Oxford School of Geography and the Environment

The not-so-great British bake off!

Ben Clarke, a current grad student in SoGE, explores how likely the recent heatwave would have been without climate change in The Conversation.

https://theconversation.com/how-likely-would-britains-40-c-heatwave-have-been-without-climate-change-187368

How likely would Britain's 40°C heatwave have been without climate change? Global heating may be making the weather systems behind heatwaves more common in Europe.

Congratulations Josh, Alexis and Marcus for being awarded runner-ups in the Vice Chancellor’s Environmental Sustainability Awards 2022. The awards celebrate
's environmental commitments and contribution from staff and .

A special congratulations to our Facilities Manager, Alex Black, for winning a special Environmental Sustainability staff award for his energy saving work. 👏👏👏

12-PAGE photo-interview: The Times Saturday Magazine with Dr Fredi Otto (TIME100 Most Influential People of 2021). [Plus embedded advert for Freddie's Flowers ...yep, there really is) [pay wall]
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/whats-the-link-between-climate-change-and-extreme-weather-g3x9hzn7r

What’s the link between climate change and extreme weather? People on a night-time Mediterranean ferry, evacuated from an island in flames, bright red dancing against the black sky and reflected on the water. School gyms

Ash, crash, smash, slash, bash ...and then re-hash with a splash and a dash? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZi7AQLRQj0

Ash – a Silent Extinction in the Woods | Wytham Woods What do you do when the nature that surrounds you is inevitably, and slowly, dying? If you’re a researcher at Wytham Woods, you respond with devastation and ...

Save Planet? Stick Label on it! CONGRATS to Dr Brenda Boardman MBE interviewed today on BBC's "my interdisciplinary" Life Scientific
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000zt8v

The Life Scientific - Brenda Boardman on making our homes energy efficient. - BBC Sounds Can we achieve carbon net zero in our homes? Brenda Boardman talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

SoGE Researcher makes TIME100 Most Influential people of 2021
https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2021/6095982/friederike-otto-geert-jan-van-oldenborgh/

Friederike Otto and Geert Jan van Oldenborgh: TIME 100 2021 Find out why Friederike Otto and Geert Jan van Oldenborgh are on this year’s list

Phew! SoGE hits the highs in The Age of Hot https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58494641

Climate change: World now sees twice as many days over 50C BBC research finds the number of days passing 50C has doubled in the past 40 years.

When you're the first word in Nature (yep, It's Fredi Otto again). https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02424-7

Climate science is supporting lawsuits that could help save the world Governments have failed to slow climate change quickly enough, so activists are using courts to compel countries and companies to act — increasingly with help from forefront science.

German floods get the climate attribution insight. Great collaboration between SoGE and Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/23/climate-crisis-made-deadly-german-floods-up-to-nine-times-more-likely

Climate crisis made deadly German floods ‘up to nine times more likely’ Study reinforces the hard evidence that carbon emissions are the main cause of worsening extreme weather

Do you see a couple about to kiss - or a firefighter? It's a really useful story about climate attribution...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/opinion/extreme-weather-climate-change.html

Opinion | What Cutting-Edge Science Can Tell Us About Extreme Weather Advances in attribution science have made clear how climate change is making floods, fires and heat waves worse.

From Defence to Offence, there's a new game in town. https://www.politico.eu/article/friederike-otto-world-weather-attribution-climate-science-heat-waves-floods-droughts/

The climatologist who put climate science ‘on the offensive’ Friederike Otto has tailored her research to beat back doubt about the link between extreme events and climate change.

CODE RED by DARK BLUES. Soge Researchers lead the Oxford climate firefight. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-08-09-oxford-climate-scientists-no-doubt-about-climate-change

Oxford climate scientists: No doubt about climate change. | University of Oxford Leading Oxford climate scientists today insisted there can be no doubt that human-driven climate change is a fact and urgent action is needed, as the IPCC’s report is released showing emissions are driving up temperatures.

Code Red: time to go up the Hill of Heatwaves with Dr Friederike Otto
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/565978-are-extreme-events-worse-than-climate-scientists-projected

Are extreme events worse than climate scientists projected? The death toll, lack of preparedness and ignorance of even the possibility that weather can be deadly is shocking for me as a scientist.

Green Gold. CONGRATULATIONS to BCM alum Hari Balasubramanian, one of Canada's 2021 Clean16 ..."truly the leaders of the leaders in sustainability". Hari set up EcoAdvisors in 2012, unlocking 3 billion USD in new commitments to conservation, sustainable development, and nature-based solutions. https://clean50.com/honourees/hari-balasubramanian/

Hari Balasubramanian | Clean50 Since founding EcoAdvisors in 2012, Hari has helped to unlock more than $3 billion USD in new commitments to conservation, sustainable development, and nature-based solutions. Over the last 2 years…

University puts SoGE alumna Fiona Tokple on podium as she plans South Africa's golden zero
https://www.alumni.ox.ac.uk/article/alumni-stories-cop26-needs-to-mark-the-beginning-of-concrete-and-bold-action

ALUMNI STORIES: 'COP26 NEEDS TO MARK THE BEGINNING OF CONCRETE AND BOLD ACTION' Fiona Tokple (St Anne's, 2016), OxCAN volunteer Global Climate Action Director, talks about her commitment to solving the ‘energy dilemma’

Malhi the Wild.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/where-wild-things-should-be-yadvinder-malhi-and-why-rainforest-diversity-critical

Where the wild things should be: Yadvinder Malhi and why rainforest diversity is critical | University of Oxford Rainforests are amazing places - great biodiverse ecosystems and carbon sinks. But, as a million nature programmes have shown, they are also full of things that could kill you: insects as big as your fist, some of the deadliest snakes alive, even the frogs can be nasty. Not unreasonably, this might....

CLIMATE CHANGE IS COMING HOME! SoGE's Dr Otto and colleagues at World Weather Attribution Utd show how Humanity FC is getting too good at scoring extra hot own goals.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57751918

Climate change: US-Canada heatwave 'virtually impossible' without warming Without global warming, the searing heat seen in the western US and Canada "just doesn't occur," say scientists.

Climate change mitigation > climate change litigation? Doctoral student Rupert Stuart Smith suggests it's game on for the lawyers.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/28/new-climate-science-could-cause-wave-of-litigation-against-businesses-study

New climate science could cause wave of litigation against businesses – study Experts say scientific advances are making it easier to attribute the damages of climate breakdown to companies’ activities

Dr Friederike Otto receives BAUM environment award. "I was really happy to receive this award for work that enables society and industry to become more sustainable. For science to have real-world impact is exactly what I want and it’s also ECI’s purpose." Friederike co-leads World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international effort to analyse and communicate the possible climate change influence on extreme weather events, Through rapid attribution studies, WWA has helped change the global climate conversation, influencing adaptation strategies and new sustainability litigation.

Oops! Adapt? You mean its happening? Dr Pam Berry leads the Nature chapter for the new UK Climate Change Ctte's "Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57487943

UK warned it is unprepared for climate chaos Homes need to be more resilient and the government is in a worse position than five years ago, report says.

You want BIG GREEN BACKS for big green forwards? Alumna Stephanie Pfeifer arranges $41 TRILLION planet-saving letter to G7. Pfeifer leads the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change who co-ordinated the joint letter from 450+ investors managing $41trn in assets telling governments to get climate policy right and massive investment will flow. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/10/investors-governments-end-support-fossil-fuels-assets-net-zero-targets

Leading investors urge governments to end support for fossil fuels Group controlling $41tn in assets sign joint statement calling on world leaders to bolster net zero targets

You want BIG GREEN BACKS for big green forwards? Alumna Stephanie Pfeifer arranges $41trn planet-saving letter to G7. Pfeifer leads the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change who co-ordinated the joint letter from 450+ investors managing $41 trillion in assets telling governments to get climate policy right and massive investment will flow. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/10/investors-governments-end-support-fossil-fuels-assets-net-zero-targets

Leading investors urge governments to end support for fossil fuels Group controlling $41tn in assets sign joint statement calling on world leaders to bolster net zero targets

Professor Green takes his foot off the gas
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/arts-blog/cameron-hepburn-putting-eco-economics-going-gasoline-green

Cameron Hepburn: Putting the eco into economics, going from gasoline to green | University of Oxford Cameron Hepburn is not an environmentalist from central casting. In person, Oxford’s professor of Environmental Economics comes across more like...well, an economist or a successful entrepreneur (he laughs), rather than a clichéd protestor, set on gluing himself to an inanimate object. But this i...

SoGE Emeritus Professor Colin Clarke is keeping as busy as ever and has just published another book: Together with his wife Gillian he edited the journal her father Frederick Grice, an English Literature specialist and children’s book author, kept between 1946 and 1983.

In poetry and prose, ’The Hankerchief Tree’ addresses nature and the environment, a sense of place, people in place, walks and encounters, the built environment and the arts – and is, as Colin found, in many ways a very geographical book.

https://clarkeauthors.co.uk/

This reached us through one of our DPhil students. Please support if you can.

Urgent Appeal: Donate to Oxbridge Student Action for COVID Relief in India

We are all devastated to see India being ravaged by a new wave of Covid-19. Hospitalizations and deaths have reached record highs, with India officially crossing the grim milestone of 200,000 Covid-19 deaths this week. Each day, the government reports more than 300,000 new infections and nearing 3000 deaths. The figure is much higher in reality as data continues to be underreported.
Lack of availability of oxygen cylinders, hospital beds and essential medicines for critically ill patients has overburdened India’s healthcare system. Individuals and local organisations (funded through mutual aid efforts) have therefore stepped in. Oxford student societies (the Oxford India Society, Oxford South Asia Society, and Oxford University Hindu Society) have set up a joint fundraiser with their friends at Cambridge (Oxbridge Student Action for COVID Relief in India), with the initial aim of raising £50000 to help local and national non-governmental organisations in India. The goal of the fundraiser is to contribute through Indian charities to the provision of oxygen and the improvement of medical care in India.
We appeal to you to donate to this Fundraiser. To donate, please visit:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/oxford-student-action-for-covid-relief-in-india?utm

Oxbridge Student Action for COVID Relief in India, organized by Sushrut Royyuru **Further Update** Through physical fundraising efforts on the str… Sushrut Royyuru needs your support for Oxbridge Student Action for COVID Relief in India

Damn the Beavers! CONGRATS to SoGE doctoral student Annie Welden having top spot on OU's home page. She hits the nail on the head about the cultural necessity of nature being seen as a true partner not merely a service provider.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-05-04-nature-must-be-partner-not-just-provider-services-oxford-report

Nature must be a partner, not just a provider of services – Oxford report | University of Oxford Nature based Solutions (NbS) could support transformative change in environmental sustainability - to address major societal challenges, including the climate crisis - according to a new paper from Oxford researchers.

TODAY 3pm: SoGE's Magnificent Seven lead green charge at launch of University Environmental Strategy. Ex-Minister for Clean Growth Alumna Claire (Perry) O'Neill, now MD of World Business Council for Sustainable Development [WBCSD], joins Professors Allen, Frankhauser, Hall, Hepburn and Malhi and net zero fellow Kaya Axelsson. Yadvinder Malhi gives keynote: "Perspectives on humanity within a finite biosphere: from planetary to local"
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/one-annual-lecture-launch-oxfords-environmental-sustainability-strategy-registration-146717356563

ONE Annual Lecture - Launch: Oxford's Environmental Sustainability Strategy Oxford's pathway to net zero carbon and biodiversity net gain, ONE annual lecture & launch of Oxford's Environmental Sustainability Strategy