Environment + Climate

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall met Tuesday with stakeholders from across the energy ecosystem at UCLA’s Kerckhoff Hall to discuss how Los Angeles can meet its energy goals.

UCLA professor co-authored a study to determine which kinds of built environment are best and worst at dispersing vehicle emissions.

A policy report by the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability finds that Proposition 84 achieved some, but not all, of its ambitious goals.

Jim Newton on how the well-intentioned California Environmental Quality Review Act can be misused, stifling economic development and, ironically enough, harming the environment.

Students are taught about extinction in classrooms, but it’s their direct experience with nature that is rapidly disappearing, warns Peter Kareiva, director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.

L.A.’s only species of newt is showing signs of severe distress, troubling researchers and raising questions about the impacts of the drought and climate change.

    For more than 40 years, issues surrounding genetically modified organisms—GMOs—have been full of controversy, curiosity and confusion. On Tuesday, April 19, four experts will debate the environmental, social and health impacts of GMO foods.

Lee Cooper writes about how UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge will leverage the university’s students to make Los Angeles energy and water independent.

Measures put in place by the state have mitigated financial impacts that could be expected as costs passed along to electricity, natural gas and gasoline consumers.

This year’s gala raised a record $1.75 million for UCLA’s environmental research, education and community projects and recognized Ted Sarandos, Wendy and Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Skoll.

While many students head home or to resort locations during spring break, a group of UCLA students is monitoring the tides and rushing to the coastal bluffs of Palos Verdes to observe how El Niño is changing life in tide pools.

As part of the United Nations World Water Day on March 22, UCLA will take part in Tuesday’s White House Water Summit that aims to raise awareness of water challenges in the United States.

More than 1 in 9 people around the world do not have access to safe, clean drinking water, and the problem is expected to worsen due in part to climate change.

The new building material called CO2NCRETE would be made from carbon captured from power plant smokestacks potentially eliminating a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions.

While the experts agreed on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they sharply divided on how to achieve that goal at a recent discussion sponsored by the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.

Previous research showed that ice shelves are vulnerable to even small increases in greenhouse gases, but the new study was the first to demonstrate that huge, land-based glaciers are also vulnerable.

Brad Shaffer, director of the UCLA La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science, says the role of citizen scientists is important in helping scientists track changes in the environment due to climate.

The UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge’s first competitive research grants will go to 11 projects, ranging from developing lightweight solar panels that double as batteries to studying the costs of algae-based biofuels.

The report recommends that a state agency and agricultural commissioners evaluate pesticide mixtures and implement regulations to more adequately protect human health.

In this Q&A, Jon Christensen of UCLA and his colleague Adam Wolf discuss their study of how climate change affects plant species’ shifting in California.

A UCLA-led study exploring California plant species’ shifts to higher elevations showed that non-native and invasive plants are moving fastest.

Mark Gold writes that we’re going to lose tens of billions of gallons of water to runoff because Los Angeles’ infrastructure is not designed to capture and store rainfall.

Robinson shared the story of her awakening to the global impact of climate change on the world's impoverished countries and communities at a lecture hosted by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Tuesday.

Among the topics discussed at the inaugural UCLA-Tata Global Forum in New Delhi were sustainable megacities, the integration of solar power into smart energy grids and sustainable biological fuels.

There are more than 100 research projects that will help conserve, invent and incentivize the county to fully renewable energy, 100 percent local water and a healthier ecosystem.