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Environment
Sophia Wu: Crab wrangler, ocean dreamer
July 30, 2025
Brown sophomore Sophia Wu is spending her summer at Save the Bay in Rhode Island, wrangling crabs, supporting summer camps for kids and exploring a future in marine science.
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Environment
New research casts doubt on ancient drying of northern Africa’s climate
June 20, 2025
The study challenges the idea that the climate of northern Africa dried out around 3 million years ago, a time when the earliest known hominids appear in the fossil record.
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Environment
Air-quality monitoring underestimates toxic emissions to Salton Sea communities, study finds
June 2, 2025
Researchers showed that hydrogen sulfide, which is associated with numerous health conditions, is emitted from California’s largest lake at levels far higher and more frequently than previously reported.
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Environment
Video: Brown biologist Stephen Porder on taking purposeful, planet-positive personal steps
April 22, 2025
This Earth Day, Brown University’s associate provost for sustainability offers strategies to minimize carbon dioxide emissions and help mitigate climate change.
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Environment
New research helps reconstruct sudden, dramatic sea level rise after last ice age
March 24, 2025
By determining which ice sheets melted to create a colossal increase in sea levels 14,500 years ago, scientists hope to enable better predictions of how current ice melting will affect levels around the world.
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Environment
Study reveals effectiveness of environment-focused litigation in the U.S., but also large inequalities
November 25, 2024
A team of researchers analyzed more than 25,000 civil lawsuits, gleaning insights on regional disparities in environmental law and opportunities to broaden impact.
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Environment
With one of Rhode Island’s largest solar energy projects online, Brown moves toward net-zero emissions
November 20, 2024
Brown University is the sole off-taker for the Dry Bridge solar project in North Kingstown, a landmark renewable energy development generating enough power to offset about two-thirds of campus electricity use.
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Environment
How do coexisting animals find enough to eat? Biologists unlock insights into foraging habits in Yellowstone
September 19, 2024
Brown University ecologists teamed with National Park Service scientists in Yellowstone to answer a vexing question about how different wildlife species find enough to eat.
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Environment
Corinne LePage: Embracing a love of horticulture to support domestic violence survivors
September 18, 2024
Through determination, courage and a supportive community, LePage is flourishing as a nontraditional student at Brown and using her own experiences to help others on campus and beyond.
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Environment
Yuna Yang: Protecting Rhode Island’s water resources through advocacy and education
July 18, 2024
From supporting environmental legislation to educating community members about sustainability, the rising Brown sophomore is taking a deep dive into local environmental advocacy this summer.
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Environment
Tropical plant species are as threatened by climate change as widely feared, study confirms
July 18, 2024
A study based on labor-intensive fieldwork and analysis by Brown biologists in tropical mountain regions shows that a warmer and drier climate will lead to massive losses of plant species.
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Environment
What happens after the globe reaches net-zero emissions?
February 5, 2024
Brown climate scientist Baylor Fox-Kemper co-authored a new study of the diverse factors controlling global temperatures, offering a framework for improving warming predictions.
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Environment
Climate change effects hit marine ecosystems in multiple waves, according to marine ecologists
November 15, 2023
A Brown professor and two Brown-trained scientists co-authored a research review proposing a ‘more realistic’ conceptual model for understanding current and future changes to marine ecosystems in the wake of climate change.
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Environment
Eliza Atwood: Researching wildlife nutrition and migration patterns in Yellowstone
July 13, 2023
Knee-deep in prairie grasses, the rising Brown University senior is collecting plant samples and bison waste to expand biologists’ understanding of animal nutrition in the wild.
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Environment
Brown makes strides toward fully electrifying its vehicles, groundskeeping equipment
June 29, 2023
As the University works toward achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, decreasing air and noise pollution is part of Brown’s broader commitment to sustainability.
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Environment
Biden administration appoints Brown climate scientist Kim Cobb to President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
January 26, 2023
Cobb, a Brown University professor and director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, will join a White House advisory board charged with providing independent counsel on U.S. intelligence matters.
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Environment
Hoping for a quieter city, residents look to Brown research lab to analyze noise pollution in Providence
December 11, 2022
By reporting noise levels across the city, Brown's Community Noise Lab is aiding local community members who are working to build awareness, action on the public health consequences of excessive noise exposure.
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Environment
Nina Lee: Investigating the impact of noise pollution on children’s health outcomes
August 30, 2022
As a research assistant in the Brown Community Noise Lab, Nina Lee has spent years monitoring noise levels across New England, advocating for environmental justice every step of the way.
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Environment
Victor Beck: Healing forests and underserved communities in northern California
August 18, 2022
Under the shade of redwood trees, Victor Beck and other queer students of color from Brown are working with a Black and Indigenous land collective to restore and steward a 900-acre forest.
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Environment
Olivia McClain: Exploring hyperlocal air pollution in Providence
August 17, 2022
As a summer research assistant in Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, McClain is supporting research and building community connections.
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Environment
Brown researchers turn up the heat on climate change solutions
July 15, 2022
From researching the history of Indigenous land stewardship to developing nonpartisan policy ideas, collaborative scholarship at Brown aims to overcome obstacles to meaningful action on climate change.
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Environment
Interactive Climate Opportunity Map shows benefits of future net-zero energy policies
July 6, 2022
Created by scholars at the Climate Solutions Lab in Brown University’s Watson Institute, the map reveals what economic benefits individuals and communities could reap if the U.S. pursues a net-zero energy policy.
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Environment
Flooding exacerbates pollution exposure in at-risk urban communities, study finds
June 28, 2022
A new study found that in Providence, R.I., and other cities, rising floodwaters are exposing more people to industrial pollution, and the issue is disproportionately affecting lower-income communities of color.
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Environment
Melting Arctic ice could transform international shipping routes, study finds
June 22, 2022
Melting ice in the Arctic Ocean could yield new trade routes in international waters, reducing the shipping industry’s carbon footprint and weakening Russia’s control over trade routes through the Arctic, a study found.
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Environment
Climate scientist Kim Cobb to lead Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
May 11, 2022
A climate scientist and professor who comes to Brown from Georgia Tech, Cobb will lead IBES, an academic hub for scholars exploring the interactions between natural, human and social systems.
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Environment
Brown professor to lead World Meteorological Organization’s research board
January 11, 2022
Amanda Lynch, a Brown University professor and inaugural director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, will chair the board responsible for guiding the World Meteorological Organization’s research agenda.
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Environment
Brown environmental expert testifies on equity in renewable energy before U.S. House committee
July 16, 2021
Myles Lennon, an assistant professor of environment and society and anthropology, urged members of Congress to support renewable energy research and innovation that could aid and protect marginalized communities in the U.S.
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Environment
With global scholarly network, Brown faculty to advance study of climate change countermovement
October 27, 2020
The Climate Social Science Network, based at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, will bring together leading scholars to catalyze collaborative research on the interests that are stalling climate action.
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Environment
Researchers step toward understanding how toxic PFAS chemicals spread from release sites
October 15, 2020
New lab studies are helping researchers to better understand how so called “forever chemicals” behave in soil and water, which can help in understanding how these contaminants spread.
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Environment
Report issues climate-action recommendations for next U.S. president
October 8, 2020
A report released by Brown’s Climate Solutions Lab urged the implementation of a carbon tax and a prohibition on fossil-fuel infrastructure spending, among other recommendations.
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Environment
Three-year initiative at Brown will study, seek to eliminate roadblocks to climate action
September 29, 2020
The Climate Solutions Initiative will focus on overcoming barriers to confronting climate change, through scholarship, learning and research-informed infrastructure changes on campus, in Providence and beyond.
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Environment
Brown scholar will use Carnegie fellowship to explore nature, politics in the Yukon
May 12, 2020
The fellowship will allow Bathsheba Demuth, an environmental historian, to use the Yukon watershed as a case study for how different societies manage, protect and plunder their natural resources.
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Environment
Where will we go when the water rises? Computer models may hold answers, research says
November 26, 2019
Computer models focused on current and potential policy decisions could help shed light on the future of migration caused by sea level rise, concluded a team of scholars that included Brown demographer Elizabeth Fussell.
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Environment
Study of African animals illuminates links between environment, diet and gut microbiome
November 4, 2019
New research analyzing the diets and microbiomes of 33 large-herbivore species in Kenya yields surprising findings about the interplay between animal evolution, behavior and the gut microbiome.
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Environment
Migrating snowline plays outsized role in setting pace of Greenland ice melt
March 6, 2019
Meltwater from Greenland’s ice sheet is a leading contributor to global sea level rise, and a Brown University study shows that an underappreciated factor — the position of the snowline on the ice sheet — plays a key role in setting the pace of melting.
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Environment
Tiny satellites reveal water dynamics in thousands of northern lakes
February 14, 2019
In a finding that has implications for how scientists calculate natural greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds that water levels in small lakes across northern Canada and Alaska vary during the summer much more than was assumed.
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Environment
Brown researcher sets up webcam to watch Maine ice disk
January 23, 2019
Chris Horvat, a postdoctoral scholar whose regular research on polar ice floes is temporarily derailed by the government shutdown, is using a strange ice disk (and internet sensation) as a research analog for sea ice.
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Environment
Michigan team’s findings on PFAS contaminants could inform broader approach to mitigation
December 19, 2018
Brown epidemiologist and associate dean David Savitz led the Michigan governor’s PFAS Science Advisory Committee, focusing on the health impacts of a class of toxic contaminants.
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Environment
Climate change will have region-specific impacts on human health, economy
December 10, 2018
Brown epidemiologist Gregory Wellenius was a contributing author to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, focusing on the risks and impacts residents of the Northeast will face.
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Environment
Amanda Lynch to deliver Presidential Faculty Award Lecture
October 30, 2018
Lynch, a climate scientist who is active in environmental policy research, will discuss the implications of the rapidly advancing Anthropocene and the intersection of environmental policy and human rights.
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Environment
New, durable catalyst for key fuel cell reaction may prove useful in eco-friendly vehicles
October 16, 2018
The new catalyst, developed by Brown University researchers, exceeds Department of Energy targets for performing the oxygen reduction reaction, a key step in generating an electric current in a hydrogen fuel cell.
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Environment
New study answers old questions about why tropical forests are so ecologically diverse
October 15, 2018
The population of a tropical tree increases mostly in places where it is rare, a Brown study found.
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Environment
Marcos Rodriguez: Analyzing forest growth
August 22, 2018
For the ecology and evolutionary biology concentrator, a summer spent in a Massachusetts forest offered the chance to explore forest ecology and a future career in research.
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Environment
Projectile cannon experiments show how asteroids can deliver water
April 25, 2018
New research shows that a surprising amount of water survives simulated asteroid impacts, a finding that may help explain how asteroids deposit water throughout the solar system.
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Environment
Brown faculty member to play leadership role on global climate change report
April 5, 2018
Baylor Fox-Kemper will be a coordinating lead author for a key chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s next global climate assessment report.
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Environment
Brown to explore pressing environmental issues in ‘WeatherProof’ series
March 22, 2018
A series of public events and exhibitions staged in April by five University partner programs will confront climate change from a wide variety of perspectives.
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Environment
New understanding of ocean turbulence could improve climate models
February 26, 2018
Researchers have developed a new statistical understanding of how turbulent flows called mesoscale eddies dissipate their energy, which could be helpful in creating better ocean and climate models.
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Environment
Researchers discover new lead-free perovskite material for solar cells
February 13, 2018
Perovskite solar cells are a promising new low-cost photovoltaic technology, but most contain toxic lead; a team led by Brown researchers has introduced solar cells with a new titanium-perovskite material that gets the lead out.
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Environment
Effects of climate change can complicate the politics of military bases, study finds
February 5, 2018
Using an abandoned U.S. military base in Greenland as a case study, new Brown research explores how the impact of climate change on domestic and overseas military bases could cause a host of political and diplomatic problems.\
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Environment
Tidal cycles could help predict volcanic eruptions, study suggests
January 24, 2018
A study of a New Zealand volcano suggests that a volcanic system's response to tidal forces could provide a tool for predicting a certain type of eruption.
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