I just got back from East Palestine, OH, where we spent the afternoon taking bio samples. Brief thread on the #OhioTrainDerailment 1/9
Backstory: It's field trips exactly like this why @PaulReginato and I are building @HomeworldBio : to support the community of climate biotech research. We want to help people connect to problems, and that often needs to be physical. 2/9
I realized I could do something tangible last week and bought flights immediately. Then I met the incredible @lifeofrills who was up for the expedition on 48 hour notice.
The mission is to take samples and create a public data resource of the bio 'omics and water geochem 3/9
In general, I have to sing @lifeofrills' praises for being one of the most genuinely stoked+brilliant biologists I've ever met. She has a deep experience in caving for studying WILD biology, and is well familiar with taking environmental samples. 4/9
Understanding (and perhaps one day, augmenting) mechanisms of biological resilience is a personal passion area of mine. In this case, there is a growing story of environmental and human justice 5/9
It's a surreal energy in East Palestine. It's a disaster zone and it *feels* like it. From everything we saw/experienced, EPA/FEMA seemed to be doing a good job. That said, 2 hours after we left, there was this meeting: nytimes.com/2023/03/02/us/… 6/9
We were there for just four hours and felt strange. The air is dusty and smells. My (cheap) air sensor read increased amounts of PM2.5. I'm no expert, but it's amazing that all govt workers are on that crash site are unmasked. Covid hangover perhaps 7/9
We're going to get to work to describe, process and analyze these samples. Hopefully this can be a beachhead for others who want to help and who can't/won't drive into a toxic site. 8/9
I'll post more soon. Overall, I can confirm first-hand experience that this is a real, sad event. Just a few hours there felt like a toxic exposure to us, and the stories from the people we met are heart-breaking. I hope we can all learn, maybe even help. 9/9
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