Oil companies have been trying to rebrand themselves as cleaner and greener for years.
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Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate crisis have – predictably – provoked GOP backlash
Republican attacks, amplified by Fox News, have been met with a planned response from climate envoy John Kerry
How long might the Arctic's 'Last Ice' area endure?
An 'ice jam' bottlenecking an Arctic ice exit route shows troubling signs it may no longer serve as a year-round barrier to sea ice flow to warmer waters to the south.
Can Massachusetts Democrats Overcome the Power of Business Lobbyists and Pass Climate Legislation?
Despite supermajorities enjoyed by the party in both houses of the state legislature, a new Brown University study suggests the answer may be no.
Shadowy Twitter bots spread climate disinformation
Thomas Marlow and John Cook, scholars with the IBES-supported Climate Social Science Network, are featured in E&E News, where they discuss new research showing that a substantial amount of climate change disinformation online comes from Twitter bots.
Sea Shanties and the Whale Oil Myth
Oil companies like to point to the demise of the whaling industry as an example of market-based energy solutions. The reality is much more complicated.
January 21, 2021
News from Brown
Researchers develop new graphene nanochannel water filters
Brown University researchers have shown that tiny channels between graphene sheets can be aligned in a way that makes them ideal for water filtration.
New Report: Who’s Delaying Climate Action in Massachusetts? Twelve Findings
A new report from an IBES research team analyzing climate and energy lobbying records details the actors working against climate action in Massachusetts.
What The Biden Administration Will Mean For Climate Change In New England
Severe storms. Heat waves. Rising seas. New England is already seeing the impacts of climate change, and scientists project they will become more severe and deadly, shaping how we live and work in the northeastern U.S. This week on NEXT, in a special ahead of Inauguration Day, the New England News Collaborative and America Amplified look at climate change in our region and how President-elect Joe Biden’s administration could affect climate action in the future. Biden has proposed the most ambitious climate platform of any incoming U.S. president in history.
Women and minorities in weather and climate fields confront harassment, lack of inclusion
Last year the Black Lives Matter movement that intensified with the high-profile deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others led to heightened conversations nationwide around institutional discrimination against marginalized groups in workplaces, academia and government.
Women and minorities in the earth and atmospheric sciences were already on it.
Women and minorities in the earth and atmospheric sciences were already on it.
Global climate action needs trusted finance data
An agreed system for measuring funding of green projects in poorer nations will be vital to achieving action on climate change in 2021.
Will global warming bring a change in the winds? Dust from the deep sea provides a clue
Climate researchers describe a new method of tracking the ancient history of the westerly winds—a proxy for what we may experience in a future warming world.
January 4, 2021
News from Brown
Researchers discover a new tool for reconstructing ancient sea ice to study climate change
A previously problematic molecule turns out to be a reliable proxy for reconstructing sea ice, a new study by Brown University researchers shows.
Archaeology is going digital to harness the power of Big Data
Combining traditional "pick and trowel" field work with a sweeping birds-eye view.
The Darkest Timeline
“Deep Adaptation” made people confront the end of the world from climate change. Does it matter if it’s not correct?
Climate change turns up the heat on ad industry
Climate activists and some ad industry figures are calling on agencies to declare or dump their Big Oil clients.
Scientists Are Becoming More Politically Engaged
IBES fellow Scott Frickel and colleagues examine what that means beyond the 2020 elections.
Biden focuses on US climate diplomacy with key role for John Kerry
Ex-secretary of state’s appointment as climate envoy signals issue as priority for new president
When Creatives Turn Destructive: Image-Makers and the Climate Crisis
Today's advertising, lobbying, and public-relations firms help provide the rationalizations and the justifications that slow the pace of climate change action. IBES fellow Robert Brulle studies such marketing extensively, as described in The New Yorker.
Histories Entwined: A tale of culture, economy and the more-than-human in the fragile High Arctic
In the mid-19th century, a parade of whaling ships set sail from New England. One by one, they swept down the United States’ Atlantic coast, circled South America’s Cape Horn, and finally cruised northward, toward the Arctic edge of the Pacific Ocean.
Rising Seas: Working and living on the front lines of climate change
A handful of dedicated IBES scholars are working to trace the arc of global sea level rise: from the melting ice sheets, into the swelling oceans and onto the shores of vulnerable communities like Providence. Together, the researchers aim to chart a new course forward — staving off sea level rise where it is possible and fortifying the environments and societies where it is not.
October 27, 2020
News from Brown
With global scholarly network, Brown faculty to advance study of climate change countermovement
The Climate Social Science Network, based at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, will bring together leading scholars to catalyze collaborative research on the interests that are stalling climate action.
Understanding Delay on Climate Change
Our very existence is threatened by a warming world. Why aren’t we doing more?
October 23, 2020
News from Brown
Political, environmental, race scholars share presidential debate takeaways
Faculty at Brown shared their thoughts on the final televised presidential debate before the 2020 election, where the two major candidates sparred over COVID-19, climate change and racial justice.
October 15, 2020
News from Brown
Researchers step toward understanding how toxic PFAS chemicals spread from release sites
New lab studies are helping researchers to better understand how so called “forever chemicals” behave in soil and water, which can help in understanding how these contaminants spread.
October 8, 2020
News from Brown
Report issues climate-action recommendations for next U.S. president
A report released by Brown’s Climate Solutions Lab urged the implementation of a carbon tax and a prohibition on fossil-fuel infrastructure spending, among other recommendations.
September 29, 2020
News from Brown
Three-year initiative at Brown will study, seek to eliminate roadblocks to climate action
The Climate Solutions Initiative will focus on overcoming barriers to confronting climate change, through scholarship, learning and research-informed infrastructure changes on campus, in Providence and beyond.
September 2, 2020
News from Brown
Brown professor wins prestigious Fulbright award
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Assistant Provost for Sustainability Stephen Porder will study and teach in Paris next year as a De Tocqueville Distinguished Chair.
August 12, 2020
News from Brown
New catalyst efficiently turns carbon dioxide into useful fuels and chemicals
By efficiently converting CO2 into complex hydrocarbon products, a new catalyst developed by a team of Brown researchers could potentially aid in large-scale efforts to recycle excess carbon dioxide.
Praise for global food waste documentary by Dadourian '20
Elise Dadourian's film, The Global Food Waste Crisis and The Danish Solution, has gained widespread recognition in the last few months.
Brown students offer perspectives in sustainability book "Modern China"
In Fall 2019, sustainable investing advocate and Brown instructor Cary Krosinsky approached 12 Brown University students to contribute to his recent book, "Modern China: Financial Cooperation for Solving Sustainability Challenges."
August 6, 2020
News from Brown
Inconsistent EPA regulations increase lead poisoning risk to kids, study finds
As new lead protection rules from the Environmental Protection Agency move toward finalization, research shows that tens of thousands of children are at increased risk under the current set of inconsistent standards.
July 27, 2020
News from Brown
Anti-climate action statements get more visibility in news coverage, study finds
Analysis by assistant professor of environment and society and sociology at Brown found that press releases expressing opposition to climate action were twice as likely to receive news coverage as those supporting action.
Visiting fellow and Arctic scholar Goldstein named Editor of The Financial Review
June 11, 2020
News from Brown
New Texas wind farm will help Brown offset campus electricity use
Wind turbines in Texas, now up and running, are part of a plan that will enable the University to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, offsetting 100% of campus electricity use with renewable energy sources.
Virtual internships for undergraduates of underrepresented groups to begin Monday, June 8
IBES offers a competitive summer internship for undergraduates in partnership with the Leadership Alliance.
May 12, 2020
News from Brown
Brown scholar will use Carnegie fellowship to explore nature, politics in the Yukon
The fellowship will allow Bathsheba Demuth, an environmental historian, to use the Yukon watershed as a case study for how different societies manage, protect and plunder their natural resources.
May 8, 2020
News from Brown
Brown junior wins prestigious Udall Scholarship for environmental science
As a Udall Scholar, Melissa Lopez will examine ways to predict — and prevent — the effects of climate change upon city environments.
May 4, 2020
News from Brown
Arctic ‘shorefast’ sea ice threatened by climate change, study finds
A new study shows that coastal sea ice used by Arctic residents for hunting and fishing will be reduced as the planet warms.
Student documentary targets global food waste and Danish solution
Senior Elise Dadourian knows that our planet has a looming problem: With 10 billion mouths to feed forecasted by 2050 and a food system already made unstable by socioeconomic factors and a changing climate, food waste is a topic that everyone should be concerned about.
Hurricanes Are Reshaping Evolution Across the Caribbean
A new study of lizards in countries struck by hurricanes suggests cataclysmic weather can reshape entire species.
Rivers of Power by Laurence C. Smith: Book to Launch Online April 21
In his new book, Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith explores a sweeping natural history of the world's rivers and their ancient, complex relationship with human civilization.
Join us for a virtual book launch of Rivers of Power, to take place on YouTube on April 21, 2020 at 12:00pm (EDT).
Join us for a virtual book launch of Rivers of Power, to take place on YouTube on April 21, 2020 at 12:00pm (EDT).
Good News from IBES: Faculty, staff promotions
Porder awarded Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair
Assistant Provost for Sustainability, and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Environment and Society Stephen Porder has been named Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair for the Fall 2020 semester.
March 4, 2020
News from Brown
Letter from President Paxson: Brown’s actions on climate change
President Christina H. Paxson wrote to the campus community on March 4 with an update on Brown’s efforts to confront climate change through net-zero GHG initiatives, halting investments in fossil fuel extraction in the University’s endowment and other efforts.
February 25, 2020
News from Brown
Big data could yield big discoveries in archaeology, Brown scholar says
Parker VanValkenburgh, an assistant professor of anthropology, curated a journal issue that explores the opportunities and challenges big data could bring to the field of archaeology.
Meredith Hastings appointed deputy director of IBES
Meredith K. Hastings, Associate Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences & Environment and Society, has agreed to serve as deputy director of IBES, effective July 1, 2020.
Dov Sax appointed interim director of IBES
Dov F. Sax, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Environment and Society, has agreed to serve as interim director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES), effective July 1, 2020.
IBES, and Former EPA Director Spalding highlighted in The Boston Globe
‘With so much coast and so little land, R.I. is the most vulnerable state in New England’
Curt Spalding, the former EPA regional director who’s now at Brown, researches how communities can respond to climate change.