Dr. Litt's work has been featured in a on the connections between health and gardening. The article write the following about Dr. Litt's work: "Gardening, especially in community or allotment gardens, can help people build social connections and combat loneliness. In the Colorado study, participants talked about the relationships they developed and said they felt more bonded to their community through gardening. They’re fostering social connection. They’re getting more involved,” Dr. Litt said. “They talk about sense of belonging. They talk about shared learning. All of these processes are really important for mental health.”

Dr. Litt's work is also cited in a separate article, , about the science of loneliness. The article details the study, called RECETAS, which tries to create an environment where deep connections can emerge. Its name means both “recipes” and “prescriptions” in Spanish and is an acronym for Re-imagining Environments for Connection and Engagement: Testing Actions for Social Prescribing in Natural Spaces. 

Read the full articles linked above.

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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

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The Department of Environmental Studies (ENVS) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) is seeking lecturers to teach the following three undergraduate courses in the Spring 2024 semester (January 16 – May 8, 2024). The three courses are listed below, together with the class meeting patterns (days and times). Lecturers should hold a masters or PhD in a related subject. Class materials (e.g., syllabi, assignments, PowerPoint presentations) are available from previously-taught iterations of each class. All classes will be taught in-person.

• ENVS 3020 Advanced Writing in Environmental Studies – up to 19 students – T/TH 8:30-9:45am

• ENVS 3034 Foundations of Environmental Justice – up to 75 students – MW 2:30-3:20pm (supported by a graduate student Teaching Assistant)

• ENVS/EBIO 3040 Conservation Biology – up to 75 students – T/TH 9:30-10:45am (supported by a graduate student Teaching Assistant)

Interested applicants should contact Amie Redding (ENVS Program Coordinator) at: Amie.Redding@colorado.edu. In your application email, please include: 1) your CV, and 2) a one-page (maximum) letter expressing your interest, qualifications, and experience. Within your letter, please indicate which of the three courses you are interested in teaching.

Compensation for these positions is $6,740 per course.

Please submit your application as soon as possible. We will begin reviewing applications on October 16, 2023 but the positions will remain open until filled.

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ENVS Chair, Max Boykoff, among many others will be speaking for CU Libraries 2022 Open Access Week. This year's programming will explore the importance of openly sharing knowledge to address the inequities that shape the impacts of climate change and our response to them.

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We are so proud to share that professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Studies, Max Boykoff, was selected for the CU system's Excellence in Leadership Program (ELP) this year. Read the full story about 2022 Program here. 

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On May 29, 2022, ENVS professor, Joanna Lambert, "delivered the Inaugural Everest Address on Wildlife and Climate at the World’s Highest Climate Summit in Nepal to a small group of brave guides, scientists and filmmakers." As the only woman, and one of two scientists to be invited on the trek, Professor Lambert wanted to draw attention to the enormous amount of what we still have to fight to preserve. 

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Recently published in Nature, ENVS assistant professor Steve J. Miller and his co-authors from the University of Minnesota, St Paul, have calculated an optimal conservation strategy using targeted investments. 

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Welcome back from ENVS! As we enter the new 22-23 academic year, we'd like to welcome two new instructors, Dr. Kyungsun Lee and .  

Dr. Lee comes to us from Texas A&M University, where she has been a postdoctoral researcher in the Geography department. Dr. Lee joins ENVS as a teaching assistant professor and will be teaching three undergraduate classes for the Fall 2022 semester:

ENVS 3034-002: Foundations of Environmental Justice
ENVS 3525-003: Cornerstone, Water-Energy-Food Nexus
ENVS 3621: Energy Policy and Society

She will teach three more courses in Spring 2023.

Dr. Osborne-Gowey will be joining ENVS this upcoming academic year as an ENVS lecturer for the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. Jeremiah will be teaching ENVS 4800 'Environmental Leadership' in the upcoming Fall semester. He will also be teaching ENVS 1000 in the Baker Resident Academic Program (RAP). He will also be teaching ENVS 1000 in coordination with Professor Dan Doak and Professor Zia Mehrabi who are teaching ENVS 1000 for non-Baker RAP ENVS majors so that the courses are similar and aligned in content.

In Spring 2023, Jeremiah will teach ENVS 1001 in the Baker RAP in coordination with Dr. Carrie Vodehnal and Dr. Steve Miller who are teaching ENVS 1001 for non-Baker RAP ENVS majors. These courses will then be similarly aligned in content for ENVS majors.

Welcome to you both! 
 

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CU Boulder Today featured the new course examining environmental racism which will begin to be offered in ENVS in Fall 2022. The course will look at how environmental racism shapes contemporary scientific and environmental practices. Taught by ENVS PhD candidate Denise Fernandes, Professor Karen Bailey helped develop the course content.

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During the first week of April 2022, members of the CU Boulder community, including ENVS professor Matt Burgess, traveled to Washington D.C. for CU in D.C.: Working to Build a Just and Sustainable Future. This annual event resumed this year and focused on climate change work at CU, as well as the upcoming UN Human Rights "Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit" to be held at CU Boulder in December 2022. The Summit included meetings with federal representatives from Colorado. Click here to read the full article.

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