Environment and Sustainability

New York State should take advantage of a golden opportunity to become a leader in developing clean, renewable offshore wind power, an alternative energy source that could trigger an economic renaissance and a greener image for the Western New York community, according to a report by a University at Buffalo Law School clinic.

A food security expert at the University at Buffalo says the worldwide food crisis is a direct result of the choices made by policy makers and the lack of attention paid to the food system and its relationship to global warming and fossil fuels.

The latest delay in the construction of a new Peace Bridge between Buffalo and Ft. Erie, Ontario, may be trying the patience of Western New Yorkers, but the region has more to lose than time if it erects a bridge that destroys local habitat, according to two University at Buffalo professors who study environmental impacts of structures.

As environmentalists and citizens nationwide observe Earth Day, the University at Buffalo today reemphasized its commitment to achieving climate neutrality.

Whether it's springtime flooding, an infectious disease outbreak or a volcanic eruption, small or rural communities affected by natural disasters often suffer additional hardship because of their size, say organizers of "Natural Disasters in Small Communities: How Can We Help?" a conference to be held by the University at Buffalo on March 29 and 30.

Last summer, graduate students in urban planning in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning and the University of Stuttgart in Germany worked collaboratively to produce a planning proposal designed to promote the expansion of Buffalo's green infrastructure and its economic prosperity while offering a new landscape-planning methodology in response to the destructive October 2006 storm.

A comprehensive new study authored by University at Buffalo scientists and their colleagues for the first time documents in detail the dynamics of parts of Greenland's ice sheet, important data that have long been missing from the ice sheet models on which projections about sea level rise and global warming are based.

Electricity purchases and on-campus natural gas heating are the single greatest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions at the University at Buffalo, according to the first quantitative study on how UB impacts the environment.

The University at Buffalo Regional Institute is partnering in an effort led by The Brookings Institution and The John R. Oishei Foundation to convene young leaders from the Great Lakes region, including Buffalo, to develop and implement strategies for the region's economic future.

The National Science Foundation has chosen the University at Buffalo to receive a prestigious $3.1 million grant to train a new generation of environmental experts, using the ecological treasures of Western New York and the Great Lakes basin as a "living laboratory."