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NEWS FROM THE BERKELEY CLIMATE CHANGE NETWORK
NOVEMBER 21, 2025
Faculty and Staff: We are collecting and documenting specific ways Berkeley’s climate experts have made a difference - impacting laws, policies, regulations, funding, public opinion and more. Send your one sentence suggestions to bruceriordan@berkeley.edu. Here is the format: Jill X (campus affiliation) - Consulted with CARB on carbon markets to inform Cap and Trade reauthorization (six bills) in 2025.
1. Why We Do This Work: Records, Records, Records
2. We Weren’t Sure Anyone Would Come
3. Personal & Community Climate Resilience Course This Spring
4. December 8th: Bakar Labs Symposium on “Cooler" Buildings
5. Strauch CleanTech to Market Climate Tech Summit Dec 5th
6. A Microbial Blueprint for Climate Smart Cows
7. Engineering: Greener Ways to Extract Rare Earth Elements
8. Big Ideas Deadline Extended to DEC 2nd
9. Community-Engaged Research Network Convening DEC 1
10. Todd Dawson: Fog Declines Since 1950’s
11. Climate Inaction is An Affordability Problem
12. DEC 5th CLEE Event: Science, Democracy and the Environment
13. Four $10K Grants: Secondary Analysis Pilot Program (SAPP)
...BCCN Berkeley Climate Calendar
1. Why We Do This Work: Records, Records, Records
2. We Weren’t Sure Anyone Would Come
Our first-ever All-Campus Climate and Energy Open House attracted 300+ faculty, staff and students. Thirteen tables showcasing climate work from across the campus. Many connections made and much celebration of our research, education and impact. We need community! See the slide show here and the Program Guide here. Partnership of BCCN, BERC, SERC and Bakar Labs. Thanks to all expert resources! Many lessons learned for next time! See us your feedback.
3. Personal & Community Climate Resilience Course This Spring
NatRes 190: Personal and Community Resilience in the Era of Changing Climate. Meghana Gadgil and David Presti. Transform climate anxiety into collective empowerment. Undergrads and grad students. Fridays 9-Noon, 3 units. Being taught at all 10 UC campuses this year.
4. December 8th: Bakar Labs Symposium on “Cooler" Buildings
Design, construction and operation of energy efficient buildings. Tons of cool panels. 8:30 - 6 pm at Bakar Labs, 2625 Durant Ave. More info and register here.
5. Strauch CleanTech to Market Climate Tech Summit Dec 5th
All day (and totally worth it) at Haas School of Business. Berkeley grad students will present market research, competitive analyzes and and final recommendations for eight innovative climate tech startups they’ve partnered with this semester. Lots of networking too. More info and register here.
6. A Microbial Blueprint for Climate Smart Cows
IGI’s Matthias Hess and Ermias Kebreab previously showed that supplementing cow diets with red seaweed cut methane emissions by 60%. In a new paper, they team up with Berkeley's Spencer Diamond to understand which microbes are key and how they interact — bringing us even closer to innovative solutions for reducing methane.
7. Engineering: Greener Ways to Extract Rare Earth Elements
17 rare earth elements (REEs) are critical to much of the climate tech/green energy world but they are dirty and pollution-heavy to extract. Now a team from Berkeley Engineering, led by Seung-Wuk Lee, has genetically engineered a harmless virus to act like a “smart sponge” to grab REEs from water. Read all about it here. (What a world!)
8. Big Ideas Deadline Extended to DEC 2nd
The Big Ideas Contest has extended its Pre-Proposal deadline to DEC 2nd at 1:00 PM. Berkeley students now have additional time to tap into Big Ideas resources — including up to $20K in funding, mentorship, advising, and tailored support — to strengthen their applications and shape their early-stage ideas into viable, sustainable social ventures. Details and rules here.
9. Community-Engaged Research Network Convening DEC 1
Join faculty, staff and postdoc investigators who engage in or are seeking to engage in CER to advance societal impact with community, public and private partners. Get info here and RSVP here for the CER annual gathering at the Faculty Club DEC 1 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm.
10. Todd Dawson: Fog Declines Since 1950’s
The Fog Research project is a new 5-year study of this critical factor for how much coastal California is going to heat up. A recent Mercury-News article on this non-Berkeley project gave a lot of ink, for good reason, to Berkeley’s Todd Dawson and his co-authorship of a landmark 2010 study on fog along our Bay Area coast — a tricky and complex part of our future.
11. Climate Inaction is An Affordability Problem
Catherine Wolfram (Haas) is a guest contributor on UCLA Law's Kimberly Clausing's excellent piece in Legal Planet. "The costs of climate change, especially those from climate-related natural disasters are already substantial for US households.” (Also in LP “What the Hell Happened to the Sierra Club”)
12. DEC 5th CLEE Event: Science Democracy and the Environment
Developing a Community of Practice for Strategy and Action is the title for this DEC 5th Event 8:30 am to 1:30 PM at the I-House Auditorium. Wade Crowfoot, Martha Guzman Aceves and more. In-person registration (with lunch!) or Live stream.
13. Four $10K Grants: Secondary Analysis Pilot Program (SAPP)
Eco-Health Center and the UC Center for Climate Change and Health Equity invite proposals to "catalyze innovative high impact research that leverages existing environmental and health datasets to examine ecological factors influencing health outcomes." Details here.
All-Campus Climate & Energy Open House NOV 12nd
