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Nichole provides program management of Dr. Winslow Hansen’s Western Fire & Forest Resilience
Collaborative research team. She joined Cary Institute in 2024.

In the leadup to Earth Day, discover how ecosystem science has led to a cleaner environment, and how lessons learned can be applied to today's challenges.

While less harmful than chlorofluorcarbons (CFCs) to the ozone, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) unfortunately are, along with CFCs, significant contributors to global warming. The search for an alternative must include testing its environmental impacts before widespread implementation begins.

Steven Cohen, Executive Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, discusses the importance of environmental policy and the need to manage short-term costs for long-term gains. 

With so much interest in carbon sequestration and high energy costs, what are the comparative environmental impacts of having a real versus an artificial tree in your living room? Of course, the best alternative is to buy a live Christmas tree and plant it in the early spring when it can resume its role of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Spending $55 million on a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant will implant major, long-lasting infrastructure that is certain to delay this transition of utilities to non-emitting, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. Renewable energy is the way; not skirting under the bar of EPA regulations with an array of small power plants. A solar-powered campus would light the way for the next generation.

Continuous resetting of what constitutes nature allows the continuous degradation of nature to go largely unnoticed. With the help of conservation organizations, we attempt to preserve what is present today and seldom think of restoring what once was. We may even tout sustainable behavior, overlooking that what appears sustainable today may totally ignore the level of the resource that was present just a few generations ago.

The real impact of global warming may be what it does to evaporation rates from the land surface. We can adapt to warmer temperature, but evaporation will cause a shortfall of water supply for humans and our agriculture. And what happens to California’s agriculture will play out in supermarkets across the United States.

Greenhouse gases released with the melting of permafrost and warming of peatland soils will exacerbate the ongoing global changes in climate. We won’t lose winter in the arctic, but a longer season of snow-free conditions lengthens the seasonal warming of soils, the activity of decomposers, and the loss of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

When it comes to human mastery of nature, who makes the decision about which species go extinct and which persist? Past studies suggest that when we reduce or eliminate predators, there are often unexpected and costly consequences for the rest of nature and humans.

Cary Institute senior research fellow Peter Groffman shares inspiring examples of ecological success stories where science has led to effective solutions and a cleaner environment for all.

Well-known landscape designer Larry Weaner discusses principles and protocols for creating dynamic, ecologically rich landscapes where nature does much of the “planting.”

To reduce the impact of tick-borne diseases on people, scientists seek to improve diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. A hallmark of prevention is tick control.

Dispersal, the ability of organisms to move to new habitats, is augmented many-fold due to such factors as climate change and air travel that moves people and products around the world faster than ever. We need to both enhance the dispersal of native species to keep up with rapidly changing conditions as well as work to minimize the spread of harmful invasive species.

The concept of “peak oil”—the tipping point when production of oil from the Earth’s crust begins to drop and fails to keep up with rising demand—made headlines about 10 years ago. It has since dropped off the radar as we have gotten better at exploiting existing reserves and using other methods of extracting oil, such as fracking and roasting oil sands.

What are the true effects if an endangered species goes extinct? What overall impact does declining biodiversity have? By one reckoning, a loss of 20% of the species puts an ecosystem at risk.

Mining and roasting oil sands have numerous impacts on the environment and human health, from contributing to acid rain and global warming to emitting trace metals into the atmosphere to generating small, breathable particles known as secondary organic aerosols.

Mercury is carried globally in the lower atmosphere, and it is often deposited far from its original source.  Mercury deposited from the atmosphere has been recognized as a source of pollution in boreal lakes, which occur in otherwise pristine environments.  The mercury that accumulates in lake sediments is a legacy of past mercury pollution.

Through crop breeding and better agricultural practices, including more judicious use of fertilizer, a greater percentage of the nitrogen in fertilizer is actually getting into the crop and less remains in the environment.

Learn about the Greenland ice sheet, a frozen, forgotten land, in a lecture by glaciologist Kristin Poinar.