What Can I Do About Climate Change? Content

CA Clean Air Law Making Strides in Overburdened Neighborhoods

Katherine E Kerlin — June 12, 2025 - 10:56am

For years, families in the Bay Area city of Richmond have lived with smoke and chemicals drifting from a nearby oil refinery. That kind of exposure poses serious health risks, but a new report from 91��Ƭ Davis shows how California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 617 is helping residents take a more active role in monitoring and reducing air pollution in their neighborhoods.

4 Gorillas Reintroduced to the Wild in DRC

Katherine E Kerlin — May 29, 2025 - 10:21am

Four critically endangered female eastern lowland gorillas rescued from the illegal wildlife trade were reintroduced to the wild in Virunga National Park in Democratic Republic of the Congo last December. Continued monitoring shows the gorillas are healthy and appear to be transitioning well.

California Risks Billions in Economic Losses Without Water Supply Action

Katherine E Kerlin — May 14, 2025 - 2:28pm

A new economic analysis by 91��Ƭ professors shows the high cost of inaction on California’s perpetual water supply challenges. It estimates that the state could lose enough water each year to supply up to 9 million households — with economic losses totaling between $3.4 and $14.5 billion per year, depending on the severity of the scenario.

How One Word Could Strip the Endangered Species Act

Katherine E Kerlin — May 13, 2025 - 12:31pm

A rule change proposed by the Trump administration could green-light the destruction of protected species' habitats and gut the Endangered Species Act, write an ecologist and law professor.

Arctic Plants React Unexpectedly to Climate Change

Katherine E Kerlin — April 30, 2025 - 8:00am

Rapid climate change is upending established plant diversity and growth patterns in the Arctic, with species blooming in some areas and declining in others, suggests a study published today in the journal Nature.

The decades-long study of more than 2,000 plant communities across 45 areas in the Arctic tundra found that many locations saw vegetation change in type, abundance and growth, between 1981 and 2022.

Avian Influenza Major Setback for Patagonian Seals

Katherine E Kerlin — April 16, 2025 - 3:33pm

It may take 100 years for the southern elephant seal colony of Península Valdés in Argentine Patagonia to look like it did in 2022. A study published in Marine Mammal Science projected population trajectories after the 2023 epidemic of the High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza H5N1 virus, which killed almost all newborn pups and an unknown number of adults.

LA Wildfires Air Quality Research Roundup

Katherine E Kerlin — February 07, 2025 - 10:49am

How 91��Ƭ Davis air quality scientists are working to understand the impacts of the Los Angeles wildfires. A research roundup.

Long-Term Study on Health Impacts of Los Angeles Wildfires Launched

Katherine E Kerlin — January 31, 2025 - 12:10pm

In an unprecedented collective scientific effort to understand the short- and long-term health impacts of wildfires, researchers from four universities have launched a 10-year study of the Los Angeles fires. The wildfires that began in early January 2025 killed 29 people, destroyed more than 16,000 structures, and exposed millions to toxic smoke.

The research aims to evaluate which pollutants are present, at what levels, and where, and to assess the respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular, reproductive, and immune system impacts of the wildfires.

Understanding Climate Change on Tribal Allotment Lands

Malia N Reiss — June 24, 2024 - 10:37am

A 91��Ƭ Davis project is working to help Tribal nations build climate resilience on Indian allotment lands, with funding from a California Climate Action grant.

Using Waste Heat to Decarbonize Food Processing

Malia N Reiss — June 12, 2024 - 1:46pm

91��Ƭ Davis scientists are working to extract wasted heat from appliances and industrial emissions to help decarbonize food processing systems.