ERG professor Dan Kammen is featured by Democracy Now! after his resignation in protest of President Trump’s refusal to quickly condemn the deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville. In his resignation letter, Kammen, referring to Trump, wrote, "Your presence in the White House harms the United States domestically and abroad and threatens life on this planet." The first letter of each paragraph of his resignation letter spells out the word: "Impeach."
KQED | August 23, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is quoted in this KQED article on the EPA's recent questions to the Valero Energy Corporation regarding power issues at its Benicia oil refinery, including requests for detailed information about outages that have led to flaring events at the refinery and inspection records for the facility's process units. Kammen noted the EPA’s demand for information from one of the nation’s largest oil companies in connection with a local emergency should be the kind of on-the-ground work the agency does, no matter who’s in the White House.
Nature | August 23, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is featured in this Nature news article on his recent resignation from the US Science Envoy post. In his resignation letter, Kammen criticized the Trump administration’s “destructive” policies on energy and the environment, which he said have affected his work as a science envoy. Andrew Rosenberg, who heads the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says that Kammen’s letter illustrates the moral and ethical quandaries that Trump's policies have created for scientists who serve the US government.
Sacramento Bee | August 23, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is featured in this Sacramento Bee article on his recent resignation from the US Science Envoy post with the US State Department. In his resignation letter, Kammen said the president’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement and undermine energy and environmental research was unacceptable. As a science envoy, Kammen focused on building capacity for renewable energies, according to a state department website. The science envoy program draws on scientists and engineers to leverage their expertise and networks to build connections and identify opportunities for international cooperation.
Nature | August 22, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is highlighted in this Nature article on a new initative for a California climate-research institute, backed by CA's flagship universities. The institute would fund basic- and applied-research projects designed to help the state to grapple with the realities of global warming. “The goal is to develop the research we need, and then put climate solutions into practice,” says Kammen, noting that Governor Brown and other state leaders recognize that their work will have global impact.
KQED | August 22, 2017
ESPM grad student Ignacio Escalante is featured in this KQED Science Deep Look on daddy longlegs arachnids. Escalante, who will be presenting his research at East Bay Nerd Nite in September, studies autonomy (the voluntary release of a body part) in daddy longlegs and how it affects their long term survival.
Carbon Brief | August 18, 2017
ERG grad student Zeke Hausfather authored this Carbon Brief article on the sun's effect on climate change. Since 1970 global temperatures have shot up by almost 0.7 C, while the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth has actually declined. Similarly, the upper atmosphere is cooling while the lower atmosphere warms, a clear fingerprint of warming from greenhouse gases rather than the sun., evidence suggesting we can rule out a major solar influence on recent warming
Fresno Bee | August 18, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is featured in this Fresno Bee article on the eclipse's impact on California's solar grid. The eclipse highlights the need for energy storage technology to balance the fluctuations in supply that come with renewable energy, noted Kammen. “It’s building us toward a point where we can run the economy off renewable energy and store the excess in a diverse range of batteries."
New York Times | August 15, 2017
ERG grad student Zeke Hausfather is highlighted in this NY Times article on the Trump administration's positions on climate science, which conflict with established mainstream science, data and peer-reviewed studies and reports. A review of 38 past computer models of climate predictions by Hausfather found that on average they had accurately predicted the levels of warming later observed.