Spotlight on Sustainability and the Environment

Innovation and Conservation

Sustainability represents a way of thinking, living, and acting, to ensure that our choices do not impact future generations' ability to enjoy a high quality of life. This means being good stewards of the earth, good citizens in local and world communities, and sharing resources with human and natural populations.

Today we face serious environmental challenges. How will climate change affect the world's biodiversity? Where will our food, water and energy come from? How should we limit industrial growth at regional and global levels? Scientists at Cal are working to find sustainable solutions!

Because of the urgency with which we need these solutions, scientists, policymakers, and engineers are all working together. Computer scientists and atmospheric scientists have joined forces, building models to help us predict the likely outcomes of climate change. Ecologists and policy experts are teaming up to conserve biodiversity. Engineers and microbial biologists are working together to find new energy sources and design more energy-efficient technologies. And that’s just for starters.

Below are stories relating to sustainability and the environment.

Water and Ash: A Photographic Exploration of Patagonia's Wetlands and Volcanoes

On June 16, our talk was given by Anand Varma, and was entitled "Water and Ash: A Photographic Exploration of Patagonia's Wetlands and Volcanoes".

Northern Patagonia has the strongest rainfall gradient in the world, transforming from rainforest to desert in less than 100 miles. In order to explore water’s influence on the natural and human communities along this gradient, I traveled to Argentina in 2010 and photographed the wetlands of the region. I worked from the lush Valdivian rainforest in the west to the Patagonian desert of the east. Six months after I left, the Puyehue Volcano erupted and dumped ash across the same region. I returned in 2011 to show what this new element meant for the landscape and people of Patagonia. I will present my photographs, share the natural history stories behind them, and discuss what this eruption means for the future of Patagonia. 

Science at the Theater presents: What's Right with Kansas?

Submitted by admin on September 30, 2011 - 4:32pm

Plants!Did you know that in Kansas, the Climate and Energy Project is capitalizing on heartland values to change behavior and reduce carbon emissions? Learn more at "What's Right with Kansas?", a discussion presented by Science at the Theater, featuring Nancy Jackson, Board Chair of the Climate and Energy Project, and Merrian Fuller, a Berkeley Lab researcher whose work focuses on the financing and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as what motivates behavioral change.

Cal Day Open House

Cal Day Logo

On April 16, there will not be a Science@Cal talk in our regular venue. Instead, we invite you to attend "Cal Day". UC Berkeley's campus open house features free events, activities, and lectures all across campus, suitable for all ages and interests. More details at http://calday.berkeley.edu/

The Current Status of Climate Change - A Non-Partisan Analysis

 

Rich MullerRich Mullergraph

On March 19, our talk will be given by Prof. Rich Muller, and will be entitled "The Current Status of Climate Change - A Non-Partisan Analysis".

Because of its huge economic and political implications, Climate Change is rarely presented without spin. This will be an attempt to do that. I'll discuss the physics of the greenhouse effect, and the data that indicate global warming. Among key topics are: Copenhagen -- why did we fail to get a major treaty? Climategate -- what really happened? IPCC standards -- and why they are undergoing major revisions. What are the top prospects among the many choices for alternative energy? What kind of example can the U.S. set that could be followed by the rest of the world? I'll also report on new results of our "Berkeley Earth" project -- a detailed re-analysis of the evidence for global warming; see www.BerkeleyEarth.org. 

Rich Muller is a Professor in the Department of Physics at UC Berkeley, and Faculty Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He was named a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellow in 1982. He also received the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation "for highly original and innovative research which has led to important discoveries and inventions in diverse areas of physics, including astrophysics, radioisotope dating, and optics." In 1999, he received a distinguished teaching award from UC Berkeley. He teaches the popular "Physics for Future Presidents" series of undergraduate lectures at Berkeley and is the author of an associated book, among other books, essays, and articles. He's also working on a system to view 3-D TV without glasses.

 

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill – How Resilient is Mother Nature?

On December 18, our talk was given by Dr. Terry Hazen, and is entitled "Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill – How Resilient is Mother Nature?".

The biological effects and expected fate of the vast amount of oil in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon blowout are unknown due to the extreme depth and magnitude of this event, but also the unprecedented quantity of oil dispersant released and injected directly at the wellhead (1,544 m). We found that the dispersed hydrocarbon plume stimulated deep-sea indigenous bacteria that are closely related to known petroleum-degraders. Hydrocarbon-degrading genes coincided with the concentration of various oil contaminants. Changes in hydrocarbon composition with distance from the source, environmental isolates, and microcosms demonstrate faster then expected hydrocarbon biodegradation rates even at 5°C. Intrinsic bioremediation of the oil plume in the deep-water column without substantial oxygen drawdown occurred after only 2-3 weeks of capping the Macondo well.

ScienceMatters@Berkeley: Programmed Cell Death, the Formation of Planets, and More

Submitted by admin on December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

ScienceMatters@Berkeley logoThe latest issue of the online magazine ScienceMatters@Berkeley has been published! It contains articles about the work done by Cal scientists to study how dust grains agglomerate to form planets, the extent to which Native Americans used fire to manage their environment, and how healthy cells cause their own deaths. Check out the latest issue here.

UCTV: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water — The Elements

Submitted by admin on June 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Join UC Berkeley journalism students as they take a compelling look at the impact of pollution on our lives — at home and afar. View this webcast at the UCTV website.

Science in the News: Sustainability & the Environment

Submitted by admin on May 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Cal researchers are hard at work learning about the environment and humanity's role in it.

Meet Cal Scientists: Enviro-Pioneers

Submitted by admin on April 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Meet five Cal scientists who are on the cutting edge of energy and sustainability research:

  • Cyrus Wadia, postdoctoral researcher, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
  • Elif Ertekin, postdoctoral researcher, Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute
  • Jeffrey Grossman, executive director, Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems
  • Bryce Sadtler, graduate student, UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
  • Chris Somerville, professor, Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology
  • John Arnold, professor, Dept. of Chemistry

QUEST@Cal: Climate Watch — California at the Tipping Point

Submitted by admin on April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The world's climate is changing and California is now being affected in both dramatic and subtle ways. Watch the KQED QUEST episode here.

Powered by Drupal. Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer