Environment & Ecology

September 11, 2026

What birds reveal about California’s 30×30 conservation efforts

By Bella Astin

On May 29, graduate students Nathalie Bonnet, Isabella Segarra and Peter Vitale presented their project, "Mind the GAP: Avian responses to conservation investments in California," for the Bren School's 2026 Master of Env...

November 21, 2025

Sable Offshore is just one battle in a larger fight for environmental justice

By Anusha Singh

The cause to stop Sable is a pursuit of sustainability — if restarted, the pipeline could double Santa Barbara County’s greenhouse gas emissions and likely result in an oil spill every two years. However, the questio...

November 13, 2025

Matter of Opinion: My weekend tide pooling in Isla Vista

By Makena Eggiman

Nature is all around us; from the mountains to the oceans, Santa Barbara offers a vast array of wildlife that invites exploration. Down the wooden stairs on the outskirts of Isla Vista, Devereux Beach is a popular destin...

October 30, 2025

Built by students, powered by the sun: Engineers Without Borders bring solar-powered table to UCSB

By Anusha Singh

What started as a packet of old blueprints has now turned into a fully functioning solar-powered table on UC Santa Barbara’s campus — the result of two years of persistence, problem-solving and student-led collaborat...

October 16, 2025

Why your weather app can’t figure out UCSB

By Saanvi Tiwary

Saanvi explains how computer science, ocean currents, and the marine layer collaborate to form Isla Vista's elusive and unpredictable microclimate.

September 18, 2025

Ginormous misunderstanding – the complexities of GMOs

By Science Editor, Ben Wollack

In this scientific opinion article, Ben Wollack examines the promises and risks of GMOs in America's agricultural and social landscapes.

August 11, 2025

Rooted in place: How traditional ecological knowledge is transforming environmental studies at UCSB

By Olivia Lohrer

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is defined by the Indigenous Climate Hub as the “cumulative body of knowledge, practices, and beliefs about the relationship between living beings and their environment. Passed do...

May 15, 2025

Tree rings: Reshaping climate change measurements and unnatural contributions

By Jessica Arocho

On May 5, the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management continued its Bren Seminar series with Postdoctoral Researcher Julie Edwards. Edwards’ lecture “Climate Change Detection and Attribution Using Tree Ring...

April 24, 2025

What’s in the water? Domoic acid poisons marine mammals along Southern California coast

By Olivia Lohrer

Since late March, beachgoers have encountered hundreds of washed-up animals suffering from domoic acid poisoning with symptoms that include seizures, erratic and dangerous behavior and comas.

April 17, 2025

UCSB student organizations making strides in sustainability

By Yumiko Florando, Zoey Contos

From educating future environmental scientists to building rainwater catchment systems in Rwanda, these student-led organizations are at the heart of UC Santa Barbara’s sustainability efforts. 

March 6, 2025

Author Richard Powers speaks on the intersections of science, literature and environmental loss

By Olivia Lohrer

On Feb. 23, bestselling author Richard Powers prompted an audience of nearly 800 people in Campbell Hall to consider the environment as more than just a literary backdrop but a living, breathing and ever-changing charact...

March 6, 2025

The Buzz Around the bee exhibit: A look at Santa Barbara’s pollinators

By Jesse Chamberlain

An exciting new exhibit, “Through the Looking Glass: A Microscopic Look at our Native Bees,” has been installed at the UC Santa Barbara library to showcase some of the true local bees in the area in an effort to chan...

January 30, 2025

The hidden environmental cost of groundbreaking AI models

By Katharine Chi

Although large language models are an exciting piece of innovation that have vastly transformed the landscape of information technology, the environmental impacts of AI are often ignored and swept under the rug. How does...

November 21, 2024

UCSB student selected for prestigious Land Trust Alliance and USDA Conservation Scholars Program

By Saanvi Tiwary

Lena Rose Ouse Hicks, a fourth-year environmental studies major with a minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies at UC Santa Barbara, has been awarded the prestigious 2024–25 Scholars for Conservation Leadership ...

September 23, 2024

UCSB secures $22 million NSF grant to explore unusual microbes

By Qien Feng

The BioFoundry for Extreme & Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria was one of five facilities awarded a $22 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

August 5, 2024

UCSB’s MCDB department introduces new major

By Tanvi Ladha

Embracing the dynamic landscape of biology, UC Santa Barbara introduces a new major, molecular and cellular biology (MCB), offering students the flexibility to forge their own learning path. As the expectations and desir...