Earth and Environmental Science

Rivers in a changing world

A new Academically Based Community Service class brings Penn and William L. Sayre High School students together to learn environmental science and engineering.

Kristina García

Penn solutions to climate change

As society grapples with the impacts of a worsening climate—from the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events to rising sea levels and deadly heat waves—the need for actionable solutions has never been greater, Penn researchers say.

Nathi Magubane

A climate expert’s return to Penn

Jen Wilcox, an expert on direct-air capture, is the inaugural faculty appointment in the Kleinman Center and served for three years as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy. She discusses her time away and her return to Penn.

Nathi Magubane

Fungi on the front lines against environmental injustice

The collective efforts of the Symbiotic Architecture for Environmental Justice research community are making former industrial sites reborn as vibrant community gardens, and safe, green spaces for children to play a reality.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative



In the News


WHYY (Philadelphia)

Climate policy under a second Trump presidency

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses how much a president can do or undo when it comes to environmental policy.

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Salon.com

Exxon CEO wants Trump to stay in Paris climate accord

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences voices his concern about the possibility that the U.S. could become a petrostate.

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Associated Press

Amid Earth’s heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that total carbon emissions including fossil fuel pollution and land use changes such as deforestation are basically flat because land emissions are declining.

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The Independent

Climate scientists fear Trump will destroy progress in his second term – and the outcome could be ‘grim’

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that a second Trump term and the implementation of Project 2025 represents the end of climate action in this decade.

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NBC News

Special mud rubbed on all MLB baseballs has unique, ‘magical’ properties, study finds

A study by Douglas Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has uncovered the mechanical properties of the mud used to coat Major League baseballs.

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The New York Times

The science that makes baseball mud ‘magical’

A study by Douglas Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has uncovered the mechanical properties of the mud used to coat Major League baseballs, with additional remarks from postdoc Shravan Pradeep and Paulo Arratia.

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