IoES in the News
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Suzanne Paulson and Yifang Zhu in UCLA Newsroom: The first COVID-19 lockdowns improved air quality. Where are we a year later?
The air quality gains of spring 2020 couldn’t overpower the return to driving, record-high heat waves or apocalyptic wildfires, but they did offer a glimpse of what is possible, researchers…
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Environmental law and climate change experts weigh in on President Biden’s first 50 days
Halfway through President Biden’s first 100 days, UCLA environmental law and climate change experts weigh in on what his administration has already accomplished and look ahead at the challenges to…
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Sean Hecht in The Los Angeles Times: Senate confirms Michael Regan as EPA chief
The Senate confirmed Michael Regan on Wednesday to run the Environmental Protection Agency, putting an environmental regulator known for consensus-building at the helm of the agency that will lead President…
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Sean Hecht in Bloomberg Law: Biden Has Chance to Boost Leftward Tilt on D.C. Circuit (1)
President Joe Biden has an opportunity to shape one of the most important federal courts for environmental policy and other regulations after Judge David S. Tatel announced plans to take…
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Daniel Swain in The Los Angeles Times: California’s aging dams face new perils, 50 years after Sylmar quake crisis
“Even if engineers had made risk assessments that were accurate at the time these structures were built, they aren’t accurate now, and won’t be anymore due to climate change,” said…
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Daniel Swain in The Washington Post: California’s rainy season now starts nearly a month later, increasing wildfire risks
A long-expected consequence of global warming has come to fruition, a study finds: California’s rainy season is starting later in the year than it used to, extending the threat of…
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Brad Shaffer research in UCLA Newsroom: Turtles ‘in horrible shape’ with grim future due to rising sea levels
A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals new findings about turtles’ evolution so far and the tough prospects they face for survival. “Turtles are…
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Alex Wang in Marketplace: It’s economics, not policy, that’s hurting the coal industry
The U.S. coal industry isn’t likely to prosper under the Biden administration, but it wasn’t exactly gangbusters under the previous one either, despite all those promises. On top of natural…
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Magali Delmas in UCLA Newsroom: Evidence mounts that eco-friendly wine tastes bette
A new study by Magali Delmas, an environmental economist at UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Olivier Gergaud, an economist at the Kedge Business School in Bordeaux, France, found that organic…
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JR DeShazo in Popular Science: GM wants its cars to be fully electric by 2035. Here’s what that could mean for auto emissions.
Last week, General Motors announced that it plans to eliminate emissions from its passenger vehicles by 2035, and become carbon-neutral across its operations by 2040. Still, it may be an…
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Edward Parson and Alex Wang in The Daily Bruin: Some faculty hope UC, US will take more aggressive action to combat climate change
Some UCLA faculty said the United States and the University of California should take more progressive steps to fight climate change. The U.S. could use the power of the federal…
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Daniel Swain in The Independent — ‘Concurrent disasters’: How California could see more severe mudslides as a result of wildfires
The unprecedented and devastating 2020 California wildfires have left some regions vulnerable to mudslides and debris flows. Daniel Swain, a PhD climate scientist at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, told the Tahoe…
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Daniel Swain in Inside Climate News: A Surge From an Atmospheric River Drove California’s Latest Climate Extremes
Research suggests that much of the state will endure more extreme precipitation events that drive floods, mudslides, and debris flows. It could get worse. Stronger atmospheric rivers are part of…
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Richard Jackson in the New York Times: How Climate Change May Affect Your Health
No matter where you live or how high your socioeconomic status, climate change can endanger your health, both physical and mental, now and in the future. “Our changing climate will…
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Daniel Blumstein writes for Zócalo Public Square: What if we used play to solve the world’s biggest problems?
Ours is a time of reduced civility, heightened political partisanship, and decreased faith in institutions. If we don’t figure out how to engage respectfully, we will all lose out. Americans…
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National Geographic film features Bird Genoscape Project
UCLA Professor Tom Smith and Ph.D. student Kelly Barr with the Center for Tropical Research and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability are featured in a new National Geographic…
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Larison paper on zebra stripes featured by National Geographic
A new National Geographic Society feature, “Spotted and oddly striped zebras may be a warning for species’ future,” highlights a recent paper by Brenda Larison, a researcher with the Center…
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Ann Carlson to serve as chief counsel of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Ann Carlson, the Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law and faculty co-director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, has been appointed to serve as chief counsel…
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Daniel Swain in CBS News: Atmospheric river means massive snow coming to the West
Dr. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The biggest concern regarding these incoming storms is…
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Cara Horowitz UCLA Newsroom Q&A: Stricter auto emissions regulations on the horizon
On behalf of members of Congress, five UCLA faculty members file amicus brief on vehicle pollution rules. Cara Horowitz is co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at…
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Cara Horowitz in Bloomberg: Trump’s Last-Minute Climate Maneuvers Face a Slow Dead End
The Biden administration has plenty of options to reverse unfriendly regulations. Not all of them are fast. “At the end of the day the Trump administration’s attacks on environmental law…
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Daniel Swain in The Guardian: Powerful winds spark new blazes in California’s year-round fire ‘season’
Unusually warm and dry conditions coupled with powerful wind gusts have ignited a spate of winter wildfires that call into question the idea that California has a “fire season” at all…
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Sean Hecht in The New York Times: Supreme Court Case Could Limit Future Lawsuits Against Fossil Fuel Industry
The court heard arguments on a technical legal question in a case that demands fossil fuel companies help pay for the costs of dealing with climate change and could help…
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Daniel Swain in Axios: A “forever” drought takes shape in the West
“Even when the rains return, the temperatures are not going to go back to what they used to be,” Daniel Swain, a U.C.L.A. climate scientist, tells Axios. “The overall scarcity…
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Travis Longcore in National Audubon Society: Artificial Lighting May Shift Bird Migration by More Than a Week, New Research Says
Purple Martins exposed to bright nighttime light migrated eight days early—which could lead to starvation at their breeding grounds. Travis Longcore, a UCLA biologist who studies the wildlife impacts of…
