Maxwell School News and Commentary

“We well know Trump does not accept the science of climate change and the reality of climate change. He's very dismissive of it,” says Robert Wilson, associate professor of geography and the environment. “Certainly, I've seen no news account over the past week where he's acknowledged that climate change has played a role in making the wildfires in California worse.”

“Both drought and heat are known to be more likely in the context of human-caused climate change, so the fires burning now cannot be dismissed as anomalous events,” says Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography and the environment.

Shannon Novak, professor of anthropology, has contributed to “Embodying Biodiversity: Sensory Conservation as Refuge and Sovereignty” (University of Arizona Press, 2024). The book was edited by Terese Gagnon ’18 M.A. (Anth)/’21 Ph.D. (Anth), a postdoctoral researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Sustainability Spectacle in the Gulf,” authored by Professor of Geography and the Environment Natalie Koch, was published in Current History.

“I don't think COP29 delivered the way many developing countries wanted. It was called the finance COP but you could call it a cop out in terms of how well the countries pledged a fraction of the needed finance. That goal of $1.3 trillion a year becoming only $300 billion a year now,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

“Local Government Environmental Policy Innovation: Emerging Regulation of GHG Emissions in the Transportation-for-Hire Industry,” co-authored by Assistant Teaching Professor of Policy Studies Austin Zwick and alumna Karina Freeland '23 B.A. (PSt), was published in Sustainability.

“When you are looking at the Gulf countries, you see that a lot of these sustainability projects are very large, and they’re very loud about them, but they hide the fact that, in fact, the rest of society is not at all sustainable,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

Matthew Huber, professor of geography and the environment, says the VP debate was “evidence of the sad state of our climate discourse.“

So much of the response following disasters can feel piecemeal and reactive, says Sarah Pralle, associate professor of poltical science. “Every dollar we put into prevention is going to be a lot more efficiently spent,” she explains. In a world reshaped by climate change, “this idea that there’s safe places you can go hide is unrealistic.”

“The type of damage that you'll see is to property, to infrastructure, to roads and highways, but also to critical infrastructure like hospitals and power stations. And this will be devastating. It will be in the many billions of dollars,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.