Climate Solutions

California is a pioneer in researching the impacts of and solutions to climate change. Getting to carbon neutral - or net zero carbon emissions - is key to curbing our increasingly warming planet. Dr. Roger Aines of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory talks with Climate Now's James Lawler about the latest research on ways to capture carbon. Series: "Sustainable California" [Public Affairs]...

Conservation is common to all societies which learned to live within ecosystem limits. In breaking the evolutionary and biological straight-jackets constricting other species, we became the ultimate multi-niche free-ranging species. Our rise to global conquest and ecological emancipation from nature through domestication and manufacturing expanded conservation for survival to saving whales, elepha...

The impacts of climate change and the urgency to act have not gone unnoticed in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The Institute of the Americas (IOA) has released a policy white paper entitled, Nationally Determined Contributions Across the America: A Comparative Hemispheric Analysis in an effort to better assess progress made to date by countries across the Americas in delivering on their cl...

Climate scientist Julie Kalansky discusses how drought in California and Nevada is a common occurrence, with the attendant water restrictions and threat of severe wildfires bringing the reality of climate change into sharp focus. Future climate projections for the region suggest a trend toward more extremes, including more severe and prolonged drought as well as exceptionally wet years. Learn abou...

Join world renowned scientist Ram Ramanathan for insight into a multifaceted education program, Bending the Curve, which inspires action on climate solutions. The groundbreaking program is offered at all University of California campuses and internationally. Learn how he and colleagues around the world are educating students at every level to become climate warriors. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Per...

The ocean plays a major role in regulating Earth’s temperature through exchange of chemicals and microbes with the atmosphere. When waves break, ocean-derived biological species including viruses and bacteria are transferred into the atmosphere. These species can ultimately form clouds, altering precipitation and climate. Highlights will be presented of novel experiments being conducted in a uniqu...

Researchers at UC San Diego are working on cutting edge technology to combat the constant threat of wildfires in California. The WIFIRE Lab is a collaboration between the Qualcomm Institute and the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The technology uses big data from cameras, weather stations, topography and other sources to quickly predict where wildfires will spread. And, it's not just theoretical....

Skyelark Ranch, owned an operated by UC Davis graduate Alexis Robertson and her husband Gillies, uses rotational grazing while raising sheep, which can benefit plant growth, drought resistance, and the climate. The grazing encourages plant growth, which through photosynthesis, captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil, where it can create healthier soils and stay out of...

Can geoengineering save the planet? Injecting particles into the atmosphere to counter the warming effects of climate change would do nothing to offset the crop damage from rising global temperatures, according to a new analysis by UC Berkeley researchers. Shading the planet keeps things cooler, which helps crops grow better. But plants also need sunlight to grow, so blocking sunlight can affect g...

As we rethink our energy use, we focus on the highest polluters, and at a global scale. But energy use at a much finer scale seriously threatens the health and safety of hundreds of millions of people who still cook on inefficient wood stoves in developing countries. Berkeley professor Ashok Gadgil and his students launched the Berkeley Darfur Stove project to design and build efficient and inexpe...

Since we don’t yet know how fast and how high sea levels are going to rise, Berkeley urban designer Kristina Hill stresses that our strategies must be ready and be adaptive as conditions change. Rising seas pose multiple dangers. Groundwater rises on top of sea level causing inland flooding. What can we do to prepare? Kristina Hill says a fundamental principle of landscape architecture -- "dig a h...

At a time of uncertain water supplies, how can we get the most use of our water? By passing water through a material called a reverse osmosis membrane, adding a small amount of hydrogen peroxide and exposing it to ultraviolet light, engineers in Orange County, California have been turning what used to be considered useless wastewater into drinking water for more than 25 years. David Sedlak’s resea...

We are on a straight-line trajectory that connects increased emissions to a much warmer and much stranger climate. Are there pathways for escaping from the up-escalator of climate change? UC Berkeley Professor Bill Collins examines the key culprits, carbon dioxide and “black carbon” from ordinary diesel combustion. Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Science] [Show ID: 33068]

Dan Kammen’s Berkeley research group has revealed the need for a dramatic shift to electricity and away from both fossil and biofuels. Meanwhile, 1.3 billion people – 15 percent of the world population – still lack electricity, and their growing demand for it would raise – not lower – global temperatures. The solution, Kammen says, must be local. He sees great promise in efforts to bring together...

Drawing on personal experiences of living with the Maasai tribe in east Africa and the Inuit of Greenland – whose cultures and resilience derive from living in constantly changing environments - Jacqueline McGlade explores how mind-sets, economies and ecosystems can become (re)active and more resilient to an increasingly uncertain world. McGlade has pioneered research in the dynamics of ecosystems...

Kelly Ferguson is the Director of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties Energize California Program, an initiative of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. She is a lifelong Green Entrepreneur and Eco Warrior. She works to accelerate clean energy development by supporting energy entrepreneurs and startups and helping them get access to the business and technical resources they need to bring new techno...

Jennifer Granholm, the former Governor of Michigan and now on faculty at UC Berkeley, makes a rousing case for how electric driverless cars will lead to new industries, cleaner air, more mobility and a higher quality of life as commuters relax while in transit. Governor Granholm was the featured speaker in the Fall 2017 Board Dinner of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.   Series:...

“Ram” Ramanathan, chief architect of the “Bending the Curve” report, lays out the Top Ten Scalable Solutions to global climate change. V. Ramanathan is a Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanograph, UC San Diego. Series: "UC Carbon and Climate Neutrality Summit: UC Climate Solutions" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 30300]

By focusing on a current water issue, students in public schools learn the science behind the problem and then exercise the scientific method in determining a unique solution to the problem with their classmates.  The students develop teamwork and communication skills while figuring out innovative ways to problem solve- skills that are beneficial beyond the classroom.  Series: "UCTV Prime" [Public...

Floods are the most destructive of natural disasters, on average affecting 100 million people globally. Drones can be used as very cost effective mapping devices, gathering fine resolution data on a site's terrain, landcover, and even its infrastructure. This information is necessary to build models capable of predicting flood hazard at scales of streets and individual homes. Learn how the UCI Blu...

We are now at a point in the United States in which, in a range of areas, evidence-based policy making no longer enjoys the degree of even rhetorical support that it once did. Dale Jamieson, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy at NYU, reviews the history that led to the Paris Agreement and explores the strengths, weaknesses, successes, and failures of the evidence-based approach to a...

Imagine a future in which every home has an appliance that pulls all the water the household needs out of the air, even in dry or desert climates, using only the power of the sun. That future may be around the corner, with the demonstration this week of a water harvester that uses only ambient sunlight to pull liters of water out of the air each day in conditions as low as 20 percent humidity, a l...

Rosina Bierbaum, formerly of President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and an Adaptation Fellow at the World Bank, shows how climate change will affect all regions and sectors of the economy, and disproportionately affect the poorest people on the planet. Therefore, improving the resilience, adaptation, and preparedness of communities must be a high priority, equal to...

Timothy O'Connor, San Diego: Stretchable, Printable and Wearable Solar Cells Series: "Climate Solutions " [Science] [Show ID: 31078]

Andrew Zumkehr, UC Merced: Novel Land Use, Energy, Water and Solar Canals Series: "Climate Solutions " [Science] [Show ID: 31209]