IoES in the News
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National Geographic film features Bird Genoscape Project
UCLA Professor Tom Smith and Ph.D. student Kelly Barr with the Center for Tropical Research and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability are featured in a new National Geographic…
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Larison paper on zebra stripes featured by National Geographic
A new National Geographic Society feature, “Spotted and oddly striped zebras may be a warning for species’ future,” highlights a recent paper by Brenda Larison, a researcher with the Center…
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Ann Carlson to serve as chief counsel of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Ann Carlson, the Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law and faculty co-director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, has been appointed to serve as chief counsel…
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Daniel Swain in CBS News: Atmospheric river means massive snow coming to the West
Dr. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The biggest concern regarding these incoming storms is…
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Cara Horowitz UCLA Newsroom Q&A: Stricter auto emissions regulations on the horizon
On behalf of members of Congress, five UCLA faculty members file amicus brief on vehicle pollution rules. Cara Horowitz is co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at…
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Cara Horowitz in Bloomberg: Trump’s Last-Minute Climate Maneuvers Face a Slow Dead End
The Biden administration has plenty of options to reverse unfriendly regulations. Not all of them are fast. “At the end of the day the Trump administration’s attacks on environmental law…
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Daniel Swain in The Guardian: Powerful winds spark new blazes in California’s year-round fire ‘season’
Unusually warm and dry conditions coupled with powerful wind gusts have ignited a spate of winter wildfires that call into question the idea that California has a “fire season” at all…
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Sean Hecht in The New York Times: Supreme Court Case Could Limit Future Lawsuits Against Fossil Fuel Industry
The court heard arguments on a technical legal question in a case that demands fossil fuel companies help pay for the costs of dealing with climate change and could help…
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Daniel Swain in Axios: A “forever” drought takes shape in the West
“Even when the rains return, the temperatures are not going to go back to what they used to be,” Daniel Swain, a U.C.L.A. climate scientist, tells Axios. “The overall scarcity…
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Travis Longcore in National Audubon Society: Artificial Lighting May Shift Bird Migration by More Than a Week, New Research Says
Purple Martins exposed to bright nighttime light migrated eight days early—which could lead to starvation at their breeding grounds. Travis Longcore, a UCLA biologist who studies the wildlife impacts of…
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2020 Marcie Rothman Centennial Scholars Undergraduate Scholarship awarded to Desiree Felix
Desiree Felix, a graduating senior with a major in environmental science and minors in environmental systems and society and food studies, received the 2020 Marcie Rothman Centennial Scholars Undergraduate Scholarship…
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A ‘ghastly future’ unless extraordinary action is taken soon on sustainability
In a paper published Jan. 13 in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science, the researchers cite more than 150 scientific studies and conclude, “That we are already on the path of…
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Robert Eagle in New Scientist: Corals bleached from heat become less resilient to ocean acidification
A new study co-authored by Robert Eagle provides evidence for how both ocean acidification and warming interact to harm the corals even more than the sum of their parts would…
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UCLA professors win $956,000 award to tackle rising heat in Los Angeles communities
A team of 10 UCLA professors has earned a $956,000 award for a project that will combine their expertise in engineering, urban planning, public health and environmental law to address…
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Cara Horowitz in Grist: Biden nominees signal cooperation with states on climate
Beyond their stark ideological contrasts to President Donald Trump’s agency heads, President-elect Biden’s top-level nominees also appear to signal the new administration’s plans to embed climate policies at the state…
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Gregory S. Okin in Mic: Could feeding your dog bugs save the planet?
If America’s 163+ million dogs and cats were their own country, they’d rank fifth in worldwide meat consumption, according to a 2017 study by Gregory S. Okin, a professor at…
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Daniel Swain in TIME — 2020 Was a Year of Climate Extremes. What Can We Expect in 2021?
2020 was a year of extreme weather around the world. Hot and dry conditions drove record-setting wildfires through vast areas of Australia, California and Brazil and Siberia. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA focused on…
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Daniel Swain in The Guardian — California’s wildfire hell: how 2020 became the state’s worst ever fire season
2020 was the state’s worst wildfire season on record. By the end of it, the flames had killed 31 people, destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 buildings and burned a…
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Daniel Swain in Axios: 2020 was an extraordinary year for fires. Expect more like it.
2020 has been an extraordinary year for wildfires on the U.S. West Coast and around the world, but you should expect more of the same this decade and in years…
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Daniel Swain in ABC News — From the Atlantic hurricane season to wildfires in the West: How 2020 weather shattered records
This year became one for the record books for yet another reason: The turbulent weather of 2020 smashed numerous records, from storms to wildfires to heat waves. California’s massive fire activity…
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Arthur Winer Opinion in Los Angeles Times — Letters to the Editor: It’s a shame Mary Nichols won’t lead Joe Biden’s EPA
“While we support environmental justice goals, as air pollution researchers with a century of experience between us, we are dismayed at the single-issue attacks on Mary Nichols’ distinguished record that…
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What they’re reading: 2020 Pritzker Genius Award book recommendations
One of our favorite Pritzker Award traditions is the book bar. Each candidate selects a book to share with attendees. At the 2020 ceremony, of course, our book bar was…
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Ann Carlson in The Los Angeles Times: Environmental justice groups block Mary Nichols’ path to EPA
Through four governors, two Obama terms and the Trump administration, Mary Nichols has led the charge to clean up California’s smog and fight climate change. In the process, she has…
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UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability in Forbes: California’s Natural Gas Bans Are Drawing Fire From Black And Latino Leaders
Achieving a gas-free future requires ignoring the cost impacts on the poor and middle class. Last month, a report by researchers, Stephanie Pincetl and Eric Fournier, at the UCLA Institute…
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J.R. DeShazo in ABC News: Are hydrogen fuel cell vehicles the future of autos?
J.R. DeShazo, director of the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA, remembers when Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor, vowed to revamp California’s highways as “Hydrogen Highways” in 2004. The infrastructure…
