For over 450 years, Pilcomayo river basin has been heavily contaminated by mining waste originating from the Potosí region, including toxic heavy metals and acidic byproducts. Advanced Minerals Technology S. Korea, Inc. (AMTSK) is taking a dual approach to address the contamination issue: environmental remediation and treatment of affected populations.
This project is a partnership between UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT) to create a regional restoration plan for the central San Joaquin Valley.
While the crucial role of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPs & LCs) and their territories in realizing global climate and conservation goals is well established, a significant gap exists in scientific knowledge in terms of the current and future implications of a changing climate on IPs’ & LCs’ territories. The newly established Global Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Center at Conservation International seeks to work with and for IPs & LCs to enhance the climate resiliency of these communities and their territories. As part of this effort, this project aims to understand the current and future impact of climate change on IPs & LCs and the biodiversity and carbon within their territories. Based on this understanding, the project team will identify strategies and actions that can be implemented to increase climate resiliency of IPs’ & LCs’ territories.
This project addresses California's textile waste crisis, where millions of tons of clothing and textiles are landfilled annually, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental justice concerns. California's newly enacted SB 707, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024, establishes an Extended Producer Responsibility framework requiring producers to fund collection and recycling programs, but implementation pathways remain unclear. This research will develop a comprehensive baseline assessment of California's textile waste streams, conduct an environmental assessment of different end-of-life management approaches, and create implementation frameworks to support the transition to circular textile systems under SB 707.
This project aims to develop a baseline environmental understanding of the CHNMS region by assessing habitats and the status and trends of key species within its boundaries. This foundational assessment will use current literature and historical datasets to identify regional trends and monitoring gaps. These findings will inform the sanctuary’s first Condition Report and Climate Vulnerability Assessment, guiding future management and conservation strategies.
Black bears play a crucial ecological role; contributing to biodiversity and ecosystem health through services such as seed dispersal, scavenging, and nutrient cycling. Known to be more abundant and smaller than their grizzly counterparts, they have similar impacts on the ecosystem as they increase soil fertilization through their foraging behaviors and influence the movement of other forest species. In recent years, black bears have been expanding their range into California’s Northern Bay Area. Their gradual movement through this increasingly developed ecosystem inevitably results in more frequent conflict with humans in urban areas. While researchers are still unsure about the cause of this movement, it is clear that there is a need to find methods of sustainable coexistence between humans and black bears. By identifying a safety corridor for black bears and proposing land management techniques, the team aims to improve human-bear interaction outcomes.
The proposed project will analyze BOEM’s current permitting framework to identify key challenges, opportunities for improvement, and potential pathways to facilitate the development and implementation of small-scale projects. Possible approaches include regulatory mapping, case study examination of existing small-scale projects, and policy scenario modeling. As state and federal governments are striving for carbon reduction targets, developing a well-defined renewable energy portfolio will be paramount. This portfolio should encompass a variety of generation methods and scale sizes to optimize potential renewable energy capacity.
In an effort to address the intersection between California’s current housing crisis and escalating climatic risks, this project supports the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) in the redevelopment of Presidio Springs - a senior low-income housing complex. The team will conduct a material audit of the original development, identify sustainable and climate-resilient building materials, and formulate recommendations for green design strategies to reduce both the embodied and operational carbon footprint of the complex.
This project addresses the growing challenge of managing coastal retreat in California due to rising sea levels and extreme weather events. Beaches, wetlands, infrastructure, and private property are all at risk, and while traditional adaptation strategies like seawalls and beach nourishment offer temporary relief, they often come with significant ecological and social trade-offs. Managed shoreline retreat—strategically relocating infrastructure and development away from vulnerable shorelines—offers a more sustainable long-term solution, but it remains underused due to political resistance, high upfront costs, and a lack of clear guidance for implementation.
As California leads the country in a shift towards more sustainable energy generation sources with electrification playing a massive role, what are the technological, social, policy, and economic barriers to electrification on a community scale? How can electrification impact and benefit disadvantaged communities? Previous studies on full neighborhood electrification and decarbonization have attempted to answer these questions but have never fully characterized the effects and interactions between gas and electric systems.
Urban watersheds face ongoing pollution challenges, especially from urban runoff. Heal the Bay is a Los Angeles-based organization that has been monitoring water quality at local beaches for decades, and expanded their efforts to Los Angeles (LA) County rivers in the last ten years. Our group’s objectives are to analyze the last ten years of water quality data from Heal the Bay’s monitoring programs to investigate the water quality in areas where stormwater capture projects have been implemented.
Kelp Help aims to close critical gaps in kelp forest monitoring and restoration by leveraging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology to improve the detection, monitoring, and analysis of kelp canopy coverage and condition.
This project aims to evaluate the feasibility of CRLF reintroduction by assessing habitat suitability and identifying the physical, biological, and regulatory requirements for success. As part of this assessment, our team will collect on-farm data for a variety of variables, including pond water quality and surrounding vegetation and wildlife.
The City of Santa Barbara has adopted an aspirational climate goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. Decreasing natural gas use would reduce the City’s overall emissions; thus, converting existing residential buildings to all-electric systems would bring the City closer to carbon neutrality. To assess the feasibility of different electrification options, this project will review best practices from residential buildings' electrification in other jurisdictions. Furthermore, the project will create an economic model to calculate greenhouse gas reductions and the lifetime financial savings from electrification.
MESM 2025 Group Project: Cost-Benefit Analysis Tools for Federally Qualified Health Centers Considering On-Site Solar Installation: A Healthcare Equity Project
MESM 2025 Group Project: Exploring High-Impact Regional Habitat Connectivity Projects in Support of a Sentinel Landscape Partnership Designation at Vandenberg Space Force Base
MESM 2025 Group Project: Finding Balance in Our Urbanized Watersheds - Policy Recommendations for Alternative Emergency Debris Management Actions in Santa Barbara County
This project evaluates nature-based carbon credits for their biodiversity impact. In collaboration with Carbon Direct, the team aims to guide buyers on selecting credits that benefit ecosystems, using data analysis and case studies of Indigenous and conservation efforts.
