New Tools to Visualize the Insides of Volcanos
Penny Wieser, a 2022 Rose Hills Innovator, is developing a new approach to study the magma stored deep beneath a volcano.
Five UC Berkeley-Led Projects Awarded California Climate Action Grants
The awards will advance research on mitigating wildfire risk, ensuring the equitable distribution of water and improving K-12 climate justice education.
Berkeley Public Health Launches Major Study on Effects of Climate Change and Social Inequality on Deadly Fungal Infections
Researchers launch major study using big data to pinpoint fungal disease emergence and how a changing climate will affect their spread.
Using Tech to Break Bottlenecks in Wildlife Monitoring
A new project funded by a UC Natural Reserve System Climate Award aims to make biodiversity monitoring more efficient.
Building Better Protections for Climate Refugees
The Othering & Belonging Institute hosts panel to mark release of their research brief, “Climate Refugees: Facts and Findings, and Strategies for 'Loss and Damage'".
Racial Gap in Air Quality May Persist Under Biden Program, Study Finds
Partially due due to the administration’s decision not to include racial demographics in a new tool that will be used to evaluate proposed regulations or policies.
Quantifying the Strength of the Land Carbon Sink
New study shows that deforestation, land-use changes, and climate-induced stresses have continually reduced the land sink’s capacity to assimilate carbon.
Rising Groundwater Threatens Thousands of Toxic Sites in the Bay Area
A new report finds that rising groundwater levels in the San Francisco Bay Area could impact more than 5,200 state- and federally-managed contaminated sites at risk.
As Rising Seas Disrupt Toxic Sites, Communities of Color Are at Most Risk
The risk of flood-related contamination will fall disproportionately on the state’s most marginalized communities.
To More Effectively Sequester Biomass and Carbon, Just Add Salt
Researchers from the UC Berkeley have proposed a scalable solution that uses simple, inexpensive technologies to remove carbon from our atmosphere and safely store it for thousands of years.
Rare Beetle, Rediscovered After 55 Years, Named in Honor of Jerry Brown
The new species was found on Brown's Colusa County ranch and will be named Bembidion brownorum.
Will War in Ukraine Escalate the Global Land Rush?
As the war in Ukraine enters its second year, researchers warn that ongoing economic fallout may fuel a new wave of land acquisitions across the globe.
Climate Change, Urbanization Drive Major Declines in L.A.’s Birds
Climate change isn’t the only threat facing California’s birds. Urban sprawl and agricultural development are forcing many native species to adapt to new and unfamiliar habitats.
Discovery Could Lead to New Fungicides to Protect Rice Crops
Biochemists led by Michael Marletta, professor of chemistry and of molecular and cell biology, discovered that the fungus secretes an enzyme that punches holes in the tough outer layer of rice leaves
With Rapidly Increasing Heat and Drought, Can Plants Adapt?
Researcher Isaac Lichter-Marck is the first to provide evidence to resolve a long-standing evolutionary debate: Did iconic desert plants adapt to arid conditions only after they invaded deserts? Or did they come preadapted to the stresses of desert living?
A Big Step Toward ‘Green’ Ammonia and a ‘Greener’ Fertilizer
University of California, Berkeley, chemists have taken a big step toward making ammonia production more environmentally friendly.
Climate Change Likely to Uproot More Amazon Trees
A new study connecting extreme thunderstorms and tree deaths suggests the tropics will see more major blowdown events in a warming world.
Clean Air Act Dramatically Cut Vehicle Air Pollution, but Equity a Concern
The 1972 Clean Air Act has driven spectacular decreases in pollution from U.S. passenger vehicles but poses a challenge for pollution policy in poor communities, according to the first comprehensive study of air pollution exhaust standards.
Earth-Sun Distance Dramatically Alters Seasons in Equatorial Pacific in a 22,000-Year Cycle
Computer simulations show that a driver of annual weather cycles has gone unrecognized: the changing distance between Earth and the sun.
Endangered Devils Hole Pupfish Is One of the Most Inbred Animals Known
New research on the Cyprinodon diabolis documents the extreme effect that these harsh conditions have had on its genetic diversity.
Widespread Forest Disturbances Hold Potentially Grave Consequences for Wildlife
Trees in the West provide ecosystem services for the Pacific fisher, whose population in the southern Sierra Nevada population is endangered.
How Old is Yosemite Valley?
Visitors to Yosemite Valley gape in awe at El Capitan and the Half Dome, aware, perhaps vaguely, that rain and glaciers took a long time to sculpt the landscape.
Why Some Countries Are Leading the Shift to Green Energy
Oil and gas prices skyrocketed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring 2022, creating a global energy crisis similar to the oil crisis of the 1970s. While some countries used the price shock to accelerate the transition to cleaner sources of energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal, others have responded by expanding the production of fossil fuels.
Drought Exacerbates Emerging Infectious Disease in California: Berkeley Study
Researchers at UC Berkeley have discovered a pronounced role of California’s recent droughts in driving the transmission of Valley fever in the state.
New Study Examines Drivers of Government Investment in Energy Innovation
New analysis led by researchers from Rausser College of Natural Resources and the University of Cambridge offers insight into the trajectory of energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) that may help policymakers recalibrate their strategy to drive innovation. Published September 12 in the journal Nature Energy, the findings show that participating in Mission Innovation, a new form of international cooperation, and intensifying technology competition from China are the strongest drivers of funding for new clean energy RD&D.
Social Cost of Carbon Is More Than Triple the Federal Estimate
A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the nonprofit Resources for the Future (RFF) estimates that the social cost of carbon — a key metric for evaluating the future cost of climate change — is more than three times the value currently used by the U.S. federal government.
Scientists Grow Lead-Free Solar Material With a Built-In Switch
Solar panels, also known as photovoltaics, rely on semiconductor devices, or solar cells, to convert energy from the sun into electricity. Manufacturers typically dope the solar cell with chemicals so that one layer of the device bears a positive charge and another layer a negative charge. But chemical doping and layered synthesis also add extra costly steps in solar cell manufacturing.
The Inflation Reduction Act Charts a Pro-Climate, Pro-Worker Path
After decades of inaction and failed attempts, the U.S. has finally passed federal legislation addressing climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is groundbreaking not only in its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also in how it demonstrates that we don’t have to choose between good jobs and action on the climate.
Today’s Heat Waves Feel a Lot Hotter Than Heat Index Implies
An analysis by climate scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, finds that the apparent temperature, or heat index, calculated by meteorologists and the National Weather Service (NWS) to indicate how hot it feels — taking into account the humidity — underestimates the perceived temperature for the most sweltering days we’re now experiencing, sometimes by more than 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
New Study Evaluates NOAA’s Wildfire Smoke Forecasting Model
As wildfires become more frequent and severe due to climate change, it’s increasingly important to determine how and when the resultant smoke will move toward communities. To assist with predictions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) turned to Tina Katopodes Chow, UC Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering, and her students.
In 10 years, CRISPR Transformed Medicine. Can It Now Help Us Deal With Climate Change?
Coming from a long line of Iowa farmers, David Savage always thought he would do research to improve crops. That dream died in college, when it became clear that any genetic tweak to a crop would take at least a year to test; for some perennials and trees, it could take five to 10 years. Faced with such slow progress, he chose to study the proteins in photosynthetic bacteria instead. But the advent of CRISPR changed all that.
Renewed Funding for Energy & Biosciences Institute, With Focus on Sustainable Fuels
The Energy & Biosciences Institute (EBI), headquartered at UC Berkeley, has renewed its partnership with Shell, entering into a new five-year research agreement, effective February 28, 2022, to continue funding research that meets the growing demand for energy in ways that are economically, environmentally, and socially responsible.
Berkeley Talks: Climate Displacement and Remaking the Built Environment
In Berkeley Talks episode 143, a panel of UC Berkeley experts discuss climate displacement — what it means to abandon places, the power dynamics between the Global South and the Global North, challenges for both the sending and receiving regions, and what needs to happen to address this fast-growing problem.
What Is the Role of Reparations in Delivering Climate Justice?
On Thursday, a panel of leading scholars will join Daniel Aldana Cohen, UC Berkeley assistant professor of sociology and director of the Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative, to discuss how addressing the climate crisis requires tackling these long-standing racial and global inequalities and also dismantling the political and economic systems that created them.
Model Pinpoints Glaciers at Risk of Collapse Due to Climate Change
As climate change warms the planet, glaciers are melting faster, and scientists fear that many will collapse by the end of the century, drastically raising sea level and inundating coastal cities and island nations. A University of California, Berkeley, scientist has now created an improved model of glacial movement that could help pinpoint those glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic most likely to rapidly slide downhill and fall into the ocean.
Berkeley Talks: Damilola Ogunbiyi on Driving an Equitable Energy Transition
In episode 139 of Berkeley Talks, Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), gives the UC Berkeley Energy and Resources Group’s 28th Annual Lecture on Energy and Environment. In the March 31, 2022 talk, Ogunbiyi discusses how to drive a just, inclusive and equitable transition to affordable and sustainable energy for all, and how the Russia-Ukraine war is affecting energy markets around the world.
More Oil and Gas Wells in Redlined Neighborhoods: Historically Marginalized Communities are Exposed to More Wells With Their Accompanying Pollution
New research from Berkeley Public Health and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management published today in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology shows that community exposure to oil and gas wells is more likely in historically redlined neighborhoods, exposing residents to environmental stressors such as water and air pollution. The study results add to evidence that structural racism in government policy is associated with more oil and gas wells being situated in marginalized neighborhoods.
Berkeley Voices: Biologist Confronts Deep Roots of Climate Despair
In this Berkeley Voices episode, Bree Rosenblum, a professor of global change biology at UC Berkeley, talks about why we need to stop blaming each other for the environmental crisis that we’re in, and instead confront its root causes and expand our ideas of what it means to be human on our planet.
UC Berkeley Drills 400-Foot Borehole to Explore Geothermal Heating on Campus
Early this past Monday morning, a small team of University of California, Berkeley, engineers gathered around a two-story-tall drilling rig parked at an out-of-the-way spot on the north side of campus. As the overnight rain turned to drizzle, the team watched as a drilling crew used a massive 8-inch-wide drill bit to start punching a new borehole in the soil.
The Climate Crisis: Justice and Solutions
Despite the grim findings of the latest U.N. Climate Report, UC Berkeley associate adjunct professor and report lead author Patrick Gonzalez expresses a “science-based optimism” about humanity’s ability to cut carbon emissions and limit the worst projected impacts of climate change.
How Indigenous Burning Shaped the Klamath’s Forests for a Millennia
A new study published online today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences combines scientific data with Indigenous oral histories and ecological knowledge to show how the cultural burning practices of the Native people of the Klamath Mountains — the Karuk and the Yurok tribes — helped shape the region’s forests for at least a millennia prior to European colonization.
What Putin’s War in Ukraine Means for Our Global Climate Crisis
Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine just over two weeks ago, payments to Russia for fossil fuels have already exceeded 9 billion euros ($10 billion) from European Union member states alone, according to the Europe Beyond Coal’s tracker. And while the war in Ukraine came as shocking news to many, the involvement of the fossil fuel industry in a global disaster is no longer unfamiliar.
U.N. Climate Report Underscores Urgency of Cutting Carbon Emissions
Today, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a major report detailing our current scientific understanding of the social and ecological impacts of climate change.
We could pause global emissions for 30 years everyone just needs to switch to a plant-based diet
If everyone on the planet hypothetically stopped eating meat, the shift wouldn't just reduce new emissions. A new study calculates that if animal agriculture was phased out, it would also unlock substantial "negative emissions," helping shrink greenhouse gases in the atmosphere so dramatically that the world could reach net zero emissions for decades even if other pollution continued unabated. The study, coauthored by Stanford University biochemistry professor emeritus Patrick Brown and Michael Eisen, a professor of genetics and development at UC Berkeley, calculates the climate impacts of different scenarios in the food system, including what would happen if the world phased out animal agriculture over the next 15 years. This story appeared in several media outlets. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.
Global Elimination of Meat Production Could Save the Planet
A new study of the climate impacts of raising animals for food concludes that phasing out all animal agriculture has the potential to substantially alter the trajectory of global warming.
Lessons on Wildfire Resilience From a 4,000-Acre Forest Lab
For more than 50 years, York and other Berkeley forestry researchers have used Blodgett as a living laboratory to study how different land management treatments — including prescribed burning, restoration thinning and timber harvesting — can reduce the risk of severe wildfire and improve a forest’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Copper-Based Chemicals May Be Contributing to Ozone Depletion
Copper released into the environment from fungicides, brake pads, antifouling paints on boats and other sources may be contributing significantly to stratospheric ozone depletion, according to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley.
Clever Wood Use Could Mitigate Wildfires and Climate Change
Wildfire risk reduction in California is a climate conundrum. In early 2021, the state set a goal of reducing wildfire risk on a million acres of forest per year through prescribed burning and forest thinning. However, thinning treatments lower the forest's capacity to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and the harvested smaller, low-value trees are typically burned or left to decay, which releases even more carbon. In a study published early this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, provide a possible path to limiting both carbon emissions and wildfires by turning the low-value wood harvested during forest thinning into new products.
New smart roof coating may provide year-round energy savings, study finds
An all-season "smart roof" coating keeps homes warm during the winter and cool during the summer, without using natural gas or electricity, a study published Thursday in the journal Science found. The technology, called temperature-adaptive radiative coating, outperformed currently available commercial cool-roof systems in energy savings in cities representing 15 different climate zones across the continental United States, the researchers said. With temperature-adaptive radiative coating installed, the average household in the United States could save up to 10 percent of electricity consumption annually, researchers said."Our all-season roof coating automatically switches from keeping you cool to warm, depending on outdoor air temperature," study co-author Junqiao Wu said. "This is energy-free, emission-free air conditioning and heating, all in one device, said Wu, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
New Smart-Roof Coating Enables Year-Round Energy Savings
Scientists have developed an all-season smart-roof coating that keeps homes warm during the winter and cool during the summer without consuming natural gas or electricity. Research findings reported in the journal Science point to a groundbreaking technology that outperforms commercial cool-roof systems in energy savings.