This spring, four members of IBES faculty received awards for their outstanding contributions to Brown and the broader community. This is Part IV of a series highlighting the exceptional work of each awardee.
The project, supported by the National Science Foundation, will focus on creating a set of tools and convening experts to address climate change related challenges faced by communities along the New England coast.
Elizabeth Rush, IBES Fellow and Assistant Professor of the Practice of English, writes about the beloved beech tree in her backyard and its intersection with life milestones, climate anxiety, and more.
On the upper floor of 85 Waterman Street in Providence sits the conservatory, an 1,800-square-foot refuge inside Brown’s Plant Environmental Center that is open to all.
This spring, four members of IBES faculty received awards for their outstanding contributions to Brown and the broader community. This is Part III of a series highlighting the exceptional work of each awardee.
Professor Stephen Porder discussed the effectiveness of carbon offsets he effectiveness of carbon offsets to help travelers neutralize their environmental impact: "You can’t be sure that a dollar spent on an offset is actually keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere."
DEEPS Professor and IBES Fellow Baylor Fox-Kemper commented, "Floods of a particular strength are getting more and more frequent. As we go forward, we should expect the hurricane barrier to be used more and more just to protect from these increased flooding events."
IBES Fellow and Physics Professor Brad Marston has found that some features of fluid flow on Earth can be explained by principles that traditionally apply to quantum systems.
IBES Director Kim Cobb discussed the Inflation Reduction Act, saying that the legislation "really puts the wheels of the marketplace in motion to harness available technologies for emissions reduction."
"Having a child doesn’t mean the end of exploration outdoors," writes IBES Fellow and Assistant Professor of the Practice of English Elizabeth Rush. "These women writers modeled that for me — and taught me new ways of thinking about risk and reward."
IBES and Sociology Professor Timmons Roberts discussed how whale advocates "are becoming unwitting pawns of the fossil fuel industry" as they and rightwing think tanks create the impression that offshore wind energy projects endanger cetaceans.
Knee-deep in prairie grasses, the rising Brown University senior is collecting plant samples and bison waste to expand biologists’ understanding of animal nutrition in the wild.
This edition of The New York Times Morning Newsletter discusses extreme weather events and how climate disasters can play off one another. IBES Director Kim Cobb commented, "Extremes are already worse because of man-made climate change. And they’re going to get worse with each additional increment of warming."
This article mentions research done by scholars from IBES and two labs based at IBES: the Climate Social Science Network and the Climate and Development Lab.
In addition to the grueling heat of the past few weeks, wildfire smoke, ocean warming, the early arrival of El Niño, and shrinking Antarctic sea ice are all indicators of a global environmental crisis. "Heat sets the pace of our climate in so many ways," IBES Director Kim Cobb commented. "It’s never just the heat."
Visiting Professor of Environment and Society Robert Brulle commented on fossil fuel lobbyists' competing interests: "Lobbyists will take money from anybody. The question is: are they really working in your best interest … if they’re also representing an opponent?"
This spring, four members of IBES faculty received awards for their outstanding contributions to Brown and the broader community. This is Part II of a series highlighting the phenomenal work of each awardee.
IBES and Sociology Professor Scott Frickel and Fernando Tormos-Aponte (Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh) co-authored this new article documenting findings from their ongoing investigation into the rise of science activism and how it may affect the "norms of scientific research."
IBES and Sociology Professor Timmons Roberts commented that a new database of fossil fuel lobbyists "really makes it apparent that when you hire these insider lobbyists, you are basically working with double agents. ... The information you share with them is probably going to the opposition.”
A detailed analysis of the dietary habits of elephants showed surprising variation from meal to meal, which could have important ramifications for wildlife protection and conservation strategies. Tyler Kartzinel, Assistant Professor in IBES and Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, is among the authors of the study.
IBES Director Kim Cobb commented that the trends described in this article are "is very alarming, and as temperatures keep spiking, this is not unexpected."
In an 18 minute interview for the Energy Nerd Show, IBES and Sociology Professor Timmons Roberts discusses public utility commissions and why they're so important.
This spring, four members of IBES faculty received awards for their outstanding contributions to Brown and the broader community. This is Part I of a series highlighting the exceptional work of each awardee.
Baylor Fox-Kemper, co-author of a new study looking at how climate scientists communicate risk, explains why prompting urgent action on climate change is often so difficult despite the dire consequences.
IBES Director Kim Cobb noted that the synergetic effects of El Niño and climate change will cause "a stepwise decline in marine ecosystem capacity. ... It's not steady and gradual, it's a cliff that species and ecosystems fall off."
Jeff Colgan — IBES Affiliate, Director of the Climate Solutions Lab, and Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs — co-authored this article with MIT's Miriam Hinthorn.
June 16, 2023 AGU Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
Dan Ibarra, Assistant Professor in IBES and DEEPS, contributed to a new study, which the authors assert "offers a strategy for assessing how well models simulate past climate during times when it was warmer than modern conditions, which may offer insight into future climate change."
Continued coverage of Postdoc Jared Heern's new study, which looked at the bios of more than 800 public utilities commissioners serving in all 50 states between 2000 and 2020.
Northern Change Research Lab's Laurence C. Smith (Professor in IBES and DEEPS), Sarah W. Cooley Ph.D. '20, and former Voss Postdoc Scholar Jonathan C. Ryan recently published this addendum to their 2021 study.