Air, Food & Water

From field to fork, city to town, people need safe air to breathe, clean water to drink and nutritious food to eat. Our research looks at the various aspects of these vital resources to understand how 7.7 billion people can get what we need to live while preserving the natural systems we depend on.

Magazine

In the News

Headline

Dr. Anne Rimoin discusses California Covid surge—KTLA

UCLA epidemiologist Dr. Anne Rimoin joined KTLA News to discuss California’s strong and persistent COVID spike this summer in a new video. She shared what we need to know, along…


Headline

Daniel Swain for The Associated Press—Fires in the West are becoming ever bigger, consuming. Why and what can be done?

UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain spoke with The Associated Press about how decades of fire suppression and climate change have led to increasingly severe wildfires in the western U.S. and…

A firefighter sprays water on the Park Fire burning near Forest Ranch, Calif., Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Headline

Daniel Swain for New York Times — In Southern California, a Wildfire That May Foreshadow a Hazardous Summer

The Post Fire in Los Angeles County burns over 15,000 acres, raising alarm for dangerous fire season in the West. Experts warn of overgrown vegetation after wet winters. “This is…

Wildfire Burns Across Southern California, firefighters try to mitigate wildfire

Announcements

Stephanie Pincetl Co-Authors Research on Net Zero Urban Water

Founding Director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities and Chair of UCLA’s Environment and Sustainability Ph.D. program Dr. Stephanie Pincetl co-authored a study, “Advancing a Net Zero Urban Water Future in the United States Southwest.” Published in ACS ES&T Water, the research examines the feasibility of Net Zero Urban Water (NZUW) — cities becoming self-sufficient with local water sources. This is crucial for the water-stressed US Southwest, where the Colorado River can’t meet the demands of 40 million residents.


Headline

Elsa Ordway for Down to Earth — ‘The Congo more climate-resilient than Amazonia? Jury is still out’

Elsa Ordway, co-director of the Congo Basin Institute and Center for Tropical Research, recently collaborated with global experts in Cameroon to strategize a 10-year study on tropical forest ecology. The project,…

Photograph of the Yaoundé workshop shared by Elsa Ordway

Videos

Climate chaos with climatologist Daniel Swain

UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain joined EarthSky’s Dave Adalian for a live discussion on the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events caused by climate change. Swain, known for…

From Farms to Cities: Percolating New Ideas for Water Security

Sustainable Conservation a non-profit and IoES practicum client partner produced this video from an event held Sept 6, 2017 Following winter rains that pummeled the state, it’s easy for California’s…

Publications