What's Current in

Bren School of Environmental Science & Management

A group of elephants prepare to cross a road as oncoming headlights can be seen in the distance.
Photo Credit
Davide Antoniani via iStock
Elephants and humans could be headed for a collision in Southern Africa as climate change and bears down and more land comes under cultivation.

Human expansion will fuel more conflict with elephants without careful planning

Read Article

Headshot of Elena Irwin
Photo Credit
Courtesy
Elena Irwin

UCSB names new dean of its prestigious Bren School
A closeup of the back of a graduation cap decorated with a pale blue flower and the letters UCSB

Commencement 2026 celebrates accomplishment, purpose and community
The graduates of 2026 in the courtyard below the trees, low angle
Photo Credit
Jeff Liang
Bren's class of 2026 face the future with new skills, expertise and determination.

The Bren School’s new graduates are ready to face the challenges of the times
A mosquito feeds on a person's skin.
Photo Credit
panom via iStock
California's warming climate is making the state more hospitable to dengue virus, and to the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry it.

As California warms, cases of dengue fever are expected to grow
A deer looks a pair of hikers walking down a snow-covered trail.
Photo Credit
Gary Bendig via Unsplash
Our presence affects animals beyond merely how we’ve modified the landscape.

Data on human and wildlife movement during the pandemic suggest new ways for us to coexist
Wind turbines tower over a field of grain under a cloudless Minnesotan sky.
Photo Credit
DonLand via iStock
Putting land to multiple uses is both economically and ecologically wise.

Integrated land planning is necessary to meet climate, food and biodiversity goals
Black woman with glasses in beauty aisle looking at products
Photo Credit
iStock

‘Clean’ beauty products for textured hair often contain hidden hazards
Shelly Gable, David Morrison, Javier Read de Alaniz, Kelly Caylor
Photo Credit
Matt Perko and Jeff Liang
Shelly Gable, David Morrison, Javier Read de Alaniz, and Kelly Caylor

UCSB professors honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science
An aerial shot of a pumping plant for the California Aqueduct. The channel continues through pipes into the background toward parched hills.
Photo Credit
halbergman via iStock
While reducing demand is important, most successful cases of groundwater recovery also involve moving huge amounts of water to meet demand.

Why some regions are winning the fight against groundwater depletion
A wave crashes upon campus point with Santa Cruz Island in the distance.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Ocean policy issues are front and center on UC Santa Barbara’s coastal campus.

Science policy education should start on campus
A river meanders through green jungle on the edge of a large city.
Photo Credit
Thiago Japyassu via Unsplash
Yellow fever cases have begun to rise, spilling over the expanding border between the forest and urban areas.

Old diseases return as settlement pushes into the Amazon rainforest
A super cargo ship is tended to by cranes and trucks in a commercial terminal. Lights from the port brighten the dimming sky, with mountains and low clouds in the distance.
Photo Credit
SHansche via iStock
Curtailing overconsumption may be the easiest target for reducing the societal and environmental impacts of climate change.

UCSB professor tapped to co-author the seventh IPCC assessment report on climate change mitigation
Subscribe to Bren School of Environmental Science & Management