ARE associate professor Michael Andersen is highlighted in this NY Times article on the critical impact of adequate food and good nutrition on academic success. "Students at schools that contract with a healthy school lunch vendor score higher" on statewide achievement tests, Anderson and colleagues reported in a study released in April. Their study found a 4-percentile improvement in test scores when students were fed healthier lunches. "While this effect is modest in magnitude, the relatively low cost of healthy vendors when compared to in-house meal preparation makes this a very cost-effective way to raise test scores," they said.
Daily Californian | June 04, 2017
ESPM professor Ron Amundson is highlighted in this Daily Californian article on responses by city, state and university leaders to President Trump's intentions to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement. Amundson said he would like to see the campus provide sufficient administrative and financial support to create a cohesive, mission-oriented program that addresses issues of climate change mitigation.
KQED Forum | June 02, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is a featured guest on KQED Forum, in an episode that discusses what US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement will mean for California.
Washington Post | May 31, 2017
ERG grad student Zeke Hausfather comments in this Washington Post article on Trump's pending decision on the Paris climate accords, on which he has several options that include withdrawing completely. Another option, said Hausfather, would be for Trump to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty on which the Paris accord was based, which would take only a year.
PPIC | May 30, 2017
ESPM professor Scott Stephens is interviewed in this Public Policy Institute of California Viewpoints blog on California's mountain forests and their effect on the watershed. Noted Stephens, "Forest management in the past century increased forest density by removing the most common ecosystem process that once thinned the forest: fire. We need to reduce tree density in Sierra forests so they are more resilient to drought."
UC ANR | May 30, 2017
ARE grad student Reid Johnsen and ESPM grad student Sarick Matzen are featured in this UC ANR article and accompanying video on a recent UC Global Food Initiative student tour of the Central Valley. “To be able to see agriculture in action makes such a difference to me, to see the way the crops are produced and the variety that's out here,” said Johnsen. Matzen noted, "As a soil scientist, I really appreciated the recurring emphasis on soils as the foundation for agriculture."
The Hill | May 28, 2017
CNR dean Keith Gilless comments in this article from The Hill on current fire conditions in the western US. "When you have a period of drought and suddenly you have a normal or better-than-normal winter, you will get a lot of fine fuel growth,” said Gilless. “The danger with the grasses, they will dry out regardless of how much rain [there is]. They’re going to get dry as heck by fire season, regardless of how wet the winter was.”