Cindy Shellito (@cshells)

Saving NCAR: Why Climate Science Matters At the NCAR Mesa Lab in Boulder, Colorado on a sunny autumn day. The NCAR Mesa Lab has been slated to close with the dismantling of NCAR and the end of support for climate change research in the USA. Deleting the word climate change from thousands of government websites will not erase the fact that we are in the midst of a global change that threatens every aspect of our civilization. Deleting climate data will not stop the Earth from getting warmer. Current federal policy around climate change is tantamount to covering your eyes and ears and singing at the top of your lungs as you pretend gravity doesn't exist and step off a cliff.

Saving NCAR: Why Climate Science Matters

At the NCAR Mesa Lab in Boulder, Colorado on a sunny autumn day. The NCAR Mesa Lab has been slated to close with the dismantling of NCAR and the end of support for climate change research in the USA. Deleting the word climate change from thousands of…

01.02.2026 23:30 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

In the footsteps of the dinosaurs The desert always help me step deep back in time. I love that I can walk in a place that has been shaped by wind and water and deep earth processes more than by life itself. These landscapes were sculpted long before there was even a whisper of human evolution in the global gene pool. Arches National Park in southwestern Utah in late May is sunshine and blue sky and bright red rocks that cast long shadows in the mornings and evenings. It's also small white puffy clouds and heat that bakes you from all directions.

In the footsteps of the dinosaurs

The desert always help me step deep back in time. I love that I can walk in a place that has been shaped by wind and water and deep earth processes more than by life itself. These landscapes were sculpted long before there was even a whisper of human evolution in…

26.10.2025 16:05 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Radio Silence I guess you could say it's writer's block. There's certainly no shortage of things to write about. But the words are stuck in my throat. I have a dozen half-completed posts drafted over the summer. Half-formed ruminations on everything from travel to climate resilience to fascism. But nothing feels like the right thing to say. I realize there is no 'right' thing to say at this time. I can only tell my own story. But that's a challenge when it feels like you're drowning in everyone else's voices. When the news and social media feel like a firehose of voices - most of them angry or scared.

Radio Silence

I guess you could say it's writer's block. There's certainly no shortage of things to write about. But the words are stuck in my throat. I have a dozen half-completed posts drafted over the summer. Half-formed ruminations on everything from travel to climate resilience to fascism.…

28.09.2025 20:32 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Protecting our National Parks is an Act of Patriotism Some of my first memories involve riding on my Dad's shoulders as we hiked past stinky geysers that shot mist and clouds high above our heads. I also remember staring into the abyss of a yellow-walled canyon, while water foamed and gurgled nearby, then raced over the rim. At night we had the thrill of sleeping in a log cabin with bunk beds - but Mom said I was too small to sleep in the top bunk. I was almost three years old the first time I visited Yellowstone National Park, on a road trip with my parents from California to visit my grandmother in Ohio.

Protecting our National Parks is an Act of Patriotism

Some of my first memories involve riding on my Dad's shoulders as we hiked past stinky geysers that shot mist and clouds high above our heads. I also remember staring into the abyss of a yellow-walled canyon, while water foamed and gurgled…

22.05.2025 19:04 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The voices that hold space in my head "It wasn't meant to be." Mom said that so often, the words still play through my head at least once a week, even through I've always had a very different take on the world. I don't believe things are meant to be or not. They are what we make them. Mom was not a religious person. She never talked about a god (unless she joked that maybe there was a goddess?), but she was raised in a religious family, and there was an element of faith and preordination that was deeply ingrained in her.

The voices that hold space in my head

"It wasn't meant to be." Mom said that so often, the words still play through my head at least once a week, even through I've always had a very different take on the world. I don't believe things are meant to be or not. They are what we make them. Mom was not…

11.05.2025 17:25 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Neck deep in mud: how we move forward “There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh (As a reminder, from my Disclaimer page: this site is not an official site of the University of Northern Colorado. The views expressed here are entirely those of the author, and do not represent the views of the University of Northern Colorado, the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science at UNC, nor any other program or individual at the university or elsewhere.

Neck deep in mud: how we move forward

“There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh (As a reminder, from my Disclaimer page: this site is not an official site of the University of Northern Colorado. The views…

02.04.2025 01:11 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Resilience Amid Disruption (As a reminder, from my Disclaimer page: this site is not an official site of the University of Northern Colorado. The views expressed here are entirely those of the author, and do not represent the views of the University of Northern Colorado, the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science at UNC, nor any other program or individual at the university.) Call to Action (if this is too long for you to read): Do one small thing to build resilience. And please share a good recipe for chocolate chip cookies that doesn't require eggs.

Resilience Amid Disruption

(As a reminder, from my Disclaimer page: this site is not an official site of the University of Northern Colorado. The views expressed here are entirely those of the author, and do not represent the views of the University of Northern Colorado, the Department of Earth…

03.02.2025 15:47 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Cindy Shellito

Latest posts by Cindy Shellito @cshells