Can caterpillars help fight wildfire? UCLA White Mountain Research Center’s Jeff Holmquist highlights how traditional “piyuga” trenches—used to harvest Pandora moth caterpillar larvae—clear flammable debris, helping pines survive wildfires.

Thanks to @blancabegert.bsky.social for covering this important topic and a bunch of work by my colleagues @uclalawemmett.bsky.social, @uclaioes.bsky.social looking at the LADWP/SoCal Edison comparison + insideclimatenews.org/news/0511202...

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...

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

🔥 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...

🆕 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...

🐘🌱🔊 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

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

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

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 🧪

‘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

⚡️ 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.

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:

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

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)

🐘 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 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

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.

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...

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

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

🌎 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.

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.

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.”

Watts residents led officials on a "toxic tour" to expose decades of pollution. UCLA loES PhD candidate Danielle Hoague, a researcher with the #BetterWattsInitiative, tells ABC7: "What's at stake is people's health,” with illegal dumping and contamination still impacting communities.

What are the long-term health effects of the LA Wildfires? UCLA researchers are working to find out—with help from the public. All LA residents are encouraged to join the #UCLAWildfireRegistry, a database of participants that will support research on physical and mental health impacts.

The carbon offset market could grow to $1 trillion — or collapse under its own weight. New research from leading scientists at UCLA, the Clean Air Task Force and Boston University shows why forest carbon credits need stronger standards to deliver real climate benefits.

👏 Marilyn Raphael, professor of geography and former IoES director, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences—one of the highest honors a scientist can receive. She and 3 other UCLA faculty join a community of elite scholars and Nobel laureates.

What can cities learn from LA’s approach to clean energy and equity? A new UCLA study breaks down the data, decisions and trade-offs behind LA’s plan to reach 100% renewable energy by 2035–without leaving vulnerable communities behind. 🔋 More here: www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/what...

Our short @natureportfolio.nature.com Nature Energy piece led by @ioes.ucla.edu's Rachel Sheinberg is out reflecting on lessons learned from the first few years of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's unique 100 Equity Strategies effort.

Campus in bloom 🌼🩵🌿 If you need a nature walk between classes, Sage Hill has you covered. 📸 Andrew Kleinhesselink, Sage Hill director

🧬 Have dire wolves truly been resurrected? “Probably not,” says UCLA’s Brad Shaffer. “Does it have some of their features? Yeah. And my guess is that’s as much as they hoped to accomplish.” He tells @Gizmodo.com it’s still ‘big accomplishment’ for conservation biology. gizmodo.com/has-the-dire...

💙🐻 Fun fact: my parents met at UCLA!—now I get to give a seminar there! Speaking @ #UCLA next week for the RUA Research Exchange! 🗓️ Apr 16 🕐 12pm PST 🔗 Zoom Link: lnkd.in/gb9cKae2 👉🏽 Second photo is of little me!—this moment’s a long time coming 💫 #RUA #BruinBaby @uclaioes.bsky.social

Kelp forests have flourished for more than 30 million years. But marine heatwaves—expected to become up to 16 times more frequent by 2100—could drive mass die-offs, a new UCLA study finds. Only 3% of the world’s kelp forests are highly protected.

UCLA ecologist @travislongcore.bsky.social spoke with California Builder & Engineer about light pollution at the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. His team observed a barn owl using a “dark spot” over the crossing — early evidence that the design will support habitat connectivity.

Recycling just 40% of wastewater could transform the water outlook for 40M+ people across the Colorado River, says a new UCLA and @nrdc.org report. Some states are already doing it. “This is an entirely feasible solution”

Longer term, California and the West face serious water challenges due to climate change and overuse. Wastewater recycling could help, but states along the Colorado River aren't doing nearly enough of it, per a new report from UCLA: www.latimes.com/environment/... via @ianjames.bsky.social

UCLA report shows that if all 7 of the drought-plagued Colorado River Basin states recycled water as well as Arizona (or even 2/3rds as well as Nevada), they could save up to 30% of the shrinking river’s shortfall. newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/as-... Research by @uclaioes.bsky.social @nrdc.org

In a new report, UCLA researchers say California and other states should recycle more wastewater to help address the Colorado River’s chronic shortages. "Modest gains in water reuse could make an enormous difference." www.latimes.com/environment/... @uclaioes.bsky.social #CAwater

1 in 8 Californians now live in “high” or “very high” wildfire hazard zones—up 168% from 2011, per CalFire. UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain says “weather whiplash” is a hidden factor; “It’s certainly relevant to what happened to LA this past winter.” @gristnews.bsky.social

“Our goal is not to alarm anybody. Scientists don’t know if microplastics are unsafe to us or not. There are no human trials." @uclaioes.bsky.social www.ecowatch.com/chewing-gum-...

You might be chewing thousands of microplastics each time you pop a piece of gum, a new #UCLA study finds. “Our goal is not to alarm anybody,” said IoES professor Sanjay Mohanty. “We know we are exposed to plastics in everyday life, and that’s what we wanted to examine.”

You’ll find a pot of gold and Bruins at the end of every rainbow 🌈 🐻 ☘️✨ Throwback to UCLA IoES students sham-rocking a field trip at Mono Lake in 2016.

We're excited to share how we can safeguard Earth's #genetic heritage, vital for #biodiversity, ecosystem function, & #publichealth, at Funding the Commons #SF this weekend! Brad Shaffer of @uclaioes.bsky.social & #CA #Conservation #Genomics Project will be on our panel. www.fundingthecommons.io

Can science survive politics? Not without a fight, according to Kim Stanley Robinson. At UCLA last Thursday, Robinson discussed the war on science, fallout of defunding research, and why surrendering to cynicism is the greatest risk of all. His full seminar is out now.

1 in 5 butterflies in the U.S. have disappeared in 20 years, according to a new study co-authored by UCLA’s @TravisLongcore.bsky.social. Published today in @Science.org, the study is the most comprehensive butterfly population assessment ever conducted.

2️⃣ Now a team of US and Australian scientists from @uclaioes.bsky.social, @utas.edu.au and Ohio Uni has used a novel statistical model to reconstruct the record of Antarctic sea-ice extent all the way back to 1899. aappartnership.org.au/structural-c...

More than 800 meteorologists and staff at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration #NOAA were abruptly fired Thursday—a move UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain calls “reckless” and a threat to American lives.