4.21
Amanda Mott
Associate Director for News
ammott@upenn.edu
Climate Change
To improve climate models, an international team turns to archaeological data
To improve climate models, an international team turns to archaeological data
The project, called LandCover6k, offers a new classification system that the researchers hope will improve predictions about the planet’s future and fill in gaps about its past.
Penn’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions within the endowment
Penn’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions within the endowment
Penn’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions within the endowment. The Office of Investments has established the goal of reducing the net greenhouse gas emissions from Penn’s endowment investments to zero by 2050.
Bringing the humanities into climate education
Bringing the humanities into climate education
Senior Tsemone Ogbemi is sharing the important role of the arts in comprehending climate through her work at the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities and in an environmental conference she is presenting at this week.
Report urges overall strategy for national security and climate crisis
Report urges overall strategy for national security and climate crisis
The Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law and Annenberg Public Policy Center have released Lessons from the Arctic: The Need for Intersectoral Climate Security Policy, a report on critical climate-change security issues.
The outlook for science under the Biden-Harris administration
The outlook for science under the Biden-Harris administration
Penn Today spoke with experts in various areas of science and environmental policy about what they anticipate will shift now that President Biden has assumed the nation’s leadership.
‘Crisis Upon Crisis’: The coronavirus is not the only emergency we are facing
‘Crisis Upon Crisis’: The coronavirus is not the only emergency we are facing
Episode three of the SAS podcast ‘In These Times’ looks at other urgent issues of our time, and examine how they affect and are affected by COVID-19.
By the numbers: The FY20 climate and sustainability annual report
By the numbers: The FY20 climate and sustainability annual report
Highlights from the report show progress on reducing carbon emissions, expanding sustainable transit, and increasing academic outreach.
Gers and the grid: Combatting air pollution in Mongolia
Gers and the grid: Combatting air pollution in Mongolia
The Center for Environmental Building and Design (CEBD) at The Weitzman School partnered with Mongolian nonprofit GerHub to test out ways of making ger living more energy efficient to reduce air pollution and improve respiratory conditions in Ulaanbaatar.
At the intersection of water, equity, and climate change
At the intersection of water, equity, and climate change
The Water Center at Penn is collaborating to help guide community decisions to build capacity in water infrastructure.
After the storm, how to make a city more resilient
After the storm, how to make a city more resilient
During a Perry World House virtual event, panelists discussed the lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy and how cities can use these learnings to better recover from extreme weather events and climate change.
Media Contact
In the News
The Hill
Stopping price reform won't eliminate flood risk
Carolyn Kousky of the Wharton School wrote an op-ed about helping at-risk households who can’t afford flood insurance by adopting a means-tested disaster insurance program for those in need. “Climate change is escalating flood risk around the country,” she wrote. “Failure to update pricing, though, effectively hides this risk from the market and limits financial incentives for risk reduction.”
FULL STORY →
The Atlantic
Why celebrities are agog over this tiny climate think tank
Zane Cooper, a doctoral candidate in the Annenberg School for Communication, said all networked computation, including cryptocurrency, is powered by fossil fuels and harmful to the environment. “Bitcoin reveals a fundamental truth about the relationship between computing and energy,” he said.
FULL STORY →
Huffington Post
Rep. Jamaal Bowman sees climate as the next big education push after COVID-19 reopening
Daniel Aldana Cohen of the School of Arts & Sciences and Akira Drake Rodriguez and Billy Fleming of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about the “climate + community project,” which calls for transformative investments in green infrastructure and public education. “There’s a ton of public money on the table this decade—we have to spend it right,” said Cohen.
FULL STORY →
NPR
Can Biden’s climate plan spark cooperation in Pa.? Some see possible common ground in jobs, infrastructure
Oscar Serpell of the Kleinman Center on Energy Policy in Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about President-elect Joseph Biden’s plan to transition the country to renewable energy. “The business case has never been stronger, and I think it will continue to get stronger every single year,” Serpell said.
FULL STORY →
Gizmodo
Why Joe Biden should trade his buildings plan for a Green New Deal
Billy Fleming of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about Joseph Biden’s plans to weatherize American homes. “I can’t help but oscillate between despair and frustration with the lack of imagination and ambition in this plan,” said Fleming. “Sure, take care of the low-hanging fruit that Presidents Clinton and Obama left for you on climate. Then, for all our sakes, think about extending your grasp an inch or two higher.”
FULL STORY →
The New York Times
Florida sees signals of a climate-driven housing crisis
Research led by Benjamin Keys and doctoral student Philip Mulder of the Wharton School found that Florida’s coastal real estate market has been on the decline for nearly a decade.
FULL STORY →