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Department of Geography and the Environment

The audience listens as the Gazelle team presents to local stakeholders in Botswana.

These UT Sophomores Started a Company That Incentivizes Sustainability

January 17, 2023 by Nathan Han

The idea: an app to help ranchers in Botswana make data-driven decisions about grazing allocation on their land. Inspiration: discussions among friends at Kinsolving that evolved into the student-run startup company Gazelle Ecosolutions. It’s taken Mihir Bendre, along with sophomores Amod Daherkar and Siddharth Thakur, across the globe, from the national Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge competition in San Diego to six weeks of intensive research and field testing in Botswana.

Heavy mercury contamination at Maya sites reveals a deep historic legacy

September 30, 2022 by Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach

By Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, Timothy Beach, Duncan Cook, Nicholas Dunning, and Simon Turner Story originally published on The Conversation. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal. When leached into the natural environment, it accumulates and builds up through food chains, ultimately threatening human health and ecosystems. In the last century, human activities have increased atmospheric mercury concentrations by 300-500% above […]

Spring Books Unfold

May 25, 2022 by Alex Reshanov

Disentangling: The Geographies of Digital DisconnectionOxford University Press, July 2021Edited by Paul C. Adams, Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, and André Jansson, Karlstad University After the rapid rise of digital networking in the 2000s and 2010s, we are now seeing a rise of interest in how people can disentangle their lives from the […]

Co-author of the study Timothy Beach stands in next to old stone ruins on site at a dig.

Maya and Angkor Adapted for Climate Change

September 30, 2021 by Alex Reshanov

Societies in Mesoamerica and Southeast Asia whose collapse was thought to have been caused by dramatic changes in climate displayed more resilience and adaptability than previously believed.

AI spots shipwrecks from the ocean surface – and even from the air

July 27, 2021 by Leila Character

In collaboration with the United States Navy’s Underwater Archaeology Branch, I taught a computer how to recognize shipwrecks on the ocean floor from scans taken by aircraft and ships on the surface.

LIDAR imagery of Aguada Fénix.

Earliest Mayan Ceremonial Structure Unearthed

June 3, 2020 by Rachel White

The discovery of a near 3,000-year-old platform, built among wetlands and rivers of the Mexican tropical forest, offers new insight into the Maya’s early communal development.

A moving illustration of a large scene. In it, we can see vertical windows looking to a peaceful night cityscape, with twinkling stars overhead. The windows are in the shape of a cellphone battery icon, and illustration slowly turns to a bright, cheerful day scene. The buildings all come to life in a bright, multi-colored wash of color. Around the border of the window, we can see stylized illustrations of people in various poses. We see people having fun with computers, people playing with their pets, families, riding bikes, reading. We also see a medical doctor with a mask waving. There are also wires leading from each person that connect with the battery-shaped window in the middle, giving life to the city.

Rebooting Our Lives After COVID-19

May 7, 2020 by Rachel White

The world’s new reality amid the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing us to confront issues and critically think about how to revive communities slowly, safely and sustainably.

Illustration of the interior of a restaurant filled with millennials on their computers or devices. An old mural of an African-American jazz band overlooks the scene, suggesting gentrification.

A Right to the City

July 2, 2018 by Rachel White

Just south of Manor Road on Airport Boulevard, there’s a dimly lighted blues club where new and old East Austin meet. There, at the Skylark Lounge, local African American piano icon Margaret Wright plays happy hour on Thursday and Friday nights, giving city newcomers a taste of the bygone culture that once engulfed Austin’s eastern […]

Photo of a black bird with white spotted feathers on its wings, perched on a tree branch.

Damning the Amazon?

January 12, 2018 by Rachel White

Hundreds of built and proposed hydroelectric dams may significantly harm life in and around the Amazon, according to research led by UT Austin scientists recently published in Nature. To meet energy needs, economic developers in South America have proposed 428 hydroelectric dams, with 140 currently built or under construction, in the Amazon basin — the largest and most […]

Illustration of Bailey Anderson.

Testing the Waters

April 28, 2017 by Emily Nielsen

Bailey Anderson is a geography and the environment alumna from Bowie, Texas. She is the recipient of a 2017 British Marshall scholarship, which will fund her pursuit of a Master of Philosophy in geography: water science, policy and management at the University of Oxford. Anderson has also been awarded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration […]

Surreal illustration of a church in Austin amid a neighborhood. A ghostly mist floats above the church and into the grey sky. The apparition is in the shape of a profile of an African-American’s face.

Leaving Home: Austin’s Declining African American Population

November 21, 2016 by Victoria Davis

In December of 2015, author and former Austin resident Ellen Sweets wrote a farewell letter to Austin that was published in TribTalk: Ever since I decided to leave Austin, I’ve tried to write a farewell devoid of anger and frustration, and every time I’ve had to move on to writing something else. A Facebook post. […]

Illustration of a Mayan ruined ziggurat with zines and trees growing around it.

Making a Mayacene

November 2, 2015 by Rachel White

Clues from Ancient Maya Reveal Lasting Impact on Environment Evidence left by ancient Maya in the tropical lowlands of Central America suggests that human-influenced climate change predates the Industrial Revolution. By looking at the Maya’s effects on climate, vegetation, hydrology and the lithosphere from 3,000 to 1,000 years ago, UT Austin researchers propose that the […]

Gauche painting of a young woman sitting atop a field looking up at the night sky alit with fireflies..

Spark Your Interests: Five Liberal Arts Classes That Ignite Critical Thinking

November 2, 2015 by Emily Nielsen

It’s not uncommon for the College of Liberal Arts to break the Registrar’s website. Not on purpose — the interdisciplinary nature of the courses offered in liberal arts do not always mesh well with a system that was designed around rigid department codes. The level of collaboration among faculty members across departments to create in-depth, fascinating […]

Pastoruri Glacier, Cordillera Blanca, Peru, 2014. . Photo by Kenneth Young.

Meanwhile in Peru: Report from an Epicenter of Climate Change

May 22, 2015 by Susanna Sharpe

In the Peruvian Andes, the future is now. In fact, people there are incredulous that lawmakers in the United States actually debate climate change, and baffled that many North Americans challenge the worldwide scientific consensus that Earth’s average temperature is steadily on the rise. South American climate observers (i.e., regular citizens as well as scientists) […]

Garza visited the Hastings Cutoff trail during a trip to Utah where he presented at the 2014 Partnership for the National Trails System. On the right is Pilot Peak, where the Donner-Reed Party found a spring after miles of crossing the salt flats without water.

Mission to Map

April 30, 2015 by Emily Nielsen

On El Camino Real with Nathan Garza As a boy growing up in San Antonio, Nathan Garza spent a lot of time hiking on trails. His Boy Scout troop organized and led the Mission Trail Hike for years. Scouts from San Antonio and surrounding areas would gather at Mission Espada and begin their two-day hike […]

Image of orange-eyed frog on a plant. iStock

$4.3m NSF Grant Supports Amazon Biodiversity Study

April 6, 2014 by Michelle Bryant

A $4.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will help a UT Austin professor investigate how geology, biology and climate interact in shaping species distribution and biodiversity in Amazon/Andean forests. Edgardo Latrubesse, a professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment, will partner on the grant with a team of scientists from […]

Funnel cloud. Photo by Minerva Studio Fotolia.

He Likes to Talk About the Weather

November 1, 2013 by Molly Wahlberg

A monster EF-5 tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on May 20, 2013. The twister boasted winds exceeding 200 miles per hour as it ravaged schools and neighborhoods, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds. In its wake, many are questioning the relationship between tornadoes and climate change, and whether these monster […]

People jumping up in the air silhouetted by the setting sun in Botswana. Photo courtesy of Botswana Study Abroad Program.

Botswana: Earth’s Classroom

October 31, 2013 by Jessica Sinn

The Botswana Study Abroad Program gives undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to spend their summer exploring climate change, ecosystems and human dynamics in the heart of Southern Africa. From dawn to dusk, students spend hours sampling soil, identifying species and observing wildlife and local culture. From leopard sightings in Modisa to San Bushmen walks […]

Meteorologist Troy Kimmel Talks Tornadoes and Climate Change

August 9, 2013 by Jessica Sinn Leave a Comment

Troy Kimmel is a senior lecturer of Studies in Weather and Climate in the Department of Geography and the Environment. He is a committee member/instant meteorologist for University of Texas Campus Safety and Security, as well as committee chief meteorologist, KOKE FM Radio, Austin. A monster EF-5 tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb of […]

Image of sky bridge connecting the new building to the Student Activity Center makes an ideal study spot.

A Space to Call Home

April 1, 2013 by Molly Wahlberg Leave a Comment

Take a walk through the new College of Liberal Arts Building, and the building feels as fresh and modern as it feels warm and lived-in—an impressive feat for a place that just opened in January. “This is our shot at greatness,” says Randy Diehl, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “This building ensures that […]

Dean Randy Diehl

Moving Forward in the Face of Challenge

October 21, 2012 by Randy Diehl Leave a Comment

Higher education has seen its share of challenges over the past half-decade. The global financial crisis that began in 2007 sent tremors across every campus in the country, causing us not only to tighten our belts but to rethink fundamental models of teaching, research and service that have guided our mission for more than a […]

It’s Not the End of the World…

October 21, 2012 by David Ochsner Leave a Comment

Doomsday scenarios make better fiction than science, says researcher Karl Butzer For more than 50 years Karl Butzer, a renowned environmental archaeologist at The University of Texas at Austin, has trekked across continents, sifted through countless excavations and pored over collections in some of the world’s greatest libraries and museums in a quest to better […]

Cherry blossom with book in background.

Books: Winter, Spring and Summer 2012

May 1, 2012 by Molly Wahlberg Leave a Comment

Winter, Spring and Summer 2012 titles from our college community.

Kelly Crews observes elephants in Botswana.

Close to the Land

November 15, 2011 by Tim Green Leave a Comment

Working in Botswana’s villages and countryside, geographer Kelley Crews explores how ongoing changes affect its people and ecosystems The people of the Okavango River Delta region of Botswana live close to the land. The delta’s watery fingers provide water for crops and livestock. They draw wildlife that sustain the tourism industry and they grow grasses […]

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