Geography
Climate change is altering tree-leafing dates faster than birds are adapting, researchers find.
Encompassing South American wildfires, Arctic sea-ice retreat, post-Soviet politics, climate change in Tibet and GIS, CU Boulder geographers keep their fingers on the pulse of a changing world.
There probably is not a more suitable location for one of the world’s first interdisciplinary certificates in Arctic studies than the University of Colorado Boulder.
When Peter Blanken flew to Paris for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in December, he had somewhat low expectations. But the CU-Boulder geography professor was heartened to see and hear that the 200 countries attending COP21 agreed on the urgency to act. “There was a strong sense that if we don’t do something in these two weeks (of the conference), it will be too late.”
Generally, ‘voluntourism’ is a poor substitute for traditional development work. Most projects are short-term, organizations that promote voluntouring don’t always ‘understand the place where it happens,’ and travelers typically don’t have skills needed for particular projects, researchers find.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder recently examined the aftermath of two catastrophic conflagrations and found an unexpected ally in wildfire-education efforts, the “citizen entrepreneur.”