Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies

All cities hunger for new property tax revenue. But all of these park projects at some point aspired to provide green space in neighborhoods that historically had little access to it. This pattern of new parks creating housing pressure might lead observers to wonder whether such investments are a good idea, if they threaten to...

“They always begin to move out at first light and back to their roosts about 45 minutes before sunset. It is a sublime experience to hear and see them,’’ said Heise, who is co-founder of the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies / Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA.

In 2012, California became the first state in the country to declare that “Every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable and accessible water” when the state legislature inserted that statement into its state water code. Now, a new UCLA study finds, the state may be making progress on turning that goal into...

UCLA researcher Jon Christensen with University of Utah professor Alessandro Rigolon found policies that might help reduce “green gentrification,” that is, the displacement of residents and small businesses when parks are built or revitalized in low-income communities. In a new report, they identified 26 beneficial parks-related anti-displacement strategies. They recommend that park agencies and park...

UCLA researcher Jon Christensen with University of Utah professor Alessandro Rigolon found policies that might help reduce “green gentrification,” that is, the displacement of residents and small businesses when parks are built or revitalized in low-income communities. In a new report, they identified 26 beneficial parks-related anti-displacement strategies. They recommend that park agencies and park...

The Los Angeles River only intermittently resembles an actual river, even though that’s what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers entombed in concrete in the 1930s. Since then, its 51-mile course has been a trickling flood channel, the scene of countless movie car chases, and a punchline about how artificial L.A. can seem. The results...

Jon Christensen writes for Capital Weekly about a 2020 ballot for safe drinking water, drought preparation, wildfire prevention, and climate resilience.

UCLA’s Jon Christensen discusses his new study of California’s Proposition 1

Jon Christensen, an adjunct assistant professor at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, said the Coastal Act has two goals. One is to protect the coastal environment, the other is to preserve public access to the coast. “In the last few years, however, there’s been a real focus on what the barriers...

Even at a time when the California snowpack is 161% of the historical average for April, water experts are concerned about water optimization, usage, storage and conservation. “We’re evolved into a society of water seekers,” said Jon Christensen, an adjunct assistant professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA and a founder of...

Allison Carruth, a faculty member in the English department and the Institute for Society and Genetics, said the most prominent data surrounding the harmful effects of toxic chemicals used in food production are seen directly in farmworker communities. “Intensive agriculture makes heavy use of pesticides and herbicides,” she said. “This pesticide exposure has multigenerational effects...

In a January 2018 debate on climate change, Dr. Jon Christensen, an adjunct professor at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, made a comment that typifies the green push to shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources. Christensen explained (at about the 3:35 mark) that he likes to think about the climate issue as...