IoES in the News
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Marilyn Raphael in The New York Times: Sea Ice Around Antarctica Reaches a Record Low
The drop surprised scientists and may help them understand more about climate change affecting Antarctica and its waters. “It’s really unprecedented,” said Marilyn N. Raphael, a professor of geography at…
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Park Williams research: Forest fires increasingly affecting rivers and streams – for better and worse
Even years after the smoke clears, forest fires can significantly affect the amount of water flowing in rivers & streams and increase the risk for floods & landslides, a new…
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New UCLA podcast explores the complexities Los Angeles’ urban ecosystem
“What this project is really about is understanding and respecting the complexity of the urban ecosystem, and understanding that if you pull one thread, it changes everything else,” said Chase…
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Glen MacDonald in The Hill: Southern California wildfires expected to increase in frequency by end of century, study says
Wildfires in Southern California are expected to grow significantly by the end of the century given a projected increase in global temperatures due to climate change. A new study led by University…
Awards
Marilyn Raphael elected president of American Association of Geographers
Marilyn Raphael, director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, has been chosen to lead the American Association of Geographers — a global network of researchers, educators and…
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WIRED: Battery-Powered Trains Are Picking Up Speed
Last fall, researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Deepak Rajagopal from UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability predicted that retrofitting traditional diesel locomotives with battery power could save railroads…
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The Way We Talk About Climate Change Matters, Bill Nye Says – Daniel Blumstein weighs in for The New York Times
“Our future depends on getting the tone right,” Daniel Blumstein, a professor at UCLA’s Institute of Environment and Sustainability, said. He added that the goal should be to eliminate as…
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In California, a New Fight to Stop Building in the Path of Fire. Dr. Pincetl in The New York Times.
“We’re at a kind of inflection point between the legacy of the 20th century and the imperatives of the 21st century,” said Stephanie Pincetl, director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at U.C.L.A. “No, you can’t just develop whatever you want to because you want to — that’s over. There’s no accountability in that over the long term.”
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Tina Trude discovers ocean microbes that can survive up to 120°C — New Scientist
UCLA marine geomicrobiology professor Tina Trude and her research team have discovered ocean microbes that can survive up to 120°C and possibly higher temperatures.
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Daniel Swain new research assesses Western US population to hazardous co-occurrence of fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone
The hazardous co-occurrence of fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone is more common as wildfires and extreme hot weather increase. A new study co-authored by the University of California, Los Angeles‘s…
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Rajit Gadh amongst awardees for University of California $20M grant
UCLA professor Rajit Gadh, with a team from three other UC campuses and the national labs in Berkeley and Livermore, won a grant award from the University of California to…
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Essay — Stephanie Pincetl on California’s need for an agricultural revolution
Thinking about the state’s future and its magnificent resources and agricultural productivity, the fact that much of agriculture today is intertwined with dependence on hydrocarbons—from fertilizers, fumigants and pesticides to…
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Stephanie Pincetl discusses land use development and safety in face of increasing wildfires with The Los Angeles Times
The orders reflect a growing realization that developers simply can’t continue to push into unoccupied areas without dramatically increasing fire risk, especially as climate change-fueled warming and drying has primed more land to burn more intensely, said Stephanie Pincetl, a professor at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.
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Daniel Swain writes for Outside Magazine: The Deadly Dynamics of Colorado’s Marshall Fire
UCLA climate expert Daniel Swain explains how a convergence of climate change, urban sprawl, and extreme weather fueled the costliest wildfire in Colorado history.
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New analysis led UCLA & Berkeley: Safe drinking water may be out of reach for almost 400,000 Californians
“Because this study is limited to three common contaminants, the results likely underestimate the actual number of Californians impacted by unsafe drinking water from other chemicals. The at-risk populations are…
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How to farm in a dry world — Dr. Pincetl for the Los Angeles Times
For California agriculture to survive, we will need nothing short of a revolutionary re-envisioning of the future. The alternative is extinction. Stephanie Pincetl is a professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and founding director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA. This article was produced in partnership with Zócalo Public Square.
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Daniel Swain in The Guardian: ‘Urban fire storm’: suburban sprawl raising risk of destructive wildfires
“The wildland urban interface extends over a far broader area than many folks realize – and it is also dynamic,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said. “Most of the time…
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Daniel Swain in The New York Times: Health Risks of Smoke and Ozone Rise in the West as Wildfires Worsen
Dangerous levels of two air pollutants, ozone and smoke, are occurring in tandem with increasing frequency over widespread parts of the Western United States where millions of people live, researchers…
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Daniel Swain in New York Magazine: The Return of the Urban Firestorm What happened in Colorado was something much scarier than a wildfire.
“Fire finds a way.” Daniel Swain spoke with New York Magazine about the “urban firestorm” that tore through suburban Denver Thursday, jumping house to house and spreading by football fields…
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Daniel Swain in NBC News: How climate change primed Colorado for a rare December wildfire
While fires are likely to become more common year-round, Swain said, winter still would not be a time of high fire activity. “I still don’t think winter is ever going…
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Daniel Swain in NPR: Winter storms in California’s mountains drop record-breaking amounts of snow
This fall, California has been in a statewide drought emergency, but the month of December has delivered a surprise – a parade of winter storms blanketing California’s mountains with record-breaking…
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Daniel Swain in The Guardian: ‘Extraordinary is no longer extraordinary’: US scientists on a year of climate disasters
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain wrote for The Guardian: The last few years featured some really prominent global climate and weather extremes. And this year, in particular, kind of puts…
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Daniel Swain discusses 2021 climate disasters with The Weather Channel
“It’s not the presence of fire on the landscape really that’s the problem,” said Swain. “That’s a natural process. The problem is the magnitude and the intensity of the fires…
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Daniel Swain in The Washington Post — Cold, heat, fires, hurricanes and tornadoes: The year in weather disasters
The weather was wilder than usual this year, and the reasons vary, climate experts say. “The only two truisms when it comes to extremes in climate change are that almost…
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Lara Cushing in KCRW: Rising sea levels may flood California’s coastal toxic sites
More than 400 sites along California’s coastline are in danger of flooding this century — as identified on a map called “Toxic Tides” by UCLA and UC Berkeley researchers. “We…
