CIRES

The only way to make beef and dairy more climate-friendly? Stop producing it

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 19:37:16 +0000

The only way to make beef and dairy more climate-friendly? Stop producing it Rachel Sauer Tue, 07/28/2026 - 13:37

Tiffany Plate

CU �ֲ��ý researcher Cliff Bueno de Mesquita and colleagues are showing why microbial solutions to livestock methane emissions reductions won’t stop beef and dairy’s environmental and health problems

By nature, cows are gassy creatures. But it’s not just the stink of their manure or their belches that are troublesome. The methane gas released by ruminants like cows (or bison, sheep or goats) also causes a lot of trouble for the planet.

That’s because methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a dramatically higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide. And ruminants raised for food account for 14% of global methane emissions.

Over the last decade or so scientists have been hard at work figuring out how to infuse cows’ feedstock with additives that inhibit methane-producing microbes. The process could reduce those methane emissions and potentially produce a more “climate-friendly” beef.

Cliff Bueno de Mesquita, who studies microbial ecology of permafrost and ancient sediments in the lab of ecology and evolutionary biology Professor Noah Fierer and in the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, teamed up with other microbiologists passionate about environmental issues for this perspective piece. (Photo: Cliff Bueno de Mesquita)

Sounds like a win-win, right? A new perspective piece by Cliff Bueno de Mesquita (PhDEBio'19), a research scientist in the lab of ecology and evolutionary biology Professor Noah Fierer and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), says otherwise.

“Even if you could decrease cows’ methane emissions by 100%, cows are still worse than plant-based agriculture for their land use, water use, pollution and impacts on human health,” says Bueno de Mesquita.

In their piece in the journal Sustainable Agriculture, Bueno de Mesquita and a team of microbiologist colleagues outline all the reasons that altering cows’ rumen microbes is a misdirected use of time, money and energy. “This is basically distracting from what we really need to be doing, which is reducing the ruminant population size,” he says.

This conclusion—that reducing the numbers of ruminants raised for food is the only solution to actually reducing livestock’s impact on the planet—has already been drawn by researchers around the world.

“There are a lot of great scientists working on this topic, with strong data sets that have been assembled with all of the evidence,” says Bueno de Mesquita.

Bueno de Mesquita and his colleagues cited 98 studies, to be exact, in their peer-reviewed opinion piece that re-emphasizes the personal and planetary benefits of a shift to a plant-based diet—and lays out exactly why rumen microbes are not the answer.

The problem with microbes

Some of the literature references cited in the piece are studies that have been done on the most common feed additives that have been studied for methane inhibition: seaweed and 3-nitrooxypropanol (or Bovaer). The research shows that the demonstrated efficacy of these microbes is extremely variable, with one review reporting a range of 10–63% reduction and another review reporting a range of a 4% increase to a 97% reduction.

Bueno de Mesquita and colleagues are also concerned that altering rumen microbes may lead to unpredictable health effects for the cattle, and may even decrease immunity to pathogens that could be detrimental to human health.

Another reason for concern? This method favors intensive beef production, where cattle are fed in feedlots rather than on grass (as is more likely to be the case in small-holder production). Not to mention that seaweed harvesting has its own inherent carbon emissions and environmental impact.

But Bueno de Mesquita’s team points out that even if none of these were issues, methane reduction does nothing to address potent nitrogen emissions or other emissions from the rest of the production life cycle (e.g., land use, water use, fertilizer, crop residues, manure).

Bueno de Mesquita and colleagues created this graphic to demonstrate how many ways livestock production can impact the environment and human health—and how only one of these impacts is reduced by trying to alter the microbes in the rumen with feed additives. (Graphic: Cliff Bueno de Mesquita and Ylenia Vimercati Molano)

Shifting people’s perspectives

The authors wrote the piece to be accessible to non-scientists in hopes of reaching as wide an audience as possible. “I want the public to be aware and to be skeptical of labels coming from the beef and dairy industry that are calling those products climate friendly,” says Bueno de Mesquita.

Of course, he also hopes that people will consider simply shifting to a plant-based diet in order to make their meals more climate friendly. But he knows that’s easier said than done.

“We're basically living in a ‘carnistic’ society where eating meat is perceived to be normal, natural and necessary,” says Bueno de Mesquita. “That's sort of people's default. So when they’re met with a proposal for a minor shift that challenges that, we know there's gonna be pushback.”

Two years ago Bueno de Mesquita and his co-authors published another paper documenting a push within CU �ֲ��ý’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department for more plant-based meals. “The PhD students were very hesitant to implement a dietary change, even though they know that it's going to be better for the environment.”

Even still, Bueno de Mesquita says the current perspective piece is getting a lot of traction. “I basically never get emails about my research papers,” he says. “But I've already gotten emails from multiple people saying that they agree.” He adds that even some leading microbiologists have posted it on social media.

That’s key to reaching the other audience Bueno de Mesquita and colleagues wanted to address: the microbiologists actually doing the research on rumen microbes in livestock feed, usually funded by the beef and dairy industries, he says.

“They're enabling the dairy industry to say, ‘Hey, we're doing this research. This is going to work’,” says Bueno de Mesquita. “Then the industry has an excuse to keep business as usual.”

Instead, he hopes that microbiologists and other scientists studying climate change will step up and speak with a unified voice about what needs to be done as a society. “It's very obvious,” says Bueno de Mesquita. “If you want to reduce methane from ruminants, you need to decrease the number of ruminants.”

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about ecology and evolutionary biology? Show your support.

Traditional

White

Top photo: Unsplash

Meet the scientist who stumbled into the cold—and stayed

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 14:30:00 +0000

Meet the scientist who stumbled into the cold—and stayed Rachel Sauer Mon, 11/17/2025 - 07:30

Clint Talbott

John Cassano, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at CU �ֲ��ý, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and fellow at CIRES, recently returned from his 15th research trip to Antarctica

The first time John Cassano flew to Antarctica, he found the 12-hour commercial flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand, uncomfortable. Then he boarded a C-130 cargo plane bound for Antarctica.

“Put me on a commercial plane in a middle seat for 12 hours,” he says, chuckling. “I’ll take that over being in a cargo plane any day.”

John Cassano, a CU �ֲ��ý professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and self-described "weather weenie," has been pursuing research in Antarctica since 1994.

That was January 1994. Cassano was 25 and a graduate student who had agreed to work on a project installing weather stations in Greenland and Antarctica. He figured he’d go once, check Antarctica off his list and move on with life. Thirty years later, he’s still going back.

Cassano did not plan to be a polar researcher. Growing up in New York, he imagined a career in architecture—something tangible, predictable. But a freshman weather class at Montana State University changed everything. “I decided architecture wasn’t for me.”

Meteorology seemed a better fit. Montana State didn’t offer meteorology, so Cassano earned an earth science degree and headed to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, intending to study storms. Then came an invitation from Charles Stearns, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, asking if Cassano would be interested in working on a project in Antarctica.

“I had no real interest in the polar regions,” Cassano admits. “But I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to go to Antarctica once.”

That “once” became a career. After two field seasons with Stearns, Cassano pursued a PhD at the University of Wyoming, focusing on Antarctic meteorology. Today, as a professor in the �ֲ��ý’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, he has lived about a year in Antarctica over the course of 15 trips there.

Cassano is also lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and a fellow at CU �ֲ��ý’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.

'A weather weenie at heart'

The science keeps him coming back. Cassano’s work explores how the atmosphere behaves in Earth’s most extreme environments—knowledge that underpins climate models and weather forecasts worldwide.

The adventure is also alluring. “I’m a weather weenie at heart,” he says. “I like experiencing extremes—strong winds, big snowstorms, really cold temperatures. Antarctica gives me that.”

He recalls standing in minus 56°F air, frostbite nipping his fingers as he launched drones. “I enjoy experiencing those conditions,” he says. “I wouldn’t want to camp in a tent for months like the early explorers, but I like the challenge.”

John Cassano (right) and then-fellow graduate student Mark Seefeldt (left), now a research scientist in Cassano's group at CIRES, on their first trip to Antarctica in 1994. (Photo: John Cassano)

Cassano’s contributions have helped reshape polar science. In 2009, he led the first U.S.-funded drone research campaign in Antarctica, opening new ways to measure the atmosphere where traditional instruments fall short.

“Drones let us probe the boundary layer—the part of the atmosphere that exchanges heat and moisture with the surface,” he explains. “That’s critical for understanding climate.”

Earlier, as a postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State University, Cassano helped modernize Antarctic weather forecasting. The Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System, launched in 2001, transformed flight safety.

“When I started going down in the ’90s, forecasters were confident about eight hours out,” he says. “Now it’s five days. That’s huge.”

That’s a big change for several reasons, not the least of which is that an eight-hour forecast could change from the time a plane left Christchurch, New Zealand, and got closer to Antarctica. Planes often had to turn around mid-flight back then, Cassano recalls.

Witnessing dramatic changes

Cassano has witnessed dramatic changes in three decades of research.

Arctic sea ice has declined about 40 percent in recent decades. Antarctic sea ice, once at record highs, now hovers at record lows. Ice shelves are collapsing.

“These changes matter,” he says. “They alter the temperature gradient between the tropics and poles, which drives global weather. Even if you never go to the polar regions, it affects the storms you experience.”

Meanwhile, fieldwork isn’t all adventure. “Emotionally, it’s hard,” Cassano says. “When I was single, I didn’t mind being gone for months. Now, being away from my wife and daughter is tough.”

Comforts are few: shared dorm rooms, institutional food and the knowledge that if something happens at home, he can’t leave. “Once you’re there in August, you’re stuck until October.”

But Cassano treasures the Antarctic community—a self-selecting group of scientists and support staff who thrive in isolation. “You don’t wind up in Antarctica by mistake,” he says.

“Everyone wants to be there. Contractors work six-month stints and spend the rest of the year traveling. It’s like living in a travelogue.”

Kara Hartig (left), CIRES visiting fellow postdoc, and John Cassano (right), in Antarctica during the 2025 research season. (Photo: John Cassano)

He loves the stories: a mechanic who spent his off-season trekking through South America, a cook who had just returned from hiking in Nepal. “You hear all these amazing experiences,” Cassano says. “It’s like living inside a travel magazine.”

Behind every scientific breakthrough lies a vast support system. “I can focus on science because others make sure I have food, water, transportation and a warm place to sleep,” Cassano says. “That infrastructure is critical.”

Cassano worries about the cost of fieldwork and the ripple effects of recent disruptions. “Field projects are expensive,” he says. “COVID and a major McMurdo Station rebuild created a backlog. My project was supposed to be in the field in 2021—we went in 2025. NSF is still catching up.”

Federal priorities are a concern in the current political climate, but Cassano suggests that Antarctic research might be less vulnerable than other kinds of federally sponsored science.

“Antarctic research has always had a geopolitical dimension,” Cassano notes. “The Antarctic Treaty encourages nations to maintain scientific programs. It’s how you keep a seat at the table.”

Constant curiosity

For Cassano, mentoring is particularly rewarding. “I love bringing new people down,” he says. “Seeing Antarctica through their eyes makes me excited again.” On his latest trip, he watched a young researcher, Kara Hartig, CIRES visiting fellow postdoc, as she experienced the ice for the first time. “Her enthusiasm reminded me why I do this.”

That excitement ripples outward. After Cassano shared photos in class, a former student emailed, saying, “I’m on my way to Antarctica to work as a chef at McMurdo,” the largest research station on the continent.

“He just wanted to experience it,” Cassano says. “I think that’s awesome.”

Cassano’s curiosity remains undiminished. On his latest trip, when drones failed to arrive, he improvised with van-mounted sensors, uncovering puzzling temperature swings across the ice shelf.

What might we learn from the data? “It hints at important processes,” he says. “Now we need to go back and figure out why.”

After three decades, Cassano still marvels at the complexity of the atmosphere—and the urgency of understanding it. “Increasing our knowledge is broadly beneficial,” he says. “And for me, it’s just fascinating.”

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about atmospheric and oceanic sciences? Show your support.

Traditional

White

Top image: Sunset over the Royal Society Range (background), sea ice in McMurdo Sound (mid-ground) and McMurdo Station from John Cassano's 2025 Antarctic trip. (Photo: John Cassano)

‘Climate contrarianism’ is down but not out, expert says

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 18:31:11 +0000

‘Climate contrarianism’ is down but not out, expert says Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/22/2024 - 11:31

Clay Bonnyman Evans

CU �ֲ��ý’s Max Boykoff documents how the industry-funded Heartland Institute has morphed in the past decade

In 2011, Max Boykoff attended the 2011 Heartland Institute’s Sixth International Conference on Climate Change in Washington, D.C., to better understand how the prominent conservative think tank was influencing the climate debate.

The institute was founded in 1984 to “discover, develop and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems,” rejecting the consensus of relevant experts on issues such as climate change, healthcare and tobacco regulation.

In his 2013 paper (co-authored with Shawn Olson-Hazboun), “’‘Wise contrarians’: a keystone species in contemporary climate science, politics and policy,” Boykoff examined the motivations, drive and exhilaration among attendees “that prop up these contrarian stances, such as ideological or evidentiary disagreement to the orthodox views of science.”

Max Boykoff, a CU �ֲ��ý professor of environmental studies, conducts research to better understand climate contrarianism.

Ten years later, Boykoff ventured back into contrarian country to interview attendees of the Heartland Institute’s 14^th climate-change conference and examine how it compares with the earlier conference.

In his recent peer-reviewed article in the journal Climatic Change, Boykoff identified “ten key themes—five comparisons and five contrasts—that point to adaptive strategies deployed in ongoing and wider CCM (climate-change countermovement) efforts that effectively shape sustainability technology and climate policy.”

While in some ways the organization has declined in visibility, Boykoff says it maintains a $6 million budget, largely funded by conservative contrarian entities such as the American Petroleum Institute, the Charles G. Koch Foundation, ExxonMobil, Philip Morris International and the Walton Family Foundation.

“There is a tendency to dismiss them as a bunch of goofballs, aging, largely white men who chip away at people doing good work through (the organization’s) efforts online and elsewhere,” says Boykoff, professor of environmental studies and fellow at CIRES, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, at the �ֲ��ý. “But it is a mistake to dismiss them because of their ongoing activities that they are continuing to pursue often behind the public scenes.”

Understanding climate contrarianism

Through interviews with 21 speakers in the 2021 conference, Boykoff identified five continuities with the 2011 gathering:

Ongoing rhetoric of freedom, appeals to liberty and support for free-market capitalism
Attacks on science, scientists and purported climate “alarmism”
Self-perception as “embattled underdogs”
Righteousness and confidence that their views trump those of relevant experts
A proud “us vs. them” stance and nostalgia for past fights that garnered public attention

“(W)hile they may have viewed themselves as benevolently motivated and careful, critical thinkers, in their prepared remarks, self-assurance, appearances of bold conviction, poor listening skills, sensitivity to criticism, and a lack of empathy were evident … throughout the (2021) conference,” Boykoff writes.

He also identified five key contrasts that have developed over the past decade:

Instances of paranoia—such as doubting Boykoff’s credentials—in the face of shrinking prestige
Waning public-facing influence
“A penchant to feed climate contrarianism into ‘culture wars,’ including anti-vaccination and anti-mask movements”
Reflection on their individual legacies
A shift in focus from federal- to state-level sites of resistance and increased undermining of environmental, social and governmental (ESG) actions to influence climate change

Of those, Boykoff finds the shift to state-level action and influence, the attack on ESG principles and the conflation of climate change with seemingly unrelated “culture war” issues the most concerning.

Through the freedom and liberty tropes, alarmism and attacks on science, many feel like they are embattled underdogs who think they know better than those who dedicate their lives to this issue.”

“Hitching their wagon to culture wars … helps give them a purpose, some semblance of notoriety that some of them seemingly crave,” says Boykoff, adding he was careful to “stick with observation” rather than speculation in writing the paper.

A potent disrupter

Boykoff personally experienced the intensity of Covid-related contrarianism, with one man demanding that he remove his mask.

“Anti-masking rhetoric pervaded my conversations,” he says. “It helps them feel as if they are fighting some heroic, just cause.”

Attacking ESG principles gave participants a “hook to talk about the ‘woke left,’ the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the Fed (Federal Reserve). … Through the freedom and liberty tropes, alarmism and attacks on science, many feel like they are embattled underdogs who think they know better than those who dedicate their lives to this issue,” he says.

Despite the vigorous contrarianism he encountered, the 2021 conference struck Boykoff as further evidence of the conference sponsor’s fading public-facing influence.

“While this research finds persistent animosity and division fed by Heartland Institute speakers and participants,” he writes, “there are emergent signals that these rhetorical strategies are increasingly being viewed as ossified and fossilized in a decarbonizing world.”

Even so, Boykoff warns that the institute remains a potent disrupter, supporting such efforts as mailing climate-contrarian school materials to teachers who may not have time to fully vet the information.

“These are dated perspectives, and the world is moving on,” he says. “But they are persistent, and they are still getting a lot of funding.”

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about environmental studies? Show your support.

CU �ֲ��ý’s Max Boykoff documents how the industry-funded Heartland Institute has morphed in the past decade.

Traditional

White

Reframing the challenge of living with wildfire

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 20:51:55 +0000

Reframing the challenge of living with wildfire Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/17/2023 - 14:51

Kyra Clark-Wolf , Philip Higuera

What the extreme fire seasons of 1910 and 2020–and 2,500 years of forest history–tell us about the future of wildfires in the West

Strong winds blew across mountain slopes after a record-setting warm, dry summer. Small fires began to blow up into huge conflagrations. Towns in crisis scrambled to escape as fires bore down.

This could describe any number of recent events, in places as disparate as Colorado, California, Canada and Hawaii. But this fire disaster happened over 110 years ago in the Northern Rocky Mountains of Idaho and Montana.

The “Big Burn” of 1910 still holds the record for the largest fire season in the Northern Rockies. Hundreds of fires burned over 3 million acres – roughly the size of Connecticut – most in just two days. The fires destroyed towns, killed 86 people and galvanized public policies committed to putting out every fire.

Today, as the climate warms, fire seasons like in 1910 are becoming more likely. The 2020 fire season was an example. But are extreme fire seasons like these really that unusual in the context of history? And, when fire activity begins to surpass anything experienced in thousands of years – as research suggests is happening in the Southern Rockies – what will happen to the forests?

CU �ֲ��ý researcher Kyra Clark-Wolf holds a sediment core pulled from a lake containing evidence of fires over thousands of years. (Photo and top image: Philip Higuera)

As paleoecologists, we study how and why ecosystems changed in the past. In a multiyear project, highlighted in two new publications, we tracked how often forest fires occurred in high-elevation forests in the Rocky Mountains over the past 2,500 years, how those fires varied with the climate and how they affected ecosystems. This long view provides both hopeful and concerning lessons for making sense of today’s extreme fire events and impacts on forests.

Lakes record history going back millennia

When a high-elevation forest burns, fires consume tree needles and small branches, killing most trees and lofting charcoal in the air. Some of that charcoal lands on lakes and sinks to the bottom, where it is preserved in layers as sediment accumulates.

After the fire, trees regrow and also leave evidence of their existence in the form of pollen grains that fall on the lake and sink to the bottom.

By extracting a tube of those lake sediments, like a straw pushed into a layer cake from above, we were able to measure the amounts of charcoal and pollen in each layer and reconstruct the history of fire and forest recovery around a dozen lakes across the footprint of the 1910 fires.

Lessons from Rockies’ long history with fire

The lake sediments revealed that high-elevation, or subalpine, forests in the Northern Rockies in Montana and Idaho have consistently bounced back after fires, even during periods of drier climate and more frequent burning than we saw in the 20th century.

High-elevation forests only burn about once every 100 to 250 or more years on average. We found that the amount of burning in subalpine forests of the Northern Rockies over the 20th and 21st centuries remained within the bounds of what those forests experienced over the previous 2,500 years. Even today, the Northern Rockies show resilience to wildfires, including early signs of recovery after extensive fires in 2017.

But similar research in high-elevation forests of the Southern Rockies in Colorado and Wyoming tells a different story.

The record-setting 2020 fire season, with three of Colorado’s largest fires, helped push the rate of burning in high-elevation forests in Colorado and Wyoming into uncharted territory relative to the past 2,000 years.

Long-term changes in climate, forest density and fire frequency over the past 4,800 years in one high-elevation forest in the Northern Rockies, reconstructed from lake sediments. The red dots reflect timing of past fires. (Infographic: Kyra Clark-Wolf)

Climate change is also having bigger impacts on whether and how forests recover after wildfires in warmer, drier regions of the West, including the Southern Rockies, the Southwest and California. When fires are followed by especially warm, dry summers, seedlings can’t establish and forests struggle to regenerate. In some places, shrubby or grassy vegetation replace trees altogether.

Changes happening now in the Southern Rockies could serve as an early warning for what to expect further down the road in the Northern Rockies.

Warmer climate, greater fire activity, higher risks

Looking back thousands of years, it’s hard to ignore the consistent links between the climate and the prevalence of wildfires.

Warmer, drier springs and summers load the dice to make extensive fire seasons more likely. This was the case in 1910 in the Northern Rockies and in 2020 in the Southern Rockies.

When, where and how climate change will push the rate of burning in the rest of the Rockies into uncharted territory is harder to anticipate. The difference between 1910 and 2020 was that 1910 was followed by decades with low fire activity, whereas 2020 was part of an overall trend of increasing fire activity linked with global warming. Just one fire like 1910’s Big Burn in the coming decades, in the context of 21st-century fire activity, would push the Northern Rockies beyond any known records.

Lessons from the long view

The clock is ticking.

Extreme wildfires will become more and more likely as the climate warms, and it will be harder for forests to recover. Human activity is also raising the risk of fires starting.

The Big Burn of 1910 left a lasting impression because of the devastating impacts on lives and homes and, as in the 2020 fire season and many other recent fire disasters, because of the role humans played in igniting them.

Accidental ignitions – from downed power lines, escaped campfires, dragging chains, railroads – expand when and where fires occur, and they lead to the majority of homes lost to fires. The fire that destroyed Lahaina, Hawaii, is the most recent example.

So what can we do?

Curbing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources can help slow warming and the impacts of climate change on wildfires, ecosystems and communities. Forest thinning and prescribed burns can alter how forests burn, protecting humans and minimizing the most severe ecological impacts.

Reframing the challenge of living with wildfire – building with fire-resistant materials, reducing accidental ignitions and increasing preparedness for extreme events – can help minimize damage while maintaining the critical role that fires have played in forests across the Rocky Mountains for millennia.

Kyra Clark-Wolf is a post-doctoral research associate in ecology in CIRES at CU �ֲ��ý; Philip Higuera is a professor of fire ecology at the University of Montana

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

What the extreme fire seasons of 1910 and 2020 – and 2,500 years of forest history – tell us about the future of wildfires in the West.

Off

Traditional

White

Experts see hope despite grim climate projections

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 17:13:55 +0000

Experts see hope despite grim climate projections Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/18/2019 - 11:13

Clint Talbott

CU �ֲ��ý and NOAA scientists join panel discussion following �ֲ��ý screening of Ice on Fire, an HBO documentary

Human activity has changed the climate, and humans have not yet done enough to slow—much less reverse—the damage, yet four scientists who study climate change all agreed this week that they have reason for optimism.

The scientists, all of whom appear in the HBO documentary Ice on Fire, joined a panel discussion after the �ֲ��ý screening of the film on the �ֲ��ý campus.

Gabrielle Petron, at right, makes a point during a panel discussion on campus following the CU �ֲ��ý screening of the HBO documentary Ice on Fire. To her left are other �ֲ��ý experts who also appear in the film: College of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean James W.C. White, NOAA Scientist Pieter Tans, and INSTAAR Climate Technician Jennifer Morse. Photo by Glenn Asakawa. At the top of the page is an image from the filming of the documentary.

“On the pessimism scale, I’m an 8 or 9” on a scale of one to 10, said James W.C. White, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a highly cited climatologist. On the optimism scale, however, he said he was a 9 or 10.

“The generation of students that comes to this campus wants to change the world. I want to give them every opportunity to do that,” White said.

Produced by Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio, George DiCaprio and Mathew Schmid, Ice on Fire focuses on solutions designed to slow the accelerating environmental crisis. It argues that renewable energy is necessary but insufficient to meet the climate challenge.

White’s acknowledgement of the grim scientific findings but expression of hope reflected the themes of Ice on Fire, which also features three other �ֲ��ý scientists who joined the panel discussion:

Jennifer Morse, climate technician at the Mountain Research Station of the CU �ֲ��ý Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR).
Gabrielle Petron, research scientist at the CU �ֲ��ý Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Pieter Tans, chief of the Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases Group at the NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory Global Monitoring Division.

Waleed Abdalati, who directs CIRES and moderated the panel discussion, asked the experts how they’d rank both their pessimism and optimism.

Tans said he was both pessimistic and optimistic, noting that the Paris Agreement on climate action hasn’t been effectively implemented. On the other hand, he said, people have the freedom to vote for government leaders who will take action.

Petron, too, expressed both pessimism and optimism, emphasizing the desire of younger people to address climate change. “Even our generation, we want a world we can thrive in,” she said.

Morse emphasized hope. “I’m super-optimistic about the next generation, but let’s not leave it all to them,” she said.

Meanwhile, the rapid decreases in land and sea ice are grave causes for concern, the panelists said. “What’s concerning about an ice-free Arctic is a planet that has a very different weather pattern from where we live,” White said. “There’s a huge amount of carbon locked up in the Arctic.”

Indigenous people see the change first hand, he added: “If you are indigenous to the Arctic, you are terrified.”

Ice on Fire argues for a two-pronged approach to reversing the crisis: reducing carbon emissions through traditional renewable energy sources and new ones, like tidal energy, and implementing “drawdown” measures, focusing on methods for drawing down and sequestering carbon, including direct air capture, sea farms, urban farms, biochar, marine snow and bionic leaves.

The panelists also discussed how individuals can help in their everyday lives, even if they can’t afford to buy solar panels and don’t own their own homes (and thus can’t invest in energy-efficiency measures). Consuming less stuff and eating lower on the food chain were two suggestions.

After a spirited Q&A session with the audience, Abdalati asked the panelists to give the audience a one-sentence message to take home. Two responded with one word.

Morse: “Together.”

Tans: “Solidarity.”

Petron: “We don’t have time; we need to act.”

White: “Show your children and grandchildren that you really do love them.”

CU �ֲ��ý and NOAA scientists join panel discussion following �ֲ��ý screening of Ice on Fire, an HBO documentary.

Off

Traditional

White

DiCaprio film featuring four local scientists to be screened here

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 22:40:43 +0000

DiCaprio film featuring four local scientists to be screened here Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/03/2019 - 16:40

CU �ֲ��ý and NOAA scientists to join panel discussion following the film

Leila Conners and Leonardo DiCaprio arrive for the LA Premiere Of HBO's Ice On Fire. Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images. At the top of the page, cinemetographer Harun Mehmedinovic surveys an Arctic sky. Photo by Harun Mehmedinovic.

(Note: Due to a family emergency, Leila Connors, the film's director, will not attend the screening as originally reported. This story has been amended accordingly.)

Have humans past the tipping point with the climate, or can we act, even now, to reduce the damage the planet’s inhabitants will suffer? That’s a question posed in the HBO documentary Ice on Fire, which features three �ֲ��ý scientists.

The university will host a screening of the film on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 6:30 p.m. in the CASE Auditorium on campus. The event is free, but registration is required; follow this link.

Ice on Fire emphasizes the importance of an immediate, two-pronged approach to reversing the crisis: reducing carbon emissions through traditional renewable energy sources and new ones, like tidal energy, and implementing “drawdown” measures, focusing on methods for drawing down and sequestering carbon, including direct air capture, sea farms, urban farms, biochar, marine snow, bionic leaves and others.

“It’s an intelligently structured series of arguments which repeatedly takes the audience to the brink of despair, before pulling back with a glimmer of optimism,” a Screen Daily review said. The film premiered to a standing ovation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The post-screening panel discussion will be moderated by Waleed Abdalati, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at CU �ֲ��ý. The panelists will include four local scientists who appear in the film. They are:

Jennifer Morse, Climate Technician, Mountain Research Station, CU �ֲ��ý Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR).
Gabrielle Petron, research scientist at CIRES/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Pieter Tans, chief, Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases Group, NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory Global Monitoring Division.
Jim White, interim dean, CU �ֲ��ý College of Arts and Sciences, professor of geological sciences and former INSTAAR director.

The event is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, with support from the CU �ֲ��ý Research & Innovation Office, INSTAAR and CIRES.

[video:https://youtu.be/Elf0RFBhr8I]

Film ‘repeatedly takes the audience to the brink of despair, before pulling back with a glimmer of optimism,’ Cannes reviewer says

Off

Traditional

White

Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Scaling it up

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 23:47:26 +0000

Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Scaling it up Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/19/2016 - 16:47

Maxwell Boykoff

�ֲ��ý the author:Maxwell T. Boykoff is the co-author of the chapter: "Serious fun: scaling up community-based adaptation through experiential learning and is an associate professor in the Center for Science and Technology Policy, which is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the �ֲ��ý.

Book description: As climate change adaptation rises up the international policy agenda, matched by increasing funds and frameworks for action, there are mounting questions over how to ensure the needs of vulnerable people on the ground are met. Community-based adaptation (CBA) is one growing proposal that argues for tailored support at the local level to enable vulnerable people to identify and implement appropriate community-based responses to climate change themselves.

Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Scaling it up explores the challenges for meeting the scale of the adaptation challenge through CBA. It asks the fundamental questions: How can we draw replicable lessons to move from place-based projects towards more programmatic adaptation planning? How does CBA fit with larger scale adaptation policy and programmes? How are CBA interventions situated within the institutions that enable or undermine adaptive capacity?

Combining the research and experience of prominent adaptation and development theorists and practitioners, this book presents cutting edge knowledge that moves the debate on CBA forward towards effective, appropriate, and ‘scaled-up’ adaptive action.

Publication date: Jan. 17, /2014

Publisher:Routledge

Amazon.com:Read more on Amazon.com

Off

Traditional

White

The Galápagos: A Natural Laboratory for the Earth Sciences

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 21:17:00 +0000

The Galápagos: A Natural Laboratory for the Earth Sciences Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/19/2016 - 14:17

Kristopher Karnauskas

�ֲ��ý the author:Kristopher B. Karnauskas is the co-author of the chapter: "Climate and the Global Reach of the Galápagos Archipelago: State of the Knowledge" and is fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC) at the �ֲ��ý.

Book description: The Galápagos Islands are renown for their unique flora and fauna, inspiring Charles Darwin in the elaboration of his theory of evolution. Yet in his Voyage of the Beagle, published in 1839, Darwin also remarked on the fascinating geology and volcanic origin of these enchanted Islands. Since then, the Galápagos continue to provide scientists with inspiration and invaluable information about ocean island formation and evolution, mantle plumes, and the deep Earth.

Motivated by an interdisciplinary Chapman Conference held in the Islands, this AGU volume provides cross-disciplinary collection of recent research into the origin and nature of ocean islands, from their deepest roots in Earth's mantle, to volcanism, surface processes, and the interface between geology and biodiversity.

Volume highlights include:

Case studies in biogeographical, hydrological, and chronological perspective
Understanding the connection between geological processes and biodiversity
Synthesis of decades of interdisciplinary research in physical processes from surface to deep interior of the earth
In-depth discussion of the concept of the island acting as a natural laboratory for earth scientists
Integrated understanding of the Galápagos region from a geological perspective

Collectively, The Galápagos presents case studies illustrating the Galápagos Archipelago as a dynamic natural laboratory for the earth sciences. This book would be of special interest to a multidisciplinary audience in earth sciences, including petrologists, volcanologists, geochronologists, geochemists, and geobiologists.

Publication date: Oct. 1, 2014

Publisher:Wiley

Amazon.com:Read more on Amazon.com

Collectively, The Galápagos presents case studies illustrating the Galápagos Archipelago as a dynamic natural laboratory for the earth sciences. This book would be of special interest to a multidisciplinary audience in earth sciences, including petrologists, volcanologists, geochronologists, geochemists, and geobiologists.

Off

Traditional

White

CU �ֲ��ý launches cool certificate in Arctic studies

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 18:15:01 +0000

CU �ֲ��ý launches cool certificate in Arctic studies Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/05/2016 - 11:15

Jeff Thomas

There probably is not a more suitable location for one of the world’s only interdisciplinary certificates in Arctic studies than the �ֲ��ý.

Benjamin Teitelbaum

“In some ways we couldn’t afford not to do it,” said Assistant Professor Benjamin Teitelbaum, who will serve as the director of the certificate that will be administered by the College of Arts and Sciences’ International Affairs Program.

“We have a world-class research institutes like INSTAAR (the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research) and CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences), a program in International Affairs, a program in Nordic Studies, and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies.”

“With all that already in place, there is relatively little new that is needed,” Teitelbaum said. Indeed, talks between International Affairs, INSTAAR and CIRES, which oversees the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), were initiated little more than a year ago.

“Part of the impetus to creating the certificate was our recognition of the growing geopolitical significance of the Arctic area in general,” said Teitelbaum, noting the growing potential for international conflict over natural resources as shipping lanes open.

In addition to International Affairs, INSTAAR and CIRES, the undergraduate certificate is also supported by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Department of Geography, the Environmental Studies Program, the Department of Anthropology, and the Department of Ethnic Studies. Teitelbaum credited NSIDC Director Mark Serreze, a geography professor, and Tom Zeiler, director of international affairs, with really getting the ball rolling in early discussions.

“Of course, one of the most pressing issues is ice melt; where we see the effects of global warming taking place at a greater degree than elsewhere,” Teitelbaum said. “But we’ve designed this certificate to crisscross the boundaries between the humanities, social sciences and the natural sciences.”

The program’s first offerings will begin in spring 2017 semester and are open to all CU undergraduates. The certificate requires the completion of six courses for a total of 18 credit hours.

“I think this is going to attract a wide range of students. Students interested in geopolitics, or students interested in environmental studies or students interested in policy can all concentrate in areas they are familiar with, though we want to make inroads in showing people that the environment, politics and arts are all affected together.”

Credit hours are distributed in three categories: certificate core courses, environment and policy, and culture and society. The core courses include Geography 2271 - Introduction to Arctic Climate and Environment; Political Science 3206 - The Environment and Public Policy; and International Affairs 3631 - Arctic Society and Culture.

From the core courses, the program offers flexibility for undergraduate students to follow their own strengths—for instance, in choosing among science-, policy- or societal-driven studies. That’s important to Teitelbaum, who hopes that the program attracts a good cross-section of students who will also bring differentiated interests on board.

“I think this is going to attract a wide range of students,” he said. “Students interested in geopolitics, or students interested in environmental studies or students interested in policy can all concentrate in areas they are familiar with, though we want to make inroads in showing people that the environment, politics and arts are all affected together.”

While perhaps the Inuit people in Alaska and Canada get at least some coverage by the American press, there is growing nationalism and conflict involving indigenous people in northern Europe, Russia and Siberia, as well. Teitelbaum's doctorate is in ethnomusicology, but his studies have extended into such areas as radical nationalism and neofascism in the Nordic countries, and he said that cultural offerings in the certificate will also explore modern culture and politics.

For more on the certificate in Arctic studies, click here.

There probably is not a more suitable location for one of the world’s first interdisciplinary certificates in Arctic studies than the �ֲ��ý.

Off

Traditional

White

2016 Ties 2007 for Second Lowest Arctic Sea Ice Minimum

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 18:45:40 +0000

2016 Ties 2007 for Second Lowest Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/16/2016 - 12:45

The Arctic’s ice cover appears to have reached its minimum extent on September 10, 2016, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, part of CIRES and CU �ֲ��ý.

Off

Traditional

White

CIRES

The only way to make beef and dairy more climate-friendly? Stop producing it

Related Articles

Meet the scientist who stumbled into the cold—and stayed

Related Articles

‘Climate contrarianism’ is down but not out, expert says

Related Articles

Reframing the challenge of living with wildfire

Off

Experts see hope despite grim climate projections

CU �ֲ��ý and NOAA scientists join panel discussion following �ֲ��ý screening of Ice on Fire, an HBO documentary

Off

DiCaprio film featuring four local scientists to be screened here

CU �ֲ��ý and NOAA scientists to join panel discussion following the film

Off

Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Scaling it up

Off

The Galápagos: A Natural Laboratory for the Earth Sciences

Off

CU �ֲ��ý launches cool certificate in Arctic studies

Off

2016 Ties 2007 for Second Lowest Arctic Sea Ice Minimum

Off

CIRES

The only way to make beef and dairy more climate-friendly? Stop producing it

Related Articles

Meet the scientist who stumbled into the cold—and stayed

Related Articles

‘Climate contrarianism’ is down but not out, expert says

Related Articles

Reframing the challenge of living with wildfire

Off

Experts see hope despite grim climate projections

CU �ֲ���ý and NOAA scientists join panel discussion following �ֲ���ý screening of Ice on Fire, an HBO documentary

Off

DiCaprio film featuring four local scientists to be screened here

CU �ֲ���ý and NOAA scientists to join panel discussion following the film

Off

Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Scaling it up

Off

The Galápagos: A Natural Laboratory for the Earth Sciences

Off

CU �ֲ���ý launches cool certificate in Arctic studies

Off

2016 Ties 2007 for Second Lowest Arctic Sea Ice Minimum

Off

CU �ֲ��ý and NOAA scientists join panel discussion following �ֲ��ý screening of Ice on Fire, an HBO documentary

CU �ֲ��ý and NOAA scientists to join panel discussion following the film

CU �ֲ��ý launches cool certificate in Arctic studies