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Environment + Sustainability

Aerial view of Lake Tefé during a severe drought, when its waters are low.
Photo Credit
Miguel Monteiro
Severe drought and heat in the central amazon turned Lake Tefé into a shallow spa, killing fish and endangered river dolphins.

Hotter than your average spa: Rising temps in Amazon lakes sound alarm over climate change

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Yellowstone National Park sign with mountains in the background.
Photo Credit
Anna Pietrzykowska via iStock
National parks are far from the only way to protect areas of land. Systems like, indigenous governance, community management and Eco-certified production can also foster conservation.

A novel approach to tracking conservation reveals more areas may be conserved than currently accounted for
winners of business plan competition with large first-place check
Photo Credit
Courtesy Image
NVC Finals judge Jason Rollman (left, in blue shirt) congratulates EyeClimate, the 2024 New Venture Competition Finals champions (from second to left) Bowen Zhang, PhD student; Max Gordon, undergraduate student; and Satish Kumar, PhD student

An entrepreneurial eye for solving climate change
a barnacle in a jar
Photo Credit
Sonia Fernandez
Sessile creatures like this barnacle were the key to determining when the oil pipeline was compromised, an event that eventually led to the oil spill

How Marine Science Institute researchers helped solve the 2021 Huntington Beach oil spill
aerial shot of North Atlantic right whale and calf
Photo Credit
NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center/Lisa Conger and Elizabeth Josephson
North Atlantic right whale mother and calf as seen from a research drone called a hexacopter

Whale-saving cargo ship speed tracking program heads east
a photo cradle attached to the rail of steps leading to beach
Photo Credit
Sonia Fernandez
The CoastSnap cradle on the steps to East Campus Beach

UC Santa Barbara researchers launch CoastSnap, citizen science initiative to monitor coastal changes
Waves crash on a revetment protecting houses along Broad Beach, Malibu.
Photo Credit
Charles Lester
The ocean is advancing on California, and we need to determine how we will respond.

Securing the future of California’s coasts
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New study in Nature Water puts spotlight on importance of groundwater
A large field of sunflowers near Sacramento.
Photo Credit
Tfoxfoto via iStock
Tweaks to farming practices could preserve some of California’s declining water resources.

Small changes can yield big savings in agricultural water use
A tractor sprays a soybean field in spring.
Photo Credit
Fotokostic vi iStock
Organic farming practices can increase pesticide use in neighboring, non-organic fields.

Organic farms can have mixed effects on pesticide use depending on their neighbors
Wind turbines behind solar panels at sunset
Photo Credit
iStock \ hrui

Evaluating and advancing equity in energy transitions
A foothill yellow-legged frog perches on a rock.
Photo Credit
Brome McCreary
Foothill yellow-legged frogs live in the flowing water of rivers and streams, so are especially vulnerable when these shrink to isolated pools.

Scientists assemble a richer picture of the plight and resilience of the foothill yellow-legged frog
the sun sinks behind the horizon of the Black Sea

Anoxic marine basins are among the best candidates for deep-sea carbon sequestration
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