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Rayshard Brooks. George Floyd. Daniel Prude. Breonna Taylor. These are the now-familiar names of just a few of the many Black people killed by police in 2020.

In a barren field in the shadows of towering grain elevators at Silo City, a group of UB architecture students have created a beautiful structure that will continue to evolve and take shape. And they did it amid the stops and starts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Larry Asp grew up playing shinny outside in this tiny rural town he calls home again after 40 years away. Since returning, he also holds the keys to the outdoor “Rink of Dreams” that gives the 90 local residents the chance to skate outside during the keen Canadian winters.

In December, we asked the readers of our newsletter Climate Fwd: and our Twitter followers what they were planning on doing differently in 2021. We got some amazing responses. If you’re thinking of making a “green” New Year’s resolution, here are a few ideas, collected from those replies.

UB has received funding to extend its role in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), the groundbreaking nationwide study that has yielded major discoveries on chronic diseases that affect postmenopausal women. The initiative is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. With this extension through 2027, the WHI will have been continuously funded for 35 years.

An international consortium of scientists has created the first-ever common framework for increasing comparability of research findings on coral bleaching. “Globally, coral reefs are threatened by increasing temperatures, leading to coral bleaching and often death,” says Mary Alice Coffroth, research professor of geology in the UB College of Arts and Scientists, and a co-author of a paper on guidelines published online on Nov. 21 in the journal Ecological Applications.

The launch of the digital economy has brought with it an expansion of disruptive technologies such as predictive analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics that are readily being used to transform the marketplace. But can we also use these breakthrough technologies to accelerate the development of safer, more sustainable materials for the renewable energy sector? Starting with one of the fastest-growing clean energy sectors, solar technology, this is the fundamental question that a unique collaboratory is asking itself.

Plastic pollution is among the world’s most pressing environmental issues, threatening drinking water, wildlife, food supplies and more. To address this multifaceted problem, UB researchers are developing a novel set of tools that aim to reduce plastic waste and decrease the production of plastic.

The thought of purposefully tinkering with the Earth’s climate may sound extreme or far-fetched. But as the world faces the consequences of global warming, some scientists have begun to seriously consider such proposals.

Civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois’ engagement with the natural sciences was a largely neglected part of his work, but a paper published by a research team led by UB sociologist Jordan Fox Besek has brought this dimension of his legacy into full light. 

UB researchers will collaborate with two Buffalo organizations and one in Minneapolis on a grant to advance policies supporting urban agriculture.

Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and New Report Highlight Importance of Retail Strategies to Improve Healthy Eating.

President-Elect Joe Biden announced in July a $2 trillion plan aimed at tackling climate change and promoting environmental justice. The proposal is part of his economic agenda, which he calls his plan to “Build Back Better.” This was the most ambitious climate plan released by a major party nominee for president, and  became the most ambitious climate policy of any incoming president. Biden’s plan borrows concepts from New York’s climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which was passed last year and is one of the country’s most aggressive climate policies. 

The next key phase in a University at Buffalo-led renewable energy project is about to see the light of day, quite literally. Construction will soon begin on multiple ground-mounted solar arrays on UB’s North Campus, advancing UB’s commitment to achieve climate neutrality.

Ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet has accelerated significantly over the past two decades, transforming the shape of the ice sheet edge and therefore coastal Greenland, according to a study published Oct. 27 in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface.

Environmental design students at UB will work this semester with regional leaders to conduct a feasibility study for an intercity high-speed bus line along the New York State Thruway.

A UB-led team is developing a sun-powered water purifier that could provide drinking water in resource-scarce environments.

Aanchal Yadav admits she was initially “befuddled.” Like other peers, she wanted to do something big, to have an impact on a global scale.

Researchers know from many previous studies what prevents cash-strapped shoppers in underserved communities from buying more fresh produce. But little is known about which strategies are most likely to reach the people who need them, or have the most success in improving the diets of people in lower income areas.

Clean energy is critical to solving our climate crisis. But we need to consider the full environmental and human health impacts of solar energy generation across its entire lifecycle, including mining, manufacturing, use, decommissioning and recycling. This requires us to identify critical stages in the production process, and how choices in materials and chemicals at different stages of production influence each other.

UB Sustainability successfully held their Summer 2020: Virtual Adventures! For eight weeks, students entering 3rd - 6th grade participated in summer camp projects and engaged in weekly debriefing sessions.

If human societies don’t sharply curb emissions of greenhouse gases, Greenland’s rate of ice loss this century is likely to greatly outpace that of any century over the past 12,000 years, a new ice sheet modeling study concludes.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a hero. The obituaries have focused on her legacy as a feminist icon, her singular determination, her deep humanity, and her profound common sense. These traits were exemplified by her famous dissents—equal parts restrained and biting—against a series of regressive Supreme Court majority decisions.

Think "climate change activist" and a young, liberal student may come to mind. A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll showed climate change is the top issue for Democratic voters. For Republicans, it barely registers overall, but there is a growing generational divide.

This year’s WNY Sustainable Business Roundtable (WNYSBR), a collaborative group of over 60 member organizations across our region that demonstrate how to integrate sustainability into their organizations to benefit staff, the environment, and their bottom line, showcased various business leaders from a national and regional level.

Ice shelves in Antarctica, such as the Getz Ice Shelf seen here, are sensitive to warming ocean temperatures. Ocean and atmospheric conditions are some of the drivers of ice sheet loss that scientists considered in a new study estimating additional global sea level rise by 2100.

Multidisciplinary UB research group awarded nearly $2 million from Department of Environmental Conservation to assess plastic recycling industry, educate public.

By now you’ve probably seen the new, touch-free printing kiosks around campus. What you might not know is that, by eliminating cover sheets and using 100% tree-free paper, these kiosks dramatically reduce UB’s environmental footprint from printing.

Fortune magazine has named UB graduate student Raven Baxter to its exclusive “40 Under 40” list of emerging leaders in the field of health care. Baxter — better known as Raven the Science Maven — is a science communicator who marries science with hip hop music to educate and inspire young, underrepresented students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

In celebration of the newly named Mary Talbert Way on UB’s North Campus, we invite you to learn more about Mary Burnett Talbert’s extraordinary life and work.

As people across the U.S. take to the streets to protest racism and support Black Lives Matter, changes taking place inside workplaces, corporations and other societal institutions are equally powerful, says UB faculty member Henry Louis Taylor Jr. 

As COVID-19 took hold in New York, The Nature Conservancy worked hard to balance the safety of our staff with the need to keep preserves across the state open so that people could access the many benefits of nature. We also found creative ways to continue our critical conservation work, including the fight against climate change. 

Christoph Beuttler, carbon dioxide removal manager and policy expert at Climeworks, said that since the company started 11 years ago in Zurich, it has faced plenty of pushback.

Climeworks is one of the first and best-known companies to direct air capture — or pull carbon dioxide directly out of ambient air for storage or use, which can help lower emissions in the atmosphere. 

UB is co-leading GreenDrill, a project that will bring teams to the Greenland Ice Sheet to investigate one of Earth’s largely unexplored frontiers: the bedrock that lies below the ice.

The goal is to collect cylindrical sections of bedrock, called bedrock cores, from several locations in northern Greenland. These samples act as a historical archive, holding chemical data that could reveal when these regions were last free of ice.

An international study finds that where a child lives and what they breathe may play an important role in their weight gain. When it comes to our bodies, we are what we eat—or so the adage goes.

For 27 years, United Way brought together thousands of people to volunteer on one day known as Day of Caring. The demand was so great for Day of Caring that we could no longer contain it to one single day. Our solution — Summer of Caring!

Although volunteering will look a bit different this year due to COVID-19, we put together eight weeks of prompts and activities that you can choose from while remaining safe and healthy at home. 

As climate change increasingly drives adoption of sun-harnessing technologies, the number of clean energy jobs grows, too. A new set of online, non-credit courses from the University at Buffalo aims to cultivate the worker pipeline.

Sinking Ponds Wildlife Sanctuary, spanning 77 acres on the edge of East Aurora, took its name from the numerous wooden footbridges that sank into its boggy ground before 1917, according to village historian Robert Goller.

The coronavirus pandemic might have a silver lining—make that a green lining. When most of the world went into lockdown this year, planes stopped flying, commuters stopped commuting, and daily emissions dropped 17 percent below last year’s average, according to research published in Nature Climate Change. It was the single biggest drop in CO2 emissions ever recorded.

Major challenges await Western New York and other parts of the state in late summer and early fall, but there are strategies the community can take to reduce the risks of COVID-19 outbreaks, according to UB data scientists.

UB will remove the names Millard Fillmore, James O. Putnam and Peter B. Porter from four locations on campus, a decision that aligns with the university’s commitment to fight systemic racism and create a welcoming environment for all.

Three local companies are doing their part to narrow the gender gap in science and engineering. M&T Bank and Verizon Media join Linde (formerly Praxair) in sponsoring UB’s Women in Science and Engineering program, known as WiSE.  

School of Law professor Laura Reilly believes in the power of resiliency.

Before discussing anything else, she starts her Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research (LAWR) class for first-year students with lessons on resiliency — why it’s important for law students and attorneys, and how to cultivate it.

UB’s national award-winning GRoW Home has changed addresses once again, and this time it’s permanent. The 1,100-square-foot solar structure has relocated next to the Solar Strand near the Flint Road entrance to the North Campus, where it will serve as a clean energy center for the campus and the public.

In this age of social distancing, the migrating warblers, orioles and flycatchers are attracting new fans as they alight on Lake Erie’s shores en route to Canada for the summer. A new website co-created by a retired UB faculty member and a UB alumnus has been helping a growing flock of pandemic-era birders find the feathered visitors.

How do you explain glacial flow to children? Well an artist in UB's geology department developed a stunning way to show just that! Using a variety of paints, the end results are incredible works of art.

If you’re looking for some good news, here’s a tiny something to “bee” happy about. The UB Bees program, which launched last summer, reports that all six of its honeybee colonies survived their very first winter.

UB Sustainability’s annual SLICE awards recognize outstanding individuals and departments that exhibit a sincere commitment to transforming UB’s campuses into a holistically sustainable community through leadership, innovation and collaboration. Recipients are honored for efforts that demonstrate environmental stewardship, enhance social progress, or promote responsible economic systems and growth.

UB fares exceptionally well in several of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). That’s according to the second edition of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. THE’s Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the U.N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The rankings provide comprehensive and balanced comparisons across three broad areas: research, outreach and stewardship.

Researchers at the University of Buffalo have created a map of food resources in Buffalo to help people access food amid the coronavirus pandemic. The map includes grocery stores and sources of free food like food pantries, soup kitchens, and schools offering meal pickup for students in the Buffalo Public School District.

It has been about 10 years since UB put out its first Climate Action Plan (CAP), laying the framework for the university’s climate neutrality and overall sustainability goals that build upon five decades of environmental leadership. Ten is a key number: It’s the number of years UB scientists and others say the planet has to rein in greenhouse gas emissions before we see catastrophic damage due to a changing climate.

Things are quickly changing at the vast intersection of climate science, energy technology and government laws and policies. A recent roundtable discussion in Buffalo highlighted that evolution. The question is whether they’re changing fast enough.

Environmental change is a heated topic in the current political climate. But as the polar ice cap at the North Pole continues to melt, and as microplastics and marine garbage build up in the planet’s waterways, the disturbing realties become harder to ignore or deny.

Criminal justice advocate Yusef Salaam told an enthusiastic UB audience, “As Dr. King said, once you have found your purpose in life, do it as if God himself called you to do it … be that excellent.”

What’s the environmental impact of a cup of coffee? Skyler Hein, PMBA ’22, and her team members set out to find the answer—and a business opportunity—in the UB School of Management’s first “Sustainability as a Business Strategy” course.

Buffalo’s story of place is being shared with mayors, ministers, journalists and thousands of others attending the United Nations’ 10th World Urban Forum this week in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Jim P. Zheng, a recognized leader in battery technology and UB alumnus, has rejoined his alma mater to help advance research in clean energy. Zheng, who returns to UB after a decorated career of more than 30 years in academia and national laboratories, has been named an Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering.

There’s no doubt paper is perceived as the more environmentally friendly choice over plastic. "Paper, it’s from a renewable resource. It comes from trees, compared to plastic bags which are made from bi-products of oil refining,” said Susan Clark, director of Sustainable Urban Environments Initiative at the University at Buffalo.

In spring 1970, millions of people across the United States took part in more than 12,000 events to mark the first Earth Day, heeding the call of a senator from Wisconsin who felt that pollution and development were out of control and needed to be checked.

The Department of Theatre and Dance will present a free screening on Feb. 5 of “Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America,” an award-winning, feature-length documentary about an undocumented queer activist fighting for equality.

A #UBLawResponds team of students and faculty are currently in Puerto Rico, continuing legal and policy work to support a resilient Puerto Rico as part of the fifth service-learning trip to the island by the School of Law’s Puerto Rico Recovery Assistance Legal Clinic.

A #UBLawResponds team of students and faculty are currently in Puerto Rico, continuing legal and policy work to support a resilient Puerto Rico as part of the fifth service-learning trip to the island by the School of Law’s Puerto Rico Recovery Assistance Legal Clinic.

The College of Arts and Sciences has received a $3.174 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of a new Department of Indigenous Studies.

Alumna Jessica Ottney Mahar graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in English. Today, she works as the New York director of policy and strategy for the Nature Conservancy, where she shapes environmental policy and was instrumental in passing the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

Finished with that cup of yogurt? Don’t throw it in the blue UB recycling bin. Some of the rules have changed, and UB Sustainability has some advice on what now can and cannot be recycled.

As the world warms, a new study is helping scientists understand how cone-bearing trees like pines and junipers may respond to drought. The research addresses a classic question in the field: When conditions are dry for long periods of time, do trees survive by growing new roots to tap water sources, or by relying on established roots that already go deep?

Scientists have created thin films made from barium zirconium sulfide (BaZrS3) and confirmed that the materials have alluring electronic and optical properties predicted by theorists.

In collaboration with the community, UB is focusing the expertise and passions of researchers and students from across the university on a major new effort to address one of the most pressing problems facing the city of Buffalo: health disparities among people who live on the city’s East Side.

A new study on the Greenland Ice Sheet shows that it’s shrinking at an alarming rate, and highlights the urgency of conducting new research to improve our understanding of how, exactly, the ice sheet is losing mass, says UB expert Beata Csatho.

The first campuswide food drive for Blue Table, UB’s online food pantry service, is a success, with more than 2,500 food items being donated during the drive last month, the Blue Table Organizing Committee says.

UB Sustainability Student Assistant, Michael McDonald has recently returned from an exciting trip to Spokane, Washington for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) 2019 Conference. Mike sat down with us to share his experiences at the AASHE conference and all things sustainability he discovered!

UB’s Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDEA Center) is partnering with Erie County on a project to integrate design and livable communities strategies across all county departments.

“Some have come to view the Arctic as the earth’s ‘environmental canary,’ ” write the editors of The Big Thaw: Policy, Governance, and Climate Change in the Circumpolar North (SUNY Press). “In days gone by, when a caged canary taken into mines stopped singing, coal miners knew that the carbon monoxide gas level was so high that they had to escape the chamber. The thawing Arctic may be the earth’s early warning system.”

UB students who have trouble accessing affordable food now have support on campus from Blue Table. The online food pantry service began with a soft launch in April and has been fully operational since the beginning of the fall semester.

Under a silver sky, on a quiet patch of earth by Lake LaSalle, UB freshman Trang Le examines a small tree. The specimen, a staghorn sumac, is petite compared to majestic oaks and willows that rise nearby. But it commands her attention.

Growing up in a lower-income household, Kelseanna Hollis-Hansen remembers most of her dinners coming from the corner store, including lots of convenience foods and few fruits and vegetables. That changed in her older teen years when her mother’s employment situation improved, but fueled Hollis-Hansen’s interest in the effects of healthy eating and health.

Artists from Brooklyn to São Paulo will travel to UB to beautify open water sewers, engineer living perfumes, construct an evolutionary tree of skulls, craft sculptures made of bacteria-dyed llama wool and more.

Joseph Gardella Jr., SUNY Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, has been reappointed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board.

As an entrepreneur, Smart Walls Construction founder and Chief Technology Officer Jorge Cueto understands the inclination to hire experts when possible. He also recognizes the potential disadvantage that abundant experience can spawn: bias. So when he was ready to advance his telescopic structural wall concept, he placed significance on recruiting energetic individuals willing to survey an issue from all angles.

POP Biotechnologies Inc. (POP BIO), a University at Buffalo spinoff, has received a $600,000 contract from the National Institutes of Health to pursue development of a life-saving, life-changing technology: a vaccine against HIV.

Advisers, teachers and others who work with women studying in STEM fields can help students stay in their programs by encouraging mentorship opportunities that establish a sense of “belonging” with their academic and professional colleagues, according to a Graduate School of Education professor who specializes in preparing teachers for the classroom.

UB students were elbows-deep in garbage on Wednesday, searching for sustainable ways to manage large-scale waste and encourage companies to do the same.

The Earth is warming. Rising seas are eroding coastlines. Air pollution is rife in many cities. Household chemicals and medicines are finding their way into water and soil. Many animals have gone extinct due to human activity, while many others are endangered.

Alex Dombrowski keeps a spare beekeeping suit in her car.

“I’m always showing people around the hives,” she explains, bending over to pull on a leg of her white canvas coverall. “It’s just easier this way.”

New York State got the ball rolling toward a carbon-free world with its recently passed Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The ambitious legislation is believed to be the most aggressive measure any state has yet taken toward achieving climate neutrality. UB is looking to further advance climate action with an event next week that will discuss the new law in greater detail with a group of diverse local and state panelists that are working to move the statute forward.

A UB master of urban planning studio recently toured sites along what could be one of Buffalo’s next multi-use paths. The combined trails would create a seven-mile continuous trail for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Two Buffalo pastors, the Revs. George F. Nicholas and Kinzer M. Pointer, are the driving forces behind the Buffalo African American Health Equity Task Force a coalition of community leaders that formed five years ago. The group’s mission is to eliminate race-based health disparities on Buffalo’s East Side. It’s a daunting task, but Nicholas, pastor of Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church, and Kinzer, pastor at Agape Fellowship Baptist Church, believe that changing health outcomes is possible if enough people pay attention to the underlying issues.

The Niagara River – and pro bono work by University at Buffalo School of Law students – gains national prominence Oct. 2-3 when the river and its corridor become a Wetland of International Importance and part of the Ramsar Convention.

UB Sustainability hosted Campus Garden Work Day on Friday as part of Climate Week, giving the UB Campus Garden a new home outside the Statler Food Commissary.

In gold mines near Fairbanks, Alaska, scientists are hunting for something precious — and it’s not metal.

Of all the long and arduous roads students have followed to become part of the UB community, none has been more challenging than the path of Graduate School of Education student Kang Kerubino Guot.

You’ve probably heard of the “triple bottom line” approach to sustainability. But do you really know what it is? The Professional Staff Senate is inviting members of the UB community to find out at this year’s Sustainable Living Fair.

Algae may be found in oceans and lakes, but some scientists are hoping that the next place you’ll see these organisms is a coal-fired power plant. That’s because algae, which mostly reside in aquatic habitats, consume carbon dioxide to conduct photosynthesis. If the organisms grow in dense enough concentrations in a controlled setting, they could conceivably be used to capture carbon dioxide from power plants that burn coal or natural gas.

Sifting through the clothing rack, Rosie Mollica spotted a garment that caught her eye. “Look at this skirt!” she blurted out, showing it to her father, Peter.

To measure air pollution across the United States and other large areas, scientists rely on a patchwork of satellites.

The girls are laughing, smiling, jockeying for position along a line of masking tape on the floor, gently bumping up against the three teachers in their classroom at Enterprise Charter School in downtown Buffalo.

Faculty, staff and administrators from UB’s three campuses were among thousands of volunteers fanning out across the Buffalo area Wednesday to lend a hand to local not-for-profit organizations for the 27th annual Day of Caring.

What’s to be done when disadvantaged residents lack transportation to get the legal help they need?

One solution: Take the legal help right to them.

The large panels of bright colors fill the most visible crosswalk on the North Campus — on Putnam Way between the Student Union and UB Commons — a bold, visual symbol of UB’s pride and support for the LGBTQ community.

Standing at the front of a packed lecture hall, three UB students wear colorful hair clips, pins and bags that were hand-sewn and embroidered by refugee women at the nonprofit Stitch Buffalo.