The extreme South Pole warming is within the range of natural variability, based on climate modeling simulations, but warming caused by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions likely intensified it. By Todd Bates The South Pole has warmed at over three times the global rate since 1989, according to a paper published in Nature Climate Change. This warming period was mainly driven by …
Announcing New Environmental Sciences Department Chair: Donna Fennell
Message from SEBS Interim Executive Dean Laura Lawson Dear SEBS/NJAES community, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Donna Fennell has been appointed to serve as Chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences. Donna Fennell has an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; and an MS in Agricultural and Biological Engineering and PhD in …
Rutgers Moves Toward a Climate Action Plan
Rutgers climate task force tackles solutions; committee to evaluate fossil fuels divestment Rutgers has taken the next step toward developing a climate action plan to reduce the university’s carbon footprint and to enhance the ability of Rutgers and the state of New Jersey to manage the risks of a changing climate. The President’s Task Force on Carbon Neutrality and Climate Resilience this …
#EOAS in the News: COVID-19, Racial Injustice and Climate Change Require a Bold Approach, Not Incrementalism
EOAS faculty members Jeanne Herb and Marjorie Kaplan write an op-ed for the Star Ledger in which they argue that now is the time to act on advancing a healthy, resilient, sustainable and fair New Jersey.
How to Tackle Climate Change, Food Security and Land Degradation
A farmer tends rice fields in Yen Bai, Vietnam,
where balancing goals for sustainable development
and management of ecosystems is challenging.
Photo: Pamela McElwee
Rutgers University–New Brunswick
Harmful Microbes Found on Sewer Pipe Walls
Rutgers study could lead to better disinfection methods and understanding of coronavirus and other risks Can antibiotic-resistant bacteria escape from sewers into waterways and cause a disease outbreak? A new Rutgers study, published in the journal Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, examined the microbe-laden “biofilms” that cling to sewer walls, and even built a simulated sewer to study the germs …
#EOAS in the News: Science on the Hill: Calculating Climate
#EOAS Director Robert Kopp spoke with Scientific American about climate models and long-term climate prediction.
Revisiting a Volcano’s Wrath
By Craig Winston 40 years ago Mount St. Helens unleashed its fury with devastating results but much has been learned from the eruption since. Four decades have passed, yet Alan Robock and Clifford Mass are still intertwined by a rare geological occurrence: a major volcanic eruption in the United States. The 40th anniversary of the Mount St. Helens’ eruption recently …
New Data Discloses Flood Risk of Every Home in the Contiguous US
The data, based on decades of peer-reviewed research, provides the cumulative risk of flooding for more than 142 million homes and properties over a 30-year mortgage. The nonprofit research and technology group First Street Foundation has publicly released flood risk data for more than 142 million homes and properties across the country. The data, based on decades of peer-reviewed research, …
Dangerous Tick-Borne Bacterium Extremely Rare in New Jersey
The mystery behind the rise in spotted fever cases continues There’s some good news in New Jersey about a potentially deadly tick-borne bacterium. Rutgers researchers examined more than 3,000 ticks in the Garden State and found only one carrying Rickettsia rickettsii, the bacterium that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever. But cases of tick-borne spotted fevers have increased east of the Mississippi …