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Climate Science & Society

Climate change is real. It is here. And it is influenced and accelerated by human activity, posing an ongoing crisis for natural ecosystems and communities worldwide. Researchers at the University of Michigan are continually seeking to better understand the inputs and predict the outputs of climate change, with a goal of better informing effective responses to its impacts. Through a multidisciplinary approach, U-M experts are building frameworks that produce local and short-term frameworks that can be applied in an array of different ecosystems worldwide, and in a way that is accessible to policy and business leaders as well as the general public.

News and Impact

Earth Month
Earth Month puts focus on U-M sustainability efforts
Hydraulic coral coring. Image credit: Eric Matson, Australian Institute of Marine Science
A wetter world recorded in Australian coral colony
SEAS master's students Maxwell Tanner (left) and Daniel Patmon.
Master's project focuses on closing knowledge gaps in water resource management, climate adaptation efforts in water-scarce nations
two students working in a field
Adapting crops for people and the planet
Climate change denial and belief relative to political affiliation. Image credit: Gounaridis and Newell in Scientific Reports, February 2024
Nearly 15% of Americans deny climate change is real, AI study finds
Rajiv Shah
Rajiv Shah: Making big bets to create impactful change
Kaitlin Raimi
What's stopping U.S. climate policies from working effectively?
Local mini hydro plant in the Nepalese Himilayas. Image courtesy: Graham Institute
U-M ‘catalyst grants’ address climate resilience, sustainability
aerial view of a forest
Climate change threatens global forest carbon sequestration, study finds
a thermometer on fire
2023 warmest year on record
The burn scar of the Caldor Fire, which consumed 221,835 acres of the Eldorado National Forest and other areas of the Sierra Nevada in El Dorado, Amador, and Alpine County during the 2021 California wildfire season.
Climate disaster: When the smoke clears
Barry Rabe
Rabe comments on COP28 climate deal
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicists Alex Zylstra and Annie Kritcher stand in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Target Bay holding a target assembly used in the Aug. 8, 2021 experiment that brought LLNL researchers to the threshold of fusion ignition. Both that experiment and the Dec. 5, 2022 shot that achieved fusion ignition were conducted in the NIF Target Chamber behind them. Photo: Mark Meamber
New energy
A 16-member University of Michigan student team will attend the two-week COP28 climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Front row, left to right: Zoe Salamey, Shuhaid Nawawi. Second row: Sarah Phalen, Meredith Eaheart, Carmen Wagner, Ashley Martinez. Third row: Sebastian Lecha, Ally Stavros, Haley Neuenfeldt, Sarah Dieck Wells. Back row: Aaron Friedman-Heiman, Ananyo Bhattacharya, Ryan Revolinsky, Jacob Kennedy, Francisco Rentería. Image credit: Maddie Fox, U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.
COP28 climate summit in Dubai: U-M student team attending
University of Michigan researcher Bill Sanders poses with a newly discovered skull and skeleton of a palaeoloxodont elephant, which is about 1.2 million years old. Image courtesy: Bill Sanders
Elephants: Earth’s giant climate change canaries
Climate action report cover
U-M publishes second annual climate action report
an aerial image of a lakefront
New guiding principles urgently needed for Great Lakes stewardship, U-M researchers say
Header graphic with sustainability-adjacent imagery
Steps to a sustainable mindset
view of people overlooking a sunset at a border
Information about climate-induced migration spurs negative attitudes about immigrants
symposium promo graphic
Recap: Early Career Scientist Symposium focuses on green life
Pictured from left to right: Nayyirah Shariff, Maria Lopez-Nunez, Anthony Rogers-Wright, and isaac sevier.
Earth Day event focused on ways to build a just future for all