News – Page 30

Earth first

Written on June 15, 2009.

For Max Broad ’09 and undergraduate Alexis Kim, The Green Initiative Fund brings new meaning to TGIF. It’s not easy being green. Just ask Max Broad ’09 and undergraduate Alexis Kim, who this year headed a campaign for The Green Initiative Fund, a student-led referendum supporting campus sustainability. To get their peers to agree to the $3.50-per-quarter fee in an era of shrinking budgets and rising tuition, Broad — then a social ecology major — and Kim used modern methods. “We...

Gator aid

Written on June 8, 2009.

Dinosaurs appeared on Earth about 230 million years ago, when atmospheric oxygen levels were close to half what they are today. Scientists wonder how they survived – for 165 million years – under these varying conditions. UC Irvine biologist James Hicks is finding answers in the alligator, a modern relative of the dinosaur. Jennifer Fitzenberger, University Communications Dinosaurs appeared on Earth about 230 million years ago, when atmospheric oxygen levels were close to half...

Clearing the air

Written on June 1, 2009.

Kathryn Bold, University Communications In ways that have altered nearly every aspect of campus life, UC Irvine has reduced the energy needed to keep the place humming, serving as a model for other large organizations seeking to shrink their carbon footprints. “Environmental stewardship at UCI began long before we even heard the words ‘green,’ ‘LEED,’ or ‘carbon-neutrality,’” says Wendell Brase, vice chancellor of Administrative and Business Services. “UCI started its first vanpool...

Climate change for kids

Written on May 19, 2009.

UCI student nonprofit CLEAN Education conducts grade-appropriate lessons on climate change for elementary and middle school classrooms. Laura Rico, University Communications You could teach climate change by describing the melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels. Or you could talk about the North American pika, a rabbit relative that faces an uncertain future in the Rocky Mountains as temperatures rise. “What happens when the pika reaches the top of the mountain?” UC Irvine ecology...

Working the Amazon soil

Written on April 25, 2009.

Earth scientist Claudia Czimczik digs in Peru for new dirt on global warming. Claudia Czimczik is deep in the Amazon rainforest, digging soil from the bottom of a muddy pit. She rolls the dirt between her fingers to feel its texture. “If you can make it thinner than a pencil, it has a lot of clay. If it breaks apart right away, it’s sandier,” says Czimczik, recalling her 2001 trip to Peru, during which she collected soil for an international study. Published March 6 in the journal Science,...

Student groups go for the green

Written on April 13, 2009.

UC Irvine students want to foster a sustainable culture that moves beyond hemp bags and energy-efficient light bulbs. There. See that? On Colin Murphy’s shoulder? It’s an example of so-called green consumption that he says illustrates the need for UC Irvine’s first Earth Week, April 13-18. Murphy carries a white book bag woven of hemp and organic cotton. A friend gave it to him because the third-year music and social ecology major is always preaching sustainability with a capital S. So...

New institute aims to balance the planet

Written on April 5, 2009.

Michael Prather discusses UCI’s new environment institute, which aims to identify research needed for an improved understanding of society’s response to a changing climate and for environmental science to better respond to societal needs. Jennifer Fitzenberger, University Communications Last spring, UC Irvine launched a new institute that will bring together scientists to identify new research needed for an improved understanding of society’s response to a changing climate and...

Measuring melting ice sheets

Written on March 26, 2009.

Global climate change – especially as it relates to glacial melting and rising ocean levels – is the subject of much debate and research. Eric Rignot, Earth system science professor, studies ice sheet melting in Antarctica and Greenland. He will talk about his work March 31 as part of the 2008-09 Discover the Physical Sciences Breakfast Lecture Series. Jennifer Fitzenberger, University Communications Global climate change – especially as it relates to glacial melting and rising...

Balancing the planet

Written on March 1, 2009.

Jennifer Fitzenberger, University Communications Last spring, UC Irvine launched a new institute that will bring together scientists to identify new research needed for an improved understanding of society’s response to a changing climate and for environmental science to better respond to societal needs. Topics to be tackled by the UC Irvine Environment Institute: Global Change, Energy and Sustainable Resources could include how climate change will alter public health and welfare; whether...

UCI students win ‘Crazy Green Idea’ contest

Written on February 18, 2009.

UC Irvine students Kyle Good and Bryan Le win the $25,000 X PRIZE Foundation’s “What’s Your Crazy Green Idea?” video contest. Inventors and entrepreneurs worldwide could soon be hard at work trying to answer Kyle Good and Bryan Le’s challenge: build an environmentally friendly device to replace batteries in products ranging from personal electronic devices to cars. The UC Irvine students recently won the $25,000 X PRIZE Foundation’s “What’s Your Crazy Green Idea?”...