S. power sector were its own country, it would be the fifth-largest climate polluter in the world after China, the entire United States, India and Russia." @maxinejoselow @nytimes www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/c...
E.P.A. Will Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power Plants
Generation of electricity is the second largest source of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gases in the United States.
nytimes.com
The affordability crisis hits home: “For many of them, Social Security is their only income...A lot of them won’t run an air conditioner if they have it, or they don’t want one because they don’t want to incur the expense.” @laurendalban.bsky.social @insideclimatenews.org
Covering Climate Now@coveringclimatenow.org · 2w agoUn-affordability: Many of New York City’s heat-related deaths between 2016 and 2025 occurred inside their homes, according to a new city government report. “Owning an air conditioner isn’t enough, because some people can’t afford to use them,” observed one cooling center official. buff.ly/iJn0rgF
Legacy automakers retreat. "Recent auto-sales data indicates that Tesla is once again gaining ground in the U.S. EV market as legacy automakers retreat from battery-powered cars."
Tesla Is Reclaiming the U.S. EV Market as Legacy Automakers Retreat
U.S. EV sales remain depressed, but Tesla’s market share has recovered from its 2025 nadir.
wsj.com
A dangerous feedback loop: "The breakdown of these natural systems is unleashing huge volumes of emissions, further intensifying warming from the burning of fossil fuels...such feedback loops could amplify human-driven warming by 20 to 30 percent." e360.yale.edu/digest/warmi... @YaleE360
The Breakdown of Natural Systems Could Intensify Warming by 30 Percent
e360.yale.edu
"It's my worry in 6–12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet (potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage)...the scale of damage damage would continue to increase from there" axios.com/2026/09/12/a... @BerkowitzBT @Axios
Anthropic, OpenAI CEOs call for slowdown in AI development
Dario Amodei warned agent swarms could take over the internet as soon as six months from now.
axios.com
