UnDisciplined

Social psychologist Nilanjana Dasgupta says our bottom-up approach to DEI training is likely ineffective, but there are simple, straight-forward and research-based steps that actually work to create more equitable institutions.

A much publicized warning released in the winter of 2023 said that the Great Salt Lake was at grave risk of disappearing in only five years. Two very wet winters later, it’s now very clear that the worst case scenario is not going to happen. So…what changed?

A much publicized warning released in the winter of 2023 said that the Great Salt Lake was at grave risk of disappearing in only five years. Two very wet winters later, it’s now very clear that the worst case scenario is not going to happen. So…what changed?

A much publicized warning released in the winter of 2023 said that the Great Salt Lake was at grave risk of disappearing in only five years. Two very wet winters later, it’s now very clear that the worst case scenario is not going to happen. So…what changed?

In hindsight, it’s clear that a century of suppressing wildfires probably hasn’t made us safer in the U.S. West. But knowing what doesn’t work isn’t the same as knowing what does. So what do we do?

There are two pretty simple questions that Allison Agsten wanted to have answered as she assumed the directorship of the Center for Climate Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California: First, how do climate communicators get their information about climate? And then, what do they think the biggest challenges are when it comes to communicating about climate change?

The most obvious health risk in a warming world is heat — heat stress which can cause heat stroke, which can cause dehydration, which can cause kidney failure, and so on. But that’s not where the intersections between climate change and public health begin or end. And Heidi Honegger Rogers believes that we all need to better understand what’s happening and what is to come.

For nearly five years, water attorney Emily Lewis has been hosting a podcast on water issues with a special focus on solutions for the water-stressed US West. That podcast, called The Ripple Effect, has given her a view of something lawyers don't usually see — people working together to solve big problems.

Almost every model of future climate suggests that Western North America will grow substantially drier as global surface temperatures continue to get hotter. And that likely means less water, at least through traditional means. But Anjali Mulchandani thinks we might have some other options.

Political analysts were concerned about the Bradley Effect in 2008 in regards to Obama—and Anu Gupta says now’s the time to think about how this may impact Kamala Harris.

For a very long time it was assumed that competition and predation drove evolution and ecologies. And it’s true that antagonism plays a role. But so does mutualism — species benefiting one another without cost or consequence. And biologist Jenn Rudgers says that we should keep that in mind as we face a world that is being stressed by climate change.

Marcy Litvak says it’s vital that we try to sort out how carbon behaves in different areas of the world, and research efforts like the New Mexico Elevation Gradient Project are helping do just that.

When strong beliefs, sometimes century-long beliefs, are disputed, people tend to double down. And this is true for many people–from cult members, to respected researchers. And Dr. Marty Makary suggests that it’s notably present in medicine, and in the way we tend to groupthink.

In his new book, Combing Through the White House, Theodore Pappas suggests that the hair of American leaders has long conveyed important political and symbolic messages, and has affected the way in which the public perceives them.

It is sometimes assumed that women, as a group, tend to feel differently about climate and climate change than men. and that’s true — but as it turns out, context matters.

It was not so long ago that there seemed to be no end in sight for the continual rise of greenhouse gas emissions across the globe. But now it seems possible, even likely, that we may have reached the point in which the emissions responsible for climate change are actually starting to fall.

The western United States is getting hotter, windier, and drier. And that means more fire risk. It also means that when a fire does occur, it is likely to be much more dangerous and destructive.

Wolves were once naturally abundant in Yellowstone national park, but starting in the 1870s they fell prey to humans who hunted them until their numbers were non-existent. And this was all to protect the “big game species,” like bison and elk. But the perceived “threat” that wolves were to these species wasn’t really correct, due to their very physiology. And Dan Macnulty suggests that we need to...

One of the things that is often missed when we talk about climate change and agriculture is that climate shifts have always impacted where we can plant and what we can grow. And one of the best ways to really see this is to track how corn production has moved across North America for thousands of years. Andrew Gillreath-Brown’s work was funded by https://app.openskope.org/, a project which aims to...

For decades the basic principles of climate science were not at all controversial. To understand what changed we have to go back into the past. That’s what David Lipsky does in his latest book, The Parrot and the Igloo. (Part 2 of 2)

For decades and decades the basic principles of climate science were not at all controversial. And then, something happened. But to understand why, we have to go back into the past. (Part 1 of 2)

Archeological anthropologist Todd Braje points out that humans have been impacting global climates and ecologies for millennia. And he says that if we really want to understand our future, we need to understand that part of our past.

Since 2011, the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund has supported hundreds of researchers who have been attacked, sued, defamed, and threatened — and this year the organization has been busier than ever. The group’s director, Lauren Kurtz, says she’s happy that her organization is being sought out by scientists in need—and really sad that there is a need.

Anne Schechinger, isn’t opposed to federally subsidized insurance, but she believes it’s long past time that we look very hard at places like the Lonestar State and ask whether things need to change.

It's possible that a nation suffering from the extreme effects of climate warming might take simple steps that could change the global atmosphere. There’s not much to stop it from happening, so Ben Kravitz says the the world needs to be prepared.