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Environment + Sustainability

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

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Snags cover a mountainside under white puffy clouds.
Photo Credit
Cavan Images via iStock
Forests can’t offset emissions as a carbon store if trees are constantly succumbing to droughts, pests and fires.

Carbon markets underestimate the risks U.S. forests face from climate change
a gray whale blows in in the San Francisco Bay
Photo Credit
Darrin Allen © NOAA Permit #26532
The new technology will detect whales by sensing the heat of their blows with thermal imaging

New AI system uses cameras and thermal sensors to steer ships clear of gray whales in the San Francisco Bay
Concrete pours onto the ground on a construction site.
Photo Credit
Chaiyaporn1144 vis iStock
Cement production is an overlooked source of carbon emissions in public discourse.

Basalt could be the key to greener and cheaper cement
Whale fluke, with cargo ship in background
Photo Credit
Asha de Vos

Global workshop focuses on protecting whales from ship strikes
wildfire smoke rises behind a row of houses

Wildfire resilience has always been the goal. Now it's a number
giant kelp on a sandy beach

Kelp forests connected to sandy beach food webs
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
hands holding a tiny crab
Photo Credit
Matt Perko

Beyond the Classroom: The Research Experience and Education Facility (REEF)
two ucsb students and the manager of the campus bike shop with a pile of old bike tires
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Environmental studies undergrads Sophia Long (left) and Virginia Such with A.S. Bike Shop Manager Adam Jahnke, April 2026

UCSB environmental studies team launches tire recycling program at A.S. Bike Shop
underwater photo of a coral reef

Researchers uncover a ‘treasure trove’ of bioactive molecules in coral reefs
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 patient intake form, a stethoscope and a red ribbon that symbolizes HIV

HIV patients are especially vulnerable to extreme weather events
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