Earlier this month, Dr. Zia Mehrabi and team published an excellent paper in 'Nature Ecology & Evolution'.

Intensive agriculture with high reliance on pesticides and fertilizers constitutes a major strategy for ‘feeding the world’. However, such conventional intensifcation is linked to diminishing returns and can result in ‘intensification traps’—production declines triggered by the negative feedback of biodiversity loss at high input levels

The paper addresses the double losses in biodiversity and food security associated with these intensification traps - showing that, across a number of contexts, large biodiversity gains could be achieved for small crop productivity losses, and in many contexts loosing biodiversity leads to an intensification trap -- where crop yield is lower with higher levels of inputs.

Give it a read ! 

See Zia's other publications

Off

Current ENVS PhD student, Hilary Brumberg, co-authored a paper that was just published in 'Remote Sensing'.

The paper explores the relationship between forest management initiatives—specifically Protected Areass, the 1996 Forest Law, and Payment for Ecosystem Services —and forest cover and landscape metrics in the Osa Conservation Area (ACOSA).

While protected areas (PAs) are an important conservation strategy to protect vulnerable ecosystems and species, recent analyses question their effectiveness in curbing deforestation and maintaining landscape connectivity. The spatial arrangement of forests inside and outside of PAs may affect ecosystem functioning and wildlife movement. The Osa Peninsula—and Costa Rica in general—are unique conservation case studies due to their high biodiversity, extensive PA network, environmental policies, and payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs.

Read Hilary and team's excellent

Off

ENVS PhD students, Natalie Bennett and Emma Galofre Garcia, were named the 2023 recipients of the Radford Byerly, Jr. Award in Science and Technology Policy. The award now supports CU Boulder graduate students with a demonstrated commitment to making a significant contribution to science and technology policy. Read more about the award and past recipients here. 

(Award winners pictured to the right. Natalie Bennett on the left, and Emma Galofre Garcia on the right)

Off

Join us in welcome Dr. Naomi Oreskes as this year's Patricia Sheffels Visiting Scholar! We are thrilled to hear from Dr. Oreskes on her talk, Epistemic Privilege and the Gender of Climate Change Denial. 

About Naomi:

Naomi Oreskes is Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. A world-renowned earth scientist, historian and public speaker, she is the author of the best-selling book, Merchants of Doubt (2010) and a leading voice on the role of science in society, the reality of anthropogenic climate change, and the role of disinformation in blocking climate action. You can learn more .

Event Details:

On Thursday April 4, ENVS will host a social hour, including lunch, with Dr. Oreskes at 2:00pm in the SEEC Atrium. Following this, Dr. Oreskes will present on her work at 3:00pm in SEEC C120. 

Off

This spring, we're thrilled to welcome ENVS alumni and community partners back on campus! Join us for a reception and cash bar, followed by brief remarks organized by university affiliates. The event will take place at CU's University Memorial Center (UMC) room 235 on April 19, 2024, from 6:30 to 9:30 pm MT.

To read the full event details and RSVP, please visit our .

As part of the celebration, we'll also be saying goodbye to long-time ENVS faculty member, Dale Miller, who is retiring this year. Dale has witnessed ENVS from almost day 1 and has made a major impact on the department, including championing for Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in environmental studies. In this short video below, Dale tells the story of ENVS from its beginning and the legacy he intends to leave behind by establishing the new Rocky Mountain Community Bridge Scholarship, which supports students currently underrepresented in ENVS and environmental sciences at large.

You can read more about the scholarship here. If you are interested in providing support for this scholarship, please visit our and include "Rocky Mountain Community Bridge (RMCB)" in the giving comments.

Off

We are thrilled to welcome Samuel Assefa as our speaker at this year's ENVS graduation in May! As the Director of CA's Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, Assefa champions for improving climate resilience and Environmental Justice.

Prior to being appointed OPR Director, Assefa was Director of the City of Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development since 2016. He was Senior Urban Designer for the Department of Community Planning and Sustainability for City of Boulder from 2010 to 2016, Director of Land Use and Planning Policy for the Department of Planning and Development and Deputy Chief of Staff for Economic and Physical Development for the City of Chicago Mayor’s Office from 2004 to 2010 and Senior Urban Designer for the SmithGroup JJR from 2002 to 2004. Assefa was Director of Special Projects for the City and County of San Francisco Department of Planning and Development from 1999 to 2002 and Senior Urban Designer for SMWM Architecture and Planning from 1993 to 1999. Assefa earned a Master of City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Graduation will be held on Fridaym, May 10th in Macky Auditorim at 6:00pm; doors open at 5:00pm.

Off

A trio of ENVS researchers were published in March in the journal Nature Sustainability, "showing mathematically why complexity makes win–wins elusive." PhD student, Margaret Hegwood, recent PhD graduate Ryan E. Langendorf, and professor Matt Burgess conducted the meta-analysis, which validates skepticism of real-world win-wins that practitioners can often have and gives guidance on how to evaluate tradeoffs. Full paper can be found  

Off

ENVS PhD Candidate, Denise Fernandes, and PhD Student Hilary Brumberg were named the 2022 recipients of the Radford Byerly, Jr. Award in Science and Technology Policy. The award now supports CU Boulder graduate students with a demonstrated commitment to making a significant contribution to science and technology policy. Read more about the award and past recipients here. 

(Award winners pictured to the right. Denise Fernandes on the left, and Hilary Brumberg on the right)

Off

Off

Off