Just published a new article … and it’s a doozy: Scientists have found DDT in key species at the base of the deep-sea food web, raising concerns on how this toxic chemical might be infiltrating and circulating through our marine ecosystem latimes.com/environment/st…
This is one of many research efforts that jumped into action after my first article in the @latimes detailed our little-known history of dumping toxic chemicals and all sorts of waste at sea.

To this day, we continue to discover the consequences: latimes.com/environment/st…

Want to read more about climate change but not sure where to start? I get this question *a lot* (a hurricane in CA doesn't help) ...so my editor figured it was past time for me to share a list of books that I've found helpful, for newbies and experts alike latimes.com/environment/st… Some books on this list are older, others more recent — and each one is strikingly prescient on how climate change touches every aspect of our lives. latimes.com/environment/st…

PLOT TWIST: Remember those old shipping logs that noted thousands of barrels of DDT waste dumped off Catalina? Turns out, the acid waste wasn't contained in physical barrels. It was poured STRAIGHT INTO THE OCEAN.

Barrels = an obscure unit of volume
latimes.com/environment/st… "Barrels" turned out to be a default unit of volume (1 bbl = 50ish gallons) that waste haulers were required to use in the 1950s. Rounding errors likely occurred when the companies had to do this math.

Also likely: More chemicals were dumped than logged. latimes.com/environment/st…

Strong 👏environmental👏 coverage on the Sunday @latimes front page. Must-read climate change investigation on extreme heat deaths by @annamphillips @tonybarboza @LATvives @seangreene89 + a deep look into all the (very old) oil platforms off the CA coast by @susrust @anitachabria Here’s the article on all the antiquated oil infrastructure still churning and rusting off the California coast.

I learn so much every time I work with @susrust @anitachabria

latimes.com/environment/st…

Historic moment at Bruce’s Beach: Gov. Newsom just signed into law a bill that confirms that the Bruces were wrongfully run out of Manhattan Beach 100 yrs ago and that the land should be returned.

More details coming! latimes.com/california/sto… “As governor of California, let me do what apparently Manhattan Beach is unwilling to do: I want to apologize to the Bruce family,” @GavinNewsom said. After signing the bill, he handed the pen to Anthony Bruce, great-great grandson of Charles and Willa latimes.com/california/sto…

!!! The DDT dumpsite in the ocean turned out to be MUCH BIGGER than expected. After surveying a swath of seafloor larger than *all of San Francisco,* scientists told me they still could not find an end to the dumping ground. It just kept going... latimes.com/environment/st… Hearing the researchers at @Scripps_Ocean talk about how much data they had to process was🤯 Trying to count each individual barrel/data point on the map, they told me, was like counting stars in the Milky Way latimes.com/environment/st…

My latest article is about how our exposure to DDT (even though it was banned decades ago) continues to affect the health of our children AND grandchildren. Scientists have been piecing this puzzle together, study by study, for 60+ years: latimes.com/environment/st… First it was breast cancer in women who were exposed to DDT in the 1950s/60s. Then their daughters, who had been exposed in the womb ... Researchers have also linked DDT exposure to obesity, birth defects, reduced fertility and testicular cancer in sons latimes.com/environment/st…

For months, I have watched Manhattan Beach wrestle with an uncomfortable truth: The town once seized a prominent Black family’s resort and ran an entire community of Black beachgoers out of town. Here's my latest update on what's happening at Bruce's Beach latimes.com/california/sto… A task force was formed. An apology drafted. But many residents have pushed back on the notion that they must atone for injustices committed almost a century ago latimes.com/california/sto…

Thank you for checking out today’s story! I’m so in awe of our brilliant and ever patient designers @seangreene89 and Alex Tatusian, who pull you deep into this story with their incredible web build and illos. Sean even made the section breaks into DDT 🤯 latimes.com/projects/la-co… And dream team @bettychavarriaa and @KelliJoSullivan who designed this stunning front page cover and layout in today’s paper!

My latest story unravels a toxic mystery bubbling in the deep ocean – one that frustrated generations of scientists and has now come back to haunt us: Decades ago, the Los Angeles coast was a dumping ground for DDT waste. No one could see it – until now. latimes.com/projects/la-co… Remember DDT, the toxic chemical Rachel Carson warned us all about in Silent Spring in 1962? The nation’s largest DDT maker was here in LA. One way the factory got rid of its waste was by dumping thousands of barrels each month into the ocean near Catalina latimes.com/projects/la-co…

Check out today's special section (!!!) on sea level rise! The California coast is eroding, beaches vanishing, homes and roads flooded out by water. Our choices are grim, but I studied them all and talked to a bazillion people to see what's at stake latimes.com/projects/la-me… Everyone I met seemed to acknowledge the problem: The ocean is now rising higher and faster in California, but everything built before we knew better is fixed in place with nowhere to go. Pacific Coast Highway. Dream homes in Malibu. The surfliner... latimes.com/projects/la-me…