Climate & Sustainability
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Join the 2025 International Freezer Challenge
The UC Santa Cruz Office of Sustainability is excited to announce campus participation in the 2025 International Laboratory Freezer Challenge, a global initiative promoting sustainable cold storage practices. This is a fantastic opportunity for labs across UCSC to reduce energy use, improve efficiency, and contribute to our campus sustainability goals.
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UC Santa Cruz earns Integrated Pest Management Achievement Award
In recognition of long-standing efforts to safely and sustainably manage pests, UC Santa Cruz has earned the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Integrated Pest Management Achievement Award. Integrated Pest Management is any approach that uses the least-toxic, effective method to solve pest problems. Sustainable Pest Management (SPM) is a whole-system approach that builds on the…
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UC Santa Cruz ocean scientist Adina Paytan honored for international research leadership
Adina Paytan, a professor in the Earth and Planetary Science Department and the Institute of Marine Science, has been awarded the Tommy and Yvette Edmondson Distinguished Service Award by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography.
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Forever fighter
Right Livelihood Laureate Rob Bilott’s battle against PFAS “forever chemicals” takes center stage in new documentary How to Poison the Planet, featuring Mark Ruffalo
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Tools and training combat health impacts on farmworkers that are worsened by climate change
A UC Santa Cruz-led project has launched a new bilingual app allowing the public to assess and anonymously report climate-related health risks in agricultural communities statewide. Over 50 newly trained community health advisers will use the app and other tools to teach farmworkers about health risks worsened by climate change and the remedies available through…
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Foraging seals enable scientists to measure fish abundance across the vast Pacific Ocean
A new study led by UC Santa Cruz marine biologist Roxanne Beltran to be published as the February 14 cover story for Science concludes that seals can essentially act as “smart sensors” for monitoring fish populations in the ocean’s eerily dim “twilight zone.”
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UC Santa Cruz scientists slither into the history books with first complete genome of a banana slug
Not only is the banana slug the endearing mascot for UC Santa Cruz — making the project fitting for campus researchers — but the slugs’ unique slime was a particularly challenging undertaking for UCSC’s experts in genomics.
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Innovative techniques aim for climate-safe restoration of Ms. Blue
A new project is underway to give Ms. Blue another life, this time enabling her to teach the community about the power of climate-safe innovation
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UC Santa Cruz AgTech Alliance launches to support interdisciplinary collaboration
Building on the long history of innovation in agriculture at the campus, the AgTech Alliance will support research, education, events, and workforce development related to advancing agricultural technology in order to create more formalized opportunities for collaboration within the university and beyond.
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Researchers to develop technology for improving berry monitoring, harvesting, shipment
To investigate innovative methods to support the berry growing and harvesting process, UC Santa Cruz Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Ricardo Sanfelice is launching a new agricultural technology project.
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Genomics Institute faculty and staff help create non-profit to center Indigenous Knowledge while accelerating conservation genomics research
Several current and former UC Santa Cruz faculty and staff have joined with leading experts in the field of conservation genomics to launch Wise Ancestors, a non-profit centering Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities as co-creators of biodiversity conservation projects
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A Justice-Focused Perspective on the Clean Energy Transition
Chris Benner investigates lithium extraction at the Salton Sea, and what it means for community groups and the future of clean energy.