Art & Culture

As we research physical and practical realities, we explore how cultures, arts and storytelling affect how people experience, think and feel about the environment in communities around the world.

Magazine

August 5, 2025

Meet the 2025 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award Candidates #6–9

These four nominees are focused on housing, conservation, fashion and public space — tackling environmental issues by redesigning how systems work at the local level

Story

11.8.2024

Nearly half of Colombia’s culturally important plant species lack conservation protections

Claire Griffiths

Nearly half of these culturally significant plants lack the conservation safeguards needed to ensure their survival, according to a new study published in Ecosystems and People. The research, led by…

Story

10.10.2024

Professor Ursula K. Heise receives the 6th Biophilia Award for pushing forward the field of Environmental Humanities at a global scale

Professor Ursula K. Heise receives the BBVA Foundation’s 6th Biophilia Award for pushing forward the formation and implementation of the field of Environmental Humanities at a global scale.

Story

6.26.2024

Over 140 UCLA IoES students turn their tassels

Claire Griffiths

On Sunday, June 16, the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability celebrated its commencement ceremony, honoring the Class of 2024.

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In the News

July 3, 2026

Mapping Faith, Flourishing, and the Environment in Los Angeles

Modern scientific research and its discourse fails to adequately embrace the emotional, spiritual and affective impacts of the existential issues of Earth’s future habitability.

July 1, 2026

CDLS Summer Events 2026

The CDLS Summer Events 2026 flyer is at the bottom of this page for you to download and share. We look forward to seeing you. Email cdls@ucla.edu if you have…

May 12, 2026

CDLS Repeating Events: Spring Quarter

CDLS hosts a variety of weekly events for fellows and community members. Sign up to the CDLS mailing list or view our events to find out about other events and…

February 4, 2026

CDLS Repeating Events: Winter Quarter

CDLS hosts a variety of weekly events for fellows and community members. Sign up to the CDLS mailing list or view our events to find out about other events and…

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Videos

April 3, 2024

Governor’s Climate and Forest Task Force: Remote Sensing Workshop at UCLA

The Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force) held its first Remote Sensing Workshop at the University of California Los Angeles in June, 2023. The workshop was designed…

May 8, 2017

Climate Lab – Why your old phones collect in a junk drawer of sadness

May 8, 2017

Climate Lab – Going green shouldn’t be this hard

April 20, 2017

Climate Lab – Why humans are so bad at thinking about climate change

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Centers

Imagining Extinction: The Cultural Meanings of Endangered Species

We are currently facing the sixth mass extinction of species in the history of life on Earth, biologists claim—the first one caused by humans. Activists, filmmakers, writers, and artists are seeking to bring the crisis to the public’s attention through stories and images that use the strategies of elegy, tragedy, epic, and even comedy. Imagining Extinction is the first book to examine the cultural frameworks shaping these narratives and images.

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Publications

Seeking Common Ground Between Theology and Sustainability Science for Just Transitions

Jason Sexton, Stephanie Pincetl

Zygon, 2022.

Published Work, Permalink

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Political & Economic Drivers of Wildland-urban Interface (WUI) Development in California