Research and News

“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.

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.”

Playing into those politics are gasoline prices, which have become a partial barometer of economic security, says Matthew Huber, professor of geography and environment. He also notes that that the oil and gas industry has history of funding research that contradicts climate science.

Matthew Huber, professor of geography and the environment spoke, spoke to The Guardian on the Inflation Reduction Act’s residential tax credits and how the programs have disproportionately benefited wealthier Americans.

The group is, among other things, studying how two programs offered by the Department of Energy stimulate innovation and engage with small businesses.

Matthew Huber, professor of geography and the environment, highlights the infrastructural advantage France has to promote sustainability. “France is known for having one of the most decarbonized electric grids in the world because they have about 70% of their electricity coming from nuclear power, which is zero carbon energy,” Huber says.

“If we can’t find a way to do decarbonization and climate policy, in addition to materially improving working people’s lives…I really do fear that a lot of working people aren’t going to be that sympathetic to the climate agenda,” says Matthew Huber, professor of geography and the environment.

“There is a quite substantial lag between addition of atmospheric carbon due to wildfire and the eventual removal of at least some of it by the regrowing forest. So, over the course of those decades, the net impact of the fires is a contribution to climate warming,” says Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography and the environment. 

Though this fire is nearly contained, in general, fire burns hotter when the weather is hotter, says Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography and the environment. He adds that drought contributes to dangerous fire seasons, but paradoxically, wetter years can too.

“Now this is where we reached this impasse where if we really want to totally restructure the grid, totally grow it in ways that can serve decarbonization, and AI...then perhaps this sort of more integrated, more central planning, more coordinated and socialized investment model could be more useful than this very scattered and sort of fragmented system we have now,” says Matt Huber, professor of geography and the environment.

“The turn to a ‘politics of building’ is a welcome change in environmental thinking, but the green Left is still at odds in important ways with the labor movement, which better understands what is needed for deep decarbonization and, most importantly, has the power to help bring it about,” writes Matthew Huber, professor of geography and the environment.

“We try to explain the environmental, economic and social benefits as well as possible unintended consequences and risks of the net-zero transition to decision makers,” says Jay Golden, founder and director of the lab and the Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance in the Maxwell School.

The student-driven award acknowledges faculty who have had a significant impact and positive influence on graduate education because of their superior graduate-level teaching, dedication to departmental and community presence and excellence in research and creative activities. 

The report, based on 2021 data, showed that the biobased products industry continued to grow, even during the economic setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Next Wave of Energy Innovation: Which Technologies? Which Skills?," co-authored by David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in Review of Environmental Economics and Policy.

"We need to be intentional in forging new pathways by which BIPOC students can find physical geography and achieve their desired level of education, because regardless of career end points, diversification depends on drawing in more students from marginalized groups," writes Professor Emeritus of Geography and the Environment Jacob Bendix and his co-authors.

Jay S. Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance at the Maxwell School, has written “Dynamic Sustainability: Implications for Policy, Markets and National Security” (Cambridge University Press, 2023).