News Archives - Page 2 of 129 - Department of Environmental Conservation

Climate Change and Mental Health

April 13, 2022 by Comment Closed

A recent report offers recommendations for building the field of psychology to better support people through climate crises Rising seas, monster storms, hotter summers, growing aridity: as if the environmental effects of climate change aren’t bad enough, the climate crisis is also a disaster for human health and well-being. Researchers have seen a rise in climate grief, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and depression, as well as rising interpersonal aggression and violence, impaired cognitive and brain function, premature births and low birth weight. The list goes on. “Over just the past couple of years we’ve seen a rapid and much-needed shift in the recognition of the massive mental-health implications that climate change poses,” says Ezra Markowitz, professor of environmental conservation at UMass Amherst. “Policymakers, mental health organizations, the medical profession and even the general public are increasingly aware of the toll climate change takes on our health. But much more can and needs to be done to prepare. We’re already seeing these impacts and they are compounding...

Researchers Gather Data on Predators and Prey

April 5, 2022 by Comment Closed

UMass Amherst-led team track the overlap between sharks and game fish An international team of researchers, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has compiled a massive dataset that overlays years’ worth of information on the position, migration and interaction of sharks and game fish. This research has immediate relevance for anglers, who have been reporting increased contact with sharks over the years. The research, recently published in Ecological Applications and which relies on an innovative use of acoustic telemetry and machine learning, gives us the clearest window yet into complex ecological relationships and promises to be a useful tool in ongoing conservation efforts. “It’s so rare to observe multi-species interaction in the ocean,” says Lucas Griffin, the paper’s co-lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in environmental conservation at UMass Amherst. That’s because species such as the ones the researchers focused on – great hammerhead and bull sharks, permit and Atlantic tarpon – can range over hundreds of square miles of open ocean. There...

Summer 2022 Sustainable Building (Online and UWW) Courses are Now Available

April 5, 2022 by Comment Closed

Our Summer 2022 online and UWW courses and programs are now available and you can start registering for those. See below for a listing of our courses, which start either May 19 or July 11. New this year is also a three-week credited “City-Lab” summer pre-college program for High School students in Newton, MA (in-person). You can learn more about this exciting opportunity here. You can always find our current UWW courses and enroll at this link (search for BCT or ECO under “Subject”): Find Courses and Enroll Courses Construction Estimating (BCT 314) – Any successful building construction project relies on accurate and consistent cost estimates. This course provides students with the skills and background to perform construction estimating, bidding, and cost management. Lectures will cover quantity take-off from construction documents and estimate costs for material, labor, equipment, overhead, and profit. Students are required to prepare and submit a formal bid which details an estimate for a building construction project. Furthermore, students will also...

UMass Places 13th at National Collegiate Landscape Competition

March 25, 2022 by Alexandra Renna Comment Closed

UMass Students Attend National Collegiate Landscape Competition Over spring break, 11 students traveled to North Carolina State to compete in the National Collegiate Landscape Competition (NCLC). The National Collegiate Landscape Competition is an annual three-day event which brings together the top landscape and horticulture students, top industry companies, and dozens of the biggest industry manufacturers and suppliers. These top industry companies create and judge 31 different events that test students’ skills and knowledge. The UMass NCLC Team was made up of students from Landscape Contracting, Arboriculture, Urban Forestry, Landscape Architecture and Horticultural Science and supervised by Michael Davidsohn from LARP and Kristina Bezanson from NRC. Overall, UMass placed 13th out of 43 Colleges and Universities. The top scoring three students in each event were recognized Saturday morning: First Place - 3D Exterior Design - Andrew Reilly (BSLA) First Place - Hardscape Installation - Amanda Ramsdell & Joseph Contardo (both Landscape Contracting): received an all-expense paid trip to the National Hardscape competition in Louisville this October to...

Addressing Food Security One Seed at a Time

March 23, 2022 by Comment Closed

UMass Amherst researchers help farmers in Egypt preserve climate-adapted pumpkin seeds How does one help save an iconic, nutritious Egyptian crop that will help meet the food security challenges resulting from climate change? An international team of researchers, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, discovered that the best way to start is to drive throughout central and northeastern Egypt, knock on the doors of small farmers, and ask for a handful of their pumpkin seeds. The results of that labor, announced recently in Molecular Biology Reports, show that the team has successfully traced the biochemical and molecular variations of nine different pumpkin varieties grown in several climatic zones of central and northeastern Egypt. The research is a crucial first step in identifying which varieties of pumpkins are ideal for conservation and varietal improvement to meet the challenges in achieving food security in a changing world. In the United States, we typically think of pumpkins only in the fall, when they appear in...