UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

On International Day Of Women In Science, we recognize that long-standing biases & gender stereotypes have steered girls & women away from STEM. Thanks go to all the powerful women that paved our way here - may we help provide a supportive environment for future generations to come. #InternationalDayOfWomenInScience #WomeninSTEM #girlsinSTEM #thefutureisfemale #YesSheCan #inclusion #equity #belonging #girlsinstem #girlsinscience ##WomenInScienceDay by @crashleyak

About 60% of the world’s turtle species are considered threatened or endangered, making them one of the most vulnerable groups of animals on the planet. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals new findings of turtles’ evolution so far and the tough prospects they face for survival. Turtles are in horrible shape, said UCLA conservation geneticist Brad Shaffer, senior author of the paper. There aren’t very many species of turtles and tortoises to begin with, so we don’t have many to lose. https://www.ioes.ucla.edu//turtles-in-horrible-shape-with/

What if we used play to solve the world's biggest problems? In a time of reduced civility, heightened political partisanship, and decreased faith in institutions, competition can be a useful tool to advance society and improve the world in which we live. https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org//friendly-/ideas/essay/

Evidence mounts that eco-friendly wine tastes better: Certified organic French wines rated higher by experts, UCLA-led study finds Organic & biodynamic wines showed much higher quality, said Magali Delmas, co-author of the study, and an environmental economist at UCLA Anderson School of Management.... https://www.ioes.ucla.edu//evidence-mounts-that-eco-frien/

A group of the world’s top ecologists issued a stark warning about the snowballing crisis caused by climate change, population growth, and unchecked development. despite the grim assessment, big-picture societal changes on a global scale can still avert a disastrous future. The paper suggests concrete changes that could help avert catastrophe. Among them: completely and rapidly ending the use of fossil fuels, strictly regulating markets and property acquisition, reigning in corporate lobbying, and empowering women. But it also acknowledges that humans’ innate optimism bias has led some to ignore the warnings about our planet’s future.

Trump’s Last-Minute Climate Maneuvers Face a Slow Dead End: At the end of the day the Trump administration’s attacks on environmental law are unlikely to endure, said Cara Horowitz, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. But it is not going to be that easy to replace them with something better.

Billions of birds migrate annually across the Western Hemisphere but if we don’t know where they go when they leave their breeding grounds, how can we protect them? By extracting DNA from individual feathers (and borrowing cutting-edge technology from the Human Genome Project) scientists and UCLA IoES researchers can map bird migration with greater precision than ever before. The result is the Bird Genoscape Project, and it’s revolutionizing bird conservation by connecting migratory birds and the people who care about them across the Americas. This work was funded by the National Geographic Society. For more information on the Bird Genome Project, check out: https://buff.ly/2Yg66kc

UCLA Report Shows Small Water Systems in Los Angeles County Disadvantaged Communities Suffer from Poor Water Quality, High Costs & Insufficient Funding: Researchers examine the causes of failure & risks to the customers and make equitable solution recommendations. Water agencies in the Water Replenishment District of the Southern California region report few violations of primary water standards in well water, but they have reported multiple, large violations of secondary wat...er standards. Contamination originates in the region’s groundwater. The report recommends addressing the risks of disadvantaged communities' water system failure early before costs mount and other actions the State Water Resources Control Board and Water Replenishment District of Southern California can make. #watersystems #environmentalhealth #waterresources #equity #environmentaljustice

UCLA ecology and evolutionary biology professor Morgan Tingley and visiting graduate researcher Austin Spence were awarded the Ecography Award for Excellence in Ecology and Evolution, or E4 Award, for their paper illustrating how species’ ability to adapt to climate change is limited by many factors other than climate including oxygen, light, pressure, pH and water availability. To escape warming temperatures, species are moving toward the poles, to higher elevations and to deeper waters. But conservation scientists are concerned that some species aren’t moving fast enough, while others aren’t moving at all.

"We're past the time for incrementalism." UCLA professor Stephanie Pincetl spoke with Los Angeles Times' Steve Lopez about the biggest issue at stake in the election.

Animals with abnormal coat patterns may be inbred. Dramatic evidence shows that habitat fragmentation can harm zebras and other wildlife, a new UCLA study finds. UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability's Brenda "Ren" Larison, Thomas B. Smith, and Ryan Harrigan found that smaller, more isolated populations of zebras had lower genetic diversitynot a surprise. But the study also revealed these isolated groups were more likely to produce abnormally striped zebra...s, suggesting these genetic mutations are caused by their poor genetic diversity. Via National Geographic. Study published in Molecular Ecology,. https://www.nationalgeographic.com//spotted-oddly-stripe/

Happy Halloween! The Nature of Fear: Why We’re All Afraid of Something by @UCLAIoES animal behavior researcher Dr. Daniel Blumstein delves into the the evolutionary origins and ecological contexts of fear across species and considers what we can learn from our fellow animals from successes and failures. Blumstein discusses the ecological power & evolutionary history of fear, an essential ingredient in healthy ecosystems that helps maintain biodiversity. By observing how... animals leverage alarm to their advantage, we can develop new strategies for facing risks without panic. How is this applicable to your life right now? Instilling fear in voters can change the outcome of political elections, but it’s not always successful in changing human behavior. Why? I show how fear and anxiety have been both successfully and unsuccessfully manipulated to change human behavior, and the conditions under which fear may be an effective agent of change, and when it will not be an effective agent of change. #evolutionarybiology #fear #ecology

How much energy is enough? How much energy do we need to be happy and satisfy basic needs? Stephanie Pincetl, Director for the UCLA California Center for Sustainable Communities and Chair of the Environmental Sciences and Engineering Program at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability sat down with TEDxGreenStreet for a climate countdown event to discuss how a clean energy revolution may leave disadvantaged communities behind. A study Pincetl co-authored found... that per capita wealthier neighborhoods in Los Angeles use 10 times more energy than poorer parts of L.A., even though the houses in South L.A. are much less efficient per square foot. But what’s happened is that newer houses in affluent houses are getting bigger and bigger. They’re so big that they use more and more energy. Energy inequity is closely aligned with wealth inequity. How much inequity should our society tolerate going forward? I think it’s important for us to put our heads together to figure out what we would like from the state and government - because it’s our government to begin to address so that we move towards a situation of energy equity and sufficiency for all. #energy #equity #sustainability #environmentaljusttice https://www.ted.com//stephanie_pincetl_phd_the_challenge_a

Join us tomorrow, Thursday 10/29 @ 4pm PT for a Corporate Partners Program event that will explore how organizations are embracing resiliency and adapting their sustainability commitments & programs under pandemic conditions. Panelists with perspectives who work with LA Metro, the U.S. Green Business Council Los Angeles Chapter, and work with Data Centers to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals will share their insights in a virtual panel discussion. Click here to RSV...P: https://www.ioes.ucla.edu//resiliency-adapting-sustainab/ #environment #sustainability #corporatesustainability #corporateresponsibility #COVID19

To Free Ourselves, We Must Feed Ourselves: Farmer, activist, author, and 2020 Pritzker Award finalist Leah Penniman on the fight for food sovereignty.

"It's a solvable problem; it's a global governance challenge," said Peter Kareiva, UCLA ocean conservation expert. Kareiva spoke with Australian Broadcasting Corporation about illegal fishing and the promise of sustainable aquaculture. https://www.abc.net.au//wild-fish-catch-easily-re/12774786

A quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings in California over 100 million tons per year. Ambitious climate goals will be difficult to meet without a detailed understanding of building energy use patterns. Founding director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA and professor-in-residence at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability professor Stephanie Pincetl and other UCLA sustainability experts wrote a book that uses ...California as an example detailing how to construct an energy data hub for socially conscious research, and how that can be used to help local governments and community-based organizations meet their sustainability goals. What the book is intended to do is to provide people with an understanding of the importance and the usefulness of building energy data. It provides policymakers, local nonprofits, governments, and others the understanding of building energy use such that they can target energy efficiency investments. https://www.ioes.ucla.edu//new-book-from-ucla-urban-susta/