Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
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"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."
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The New York Times

The Morning Newsletter: Compounding Disasters

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."
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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."
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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?"
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News from IBES

IBES Awards Series: Senior Lecturer Dawn King

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.
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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."
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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."
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Annual Review of Political Science

International Energy Politics in an Age of Climate Change

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.
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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."
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At IBES, we can't overstate the value of interpersonal connection. In the face of climate change, some of the most important work we can do revolves around teaching, learning from, and collaborating with others. Dr. Sekhon — a paleoclimatologist, Voss Postdoc Research Associate, and Presidential Postdoc Fellow in IBES and DEEPS — exemplifies this principle as she strives to make meaningful connections at Brown and abroad.
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NOAA announced on June 8 that El Niño has officially returned after a four-year hiatus. "A new global temperature record is by no means an unusual occurrence of late, but I suspect the magnitude of any new El Niño-related new record may be shocking to many, as it was in 2016," IBES Director Kim Cobb wrote to Axios.
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IBES Postdoc Jared Heern looked at the bios of more than 800 public utility commissioners serving in all 50 states between 2000 and 2020, finding that 25% had worked in the fossil fuel or utility industries compared to 19% with a background in environmental regulation.
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News from the Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences

Professor Amanda Lynch led the WMO Research Report at World Meteorological Conference

On 31st May, DEEPS Professor and Chair of the WMO Research Board Amanda Lynch invited the Nineteenth World Meteorological Congress to adopt eight recommendations developed by her Board to advance key elements of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) mission.
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Professor Timmons Roberts penned a letter to the editor advocating for offshore wind's economic, health, and environmental benefits. Offshore wind, he wrote, "is simply the only resource we have in New England that is at the scale to meet the increased electricity demand and get off fossil fuels."
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Nature Sustainability

Research Article: Calculating what we owe

Professor Timmons Roberts reflects on a recent study that estimates the amount of money wealthy nations would owe poorer nations for their role in the climate crisis. "Whether a fund for compensating countries for climate impacts will ever move forward is uncertain, but that does not invalidate the need for us to have a clear-eyed perspective of what is owed," he writes.
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The fourth annual student-run Future of Sustainable Investing Conference (FSIcon) will take place on Brown's campus this Friday, March 10. The event brings together investors, professionals, academics, and students for a full-day summit, challenging them to think critically about how investing can shape our future.
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In an interview with meteorologist Jeff Berardelli, IBES Director Kim Cobb discusses how and why marine limestone functions as a climate proxy. “I’m proud to say that the corals that I work with in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are as good, if not better than the temperature records from satellites,” says Cobb.
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NPR's Short Wave Podcast

Prof. Larry Smith: A course correction in managing drying rivers

“The American West is going to have to learn how to do more with less,” says Laurence Smith, IBES Professor and Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Studies. In a recent episode of the NPR Short Wave podcast, Smith argues that strategically managing rivers in the present will pave the way for a better, climate-adapted future.
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Brown University, Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences (EEPS)

Brown Students Join Pakistan Ambassador at the United Nations Conference for Climate Change Relief

11 Brown students attended a special #UnitedNations conference supporting Pakistan's post-flood rebuilding efforts. The opportunity was made possible through the course "Climate Extremes and Human Rights: Winter Session in Geneva," co-led by IBES and EEPS Professor Amanda Lynch.
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Visiting Professor of Environment and Society Robert Brulle offered commentary on research showing that scientists at oil giant Exxon were ‘uncannily accurate’ in their climate change modeling since the 1970s. These findings support ongoing efforts to hold Exxon and other fossil fuel companies accountable for deliberate climate misinformation.
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