Berkeley Environmental Science, Policy & Mngmt

UC Berkeley faculty and Rausser College-trained foresters and fire ecologists are helping lead @ucanr's statewide Fire Network, which links experts to the more than 7 million Californians living in some of the state’s most fire-prone regions. nature.berkeley.edu/news/2025/07/c…

The @WSJ recently spoke to Cooperative Extension professor @Dan_L_Sanchez, an expert on biomass systems that remove CO2 from the atmosphere, about Microsoft's plan to offset its carbon emissions by buying human waste and burying it underground. wsj.com/articles/micro…

Short-term profit motives have historically led companies to oppose climate reforms, according to new research co-authored by @jonasmeckling. Still, it's unclear whether this influenced recent cutbacks to climate provisions passed by Congress. Read more: hbs.edu/bigs/pressure-…

A new @AguAdvances study, led by ESPM professor Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, suggests that the amount of water in soil has the strongest influence on crop yields and can actually explain the high-temperature growing conditions that scientists have observed. ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/news/2025/07/m…

Professor Kate O'Neill spoke to The New York Times about Malaysia’s ban on importing plastic waste from the United States, and how this change could result in waste being redirected to countries that are less equipped to handle it. nytimes.com/2025/07/01/cli…

The Joint Genome Institute (@JGI) has supported cutting-edge genomic research for nearly three decades. Learn more about how Professors @BanfieldJill and Matteo Garbelotto have utilized the facility in their work. newscenter.lbl.gov/2025/06/16/adv…

Graduate students Sarah Sarfaty Epstein and Cynthia Wilson were named 2025 @switzernetwork Fellows, which supports next-generation leaders in the public and private sectors who are dedicated to creating positive environmental change. Read more: nature.berkeley.edu/news/2025/06/t…

Assistant Professor Rachel Carlson's latest study explores whether some of Hawaii's coastal businesses, which benefit greatly from threatened coral ecosystems, may serve as an untapped funding source for reef conservation and restoration. Learn more: ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/news/2025/06/a…

Congratulations to PhD candidates Yihong Zhu and Sheherazade, who are among the latest recipients of graduate fellowships from the Philomathia Center.

Thank you @CalNatResources for joining the #UrbanBiodiversity Roundtable with Berkeley Wildlife & the Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship! 📸: CNRA Deputy Secretary of Habitat & Biodiversity Meghan Hertel (left) and ESPM professor Chris Schell. #CA30x30 #conservation

Cooperative Extension professor Ted Grantham leads the COEQWAL project, which couples water and climate modeling with community engagement to provide California with new state-of-the-art water planning and stewardship tools. mavensnotebook.com/2025/06/03/not…

🎧 #BerkeleyTalks podcast: UC Berkeley Professor Timothy Bowles and journalist Michael Grunwald discuss the impact of our current agricultural methods and debate the ways we can ramp up food production without causing more harm to the environment. news.berkeley.edu/2025/05/30/ber…

Since 1888, more than 15,000 scientists, storytellers, and educators—including many from UC Berkeley—have been named @NatGeo Explorers. We highlight a handful of Explorers with ties to Rausser College in our spring magazine. nature.berkeley.edu/breakthroughs/…

Northern California could be spared this fire season, but Professor Scott Stephens cautions that high winds and dry conditions can turn Southern California into a matchbox with “the most extreme fire danger of almost anywhere on the planet.” sacbee.com/news/local/art…

A new Society for Conservation Biology study, authored by researchers at the Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship and collaborators, finds that national park visitors would donate to a fund to support conservation efforts around the parks. nature.berkeley.edu/stewardship/ne…

As climate changes and drought intensifies, a new analysis led by ESPM researchers reveals that human activity, namely irrigation, more strongly shapes groundwater supplies in northern Italy's Po Plain than natural dynamics like snowpack or precipitation. ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/news/2025/05/i…

Professor Paolo D'Odorico and postdoctoral scientist Tobia Rinaldo are part of a new multidisciplinary effort involving researchers from seven UC campuses focused on better understanding the sources, impacts, and future of dust in California. ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/news/2025/05/r…

Assistant Professor @urbanschell and alums @ScrapNaturalist and Phoebe Parker-Shames recently spoke to @nytimes reporter @hknightsf about one of San Francisco’s most polarizing urban residents: coyotes. nytimes.com/2025/05/19/us/…

Import taxes have long been a feature of international trade, but Associate Professor @DaraORourke, who has studied wages in Nike factories, recently told journalists at the @Oregonian and @propublica that a trade war could become a “huge hammer.” propublica.org/article/nike-t…

Congratulations to Charlie Kortleven, Neel Bajaria, Alexandra Boren, and Nikita Bahadur on being named winners of the 2025 Babcock Prize, which recognizes exceptional academic achievement by graduating ESPM seniors. ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/news/2025/05/f…