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Reposted by UCLA Environment

Greg Pierce @gregspierce.bsky.social · 22h

Our big fire innovation report with LADWP and ~100 external experts, convened and synthesized by @luskininnovation.bsky.social, @uclasustainablela.bsky.social , @uclaioes.bsky.social and a much broader UCLA team of experts is out.

innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/2025/10/07/b...

Building resilient utilities: UCLA issues report on key water and power infrastructure needs | UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

Smart meters and undergrounding power lines are among promising innovations in addressing climate and fire risks.

innovation.luskin.ucla.edu

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · 1d

In Los Angeles, Tony Pritzker applies an engineer’s discipline to environmental philanthropy—from stormwater systems keeping runoff out of Santa Monica Bay to a global prize at UCLA supporting emerging innovators.

“Science is science—and it’s fact-based,” he told @Mongabay.com 🧬🧪 ucla.in/4pZ8sQh

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Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

🔥 New Paper Alert 🔥 -- from the incomparable @ioes.ucla.edu Senior Practicum in Environmental Science with the paper led by new alums Sammy Fruman and Bethany Woo --> anonymized smartphone data show park use in extreme heat 1/ #heat #hazards #mobility #cities www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Smartphone location data show park use patterns in extreme heat (Los Angeles, California, USA)

Climate change, combined with the Urban Heat Island effect, will generate more frequent, intense extreme heat events. These events can induce heat str…

www.sciencedirect.com

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 20d

🆕 How extreme heat determines diets in rural India

Today on VoxDev, Paul Stainier (@upenn.edu), Manisha Shah (@goldmanschool.bsky.social) & @alanbarreca.bsky.social (@ioes.ucla.edu) discuss how extreme heat affects health and nutrition in India: voxdev.org/topic/health...

How extreme heat determines diets in rural India

Extreme heat damages crops and increases the number of strongly undernourished households in terms of calories, iron, and other nutrients. While some households cope by buying food grown elsewhere, th...

voxdev.org

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · 28d

🐘🌱🔊 From decoding software to decoding elephants: 2025 Pritzker finalist Seema Lokhandwala leads the Elephant Acoustics Project, creating early-warning systems that save lives and draw on community wisdom. "Coexistence in India is not led by ecologists and scientists alone." ucla.in/4plAlBW

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Sep 2

As chytrid fungus wipes out frogs — 90 species lost and counting — 2025 Pritzker finalist Anthony Waddle of Macquarie University is testing ways to tip the balance back toward survival. “Many in the field have given up, viewing the problem as hopeless, but I see it differently.” ucla.in/3JP1lJz

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Aug 28

📉 “In other words, when elephants are removed from the ecosystem, ebony populations will severely decline and may ultimately collapse,” said Thomas Smith, senior author of the study and UCLA distinguished prof.

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Aug 28

A new #UCLA study shows how African elephant poop helps ebony trees grow, the slow-growing source of wood used for guitars and pianos 🎸 In areas where elephants are poached, researchers found nearly 70% fewer ebony saplings.

ucla.in/47NATtO

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Holly Ober @sciwri.bsky.social · Aug 27

Mind-blowing UCLA research shows that ebony trees used in guitar frets, piano keys, and other musical instruments depends on elephants. Specifically: Elephant dung.💩Beautiful article by my colleague @ahewitt.bsky.social also shows importance of continued federal funding. ucla.in/4lPSGUD 🧪

A mother and baby elephant drink water from a river in Dzhangha-Sangha National Park. Credit: Richard Rosomoff

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Aug 26

‘It burns my hands, my eyes, my lungs. But what choice do I have?’ For Denica Riadini-Flesch, hearing those words changed everything. Now a 2025 Pritzker Award finalist, she’s proving fashion can restore soil, dignity and women’s futures 🪡🧵🌱 ucla.in/3JxH9ff

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Aug 14

⚡️ UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability is proud to announce the finalists for the 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award 🙇‍♂️🌏✨ All under age 40, their work spans continents and cultures, united by a refusal to treat complex problems as inevitable.

2025 Pritzker Award finalists: Anthony Waddle, Denica Riadini-Flesch, Seema Lokhandwala — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

Three innovators from Australia, Indonesia and India are redefining how to protect wildlife, restore ecosystems and build equitable futures…

ucla.in

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Erik Hoffner @erikhoffner.bsky.social · Aug 8

My nominee for the Pritzker Environmental Genius Award (@ioes.ucla.edu) is founder of Elephant Acoustics Project, she uses #bioacoustics to understand India's #elephants & reduce conflict w/ ppl

Her goal:

Fewer crop losses & injuries + fewer elephants being relocated, captured or killed on roads:

Meet the 2025 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award Candidates #6–9 — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

These four nominees are focused on housing, conservation, fashion and public space — tackling environmental issues by redesigning how systems work at the local level…

www.ioes.ucla.edu

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Aug 7

What does environmental genius look like in 2025? Maybe it’s a frog sauna outside Sydney, a high-tech greenhouse in Appalachia, or a furniture studio bringing back Kenya’s mangroves 🐸 ✨ 🇰🇪

Meet the final set of nominees for the 2025 Pritzker Award 🙇‍♂️ ucla.in/3J6ZLT5

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Greg Pierce @gregspierce.bsky.social · Aug 6

Great work by my colleagues @luskininnovation.bsky.social & CCSC @ioes.ucla.edu, projecting ongoing customer bill impacts of electrifying in LA.

(Full disclosure, I was involved)

Legal Planet @legal-planet.org · Aug 6

💲💡 Can residential electrification support energy affordability? A new @luskininnovation.bsky.social report illustrates potential savings across household types and energy upgrade scenarios.

legal-planet.org/2025/08/06/c...

Can Residential Electrification Support Energy Affordability? - Legal Planet

A new UCLA report illustrates potential savings across household types and energy upgrade scenarios.

legal-planet.org

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Aug 6

🐘 The second set of UCLA 2025 Pritzker nominees show what happens when climate work starts with listening — to elephants, to tenants, to cotton farmers, to community.

Their work spans bioacoustics, housing law, regenerative fashion and coalition-building.

Meet the 2025 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award Candidates #6–9 — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

These four nominees are focused on housing, conservation, fashion and public space — tackling environmental issues by redesigning how systems work at the local level…

ucla.in

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Jul 31

⚡️🌎 Meet the first five candidates for the 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.

They’re working in places where infrastructure is unstable and communities are underserved — across forests, clinics, code camps, and river basins. #UCLA #PritzkerAward ucla.in/4lVBdej

Meet the 2025 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award candidates #1–5 — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

These five early-career leaders are creating climate solutions in areas and communities often left out of conventional planning…

ucla.in

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Jul 24

13 nominees. 5 continents. 1 blueprint 🌎

Announcing the 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award nominees—rising leaders using science, tech, and design to tackle climate challenges. One will receive $100,000 to scale their impact.

Announcing the 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award nominees — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

Thirteen nominees. Five continents. One common denominator: a new blueprint for environmental leadership.

www.ioes.ucla.edu

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Eos @eos.org · Jul 15

What can whaling records from the 1930s tell us about sea ice extents a century later? A lot, it turns out.

New research by Marcello Vichi (Univ. of Cape Town) & coauthors; input from Marilyn Raphael @ioes.ucla.edu + Ryan Fogt (Ohio Univ.). Story by @shapersyris.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/wha...

Whaling Records Can Help Improve Estimates of Sea Ice Extent - Eos

The locations of humpback whale catches in the early 20th century indicate that most climate models overestimate the historic extent of sea ice in the Southern Ocean.

eos.org

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Jul 15

Featured in L.A. Times: Edith de Guzman, PhD ’23, brings shade inequity—and climate justice—to the spotlight at Descanso Gardens 🎨 ✨ Her exhibition explores who gets cooling shade in a warming L.A. ucla.in/4lvhWQH

Featured in L.A. Times—Edith de Guzman, PhD ’23, reimagines L.A. climate inequities through art at Descanso Gardens — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

Featured in this week’s Los Angeles Times Climate and Environment coverage, Edith de Guzman, PhD ‘23, brings climate and heat inequities to the spotlight. This summer at Descano Gardens…

ucla.in

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Jul 8

It’s important that “people get information through channels they trust and see,” UCLA water researcher Greg Pierce tells the Washington Post. He calls for better flood warning systems as U.S. flood deaths rise. “We should invest in that, and we’re not right now.” @gregspierce.bsky.social

Flood deaths are rising in the U.S., fueled by heavier rainfall

In the wake of last week’s Texas floods that killed more than 100 people, a Post analysis found the number of U.S. freshwater flood fatalities has ticked up in recent years.

www.washingtonpost.com

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Jul 2

🌎 When research leads, readers follow. IoES Magazine is now ranked the #2 Sustainability Blog in California by Feedspot — selected from thousands of sites for its trusted coverage of science, policy, culture and climate.

Let’s keep the conversation going.

UCLA IoES Magazine Ranked #2 in California for Sustainability Coverage — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) Magazine has been ranked #2 on Feedspot’s list of the Top 30 California Sustainability Blogs. The list recognizes the most influential…

www.ioes.ucla.edu

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Jun 26

After multiple Waymo vehicles were set on fire during protests, the company pulled service across L.A. and much of S.F. UCLA professor Rajit Gadh told @sfstandard.com if torchings continue, companies may add sensors and cooling systems to protect their vehicles.

Here is where Waymo has suspended service in San Francisco

The robotaxi company has instituted a no-go zone amid of large-scale protests against ICE.

sfstandard.com

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UCLA Environment @uclaioes.bsky.social · Jun 12

As cities race to adapt to climate change, they're demanding hyperlocal forecasts. But UCLA climate sciensist Alex Hall tells @Science.org the science behind these projections is far from settled: “It really is a mess right now.”

Local predictions of climate change are hazy. But cities need answers fast

Scientists are figuring out where “downscaled” climate models struggle—and how they can be improved

www.science.org

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