News on Climate, Water, & Soil

Collegiate participants of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) are struggling to submit on-time blueprints of ‘climate action plans.’

However, the ACUPCC staff is encouraged by the ‘sector-wide effort’ displayed by the higher education institutions. Close to 600 colleges and universities have signed the commitment to profile their sustainability efforts, greenhouse gas inventories, and climate action plans. Read the full article from Inside Higher Ed

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The Idaho Department of Water Resources and the University of Idaho are teaming up to change the way water management and water conservation happen in the American West.

By “using surface temperature readings from government satellites, air temperature, and a system of algorithms, the new method lets officials measure how much water is ‘consumed’ on a certain piece of land through evapotranspiration.” With these processes water conservation can be more efficiently monitored across a large region or single field.

Read the full article about the program, METRIC, or Mapping EvapoTranspiration with High Resolution and Internalized Calibration.

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A group of collaborating researchers at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) has received a three-year National Science Foundation grant to “explore the possibility of injecting living plant roots with plastic polymers in order to develop synthetic soil erosion.”

The research and processes could prove useful in preventing soil erosion. A reviewer from the National Science Foundation wrote the following:

“This research is a beginning, in its infancy, high-risk, highly innovative, but with tremendous potential.” Read article

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