Sustainability & Environment

Speaking at a Harvard Graduate School of Design symposium, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu AB '07, JD '12 offered a forceful vision for the role of urban forests in her city's push for environmental justice and climate resiliency.

Developed by Harvard researchers in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund and others, the MethaneSAT satellite will monitor methane emissions from oil and gas fields worldwide and make the information publicly available in near real-time.

Vanessa Kerry MD '05, WHO director-general special envoy for climate change and health, gave a keynote address to a diverse slate of academics, policymakers, and industry representatives at the inaugural CAFÉ Climate & Health Conference hosted by Harvard and Boston University.

Gaurab Basu, director of education and policy at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy make the case that solving the climate crisis is a public health imperative.

A panel of experts join the Harvard Chan Studio to discuss the link between air pollution exposure and increased risk for cognitive decline and neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and provide recommendations on policy changes for cleaner air.

PhD candidate Heidi Pickard studies the impact of precursors to PFAS—the “forever” chemicals that contaminate our water and food—which many industries have shifted toward to skirt regulations.

Renee Salas MPH ’16 is one of a growing number of physicians providing key evidence to support youth-led legal movements that center on the fundamental right to a healthy climate.

Research fellow Faiz Haque and PhD student Evan Routhier investigate how methylmercury enters the food web in the Amazon basin, where illegal gold mining has increased along the river.

Harvard Law School instructor Aminta Ossom JD ’09 and law student Taryn Shanes joined a UN forum to call for government intervention to mitigate water crises in vulnerable communities.

A short video from Harvard Law School's Environmental & Energy Law Program explains how new federal rules can work with emerging detection technologies to more effectively reduce methane emissions.