This year’s Climate and Society class is out in the field (or lab or office) completing a summer internship or thesis. They’ll be documenting their experiences one blog post at a time. Read on to see what they’re up to. By Tiff van Huysen, C+S ’16 The woman in the photograph below is nameless. Not… read more

“China is demonstrating to the world that low carbon climate resilience development pathway is achievable,” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said earlier this month during a visit to China.

Flint may be the most well-known city that has contaminated drinking water, but it certainly isn’t the only city in the U.S. with serious water problems.

The summer months are upon us, which generally means the sun is shining across the northern hemisphere. That’s good news for solar panels, which use the sun to provide sustainable energy. The clean energy internship I have had the pleasure of working on this summer has opened my eyes to the potential solar power has and the challenges it faces for wide adoption.

When most people think of a weather forecast, they usually think of a forecast 1-10 days in advance. While these forecasts are the most familiar, they are only one end of a spectrum. On the other end are forecasts that range up to months in advance. Farmers in the developing world are increasingly using these types of forecasts to make decisions that directly impact their livelihoods.

We are surrounded by numbers throughout our daily lives. Some, you’ll recognize easily. 24: the number of hours in one day. 365: the number of days in one year (except for leap years). $100: roughly the amount of money in my bank account at the moment. But what about 406.95 parts per million (ppm)? If you’re not a climate geek, you’re probably not familiar with it, but you really should be since it’s an incredibly important number for our planet.

Only a six-hour drive across New York state, Buffalo and New York City have completely different priorities when it comes to sustainability. When it came time to find an internship, I knew I wanted to return home to Buffalo to use my newfound knowledge gleaned from the Climate and Society program to benefit my hometown.

Water is one of the most precious resources we have, yet we all can remember a time when we left the faucet running (perhaps this morning even). In the developing world, increasing demands to develop, growing populations and the threat of climate change could make water less freely available.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “solar?” Sunshine, bright, warm? What places then typically come to mind to fit this description? Florida, Los Angeles, Arizona. But how about New York City?

I live in a city. In a typical day, I wake up in the morning and I take a shower, I eat some toast, I drink some coffee, I grab my phone and head out. A normal city life, I guess. What could possibly be uncommon about it?