Combining two tools would boost understanding of climate change How much carbon dioxide, a pivotal greenhouse gas behind global warming, is absorbed by plants on land? It’s a deceptively complicated question, so a Rutgers-led group of scientists recommends combining two cutting-edge tools to help answer the crucial climate change-related question. “We need to understand how the Earth is breathing now …
Ocean Algae Get “Coup de Grace” from Viruses
Viruses don’t immediately kill algae but live in harmony with them Scientists have long believed that ocean viruses always quickly kill algae, but Rutgers-led research shows they live in harmony with algae and viruses provide a “coup de grace” only when blooms of algae are already stressed and dying. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, will likely change how scientists view …
Author Kim Stanley Robinson to Read and Discuss “The Ministry for the Future” October 8
By Carol Peters Discover the insights science fiction can provide about climate change and its impacts when best-selling author Kim Stanley Robinson reads from his new book, followed by a panel discussion featuring Rutgers faculty members Naomi Klein, Robert Kopp, Jorge Marcone, and Cymie Payne. To have a chance of stabilizing the global climate, climate scientists tell us, humanity needs …
Land Development in New Jersey Continues to Slow
It’s unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to fight inequality will affect future trends Land development in New Jersey has slowed dramatically since the 2008 Great Recession, but it’s unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to fight societal and housing inequality will affect future trends, according to a Rutgers co-authored report. Between 2012 and 2015, 10,392 acres in the …
Indigenous People Vital for Understanding Environmental Change
Rutgers-led research shows how local knowledge can help manage ecosystems and wildlife Grassroots knowledge from Indigenous people can help to map and monitor ecological changes and improve scientific studies, according to Rutgers-led research. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, shows the importance of Indigenous and local knowledge for monitoring ecosystem changes and managing ecosystems. The team collected more than …
Climate change: The South Pole feels the heat
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 …
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
#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.