ERG grad student Zeke Hausfather comments in this Washington Post article on Trump's pending decision on the Paris climate accords, on which he has several options that include withdrawing completely. Another option, said Hausfather, would be for Trump to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty on which the Paris accord was based, which would take only a year.
PPIC | May 30, 2017
ESPM professor Scott Stephens is interviewed in this Public Policy Institute of California Viewpoints blog on California's mountain forests and their effect on the watershed. Noted Stephens, "Forest management in the past century increased forest density by removing the most common ecosystem process that once thinned the forest: fire. We need to reduce tree density in Sierra forests so they are more resilient to drought."
UC ANR | May 30, 2017
ARE grad student Reid Johnsen and ESPM grad student Sarick Matzen are featured in this UC ANR article and accompanying video on a recent UC Global Food Initiative student tour of the Central Valley. “To be able to see agriculture in action makes such a difference to me, to see the way the crops are produced and the variety that's out here,” said Johnsen. Matzen noted, "As a soil scientist, I really appreciated the recurring emphasis on soils as the foundation for agriculture."
The Hill | May 28, 2017
CNR dean Keith Gilless comments in this article from The Hill on current fire conditions in the western US. "When you have a period of drought and suddenly you have a normal or better-than-normal winter, you will get a lot of fine fuel growth,” said Gilless. “The danger with the grasses, they will dry out regardless of how much rain [there is]. They’re going to get dry as heck by fire season, regardless of how wet the winter was.”
Washington Post | May 22, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is featured in this Washington Post article on two new studies suggesting that carbon-capturing biomass plantations cannot singlehandedly solve the world's climate problems. Kammen says the findings correlate with previous studies. Biomass energy systems could be valuable, he says, "but only if the biomass is entirely sustainable." Ultimately, "the value of a biomass crop for meeting climate targets is non-existent."
PBS News Hour | May 20, 2017
ARE grad student Susanna Berkouwer is featured in this PBS News Hour piece on electricity access in Kenya, where the government aims to acheive universal access to electricity by 2020. Berkouwer is part of a team that surveyed 4,000 households in Kenya to measure the impact of electricity on people's lives - everything from health to education to employment.
Pacific Standard | May 19, 2017
ARE Ph.D. candidate Tamma Carleton has been chosen by Pacific Standard as one of the Top Thirty Thinkers Under 30. In her research, Carleton combines social and physical data with statistical models to assess how issues such as climate change and freshwater scarcity affect poverty and economic growth.