If you’re reading this article, chances are you care about the environment. And if you care about the environment, you’ve probably felt some level of anxiety about our future as a species and a planet.
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Meet Chris Kucharik
Chris Kucharik is an expert in both atmospheric sciences and land management and ecology.
Director’s Cut: Carol Barford
The Weston Roundtable lecture series is all about the science, technology, and policy of environmental sustainability.
Zuzana Buřivalová Honored with Inaugural Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Public Science Engagement Award
Nelson Institute professor Zuzana Buřivalová was recently named an inaugural recipient of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Public Science Engagement Award.
Director’s Cut
I’m happy for this opportunity to introduce myself and to write about the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), which has been my professional home for over 20 years!
Map Maker
Yanhua Xie, a researcher at the Nelson Institute’s Center for Sustainability and Global Environment, has been working to build agriculture irrigation maps at a level that has never been done before.
Two Nelson-Affiliated Papers among Most Mentioned Studies of 2022
Each year, the UK-based, climate-focused Carbon Brief website releases a list of the top 25 most mentioned scientific papers.
Fortifying Farmland
Anyone who’s driven through rural Wisconsin — or had their eye pressure checked — is familiar with the idyllic picture of the Midwest: a two-lane road between rolling pastures leading to a little red farmhouse.
Sustainability projects showcase students’ creativity in Geography 309: People, Land and Food
A documentary of the F. H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture. Paintings that address food waste and incorporate paint made from food scraps.
UW-Madison professor appointed to Not Invisible Act Commission to address violent crime against Indigenous Americans
Grace Bulltail, a professor in the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, is among those appointed to serve on a commission focusing on addressing violent crime within Indian lands and against American Indians and Alaska Natives.
New study by Environment and Resources graduate student reports the health benefits of reducing air pollution
Nick Mailloux, an Environment and Resources graduate student, is lead author of a newly published report in the journal GeoHealth addressing the health benefits of removing dangerous fine particulates released into the air by electricity generation, transportation, industrial activities and building functions like heating and cooking — also major sources of carbon dioxide emissions that cause climate change, since they predominantly rely on burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas.
Nelson Institute PhD student named Planetary Health Campus Ambassador & IIASA Scholar
Nelson Institute Environment and Resources (E&R) PhD student Thomas Leffler has been selected as a Planetary Health Campus Ambassador with the Planetary Health Alliance.
Three Nelson Institute affiliates named Vilas Associates
The Nelson Institute is honored to announce that three affiliates have been named Vilas Associates by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Nelson Institute affiliate Jonathan Patz contributes to paper on landscape immunity and human health
Studies indicate that land use change is a driver of zoonotic pathogen spillover, or the transmission of pathogens from wild animals to humans, which can result in pandemics and other human health crises.
Nelson Institute’s Holly Gibbs receives award to expand community-engaged scholarship involving geography and the environment
A Kemper J. Knapp grant has been awarded to Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) and Department of Geography professor Holly Gibbs and PhD student Jules Reynolds to support their work with Wisconsin communities through UniverCity Alliance.
Nelson Institute faculty contribute to new commentary on climate change and health interventions
Collaborators from the Nelson Institute have contributed to a new commentary in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health that identifies several solutions that will limit global warming and improve human health.
Zuzana Buřivalová receives Nature Award for Driving Global Impact
Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) and Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology assistant professor, Zuzana Buřivalová is the 2021 recipient of the Nature Award for Driving Global Impact (DGI).
Member of Nelson Institute lab helps to map the world’s ‘irrecoverable’ carbon
Tropical forests of the Amazon and temperate forests of northwestern North America are just a few of the Earth’s ecosystems that contain climate-critical stores of carbon.
UW-Madison and IIASA partner on environmental policy projects
After more than 40 years of collaboration, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) are officially partnering on a variety of policy-relevant projects related to energy, climate, air quality, and more.
Tyler Lark’s research showcases the importance of grassland
From providing habitat for a variety of animals to helping to store carbon, grassland provides benefits for humans, animals, and the planet.
Tracey Holloway leads health benefits of clean energy project
Can clean energy solutions like solar power and electric cars help us breathe easier?
Jonathan Patz to step down as Global Health Institute director to focus on climate change
Patz, a Nelson Institute affiliate, will leave his position in July 2022 to focus more on climate change and planetary health.
Zuzana Buřivalová receives Nature Award for Driving Global Impact (DGI)
Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) and Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology assistant professor, Zuzana Buřivalová is the 2021 recipient of the Nature Award for Driving Global Impact (DGI).
Holly Gibbs Land Use and Environment Lab to support new traceability and transparency efforts in the leather supply chain
Addressing deforestation and its links to leather supply chains is the goal of a new partnership between the Gibbs Land Use and Environment Lab (GLUE) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Leather Working Group (LWG).
Two Nelson Institute students awarded as Global Health Institute Planetary Scholars
The Global Health Institute (GHI) Planetary Scholars program has chosen a cohort of five students as scholarship recipients for the ’21-’22 school year, two of which are Nelson Institute students.