Obesity, climate change, hunger: A ‘Global Syndemic’

The international Lancet Commission on Obesityreleased its major new reportJan. 27. The main takeaway? Obesity, climate change and hunger are inextricably linked and must be fought as one challenge. Ross Hammond, the Betty Bofinger Brown Associate Professor, and Peter Hovmand, director of the Social System Design Laband professor of practice, both of the Brown School at Washington University in […]

UC#-Forum-2

Washington University partners with regional leaders to accelerate climate action

Washington University has joined 16 other leading research universities that comprise the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3). UC3 is a new network of institutions from across North America formed on Feb. 6 at the 2018 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit,  committed to leveraging its combined institutional strength to foster a robust exchange of best practices and […]

WildfireSmoke

Wildfire smoke and atmospheric warming

A team of WashU scientists has simulated smoldering wildfires in the lab in order to study the effects of their smoke on the atmosphere. Black carbon, or soot, has already been identified as a major agent in atmospheric warming, but less is known about the effects of an organic particulate matter in smoke called brown […]

Billowing smoke stacks

Energy alliances must be holistic, realistic

Multiple countries announced at the U.N. climate talks that they are committing to phase out coal as an energy source by 2030. But  WashU Expert Pratim Biswas warns that a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t the most effective response to climate change. All U.N. countries need to take a holistic approach to energy choices, especially developing nations, […]

Aleppo, Syria degraded ruin

Looking at ‘wastelands’ through a humanities lens

This fall, Nancy Y. Reynolds and Anne-Marie McManus launched the Mellon Sawyer Seminar,  “Grounding the Ecocritical: Materializing Wastelands and Living on in the Middle East.”  “Wastelands” refers to places with material and environmental degradation, ruin, and decay, as well as the social and natural life that inhabits them. “Ecocriticism” is the study of the relationship […]

Hoeferlin near the Chain of Rocks Bridge on the Mississippi River.

Designing for climate resilience in Asia

Derek Hoeferlin, associate professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, along with research assistants Jess Vanecek and Rob Birch, both master’s degree candidates in the Sam Fox School, has won first prize in the inaugural Designing Resilience in Asia International Open Competition. Sponsored by the School of Design and […]

three WashU grad students

Envisioning a healthy environment and economy

Three WashU 2017 grads share their vision for a world where the environment and the economy are healthy. Sustainability advocates Nick Annin, Elise Fabbro and Nicola Salzman all participated in the International Climate Negotiation Seminar, an advanced Environmental Studies course is for students who will represent Washington University at the United Nations COP (Conference of […]

Tashbulak dig site

Clues from a lost city

Washington University anthropologist Michael Frachetti is leading groundbreaking research on an ancient city in Uzbekistan. Lost and abandoned for a thousand years, the medieval city of Tashbulak lies buried beneath an isolated pasture high in the mountains. Before being discovered by Frachetti and his Uzbek co-investigator, Farhod Maksudov, in 2011, the well-preserved site was unknown […]

Crete House model picture

A Twist: Harnessing the Sun to Combat Global Warming

A team of students from Sam Fox School and the School of Engineering & Applied Science are preparing for Solar Decathalon 2017. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the biennial competition challenges university teams from around the world to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses. Winners will be selected on the basis of design […]