Climate Break

What is Chaos Wheat? Wheat varieties that are resilient to climate change are sometimes referred to as "chaos wheat." An initiative of King Arthur Baking Company–an emerging leader in the creation of chaos wheat–and Washington State University's Breadlab is aiming to create wheat blends, such as King Arthur's Regeneratively-Grown Climate Blend Flour, composed of unique wheat varieties bred for res...

Real Ice , a UK based start-up, has been on the forefront of exploring the viability of this new technology. Aqua Freezing involves drilling holes through sea ice to pump out the sea water below and refreeze it on the surface. Once the water freezes, it thickens existing ice to the surface. Adding snow insulation in late winter is expected to help ice persist through summer melts, thereby reducing...

Introduction to the Solution UC Davis researchers are examining a novel approach to combating climate change: turning our buildings into carbon sinks. The solution is based on incorporating biochar, a carbon-rich material obtained from plant material, into common construction materials like concrete, brick, and asphalt. By embedding carbon directly into long-lasting infrastructure, this approach r...

How Sustainable Wood Helps Mitigate the Impact of Climate Change Sustainable wood refers to the use of mass timber , which involves smaller pieces of wood that are dried and glued together in a perpendicular, crosswise pattern to form large slabs. This process can incorporate a closed-loop system that repurposes wood , promoting a circular practice that minimizes wood waste and reduces landfill us...

Assessing Climate Risks As climate change accelerates, climate risks are beginning to impact every aspect of society from infrastructure and transportation to health, biodiversity, and air and water quality. A climate risk is the potential for climate change to have adverse consequences for a human or ecological system. Climate risks have implications for property and infrastructure, posing a thre...

Unifying a Partisan Nation Around Nature Nature is Nonpartisan is a bipartisan, solutions-focused coalition working to unite Americans around shared environmental goals. By fostering cross-party support for conservation and land stewardship, the organization hopes to reframe climate action as a unifying national priority rather than a partisan fight.  Establishing Nature as Middle Ground In recent...

What is the Waverley Street Foundation? The Waverley Street Foundation, founded by Laurene Powell Jobs in 2016, aims to attack climate related issues through funding community-led programs, leading to community action against climate change. The Waverley Street Foundation specifically funds programs related to renewable energy and regenerative agriculture, as these sectors have an immense impact o...

The Dangers of Single-Use Plastic Bags Single-use plastics are extremely harmful to the environment, both in terms of their production and disposal. All plastic creates issues regarding fossil fuel emissions and waste, but single-use plastics are specifically detrimental because they contribute to the immense amounts of waste piling up on our planet. Because these plastics are not biodegradable, a...

Pumped Storage Hydropower as a Climate Solution Pumped storage hydropower, also known as water batteries, are often used as a means to store excess renewable energy. For example, solar and wind may generate more energy than is needed during certain times of the day and less than what is needed at other times.  As a result, water batteries are extremely useful as a way to store and release energy d...

What is the Earth Species Project? Can we talk to animals, or at least understand what they are saying to each other?  That’s a question that researchers hope to answer with the help of AI. Earth Species Project, a non-profit that develops sophisticated AI technologies, hopes its software can help. Specifically, they have developed Nature-LM audio which is an audio-language machine learning algori...

CONGRATULATIONS DR. OMAR YAGHI ON WINNING THE 2025 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY FOR COF 999! What is COF 999? UC Berkeley chemistry professor Dr. Omar Yaghi recently led a study which has the potential to be revolutionary in reducing the quantity of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. “Covalent organic framework number 999,” or COF 999, is a yellow, powder-like material that has billions of tiny...

How Can Coral IVF Fight Coral Bleaching? As ocean temperatures increase due to climate change, an emergent crisis known as coral bleaching is on the rise. Coral bleaching poses the largest threat to coral reefs, which are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Coral reef habitats occupy less than one percent of the ocean floor, but constitute more than 25% of all marine life, providing...

A New Sustainable Culture Through the rise in pop culture, climate change awareness has increasingly been integrated into the entertainment industry. Particularly in the Black community, multimedia cultural campaigns are used to increase interest in environmental movements with the use of light-hearted, fun content. Artists, musicians, and influencers are leveraging their platforms to highlight th...

India's Battle Against Air Pollution Historically, India has faced challenges with persistent air pollution as a result of industrial development. One key approach to combat this has been to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, Indian policymakers have been pushing for the commercialization of electric vehicles which has unlocked various incentives for companies like Vision Mechatronics t...

How Evangelical Communities in Indiana Are Leading Christian Climate Action  In Indiana, evangelical churches are finding new ways to live out their faith through environmental action. With support from the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) , congregations are installing solar panels, planting native gardens, creating nature play areas for preschoolers, and even adding electric vehicle charg...

Assessing Climate Risks As climate change accelerates, climate risks are beginning to impact every aspect of society from infrastructure and transportation to health, biodiversity, and air and water quality. A climate risk is the potential for climate change to have adverse consequences for a human or ecological system. Climate risks have implications for property and infrastructure, posing a thre...

Climate Education for Youth Climate education has the potential to drive the public towards climate science literacy , an individual’s understanding of their influence on climate and climate’s influence on them and society. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a climate-literate person:  understands the essential principles of Earth’s climate system, knows how to asses...

How Climate Change Puts the Agriculture Industry at Risk Since the Industrial Revolution, our soils have lost between twenty and sixty percent of their carbon levels as a result of agricultural practice exacerbated by more common and more extreme droughts and floods resulting from climate change. Farmers have witnessed their crops endure mass devastation as a result of these unprecedented environm...

Real Ice , a UK based start-up, has been on the forefront of exploring the viability of this new technology. Aqua Freezing involves drilling holes through sea ice to pump out the sea water below and refreeze it on the surface. Once the water freezes, it thickens existing ice to the surface. Adding snow insulation in late winter is expected to help ice persist through summer melts, thereby reducing...

Caring for God’s Creation: How Evangelical Christians Are Embracing Climate Action Across the United States, evangelical Christians are increasingly forging a connection between faith and climate action by redefining environmental work as a sacred duty to care for God’s creation. By understanding sustainability through the lens of biblically mandated stewardship, more and more Christians are disco...

What is carbon mineralization? As defined by the U.S. Geological Survey , “carbon mineralization is the process by which carbon dioxide becomes a solid mineral, such as a carbonate…The biggest advantage of carbon mineralization is that the carbon cannot escape back to the atmosphere.” This generally occurs by injecting carbon dioxide underground into certain rock formations so the carbon dioxide t...

Methane in the Atmosphere: A Serious Risk Many of the solutions we often hear about when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions revolve around reducing carbon emissions, as carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted by human activities. Methane, however, is the second most common greenhouse gas, emitted through agricultural practices, landfill waste, coal mining, and oil and...

What are public utility commissions (PUCs)?  In the transition to clean energy, state public utility commissions (PUCs), which regulate electric, gas, telecommunications, water and wastewater utilities, play an increasingly important role in achieving energy efficiency, enabling renewable energy, and implementing policies for greenhouse gas emissions reduction. PUCs  play a pivotal role in determi...

Climate Change and Anxiety: Some Data  Climate or “eco” anxiety refers to people feeling distressed about climate change and its impacts on our ecosystems, the environment, and human health and well-being. It is rooted in a deep existential dread concerning the future of the planet. Symptoms include feelings of grief, loss, anger, sadness, and guilt, which in turn can cause jitteriness, nervousnes...

What is the LCFJ? The  Latino Climate Justice Framework (LCJF) prioritizes environmental justice while helping to protect disproportionately affected individuals–commonly Latine people. Specifically, LCJF works with communities that “face numerous climate-related issues, from extreme heat affecting outdoor workers and poor air quality in neighborhoods near industrial facilities, to increased vulne...