UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources

Why “Our Environment”?

We take the planet's future personally. Our Environment is our way of conveying our commitment to lending ourselves to the betterment of our global environment. We are harnessing the intellect and creativity of our faculty and students to address the key challenges, and opportunities, of our time: sustainable food, stable climate, preservation of biodiversity, and a fair and equitable home for humanity.

We invite you to join us on our journey. These quarterly newsletters will introduce you to our amazing faculty and students, and we will link you to numerous events we hope you will participate in. Most importantly, we want to hear from you. Send us an email at espm_web@berkeley.edu or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Earth takes time out to chat about the last 4.5 billion years, the evolution of Homo sapiens, and the designation of its own holiday

Our Environment e-Newsletter, Spring 2012, Volume 1, Issue 2

Happy Earth Day! All around the planet people are celebrating, reflecting, praying, and calling for change in the way we treat the planet. But what does the Big Mama herself think of all this?

In the days leading up to Earth Day 2012, we were able to obtain an exclusive interview with our home planet. We share it with you in today’s special Earth Day Newsletter from UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.

How does it feel to be the only known planet with life?

Well, I knew when I let that organic soup evolve into life a few billion years ago I would likely be in for an interesting ride. Venus and Mars thought I was crazy (though I think Mars is secretly hiding some microbes under his crust from the NASA rovers). Venus was so against the idea she even surrounded her atmosphere up with hot sulfuric acid. With the press I have been getting lately, its been kind of fun, so the gamble is paying off.

[Read more...]

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Justin Brashares talks about emulating Jane Goodall, being chased up a tree by lions, and making the connection between European fisheries and African bushmeat markets

Our Environment e-Newsletter, Winter 2012, Volume 1, Issue 1

Interconnectedness is the most important concept in wildlife conservation. It’s hardly obvious that ordering seafood for dinner in Germany, for example, might directly result in the death of African wildlife until Professor Justin Brashares unveiled the connection a few years ago. Justin showed that European fishery policies exploited traditional marine resources in coastal Africa, forcing local populations to substitute wildlife for fish as a protein source. In his brief career, Justin bridged the science and policy divide by unveiling the hard truth that food security and equity must underlie successful efforts to maintain the emblematic large game of Africa.

For our inaugural Our Environment newsletter, we interrupt Justin’s sabbatical to ask him a few questions about his passion for research and his concerns for the world’s biodiversity.

Did you know that when you Google your name, one of the related searches that appears is “Justin Brashares bushmeat trade”? How did you end up studying this topic?

I try to lay off the self-Googling, so it’s a relief to hear my name is not associated with far more embarrassing things! I was a PhD student studying a species of small antelope called oribi in West Africa. My research required long, hot days searching for oribi and sitting for hours to record their behavior. Picture Jane Goodall and her chimps except replace the charismatic chimps with small, tan antelopes that spend their days sitting in the shade, regurgitating grass.

I spent months searching for oribi in remote areas of Ghana and at many sites I’d find that someone had shot or snared my hard-earned study animals within days of my discovering them. I set out to determine why people were hunting the innocent oribi and soon found myself walking and talking through wildlife markets (aka bushmeat markets) throughout West Africa.

I began to appreciate that wildlife consumption is one part of a highly complex and dynamic process by which people, most of them living in poverty, endeavor to put money in their pocket and food on their table. I became convinced that understanding the social, economic, geographic and other factors that drove people to use and rely on wildlife was the key to achieving sustainability of wildlife harvests and thereby ensuring a future for wildlife in West Africa.

I had no idea at the time that the bushmeat trade is a global phenomenon that annually provides billions of dollars of revenue, and is a critical source of calories and nutrients to hundreds of millions of people. But it is also among the greatest threats to biodiversity on our planet. [Read more...]

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