After witnessing pollution in Southern California's coastal waters as a high school student, Ispendjian founded Saving the Sea. Today, the national nonprofit is helping students translate environmental research into policy and action.
Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
All News
1080
Results based on your selections.
IBES Director Kim Cobb offered commentary about the causes of recent heat waves, noting fossil fuel consumption as the primary driver and the El Niño climate pattern as a potential influence as well.
IBES Director Kim Cobb offered commentary for this article.
This article features research by IBES and Epidemiology Assistant Professor Rachel Baker and IBES graduate affiliate Aleksandra Stamper, a doctoral candidate in the School of Public Health.
July 1, 2026
News from Brown
Faculty at Brown earn prominent honors, distinctions in Spring 2026
During the spring semester, prestigious national and international organizations recognized Brown University faculty for their leadership, service, research and scholarship.
June 25, 2026
News from Brown
Shifting tectonic plates gave Alaska’s Aleutian Islands a later-life lift
Researchers at Brown have shown the first direct evidence for a massive geologic uplift of the entire Aleutian Island archipelago driven by a rotation of the Pacific tectonic plate.
June 25, 2026
News from SPH
Climate change could reshape flu seasons across the Americas, study finds
Researchers find that weather and climate patterns can help predict the timing and severity of flu outbreaks across diverse regions, and that flu spreads more easily in very dry and very humid air.
Assistant Professor Patel is the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society’s first faculty member to be jointly appointed in the Department of Economics.
The New York Times
Is Climate Change Supercharging El Niño? A Debate Rages.
IBES Director Kim Cobb offered commentary for this article.
Professor Meredith Hastings, leader of the IBES-based hyperlocal air monitoring initiative Breathe Providence, offered commentary for this article.
Physics Magazine
A Climate for Physicists
IBES affiliate and Professor of Physics Brad Marston took part in a roundtable discussion about the connections between physics and climate science.
IBES and Epidemiology Assistant Professor Rachel Baker contributed to this paper, led by graduate affiliate Aleksandra Stamper.
This article cites data from Breathe Providence, an IBES-based, community-focused air monitoring network.
Geophysical Research Letters
Global Glacial Rock Weathering Signature Depends on Competing Contributions From Ice Sheets and Alpine Glaciers
IBES Professors Daniel Ibarra and Laurence C. Smith, postdoc Gavin Piccione, and graduate affiliates Sebastian Muñoz and Sarah Esenther are among the authors of this modeling paper.
IBES Director Kim Cobb said that a White House “proposal to base funding decisions on alignment with the [Trump] administration’s agenda is a particularly acute threat for climate and weather funding, which protects our nation’s infrastructure, economy, agriculture, public safety, and national security.”
News from IBES
WATCH | Commencement Forum: Ocean Health, Our Health
IBES' 2026 Commencement Forum brought students, alumni, families, and community members together at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs and online for a conversation on the future of ocean science, climate resilience, plastics, and environmental policy.
Los Angeles Review of Books
Competing Visions of China’s Distant Past
This review covers Associate Professor of History and Environment and Society Brian Lander's book, “The King’s Harvest: A Political Ecology of China from the First Farmers to the First Empire.”
Streetsblog USA
Talking Headways Podcast: Community Severance by Road
IBES and Epidemiology Professor Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou discussed her new paper on how community severance by road infrastructure increases mental health hospital visits in New York City.
News from IBES
Commencement 2026: Photos, videos, and highlights
Commencement Weekend offered a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2026 and the relationships and sense of purpose that connect the IBES community across generations.
Elizabeth Fussell, a research professor in IBES and the Population Studies and Training Center, peer reviewed the scientific paper that this article covers and offered commentary.
Nature Medicine
Climate change and infectious diseases
Rachel Baker, an assistant professor in IBES and the Department of Epidemiology, and Aleksandra Stamper, an IBES graduate affiliate in the School of Public Health, are the first and second authors, respectively, of this review paper.
Nature Communications
Revealing the Antarctic marginal ice zone with a decade-long wave-in-ice climatology
IBES faculty affilate (DEEPS) and former Voss postdoc Christopher Horvat is among the authors of this study.
Supported by IBES faculty and alumni mentors, a team of Brown undergraduates advanced to the finals of the Turner MIINT Competition and placed third overall against dozens of graduate teams from around the world.
Faculty affiliate David Savitz (Epidemiology, Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology) offered commentary on exposure to PFAS chemicals in drinking water.
Through collaborations with faculty affiliate Mara Freilich (DEEPS) and the IBES-based Breathe Providence project, local residents are working to understand how pollution is affecting their community.
The Providence Journal
Whitehouse has given 300+ climate speeches. Why he's still trying
IBES and Sociology Professor Timmons Roberts offered commentary for this article, reflecting on Democrats' approach to climate change and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's outspokenness on the topic.
News from IBES
IBES-affiliated students named 2026 Royce Fellows
Through the Swearer Center program, eight students affiliated with IBES will conduct community-engaged research spanning environmental justice, food sovereignty, conservation biology, and Indigenous land stewardship.
The University of Rhode Island
The Ripple Effect of Research Funding for Better Outcomes
IBES faculty affiliates Baylor Fox-Kemper, Mara Freilich, Emanuele Di Lorenzo, and Karianne Bergen are collaborators on SIMCoast, a $7 million grant building Rhode Island’s research capabilities to measure and study the impacts of nano- and microplastics.
The New York Times
Trump’s war is punishing the poor, starting at the gas pump
IBES affiliate Jeff Colgan, a professor of political science and international studies and director of the Climate Solutions Lab, wrote this opinion piece about the costs of the war in Iran.
Inside Climate News
Amazon Deforestation at Eight-Year Low, Report Shows
IBES and Ecology Professor Stephen Porder expressed that while declining rates of deforestation in the Amazon are encouraging, the region has seen lower rates, and “really the number needs to go to 0 very quickly.”
Nature Scientific Reports
Investigating medicinal resource combinations in the Bornean orangutan diet
Voss Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environment and Society Elodie Freymann co-authored this paper.
May 13, 2026
News from Brown
Fire that scorched African mountain range was unprecedented in the last 12,000 years, research shows
A study of ancient lake sediments reveals that a recent wildfire high in the Rwenzori Mountains was the first in 12 millennia, signaling a novel threat to Africa’s unique alpine ecosystems.
Dual concentrator Liza Marcus ’26 is unraveling the complex chemistry of nitrogen oxides and ozone in the atmosphere — work that could improve air quality predictions and inform environmental policy.
This article includes commentary from IBES and Sociology Professor Timmons Roberts.
May 11, 2026
News from Around Brown
Equitable Climate Futures announces 2026 Research Awards
One year after announcing its inaugural set of four working groups, Brown’s Equitable Climate Futures initiative (ECF), led by the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES), has determined a second cohort of awardees, with projects ranging from local environmental justice to Indigenous climate action in the Amazon.
The New York Times
A Fish That Hitches Rides Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine
IBES affiliate Eleanor Caves, an assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, offered comment for this story on “cloacal diving.”
This article showcases insights from the Sustainable Education Research Initiative's first conference, featuring commentary from SustainbleED founder, education professor, and IBES affiliate Matthew Kraft.
IBES Director Kim Cobb offered commentary about increasing wildfire risk amid a warming climate.
Barrington, Rhode Island's Resilience and Energy Committee utilized the IBES-and-DEEPS-based Network for Environmental Sensing & Technology (NEST) project to install water level sensors above the Barrington River.
Ecology Society of America
Ecological Society of America announces 2026 award recipients
A study by Daniel Perret PhD '21, IBES Professor Dov Sax, and Margaret Evans of the University of Arizona won the ESA's George Mercer Award for an Outstanding Paper by An Early-Career Researcher.
Sierra Magazine
Data Centers Have a PFAS Problem
Epidemiology Professor and IBES Affiliate Joseph Braun provided commentary on the dangers of "forever chemicals" and the need to utilize alternatives when possible.
The Johns Hopkins News-Letter
Can Physics Stop Climate Change? A Seminar by Brad Marston
IBES affiliate Brad Marston, a professor in the Department of Physics, discussed physics' role in countering climate change during a talk at Johns Hopkins University.
April 30, 2026
News from Watson
Watson Ph.D. Fellow Juben Rabbani addresses the EV transition in new Art at Watson exhibition
Juben Rabbani, a Watson Ph.D. fellow from the Department of Anthropology, created a unique art project as a “visual supplement” to his master’s thesis on the impact of the EV transition on the Salton Sea region of California. Now, he has teamed up with Art at Watson to turn it into a multimedia exhibition, which will be on display until the end of summer 2026.
IBES faculty affiliate Chris Rea, Assistant Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs, offered commentary on a law that channels revenue from taxes on gun sales toward wildlife conservation.
Meredith Niles, Professor of Environment and Society and Behavioral and Social Sciences, is among the authors of this study.
April 27, 2026
News from Brown
Road infrastructure and traffic affect community members’ mental health, study finds
Researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health and the Columbia University School of Public Health found that urban communities isolated by roadways and traffic patterns are associated with more schizophrenia-related hospital visits.
IBES affiliate and Professor of International Economics Mark Blyth offered commentary for this article.
Fishery Friendly Climate Action Campaign
Podcast and Analysis: Lessons from LOC-NESS for the Future of Fishery Engagement in mCDR
ENVS concentrator Ashley McKinnon '26 and external IBES affiliate Sarah Schumann created this podcast episode about McKinnon's engaged honors thesis in partnership with the Fishery Friendly Climate Action Campaign.
The Brown Daily Herald
‘Without Shade, Without Rest’ highlights agricultural workers’ advocacy
IBES and cross-campus partners hosted a screening and discussion of a new documentary, which looks at the fight to win heat protection for outdoor workers in Florida in the wake of the hottest year on record.
In labs, neighborhoods, and public forums across the state, IBES faculty and students are working side by side with Rhode Islanders to turn environmental challenges into actionable solutions.