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Environment + Sustainability

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

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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
two fishers in Kiribati waters
Photo Credit
Jacob Eurich

Reinforcing the diverse ways people access seafood can ensure healthy communities in the face of change
California Sea Otters grooming themselves in the Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing.
Photo Credit
Htrnr via iStock
Although sea otters only recently recolonized their historic habitat in the Elkhorn Sough, they’re already benefiting the ecosystem.

Sea otters stabilize salt marsh banks as they recolonize a Californian estuary
Amber hills roll away behind a lone oak tree, with facilities in the background.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
The rolling hills of Sedgwick Reserve offer a testbed for researchers to probe grassland ecology.

Extreme drought hits grasslands and shrublands harder than anticipated
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