School of Natural Resources and Environment

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Dana Building hosts Planet Blue open house

Jan. 18, 2011

Planet Blue conducted an open house Tuesday, Jan. 18, in the Dana Building's Ford Commons. The event included displays and information on energy conservation, recycling opportunities and other sustainability oriented efforts across the University of Michigan campus.

T-shirt giveaways took place for students and staff who signed up to be Planet Blue citizens, and water bottles were distributed to those who completed the Planet Blue Quiz/Tip card. A lunch was also offered as were tours of various mechanical rooms within the building.

Have we changed our ways after the BP oil spill? Not really

On the heels of last week's federal recommendations to help prevent another BP oil spill disaster, a University of Michigan researcher says the tragedy has come close to acting as a catalyst for deeper change---but not quite. "The BP oil spill is, potentially, a 'cultural anomaly' for institutional changes in environmental management and fossil fuel production," said Andrew Hoffman, professor of management and organizations at the Ross School of Business and a professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment. "But true change in our approach to handling issues related to oil drilling, oil consumption and environmental management have yet to occur."

Visually communicating in landscape architecture

To learn how to visually represent the experience of a specific place for the class Visualizing the Environment, a group of 12 first-year Landscape Architecture students walked a little over a mile, from the Dana Building through downtown Ann Arbor, stopping along the way to sketch for one minute. They then returned to each point they had sketched to look at a particular aspect of the area.

Erb students win $25K for business plan to convert food waste into energy

A group of students from the Erb Insitute for Sustainable Enterprise and the School of Engineering won first prize in the student division of a Michigan business-plan competition. ReGenerate, a company started by Erb students Paul Davis, Nolan Orfield and Hunt Briggs, along with chemical engineering PhD student Bobby Levine, won $25,000 in the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition on December 10.

Ice-age reptile extinctions suggest likely responses to climate change

A wave of reptile extinctions on the Greek islands over the past 15,000 years may offer a preview of the way plants and animals will respond as the world rapidly warms due to human-caused climate change, according to SNRE Associate Professor Johannes Foufopoulos and his colleagues. As the climate warmed at the tail end of the last ice age, sea levels rose and formed scores of Aegean islands that had formerly been part of the Greek mainland. At the same time, cool and moist forested areas dwindled as aridity spread through the region.

Ice-age reptile extinctions provide a glimpse of likely responses to human-caused climate change

A wave of reptile extinctions on the Greek islands over the past 15,000 years may offer a preview of the way plants and animals will respond as the world rapidly warms due to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues. The Greek island extinctions also highlight the critical importance of preserving habitat corridors that will enable plants and animals to migrate in response to climate change, thereby maximizing their chances of survival.

COP16 update: Week One

Dec. 6, 2010

During the first week of the UN climate conference in Cancun, Erb Institute student Miguel Sossa helped a non-profit agency launch a sustainable-marketing campaign, ate lunch with like-minded students from across the world, observed as foreign dignitaries positioned their appeals, shook hands with a top UN official who replied "Go Blue!," and shared thoughts on the rice trade with an ambassador on his ride back to his hotel.

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