Environment & Ecology

June 26, 2021

With Life Cycle Assessment, Researchers Peer Into the Environmental Legacy of Products

By Lizzy Mau

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a way of measuring the environmental impacts in the stages of a product's life.

June 12, 2021

Fleshing Out the Meaning of Regenerative Agriculture

By Shereen Mohammadzadeh

While regenerative agriculture is still very much a fluid concept, its momentum is steadfast.

May 20, 2021

New Evidence from Yucatán Caves Pour In, Suggesting Region Was Wetter Millennia Ago

By Sean Crommelin

The team learned this by examining the isotope composition of stalagmites, mounds of mineral deposits found on the floors of caves that grow upward as water drips from cave ceilings.

May 2, 2021

UCSB Researchers Piece Together Detailed Kelp Forest Food Web, Incorporating Parasites

By Mackenzie Miller

Morton hopes that the higher resolution of this food web will aid in efficiency and clarity for future research.

April 25, 2021

Forks in the Road Emerge in India’s Quest to Expand Renewables

By Sean Crommelin

The country hopes to install more than 400 gigawatts of wind and solar generation by the year 2030.

April 23, 2021

UCSB Lecturer Partners with CEC in Advocacy of Sustainable Living

By Sean Crommelin

The campaign, known as Earth Day Every Day, represents the culmination of five years of accumulated lifestyle changes carried out by Williams and her husband.

April 7, 2021

Following Widespread Die-offs, Researchers Investigate the Dangers Droughts Pose to Oaks

By Sean Crommelin

Anderegg and his collaborators have studied oaks across the west in North America, hoping to understand what resilience individual species of trees have to drought.

March 30, 2021

As Santa Barbara and California Pursue Decarbonization, Electrification Presents New Opportunities

By Devanshi Tomar

“It’s easy to get stuck in the mindset that Santa Barbara is so small when, actually, we can create a lasting impact on a global scale,” Parenteau said.

March 22, 2021

Following Negotiations, Environmentalists and Indigenous Activists Must Raise $20 Million in 90 Days To Protect West Mesa

By Sean Crommelin

If 90 days have elapsed and the funds have not been procured, Save the San Marcos Foothills has agreed not to further oppose the development.

March 14, 2021

UCSB Researchers Uncover a Hydrocarbon Cycle Beneath the Ocean

By Mackenzie Miller

Prior to these findings, the extent of the ocean hydrocarbon cycle was largely unknown, according to Love.

March 12, 2021

Tracing the Spread of Early Humans Across East Asia

By Devanshi Tomar

New knowledge supplied by better technology allowed Kennett and his research group to determine the timing of ancestry change and population movements. 

March 3, 2021

Blum Center at UCSB Hosts Public Forum To Discuss Post-Pandemic Green New Deal

By Sean Crommelin

The forum focused on how the pandemic and recent socio-political shifts have impacted the prospects for “transformative economic and environmental change."

February 17, 2021

Planned Development Next To San Marcos Foothills Preserve Faces Legal Challenges

By Sean Crommelin

The San Marcos Foothills Preserve is a protected area encompassing 200 acres of oak savanna and grassland between Santa Barbara and Goleta.

February 17, 2021

UCSB Professors, With Co-Authors From UC Davis and UC Riverside, Publish Book on the Sierra Nevada

By Sean Crommelin

California’s quintessential mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, extends 400 miles from the southernmost tip of the Cascades down to the Transverse Ranges in southern California. 

February 5, 2021

A Time For Reflection At Terror Rift

By Sean Crommelin

Luyendyk, Sorlien and their collaborators have been working with seismic reflection data to construct seismic profiles and visualize faulting along the Terror Rift. 

December 7, 2020

UCSB Researchers Find Significant Gaps in Widely Used Fisheries Datasets

By Sean Crommelin

Blasco’s hope is that studies like this will shine a spotlight on the work that those working with the FAO, RAM and the IUCN still have ahead of them.