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Environment + Sustainability

wildfire smoke rises behind a row of houses

Wildfire resilience has always been the goal. Now it's a number

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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
A fisherman catches fish in front of an earthen embankment with a dozen yellow construction cranes peaking up behind it, with lush forested hills in the background.
Photo Credit
Copyright: The Associated Press
A fisherman (lower left) catches fish in front of the construction site of Luang Prabang Dam along the Mekong River. Luang Prabang, Laos was named a UNESCO World Heritage site nearly 30 years ago, but the dam project could deprive it of this title.

Rethinking rivers: Their greatest services may be the ones we overlook
a sandy beach in the Bahamas
Photo Credit
Divina Cox

Citizen science app tracks coastal erosion in the Bahamas
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 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
Sunlight streams down through the kelp forest canopy.
Photo Credit
UC Santa Barbara
Declines in water clarity are a pressing concern for coastal ecosystems.

Scientists create a system for tracking underwater blackouts
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