News from

Climate Change

Reset All Filters
564 Results
Dissecting the Green New Deal
Two people sitting on a stage, one gesturing with his hands. In front of them is a brown wooden table with two water bottles.

Billy Fleming (left), Wilks Family Director for the Ian L. McHarg Center at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and Daniel Aldana Cohen, who runs the Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative (SC)2 at Penn, organized the day-long event. (Photo: Lou Caltabiano)

Dissecting the Green New Deal

During what’s likely the largest climate event ever held at Penn, leaders in a range of fields discussed the practicalities and implications of the resolution introduced into Congress in February aimed at stemming climate change.

Michele W. Berger

Inferno in the rainforest
Map of Brazil and other parts of South America showing myriad points of orange

Sensors on NASA satellites Terra and Aqua captured a record of thousands of points of fire in Brazil in late August. The fires pose a threat to the Amazon rainforest and to people living in and around it. (Image: NASA Earth Observatory)

Inferno in the rainforest

Satellite images have detected more than 100,000 points of fire in the Amazon this year. Scientists Reto Gieré and Alain Plante illuminate some less obvious impacts of the fires, including health threats and climate impacts.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Climate lecture series will call for ‘unprecedented action,’ 1.5 minutes at a time
Wide-angle view of a heavily mined landscape with a refinery or energy facility in the background.

Climate lecture series will call for ‘unprecedented action,’ 1.5 minutes at a time

With a nod to the stated goal of the Paris Agreement of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst effects of climate change, a new 90-second lecture series kicks off today to give faculty and students a platform to briefly share how their work addresses climate change, and what we can do to help.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Dangers and protections of rising temps for people on common medicines
A person sits in front of a fan holding shirt front open to cool off, indicating rising temperatures

Dangers and protections of rising temps for people on common medicines

We know that as temperatures rise, so do many health risks: not just for heat stroke and dehydration but also for heart disease, respiratory diseases, and deaths overall. Three studies explore the impact that rising temperatures have on people who take common medications.

Penn Today Staff

‘Design with Nature,’ 50 years later
Banff National Park, Alberta

‘Design with Nature,’ 50 years later

Beginning on the Summer Solstice, the Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology at the Weitzman School is presenting Design With Nature Now, a multi-platform exploration of the legacy of visionary environmental planner and landscape architect Ian L. McHarg.

Penn Today Staff

Keeping rain out of the drain
A scientist kneeling on a lawn checks a well using electronic monitoring equipment

David Vann of the School of Arts and Sciences heads up the research efforts around Shoemaker Green’s stormwater management system. Using sensors placed around the site, he hopes to be able to closely monitor how much water drains out of the system, and how quickly. 

Keeping rain out of the drain

From cisterns beneath Shoemaker Green to the green roof on New College House, special features of campus buildings and landscapes are helping manage stormwater to keep rain from the sewer lines, and scholars are using the infrastructure as a research opportunity.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A unique perspective on renewable energy
Rachel Kyte stands at a podium speaking, the sign on the podium reads "Kleinman Center for Energy Policy."
  • Q&A

    • A unique perspective on renewable energy

    In a conversation with Rachel Kyte, the U.N. special representative and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All discusses how this energy sector has changed in the past decade and what happens when political will doesn’t match the science.

    Michele W. Berger

    Why central banks are taking on climate change
    Illustration of business person on top of an iceberg in the water with an exaggeratedly long oar.

    Why central banks are taking on climate change

    Climate change poses a significant financial risk to the global economy, and central bankers are concerned. One reason is that serious effects from climate change now look much closer to the horizon than recently thought, says Wharton’s Eric Orts, and central banks are responsible for financial stability.

    Penn Today Staff

    A sense of place on shifting shores
    A colorful artist's rendering of a river with people fishing with a barge in the background and a drawing of an old map on the horizon

    In works like “Memorial Day on the Delaware,” artist Roderick Coover blends natural, industrial, and historical imagery to convey a sense of place and experience. (Image: ©Roderick Coover)

    A sense of place on shifting shores

    Roderick Coover, whose work merges cinema, science, and history, is the 2019 Mellon Artist-in-Residence for the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH). His recent film “Toxi-City: A Climate Change Narrative” screened at PPEH’s “Teaching and Learning with Rising Waters” event.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    Is climate change making the allergy season worse?
    Person covering their face with their hands beneath a blossoming cherry tree.

    With the warmer temperatures, and a longer frost-free season, we may be exposed to more potent allergens.

    Is climate change making the allergy season worse?

    The timeline for seasonal hay fever has expanded in recent years. With the warmer temperatures, and a longer frost-free season, we may be exposed to more allergenic plants, leading to longer and more severe allergy seasons.

    Penn Today Staff