Rapidly growing communities in the American West’s forests and shrublands are nestled in zones where local soil and plant traits amplify the effect of climate change on wildfire hazards and lead to bigger burns.
Phasing out animal agriculture represents “our best and most immediate chance to reverse the trajectory of climate change,” according to a new model developed by scientists from Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley.
Natural gas stoves release methane – a potent greenhouse gas – and other pollutants through leaks and incomplete combustion. Stanford researchers estimate that methane leaking from stoves inside U.S. homes has the same climate impact as about 500,000 gasoline-powered cars and the stoves can expose people to respiratory disease-triggering pollutants.
A Stanford University study shows chaos reigns earlier in midlatitude weather models as temperatures rise. The result? Climate change could be shifting the limits of weather predictability and pushing reliable 10-day forecasts out of reach.
Rayne Sullivan, a second-year student at Stanford Law School, served as a delegate to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, and was one of two U.S. representatives at the United National Climate Youth Summit in Milan, Italy.
As climate conditions change, tree species are shifting their ranges. Wildfire is accelerating this process, likely by reducing competition from established species – a finding that raises questions about how to manage land in an era of shifting ecosystems.
Global Health Faculty Fellow Marshall Burke's research has focused on quantifying the impacts of climate change in ways that resonate with politicians, decision-makers, and the general public.
Nations around the world are joining a pledge to curb emissions of methane, and the Biden administration is proposing stricter regulation of the potent greenhouse gas. Explore Stanford research about methane emissions and promising solutions.
Global emissions of carbon dioxide are surging once again as power plants and industry burn more coal and natural gas, narrowing the remaining window for limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
International negotiators will meet in Scotland this Sunday for the latest UN Climate Change Conference. Stanford experts in a range of fields discuss their hopes for the talks as well as major themes likely to influence negotiations, keys to success and more.
Stanford water experts discuss lessons learned from previous droughts, imperatives for infrastructure investment and pathways for the state to achieve dramatically better conservation and reuse of its most precious resource.
A bill under debate in Congress would pave the way to verifying and paying for farms’ carbon savings. Stanford scientists explore this and other opportunities for growing climate change solutions on U.S. farms.
A new Stanford University study shows rising oxygen levels may explain why global extinction rates slowed down over the past 541 million years. Below 40 percent of present atmospheric oxygen, ocean dead zones rapidly expand, and extinctions ramp up.
India Logan-Riley is the winner of the 2021 Bright Award, recognizing their work as co-founder of Te Ara Whatu, a group of Māori and Pasifika youth who are working for climate change solutions and Indigenous sovereignty.
California should use its $260 billion annual spending and $1 trillion pension funds to advance its climate agenda through climate risk disclosure requirements, according to a Stanford-led group of advisors appointed by Gov. Newsom. Two advisors explain how more disclosure can do that.
A surprise discovery could lead to new types of catalytic flares and cleaner-burning car engines that would keep tons of the heat-trapping gas out of the skies.
Analyses lay out a blueprint for speeding development of atmospheric removal and modeling how the approach could improve human health and have an outsized effect on reducing future peak temperatures.
The most devastating tornadoes are often preceded by a cloudy plume of ice and water vapor billowing above a severe thunderstorm. New research reveals the mechanism for these plumes could be tied to “hydraulic jumps” – a phenomenon Leonardo Da Vinci observed more than 500 years ago.
Fighting fire after fire in ever-growing wildfire seasons, CAL FIRE is in search of innovative prevention and response strategies. Stanford students address this need by successfully tackling some of the biggest problems in wildfire management with fresh perspectives.
Interviews with Northern California residents reveal that social norms and social support are essential for understanding protective health behaviors during wildfire smoke events – information that could be leveraged to improve public health outcomes.
Smoke from wildfires may have contributed to thousands of additional premature births in California between 2007 and 2012. The findings underscore the value of reducing the risk of big, extreme wildfires and suggest pregnant people should avoid very smoky air.
A new machine learning approach helps scientists understand why extreme precipitation days in the Midwest are becoming more frequent. It could also help scientists better predict how these and other extreme weather events will change in the future.
Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies —
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the most comprehensive scientific study to date of climate change, its impacts and options to protect our planet. Stanford scholar Paul N. Edwards served as a lead author and answers questions about the report.
Several studies have found that the EPA underestimates the amount of methane leaking from U.S. oil and gas operations by as much as half. A new Stanford-led study shows how better data can lead to more accurate estimates and points to some of the causes of the EPA’s undercount.
A nearly 30-year survey, conducted at Stanford’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, has found that the distribution of Argentine ants has shrunk as a result of climate change. Meanwhile, native species are faring better.
A new method for seeing through ice sheets using radio signals from the sun could enable cheap, low-power and widespread monitoring of ice sheet evolution and contribution to sea-level rise.
