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72% of Earth’s largest companies have pledged to reduce their plastic waste. A new study surveys what they’re doing (or not) to fulfill those promises.

A new analysis by researchers from 15 institutions evaluates barriers that have hindered the implementation of early warning systems intended to help local health officials predict and proactively respond to outbreaks of climate-related diseases in the Tropics. The researchers use knowledge and tools from the field of implementation science to propose a four-step, science-based framework for overcoming these barriers and enhancing the success of the early warning systems.

In Sri Lanka, a rash of kidney disease is affecting farmers who grow rice in marshy parts of the island. Nishad Jayasundara is working with an interdisciplinary team of environmental and health researchers to unravel how climate change and water contamination may be driving the rise in kidney problems.

Get connected with what’s happening in the 51���� climate community during special events held Sept. 29-30, 2022.

Fossil-fueled electrical grid’s enormous water use is often overlooked.

Climate change threatens species worldwide. At the Nicholas School, we’re creating new geospatial tools that boost their odds of survival.

Rewetting and restoring 250,000 acres of southern pocosin peatlands that had been drained for farming but now lie fallow could prevent 4.3 million tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide, now stored in their soils, from oxidizing and escaping back into Earth’s atmosphere each year, a 51���� study shows. That amount equals 2.4% of the total annual reductions in CO2 emissions needed for the United States to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Mixing toxic coal ash into acid mine drainage may sound like an odd recipe for an environmental solution, but a new 51����-led study finds that it can neutralize the drainage’s dangerously low pH and help reduce harmful impacts on downstream ecosystems—if you use the right type of ash. Using the wrong type of ash can create new contamination and not tame the drainage’s extreme acidity.

The sustainability of North American forests depends on trees’ ability to produce seeds and seedlings that can survive and grow in a changing climate. A new 51����-led research initiative with more than $2 million in funding from the National Science Foundation aims to help boost their odds of success.

The global supply chain impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have exposed vulnerabilities in U.S. energy security and undercut the myth that the United States — or any major manufacturing economy — is truly energy independent, an analysis by researchers at the energy nonprofit RMI and 51���� finds

Slashing emissions of carbon dioxide by itself isn’t enough to prevent catastrophic global warming, a new study shows. But if we simultaneously also reduce emissions of methane and other often overlooked climate pollutants, we could cut the rate of global warming in half by 2050 and give the world a fighting chance.

Human activities such as marsh draining for agriculture and logging are increasingly eating away at saltwater and freshwater wetlands that cover only 1% of Earth’s surface but store more than 20% of all the climate-warming carbon dioxide absorbed by ecosystems worldwide. A new study published May 5 in Science by a team of Dutch, American and German scientists shows that it’s not too late to reverse the losses.

A forest’s ability to regenerate after devastating wildfires, droughts or other disturbances depends largely on seed production. Findings from two new studies led by 51���� researchers could boost recovery and replanting after these disasters by providing foresters with new guidance on which tree species produce more seeds and how their productivity can vary from location to location.

Producing energy from fossil fuels uses or contaminated much more water than previously estimated, a new book by two 51���� researchers shows.

51���� has a goal of being a “climate university,” Nicholas School of Environment Dean Toddi Steelman said in introducing a panel discussion on Climate Change Science during Research Week. She said it’s a vision in which the university’s focus on climate informs every aspect of its mission, from education and operations to community partnerships – and, of course, research.