IoES in the News
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Park Williams on NPR: The Southwest’s spring wildfire season has started earlier than normal
Much of the West is now experiencing the driest conditions in 1,200 years. Fires are igniting weeks earlier and lasting longer because the winter snow is melting sooner. That means…
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Edith de Guzman on NBC’s Today: Cities look to trees to combat heat islands, but growth is slow
Edith de Guzman, an IoES Ph.D. candidate and director of the Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative, looks at Los Angeles county as a patient suffering from extreme heat. The prescription?…
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Edith de Guzman in WIRED: Extreme Heat Is a Disease for Cities. Treat It That Way
The “urban heat island effect” creates extra-hot temperatures that kill. But cities can prescribe powerful treatments, like green spaces and reflective roofs. It’s critical to know how heat actually feels…
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Dr. Pincetl on KCET: How L.A.’s Energy Transition Could Shake up the Southwest
The fuel isn’t the only thing that will change at the plant. “We know that the coal-fired power plant provides lots of jobs where it is for local residents,” says Stephanie Pincetl, director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities and professor-in-residence at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “It also pollutes the air. It also uses water, all these issues. A transition to natural gas will continue to generate a fair amount of employment. When you move to renewables, to solar, it doesn’t have that kind of employment benefit. So part of the dilemma for the just transition is the jobs dilemma.”
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Magali Delmas & Stephanie Pincetl research finds products’ energy savings estimates are often inaccurate
Most California energy-efficiency incentive programs haven’t resulted in any energy savings, according to recent UCLA research, and many have actually increased energy use. What’s going on? Stephanie Pincetl, a co-author…
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Earth Day 2022: Director Marilyn Raphael discusses climate solutions
As we honor the planet we all rely on this Earth Day, Marilyn Raphael, a world-renowned environmental leader, climate scientist, and head of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability,…
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The Los Angeles Times — Jon Christensen weighs in on L.A. voters’ demands for climate action
Los Angeles voters are alarmed by deadly heatwaves, destructive wildfires, and dangerous air pollution — and they want politicians to take major steps to reduce the city’s reliance on fossil…
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Edith de Guzman research featured in The Daily Bruin: Study finds planting trees, employing reflective surfaces could save LA lives
It is important to take actions, such as those described in the study, at the local level, said Edith de Guzman, a co-author of the study and a doctoral student…
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UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability receives $1.5 million pledge from founding director
Richard Turco, the founding director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and his wife, Linda Turco, have pledged $1.5 million to the institute to establish an endowment for the…
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Winter Quarter Progress Presentation
February 4th, 2022 The Aquawaste team presents their Winter quarter presentation update. This presentation includes an introduction, objectives, preliminary methods, and timeline for the project.
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Alum Kyle Graycar’s Carbon Counting App, Decarbon
“It’s like calorie counting… but for your carbon footprint!” Meet Kyle Graycar, UCLA Environmental Science alum and founder of Decarbon, a free carbon budgeting app designed to help us understand…
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Los Angeles Business Journal: Deepak Rajagopal weighs in on a resurgence of farming in Los Angeles, with a twist
“Land is very expensive, and farming is not a high-value product in terms of land use,” said Deepak Rajagopal, a professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability…
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ABC News: Deepak Rajagopal weighs in on Washington State’s electric vehicle climate initiative
Last month, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a climate change legislative package that included a goal to have every passenger car registered or sold in the state be an electric…
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New Research co-written by Daniel Swain: Climate change increases risk of devastating debris flows after wildfires in western U.S.
Disastrous debris flows after wildfires are becoming more likely as a result of climate change in the western United States. Extreme precipitation circumstances are expected to become more common, according…
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Morgan Tingley on ways climate change is affecting animal species
Rising ‘divorce’ rates among albatrosses, invasive fire ants are thriving in warmer soil, tuberculosis risks in meerkats increasing… Animal ecology is changing as our planet warms. UCLA‘s Morgan Tingly weighs…
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Kyle Cavanaugh Lead Scientist for World’s Largest Dynamic Kelp Map Launched — The Nature Conservancy
Drs. Tom Bell and UCLA’s Kyle Cavanaugh pioneered the approach for measuring kelp forest density using Landsat satellite data, and in 2019, they began a cooperation with The Nature Conservancy…
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Daniel Swain in The New York Times — Fires, Then Floods: Risk of Deadly Climate Combination Rises
Global warming is greatly increasing the risk that extreme wildfires in the American West are followed by heavy rainfall, a new study has found, highlighting the need for better preparations…
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Daniel Swain in The Los Angeles Times: Think of L.A. spring as the pause between California catastrophes — with poppies
“Spring was kind of a reprieve. It’s as if climate and weather and natural hazards can take a breather,” Swain explains. “You do have fires, but not as bad as…
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Edith de Guzman Research Published in the International Journal of Biometeorology
Ph.D. researcher Edith de Guzman and colleagues found that roughly one in four lives currently lost during heat waves could be saved. They calculated how different tree cover and albedo…
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Rajit Gadh on concerns over Russian cyberattacks against U.S. — KABC-TV
“After the defenses, you still have to have resilience. Let’s say we have two power plants and one goes down — can the other one take the load of this…
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Oases of Nature: Pockets of Paradise on Campus
With hundreds of species of birds, animals, and insects all around us, UCLA is an urban ark of unique and surprising California biodiversity. Enjoy this guided trip of our magnificent…
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UCLA-led study shows that aging slows to a crawl when the animals hibernate
“Our results from different statistical approaches reveal that epigenetic aging essentially stalls during hibernation,” said lead author Gabriela Pinho, who conducted the study as a UCLA doctoral student advised by…
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Emily Lindsey in Scientific American: New Augmented Reality Models Bring Ice Age Animals to Virtual Life
As an example, Lindsey cites the sculpture of a Columbian mammoth sinking into the Lake Pit outside the La Brea Tar Pits Museum—a portrayal that could perpetuate the misconception that asphalt pools…
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Cara Horowitz in Nature: This US Supreme Court decision could derail Biden’s climate plan
West Virginia vs. EPA will be a major test of how aggressively this new court is going to be reshaping legal doctrines, says Cara Horowitz, co-executive director of the Emmett…
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Daniel Swain in The New York Times: What Winter’s Dry Spell Means for California’s Fire Season
This winter’s extreme rainfall and dryness might average out to near-normal levels of precipitation. But that’s no insurance policy against fire, scientists say. “We still get dry years and wet…
